A Classroom Tale: "Garbled Gibberish"

The Dilemma

The warmth of the afternoon permeates Room 121 as the students settle down to begin another session of Literature Circles. Amidst a flurry of paper and the sound of students rummaging through backpacks, various exclamations of consternation emanate from one corner of the classroom. Eric, ten years old with large glasses and the aura of a diminutive and forgetful professor, empties the contents of his desk onto his lap. With obvious fury, he digs through the shambles.

The smiling teacher, anticipating one her favorite activities, surveys her bustling charges, remarking on students who have successfully gathered into neat, small circles around the classroom.

"I see the Painted Cave people are ready…thank you Alison…thank you Jessie…looks like the Starlight people are ready. Thank you Tony…thank you Missy…o-kay…looks like we’re all ready, except for the Mystery people, who seem to be waiting for one person…" Her voice trails off as she notices Eric and gives him the "Raised Eyebrow"—a look for which she is famous.

"I can’t find my Word Wizard sheet!" The words burst out of Eric with the force of a small explosion.

"What do you think might be a good thing to do in this case, so that you don’t keep your group waiting?" the teacher asks patiently. She has had this conversation with Eric and other students so many times before.

Shrugging, Eric baffled and defeated stares at Ms. Green. From across the room, Clarissa, a member of the Mystery group, yells out, "OH MY GOD, ERIC! Just get a new one!" Every day presents a new problem for Clarissa's group because of Eric.

The teacher turns towards Clarissa. The class pauses to watch.

"Clarissa, I appreciate your suggestion to Eric, but could you think of a more respectful way to say that?"

Clarissa purses her lips and replies in an exaggerated monotone, "You-can-get-a-new-one, Eric."

The teacher decides it’s best not to continue to hold up the class. She hands Eric a new Word Wizard sheet and sends him on his way. He trudges towards his group, a determined look on his face. Finally the buzz of the classroom indicates that all groups have begun the task of following their assigned roles. Mrs. Green’s radar, however, warns of tension in the air. As she circulates checking on the small group discussions, she discovers the Mystery group have reached an impasse already. The frowns and defensive body language reflect the mood of the group.

A frustrated voice floats across the room, "Mrs. Green, we need help!"

Quickly she maneuvers to the rescue of the group, trying to avoid treacherous desk corners and stray backpacks.

"What is going on here?" she asks.

"Eric is being annoying. He’s reading reeeeally slowly," states a tall girl with pink beads in her hair, waving an accusatory finger.

Eric takes a deep breath while waiting for his turn to speak. Finally finding his voice he stumbles, "Ashley, that’s the way I read!" Composing himself, he adds forcefully, "I like to read slooowly so that everyone can understand what’s going on…I don’t read like you guys, like…" Eric completes his statement by making exaggerated noises of unintelligible rapid speech.

Ashley jumps in, her voice rising indignantly, "Eric, that’s not how we read! Look, Mrs. Green, he was reading like this…" She exaggerates Eric’s slow, measured pace.

The teacher sighs and repeats a statement that she often has made in the past, "Ashley, we are all learners in this classroom. We are all learning different things at different times, and we need to help each other."

"I know," Ashley maintains, "but does he have to read though? Can’t he just listen while the rest of us do the reading?"

The teacher tries again, "This is everyone’s reading time, Ashley. Everyone needs to use this time to practice their reading."

At this point in response to his aching pride, Eric launches into a verbal avalanche.

"You know what? I don’t have to listen to this! You guys have garbled me up. That’s what it sounds like to me: whine, whine, whine. A bunch of GARBLED GIBBERISH, that’s all it sounds like. GARBLED GIBBERISH, GARBLED GIBBERISH, and…"

The teacher intervenes in a firm, yet quiet voice, "Okay, Eric. Look at me. Take a deep breath. Okay, calm your body down…" She pauses and takes a deep breath herself. Part of her feels as fed up as Eric is with the Literature Circle situation. Mercifully, the bell rings.

She attempts to rally her thoughts. "Alright you guys. We need to talk this out during recess and figure out some solutions." The students groan in response as the teacher continues, "I don’t like the way you guys are treating each other."

As she moves to the front to dismiss the rest of the class, she hears Clarissa grumble, "I don’t even want to be in a stupid Literature Circle! I wish I could be my own group!"

Thinking she is out of the teacher’s earshot, Ashley chimes in, "Yeah, but you know it would be okay if we didn’t have Eric in our group. Why do we always have to work with Eric? He always messes up any group he works in…"

After the class leaves, the teacher sits down at the circular table and calls the disgruntled book group members to join her. Silently she wonders, what is the matter with these kids? Why are they so unkind to each other? She has never had such problems in the past. Why is it so hard for these students to be inclusive? Does she have to be the referee? She has done so many community-building activities with this class, and the year is half over. Have they learned nothing in all this time? Staring out at the playground she asks herself what she could do differently.

Mrs. Green’s Perspective

Mrs. Green’s class at Northpoint Elementary is in an ethnically diverse school in an urban area. The majority of the school’s students receive free lunch. Her class contains thirty students with a range of abilities; several have been designated as "resource" students requiring extra support for learning difficulties. Eric is a student diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome (see Appendix 1) and Attention Deficit disorder with Hyperactivity (ADHD) (see Appendix 2).

The principal considers Mrs. Green an expert on social curriculum and Literature Circles have always been the showcase of Mrs. Green’s repertoire. Other staff members seek out her expertise in this area. Mrs. Green has spent time researching how to provide a Vygotskian approach to learning in her classroom. She is familiar with the theory of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and is committed to bridging the students' current level of development to a higher level through scaffolding and student-to-student talk (Vygotsky, 1978). She provides a variety of lessons to build community and collaboration, and she believes student choice provides strong motivation for learning.

The principal approached Mrs. Green last spring about having Eric in her class. Mrs. Green was flattered that Eric’s parents agreed with the principal that she provided an excellent social education for her students. The paradox Mrs. Green faces daily is that her strength has become her weakness. She feels too embarrassed to seek help from the principal, while her frustration builds daily. Guilt and feelings of blame result from Eric’s poor interactions with other students in the class. Eric’s mother, the principal, and the resource teacher all assure her that she is handling the situation well, but her intuition tells her otherwise. She realizes that the excellence of her entire class is suffering from her inability to successfully integrate Eric into the current structure of her literacy program. She is tired of hearing herself chastise all students for the failure of one group, but she is at a loss as to how to restructure the groups for maximum effectiveness. Morale and motivation are low for everyone involved.

Eric’s Perspective

Eric likes Mrs. Green. He knows that she believes he is smart because she has often told him so, and been excited about things he has accomplished. She has even recommended him for the school’s gifted and talented (GATE) program. However, with his peers, it is a different story. Eric feels that his peers do not understand him and often think of him as "dumb". He knows that his ability is stronger than others in mathematics, but does not like reading. Eric’s struggle with Asperger’s Syndrome and ADHD cause his social skills to lag far behind his peers. He knows that he has many goals that pertain to his social behavior in the classroom, but he often feels confused about exactly what is expected when he is in the midst of things.

Eric finds it hard to use language to constructively negotiate meaning with his peers during Literature Circle discussions. He typically forms definite opinions, and he knows his opinions are right. He is uncomfortable with changing his frame of reference. The more Eric senses conflicting points of view, the less comfortable he feels working in a small group. He does not understand the point of abstract debates about plots and characters, and thinks that these discussions are boring because "all we do is argue and fight." Eric gets very angry when his attempts to participate are thwarted by the other group members. Though he wants to be accepted by his peers, he feels that there is nothing he can do, because people are just "mean" to him. "Why doesn’t anyone like me?" he wonders. During a recent Morning Meeting, when the class talked about what a good friend is, Eric felt satisfied that he could explain to his classmates what a good friend should not do, such as "not tease people".

Eric remembers that last year he did not have to do this much group work and he doesn’t understand why he can’t just be left to work alone. He also misses Miss Jeannie, the classroom aide, who was there to help him when Mrs. Green was busy. This year Eric often feels helpless when trying to cope with new classroom demands. He notes that he is frequently frustrated.

Eric’s Mother’s Perspective

Eric’s parents requested Mrs. Green as their son’s fifth grade teacher because of her reputation for developing her students’ social as well as academic skills. They hoped her "magic" would make a difference in Eric’s life. During the IEP meeting at the end of fourth grade, they agreed to let Eric try to manage without a classroom aide this year because they wanted him to become more independent. Eric’s mother recognizes that her son is intelligent and he brings a wealth of talents and knowledge to the classroom. At home he builds ingenious contraptions which he enthusiastically shares with his parents. She is frequently astonished by her son's sophisticated vocabulary and his ability to disassemble and repair his computer. She has noticed that lately, Eric does not want to go to school. He tells her the other kids are mean to him and that they "avoid me like I have some kind of contagious disease." Eric’s mother is very troubled by this, and in fact has noticed that when classmates are invited over to play, they seem more interested in Eric’s computer savvy than in Eric himself. Eric’s mother is beginning to wonder if this placement was a mistake.

Conclusion

The learning problem in this case is the result of good intentions without a clear plan of action. Eric, Mrs. Green, and the entire class, suffer daily because of a lack of collaborative approach to Eric’s educational program. Due to poor communication between Eric's mother and Mrs. Green, Mrs. Green did not realize that Eric had an instructional aide to support him in the classroom last year, or that this was even an option. Mrs. Green’s principal assumes that the situation works well without genuinely seeking feedback. His quick visits provide him with little indication of the deep-seated problems occurring daily in the classroom. Mrs. Green has not received any special training on helping students with autism develop social skills. She also has not had the time to rethink her instructional strategies in order to accommodate a student like Eric. To sum it up, the problem is that neither Eric nor Mrs. Green is receiving the necessary support to effectively make a difficult transition.

Important Theoretical Knowledge

According to constructivist theories, learning is a social process. The interaction between a learner and those around him/her, creates a "zone of proximal development". The zone of proximal development (ZPD) is defined by Vygotsky as "the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers" (Vygotsky, 1978. p. 86). In order to enable a student to work within his/her ZPD, the teacher needs to appropriately scaffold elements of the student’s learning. Scaffolding is defined as "a complex interactive process whereby the teacher regulates levels of support according to how well the children understand the task" (Dorn, 1998, p. 110).

There are several ways in which a teacher can provide scaffolding for student performance. However, in order to truly enable a student to gain independent mastery, teacher and student need to establish intersubjectivity about the nature and purpose of the task (Wertsch, 1984, p. 12). Intersubjectivity relies on having the same "situation definition." A "situation definition" is "the way in which a context or a setting is represented" (p. 8). Intersubjectivity thus occurs when "two interlocutors in a task setting share the same situation definition and know that they share the same situation definition" (p. 12). Intersubjectivity is negotiated through "expressive talk" (Bayer, 1990, p. 14). In expressive talk students negotiate meaning through questioning and clarifying their perspectives.

Intersubjectivity cannot be attained until the child has acquired the appropriate knowledge base, which allows the child to participate in the task using a frame of reference similar to the adult’s (Van Tassell, 2001). It has been found that in order to effectively build up this knowledge base, the teacher needs to begin with a student’s prior knowledge. Bayer (1990) proposes Collaborative-Apprenticeship Learning (CAL) as a model for how one might help a student make connections between new ideas brought up in class and his/her prior knowledge. In this model, Bayer proposes that the first step is to make the student’s prior knowledge public, meaningful, and relevant to the task (Bayer, 1990).

"Cognitive apprenticeship" (Collins et al, 1991), is another model for enabling the student and the teacher to establish intersubjectivity during a learning task. Cognitive apprenticeship centers on the ancient tradition of apprenticeship used for preparing young people for a craft or trade. In traditional apprenticeship the novice learns by observing the tangible processes of an expert at work. Academic expertise, however, involves unobserved thinking processes; therefore, the expert’s thinking needs to be made "visible" to the novice through verbal interaction (Collins p. 6). Collins points out that the teacher needs to engage in three important scaffolding practices in order to make cognitive apprenticeship successful: modeling, coaching, and gradual "fading" (removal of support). The teacher can model his/her thinking strategy during the task by "thinking out loud". The teacher also needs to act as a coach, allowing the student to work on the task, while constantly providing feedback and prompts in response to problems and obstacles the learner encounters. The expert’s job is to break the task into components which are meaningful and manageable for the novice, and to gradually reduce the support structures as the novice becomes capable of engaging more fully and independently in the task (Collins, p. 9).

Both Bayer’s and Collins’ models point to the fact that the abstract work of the classroom needs an authentic context so that the learner can feel the task is meaningful. It is important that the learner realizes that by following the steps, a worthwhile end product will be created.

Proposed Solution

According to Wells et al, "activities chosen should make demands that are in certain respects at or just beyond the limits of the learner’s current capabilities; the demands should also be such that the learner is willing to engage with them." (1992 p. 56). Currently, Eric is required to perform far above his ZPD without appropriate scaffolding strategies in place. How can Mrs. Green make use of the previously outlined theoretical principles to better scaffold the tasks in which Eric participates, and so enable him to work with his peers, within his ZPD?

The proposed solution rests on a collaborative approach to these multifaceted learning problems. A meeting of all the key members is paramount, and should include teacher, resource teacher, district behavior specialist, parents, site administrator, and the addition of a new team member, a classroom assistant. Each member of the team needs to keep in contact with Mrs. Green, offering her feedback and support. The district behavior specialist will provide resources and expertise in social skills development. The classroom assistant will receive training from this specialist on how to act as a coach for Eric’s social development in order to provide Eric with much needed scaffolding to feel successful in this area. Eric’s parents and Mrs. Green will maintain communication through a learning log which Eric will have with him during collaborative work at school. He will review this log nightly with his parents. The resource teacher will commit to peer coaching support for Mrs. Green during Literature Circle sessions. The administrator will provide support for Mrs. Green and meet with to discuss Eric’s progress on a regular basis. This framework provides Mrs. Green the scaffolding she needs as a teacher to successfully modify her classroom for equity and excellence for all students.

The Role of the Classroom Assistant: Scaffolding Eric’s Social Skills Development

A trained classroom aide will work with Mrs. Green to provide scaffolding for Eric in his social skills. Using resources such as Skillstreaming the Elementary School Child: a Guide for Prosocial Skills (McGinnis 1984,) the aide will adopt a "cognitive apprenticeship" model for scaffolding Eric’s social skills. Skillstreaming is a workbook which addresses socially appropriate behavior such as not interrupting when someone else is speaking. Attwood produced a checklist with a hierarchy of social skills that sets sequential social goals for friendship and group interaction (see Appendix 3). Additionally, Attwood and Gray employ the use of "social stories" (for a sample, see Appendix 4) (Attwood 2002). Social stories are narratives that can be purchased or written collaboratively by the aide and Eric. These social stories describe specific problems observed by the classroom aide, the teacher, the parent, or Eric himself. Eric will read and discuss these stories with his aide or with his parents. Because these stories describe how appropriate interactions may occur, the stories will be reviewed, and may be added to as needed. The classroom aide will also employ the strategy of acting as a social skills "coach" for Eric by monitoring his classroom interactions and supplying him with immediate feedback and cues for appropriate responses. Additionally, the classroom aide and Mrs. Green will make their own social skills thinking process visible by "thinking out loud" thereby modeling appropriate responses for Eric.

Mrs. Green’s Role: Scaffolding Eric’s Participation in Literature Circles

Mrs. Green’s job is to re-think her strategy for teaching reading using collaborative groups. Clearly, the first thing that needs to happen is that Eric, the teacher, and his classmates need to establish intersubjectivity about the nature and the purpose of Literature Circles. Mrs. Green’s purpose in having all students, including Eric, participate in Literature Circles is to improve his reading skills and to teach him how to engage meaningfully with text. Eric does not currently view Literature Circles this way. Mrs. Green needs to provide scaffolding for Eric’s engagement in meaningful discussions about text, by setting up the task in such a way that Eric is able to participate more competently. In order to accomplish this, she needs to capitalize on Eric’s prior knowledge. How can Mrs. Green enable Eric to make use of his prior knowledge for the purpose of engaging meaningfully with text? What prior knowledge does Eric possess? What strategies can she use to make his prior knowledge relevant?

Mrs. Green and Eric’s mother recognize that Eric brings a wealth of prior knowledge to the classroom, which can be made relevant to academic tasks: His advanced vocabulary, his technical skills, and his fascination with machines and with building provide a area of expertise which could potentially be valued during small or whole group activities. Mrs. Green could make this prior knowledge relevant, by setting up projects which require her students to build things. Initially, the project might be fairly straight forward, as in building a model airplane from simple written directions. Eric may engage in this task collaboratively with his classroom aide, or with one other student. This would enable Eric to practice his developing social and collaborative skills while engaging in the task of reading and discussing text within his ZPD. In this way, Mrs. Green will be making Eric’s unique talents relevant to the academic task of reading.

As he gains confidence with this type of task, Mrs. Green may challenge Eric by engaging him in tasks requiring more reading and lengthier negotiation about the meaning of the text with peers. For example, she may require the Literature Circle groups to create models illustrating aspects of the books’ settings. Subsequently, she may conduct a unit of study on the theme of "Inventions." She could require the students to read about famous inventors, and then work collaboratively to plan and build an original invention. Students could be required to explain the invention’s purpose and function to their peers, either orally or in writing. Before introducing the unit, Mrs. Green can enable Eric to build on his prior knowledge and gain relevant expertise by encouraging him to write instructions for making the ingenious contraptions he builds for fun at home. He could then be encouraged to share these instructions with his peers, and receive feedback for making them clear and understandable. Through this task, Mrs. Green is again creating opportunities for Eric to engage collaboratively in meaningful negotiation about text, which is the original goal of her Literature Circles.

In setting things up this way, Mrs. Green will also be creating opportunities for Eric’s classmates re-think their perceptions of him as an academically incompetent trouble–maker. Throughout their participation in these projects, it will be important for Mrs. Green to be explicit and precise in making clear to the other students the relevance of Eric’s expertise and prior knowledge. This is a way for Eric and Mrs. Green to challenge the prior conceptions Eric’s peers may have of him, and begin to view him as a resource. By gradually engaging Eric in collaborative projects of increasing complexity as his social skills mature, Mrs. Green will be scaffolding Eric appropriately, thus setting him (as well as his fellow group members) up for success. Participating in collaborative projects which make use of students’ multiple intelligences will allow for genuine two-way learning to occur. Mrs. Green will be on her way to providing excellent and equitable reading instruction for all her students.

Disclaimer

Of course it would be naïve to assume that these interventions in themselves would be sufficient for alleviating all the challenges facing the Mrs. Greens and the Erics of this world. One of the most difficult dilemmas teachers face is getting all their students to genuinely buy in to an ethic of inclusion. Mrs. Green has spoken with her students often about this matter, and is committed to helping them develop empathy, as well as a sense of social responsibility. However, simply speaking to her students about these matters is clearly not enough. Though she yields much influence over her students as a role model, ultimately merely discussing these issues is still in the realm of teaching by telling rather than teaching for understanding. Moreover, the students, their parents, Mrs. Green, and Eric, are operating in the context of a system where genuine espousal of the concept multiple intelligences appears far-fetched and ludicrous.

In order to truly secure lasting buy-in from her other students, Mrs. Green would need to create systematic opportunities for her students to confront and challenge their own schemas about what it means to be intelligent. Once she has enabled them to revise their schemas, she would need to explicitly teach her students the processes and discourse patterns necessary for inclusive participation in groups. In re-thinking the structure of her Literature Circles, Mrs. Green has simply taken the very first step in the long road towards excellent and equitable education.

Epilogue

"Citizenship does not depend solely on legal status; it also requires a sense of belonging. Consequently, within any program of learning for citizenship, we will need to address the cultural and personal aspects of citizenship, focusing on issues of identity, as well as addressing structural and political issues. Schools can –and should– play an important role in supporting and extending the identities of their students, enabling all of them … to feel a part of a multicultural society, and enabling all to participate in the future development of our democracy."

Osler & Starkey (2000), in Citizenship and Democracy in Schools: Diversity, Identity, Equality.

References

Attwood, T. & Gray, C. (2002) Understanding and teaching friendship skills,

Bayer, A. (1990). Collaborative-apprenticeship learning: Language and thinking across the curriculum, K-12, Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing Co.

Bishop, D. V. M. (1989) Autism, Asperger’s syndrom and semantic-pragmatic disorder: Where are the boundaries? British Journal of Disorders of Communication 24, 107-121.

Collins, A, Brown, A. S., and Holum, A., (1991) Cognitive apprenticeship: Making thinking visible, American Educator, v15 n3 p. 6-11, 38-46.

Dirckx, J. H. (2001) Stedman’s concise medical dictionary for the health professions. Baltimore, MD: Lippincott Williwams & Wilkins.

Dorn, L. G. et al. (1998). "A cognitive apprenticeship approach to literacy", Apprenticeship in Literacy: Transitions Across Reading and Writing, New York, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

Goodwin, A. L. (Ed.) (1997). Assessment to equity and inclusion: Enhancing all new children, New York: Routledge.

McGinnis E &.Goldstein, A. P. (1984) Skillstreaming the adolescent: New strategies and perspectives for teaching prosocial skills, Chamgaign, IL; Research Press.

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke: Asperger’s Syndrom information page (2001).

Osler, A. (Ed.)(2000). Citizenship and Democracy in Schools: Diversity, Identity, Equality. Sterling: Trentham Books.

Van Tassell, M. A. (2001). "Students Inquiry in Science: Asking Questions, Building Foundations, and Making Connections", Action Talk, and Text; Leanring and Teaching Through Inquiry, New York: Teachers College Press.

Vygotsky (1978). Mind in society, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Wells, G. & Chang. Wells, G. L. (1992). Constructing knowledge together: Classrooms as clusters of inquiry and literacy, Portsmouth, NH:; Heinemann.

Wertsch, J. V. (1984) Children’s learning in the "zone of proximal development". New Directions for Child Development v. 23, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Asperger’s Syndrome receives its name from a German doctor, Hans Asperger, who composed a list of observed behaviors which may apply to varying degrees. The predominant characteristic of Asperger’s Syndrome is that these people have an inability to understand social interaction. As opposed to a general definition of autism, an Asperger’s diagnosis implies seemingly well-developed language skills. Although speech is often used correctly, understanding conversations, specifically those with abstract concepts, is difficult. (NINDS) These individuals are often obtuse, have unusual preoccupations, and have limited interests. Excellence in rote memory and high levels of non-verbal problem solving are common attributes. They tend to "be in their own world" and can be insensitive to the needs and point of view of others. (Bishop)

Working Definition of ADHD

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a disorder marked by attention and impulse control as observed in the school setting, home and other social situations. The behavior appears in childhood and may last until adulthood. Observed behaviors include developmentally inappropriate levels of attentiveness, impulsivity, and hyperactivity. Also known as hyperactive child syndrome. (Dirckx)

Entry Skills:

Joining a group