Safety signs literacy instruction for Douglas Turner

Safety Signs

A Literacy Portfolio

Interests

Initial Conversations

Point of Inquiry

Informal Assessment

Six Contact Session Plans

Four Modifications and Analysis

Two Artifacts Demonstrating Reading and Writing

Final Evaluation

Douglas Turner is a fifteen-year-old boy with a severe stutter who suffers from ADHD and ADD. He is currently placed in special education. His family consists of a mother, aged 42, and a father, aged 47. They are African-American. Douglas and his family live in a two-bedroom apartment. Douglas' father works as a sales associate for a Jewlry company and the mother is a homemaker.

Interests

Douglas' current interests include Anime, he likes watching "Attack on Titan," music, he listens to a variety of pop and hip-hop artists, and baseball. Douglas mentioned he like being active and many of his interests revolve around focusing on many different things all the time so he keeps from getting bored. Douglas also enjoys making hand signals when he plays baseball in the outfield. Douglas refrains from things that are too repetitive as he quickly loses interest.

Initial Conversations

When first talking to Douglas and his mother, I found that Douglas had a hard time concentrating on one thing. His focus was best with things that were quick to absorb and easy to identify. He appeared friendly and outgoing, not shy or resistant, even with his severe stutter. His willingness to communicate as well as the support of the mother makes it so I was able to understand where his problems and weaknesses lied. Although he has some learning impairments, his willingness to cooperate is a strength I wanted to address in future conversations.

Point of Inquiry

Douglas did not have issues communicating. The problem and the reason why he is in special education is due to his inability to focus and concentrate long enough to absorb properly the material. This is due to his ADHD and ADD. He is on medication, but perhaps adapting a visual aspect of learning will aid in improving his concentration abilities. The main thing I wanted to focus on with him is understanding safety signs since he likes baseball and uses hand signals while playing the sport. Signs are a great way to teach a child with ADHD/ADD as it allows children to quickly view and absorb knowledge.

Six Contact Session Plans

The first contact session plan involved school safety signs. Essentially, I began a discussion with him about school rules and safety. Then I took him on a tour of his school and showed him where safety signs are located. I then asked Douglas to design his own symbols that resemble the safety signs he saw throughout the school. We then reviewed the special shapes and colors to make sure he retained the information.

The second contact session plan involved sorting signs. I took Douglas, with his mom present, to the surrounding neighborhood of the school. I had a clipboard with a digital camera, a small drawing notebook, and me. I then asked Douglas to spot and draw the signs he saw and sort them into different groups. The categories I gave him were warning signs, direction signs, and stop signs.

The third contact session plan involved learning various street signs from various countries. I explained to him that countries have different stop signs. I then asked him to remember the colors and the meanings attached to these signs. The review consisted of a brief quiz.

The fourth contact session plan involved index cards where he drew what was written on the card on the back of each index card. I gave him markers. He chose the colors. He was graded based on accuracy. He scored well.

The fifth contact session plan involved signs and symbols that mean go or stop. Numerous symbols mean stop. These include ref blinking lights, traffic symbols and the yield sign. I asked him what they all had in common and he said the color red. The same was said of green and go signals.

The sixth contact session plan involved a final test where he was given a list of safety sign words and a list of pictures. He had to match them accordingly. Then he had to give possible locations for each sign and/or symbol.

Four Modifications and Analysis

The first modification came from instances of loss of interest. I had to switch to bigger pictures in order to keep his interest. The second involved taking him outside as the outside kept him from getting bored. The third modification involved use of index card and markers as he could choose which cards to study. The fourth modification came from the symbols session. He wanted to see more symbols so I used a computer, went online, and provided him with additional material.

Two Artifacts Demonstrating Reading and Writing

The first artifact was a short review that I asked him to write. This included naming the signs and the locations where he saw them. The second artifact was the index cards. He drew and wrote the safety signs and symbols. He also used colors in order to identify things and read them aloud.

Final Evaluation

After the initial assessment, I saw where he was weak in certain areas. From there and through the various sessions, the final evaluation demonstrated vast improvements in his ability to focus and retain information. Thanks to the initial recognition of colors and print concepts, Douglas learned how to recognize signs like women's bathroom, men's bathroom, exit, enter, wheelchair accessible, and hazard signs. Although these seem like base concepts, for Douglas, he often ignored looking at signs because he was busy paying attention to something else.

I asked Douglas where the signs are located and why they people put them there. He was able to not only describe the locations of these signs, but also explain well why they exist and why people place them in specific locations. He remembered the colors and shapes attached to these signs. He also discussed potential uses for sign recognition as he wants to learn to drive like he does when he plays video games. Overall, Douglass demonstrated an eagerness to learn and increased cognitive ability.

Reflection

I felt truly enlightened and inspired by Douglas. He showed keen interest in learning safety signs. I feel he benefits greatly from visual aids. I've learned from personal experience and literature that visual aids provide essential learning tools to aid students with difficulties in concentrating by allowing them to focus on one thing quickly and then moving on to the next thing. It removes boredom from the lesson plan and curriculum. Most importantly, it keeps the attention of the student.

Douglas showed me that with enough work and dedication, a student can grow and learn, regardless of hurdles or learning difficulties. Although communication was a bit tough for him at first, since he felt uncomfortable stuttering in front of me, it soon dissipated as he realized I did not judge him. Students with learning disabilities need more one on one time than regular students. I could tell my time spent with Douglas affected him as well as myself, in a positive way.