GENERAL INFORMATION

Child’s Name: Jason Sanchez Age: 8 Grade: Second

Gender: male

Reasons for choosing this child.

Jason is a relatively quiet child. He has been described by his teacher as “lazy,” and
“lacking motivation.” He seems to be in need of some one-on-one attention to help
“light a fire” under him, and help him to find his motivation for learning. I think he
will also benefit from someone paying attention to him, especially a teacher, be-
cause I have not noticed him getting any attention from my Supervising Practition-
er, either negative or positive. Jason has a very sweet disposition, and seems like he
would be very receptive to any work that I will do with him

Child’s Interests, Motivations, Favorite Subjects:

When asked, Jason’s response to what interests him was “video games.” I prodded
for more, “Do you like any sports?” “Do you like art?” etc, and he said he did not like
any sports and that sometimes he likes to draw. He likes math the best out of all the
subjects because he thinks that’s where he does his best work.
I read through his Writer’s Workshop notebook and discovered that he likes to
read Nate the Great, Big Mama, and Grandma Ghana books. He likes going to Wal-
mart with his mom and his cousin. He “loves” to sing and dance. And some of his
writing is about spooky stuff, like a haunted house. One day he started telling me
ghost stories at recess, stories of things that supposedly happened to his family in
the Dominican Republic, and he got very excited about it.

Areas of Strength: Math, Science

Areas of Challenge: Reading, Writing. Jason is placed at an M level in reading, follow-

ing the results of a DRA done in January, yet he seems to struggle with this level.

Learning Style:

● Instructional Profile
Student’s approach to learning (discuss learning style; if student has
an IEP read it and note learning strengths; if student does not have an
IEP, ask previous teachers about the students strengths, learning style
and ask the student how he/she learns best; use your observations and
student work samples )

● Things to Keep in Mind

Best matches of curriculum, instructional strategies, groupings, staff-
ing, technologies, physical adaptations, etc.

FAMILY HISTORY QUESTIONNAIRE

(Adapted from Anti-Bias Curriculum, Louise Derman Sparks et al)
 MY NAME: Jason Sanchez

1. I was born in The Dominican Republic, but I don’t remember what city.

2.The adults in my family are Jahaira, my mom and my dad (He said his father’s name,
but I am unfamiliar with it and he could not remember how to spell it).
3.Where were they born?
Which person and which state or country?
My mom was born in Santo Domingo, DR, and so was my dad. I have two older
brothers, Christopher is 12 and Brian is 15. They used to go to the Hernandez
but now they don’t. They had trouble in school. I have a Chihuahua named Motty
and one other girl dog.

4.Members of my family speak these languages: Everyone speaks Spanish, My mom and
brothers speak English really well. I’m helping my dad learn English for his job. He has a
job where people speak English. (“What does your dad do?”) He does a lot of things. He
walks peoples dogs, cleans a hotel, shovels snow, and does other stuff too. (“Wow,
sound’s like your dad is a really hard worker! Does he work a lot?”) Yeah, he works really
weird times and sometimes I don’t see him when I wake up or even during dinner. (“What
does your mom do?”) She works at an office in East Boston...I don’t really know what she
does.

5.What is my family’s cultural/ethnic heritage? We are Dominican.

6. What special customs or traditions does my family have? We celebrate Cinco de Mayo.

7.What else would I like my teachers to know about my family? Nothing.

Additional Things That I Have Learned About Jason:
Jason receives free lunch at school, and his family is low­income. Jason talks 
about his father a lot, and it is clear that he loves his family very much. One day Jason 
came in to school extra slow, with dark circles under his eyes. I asked him how he had 
slept and he said that he had to get up at 4 am to “go to work with my dad.” I found out 
that they were shoveling snow, since it was right around one of the terrible snowstorms 
we experienced this winter. 
Jason seems to be very grateful for what he has. One day he came in with differ­
ent pants on than the ones he usually wears (there is a dress code at the school, so it is 
not noticeable that he wears the same pants every day). He came running up to me and 
exclaimed, “I got new pants!” He was truly happy about this, and seemed very proud to 
show of his new corduroys! Another day he came in the classroom, hopping on one foot 
to show off his new shoes. Again, he was very proud of his shoes, not in a show­off kind 
of way, but it seemed like he appreciated their value. I asked if he had out grown his old 
shoes, and he said, “Oh man, yeah they were getting so tight!” 

The Setting
The Rafael Hernandez School is a two way bilingual school located in Roxbury, 
Massachusetts. The students in the school receive equal instruction in both English and 
Spanish. The elementary school students attend school on a rotating schedule. They 
are taught for two weeks at a time in one language with one teacher in her room, then 
they switch rooms to be with another teacher and to learn in the other language. No cur­
riculum is repeated during the course of the year, for example, the Spanish room will be 
on the same page of the math book as the English room, and the students are expected 
to carry their skills with them as they switch languages at the end of two weeks.
Jason’s classroom has 23 students in it.  There are always three adults in the 
classroom: the lead teacher, the paraprofessional, and myself. The children have gym, 
music, and two computer specials each week. There is no art instruction. Every friday, 
during the time that specials usually occur there is a “community circle” where the chil­
dren discuss a topic with the teacher to hopefully build a stronger community in the 
classroom and hopefully discuss things that happened in the week that may have been 
problematic. 
The lead teacher in this room tends to yell at the children a lot, and frequently 
sends children out of the room for their misbehavior. As a result, the class is disrupted 
quite frequently, either by some of the students not following directions, or by the teach­
er yelling at someone. I have yet to see Jason be singled out for any disciplinary action, 
he is mostly quiet, but does not receive much attention either way. 

Cognitive

February 2
Science Observation­­Crickets in the Spanish classroom
 Jason is seated at a table with four other children, all of whom are observing a cricket 
specimen. Jason works quietly while the others at the table are chatting to each other 
about unrelated things. He reads his work over to himself, mumbling the words quietly.

February 3
Social Studies lesson in Spanish classroom
Jason is seated at the back of the classroom. Playing with his shoes. Occasionally looks 
at the teacher

February 4
Science class in Spanish classroom
­very attentive
­quiet, doesn’t call out
­children move to desks
­observing mealworms, notices that the worms have been eating the apple pieces he 
put in their habitat, said “There were more apples here! The apples were bigger!”
­”When it turns into a pupa it takes ten days to grow.”­­unprompted statement directed at 
me.
­taking a very long time to write the observations. Can speak about what he observes, 
but does not write a lot.
­when he does write, he mumbles the words out loud as he goes. 
­eventually starts to joke with me about the mealworms “You know how they’re crazy!” 
­has trouble spotting the mealworms in their oatmeal habitat, and he asks me to let him 
know if “see any of the oatmeal move!”
­his writing is becoming sloppy, bigger print than he normally uses.

February 6
Read Aloud in English
­Jason sits at the back of the rug, apart from the rest of the class who are crowded 
around the teacher.
­plays with the bottom of his shoe
­taps the ground
­mumbles to himself
­makes quiet “swish” noises as he swings his arms around
­rest of class is blurting out a lot when the teacher reads, slowly becoming chaotic
­Jason occasionally looks at the teacher
 February 6
Guided Reading Group
­Jason is asked to read aloud from a passage in the level M book that he is reading
­he often stops at unfamiliar words
­does not attempt to decode
­looks to teacher for help 
­can answer comprehension questions if given a long time to get the answer

When Jason is observing the mealworms, it is clear that he is eager to learn 
about them and he is being a curious learner. The Omnibus Guidelines say that a 
second grader should be eager and interested in learning when provided with direct, 
active experiences, (p. 12) Jason is also very good at “seeking information through act­
ive investigation” (p. 112), which is exactly where he needs to be as a second grader. 
Jason is not where he should be in regards to his Reading skills, or he has been placed 
at a reading level that is too hard for him. He does not try to decode words unless 
prompted to by a teacher.  Being able to decode unfamiliar words is a characteristic of a 
second grader as pointed out by the Omnibus Guidelines. Jason correctly answers com­
prehension questions only after he has been allowed to re­read the material a few times, 
where he is most likely concentrating on trying to read the words and then make mean­
ing from the ones he does not know. A second grader should be able to comprehend 
and interpret a fiction and a non­fiction text, (Omnibus p.50)

Social­Emotional

February 2
Math­Writing Responses to Story Problems in the Spanish classroom
Jason is seated at a table with three children. The room is noisy, all the students are 
working at different centers. Jason asks, “Como se dice ‘help’ en espanol?” (How do 
you say ‘help’ in Spanish”) to the children at the table. No one responds to him, and 
Jason repeats his question. A boy answers him, and Jason smiles at him. 

February 10 
Math in English
­raises hand to correctly answer a question
­has eye contact with teacher
­class starts to get out of control
­Jason starts playing with his nose
­leans his head on the wall next to him
­raises hand 2 more times, does not get called on
­class becomes more out of control, almost everyone is talking
­Jason gets on his knees and starts rocking back and forth, singing to himself
­turns to the girl next to him and they make “friendly (i.e.. not rude or mean) duck faces 
at each other with their hands and faces, and they play footsie

February 11
Math in English
­sitting on rug
­maintaining eye contact with the teacher
­sits “correctly”­­criss­cross applesauce with hands folded in lap, like the teacher wants 
him to sit.
­very quiet
­raises his hand to answer a question after it has been repeated 3 times
­does not get called on
­raises hand again for other question, and doesn’t get called on
­rolls eyes and throws hands up in the air
­gets on hands and knees like “downward dog”, wiggles around
­the class has been on the rug for about 40 minutes at this point, the rest of the class is 
rowdy too
­sits back on knees and rubs hands on the hardwood floor, like he was pushing himself 
around on a scooter

We see an example of Jason asking his peers for help. In the Omnibus 
guidelines, it states that a child who is willing to ask others for help is showing appropri­
ate self­confidence for a second grader(p. 2). For the most part Jason follows the 
classroom rules and routines, only acting out when he has been sitting for a long time, 
or when he gets frustrated at not getting called on. 
 It is clear through Observations in the Social­Emotional domain as well as the 
Cognitive domain that Jason has trouble when he is expected to gain meaning through 
listening. The Omnibus Guidelines say that a second grader should be able to “demon­
strate attentiveness and comprehension as a listener by means of body language or fa­
cial expression,” (p. 32) Jason sometimes shows signs that he is being a good listener, 
but often he seems to space out and drift off from the conversation that the teacher is 
having with the rest of the class. Sometimes he gets more distracted when the class has 
been sitting for too long, over a 30 minute period.

Physical/Functional

February 11
­came in late to school
­stood in hallway drinking juice until I went out to get him after class was well underway
­sat at back table “drinking” from empty juice container with the other students who were 
finishing up their school breakfasts
­came to the rug, where the rest of the class was after 15 minutes passed. 
­realized he hadn’t taken his chair down yet, got up and put it down very slowly
­”moseyed” back to the group

From what I have seen from Jason so far, I see that he is a very