There are a few children in the class that have so far seem rather disengaged. They have various special educational needs: dyslexia and EAL. It became apparent that they were being “left behind”. As their specific needs were not affecting their behaviour they had not been addressed as quickly as some other members of the class. I was also told that it would not be possible for them to formally re-assessed this year. Given my extra time at the moment I researched possible resources and teaching strategies that may help. I printed word mats, translated materials and alphabet arcs. I also reprinted some of the displays on the walls, making sure that the fonts and background colours used were conducive to everyone in the class being able to access them. I was preparing my first group short lesson to be observed. I would be teaching homophones with a group selected on either their lower reading age or their general lack of concentration in class so that I could double check their understanding. The homophone matching word game had images on which would hopefully enable the whole group to take part. It also allowed more time for thinking, as have learnt that is something teachers do not generally allow for. I was told in the morning that a child in my class who has dyslexia did not want to come into school that day as he had been struggling. It was the day I was taking my group which he was a part of and I was going to introduce some resources to him. I am disappointed in myself that it took this message from home to really get going with him. We discussed the different resources and how they would be kept on the side for him to dip in and out of. He made some progress during the game as was matching words, but was struggling with the written exercise. In hindsight I should have prepared it so that he could try the homophone options in the exercise sentences before he had to commit pencil to paper. As he left at the end of the day I heard him say to his mum that he had had a really good day. I was over the moon. The fact that he had grown in confidence that day and wanted to come back tomorrow was excellent progress. I must continue to research different resources and discuss them with the children to gage what they feel is working for them/helping and what else they might like. I have also been looking for extra training events that I could attend to extend my knowledge and understanding in different SEND areas. I must be proactive and ensure that I am using the right language, motivating the children and providing a variety of resources so that they feel able to succeed everyday. I will start printing the LO for a few of the children so that time is not used trying to copy rather than listening to the teacher or getting on with the activity. I also think that it must be difficult to move onto the task if they have found the experience of trying to copy out the LO frustrating and demotivating. All Stories