Curtis
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Curtis, a gifted artist, is a 12th-grade African-American boy in my English class. He is tall and very dark-skinned, and he does not associate with any of the other African-American males on campus. His close friends at school are all female.
Compared to the other examples in this assignment this introduction was too brief for me. I was looking for more details about physical presence and gestures. While referencing the protocol, it made me wonder why an educator only had a brief physical description for his/her student. It would be helpful to incorporate family, social, and perhaps even educational background to enhance the descriptive review.
Curtis is mostly on track to graduate and he wants to go to college to study art. That is a scary place for him though because he has not had many opportunities in high school to develop a portfolio or his skills with different mediums. He does well in humanities classes but struggles with math and science. He is missing two semesters of science and hates to be reminded that he has to do well in the twilight program where he is making up those courses.
This is very unfortunate. Many schools had to discontinue classes, such as music and art due to budget cuts. As educators, knowing that Curtis is a gifted artist, maybe we could have helped him find free or reduced art programs that could have offered him opportunities not available in school. I would be interesting to see if this parents/guardians support this skill and just need guidance on available resources in the community.
Curtis likes to read and often uses drawing as a way to process text. When asked to use sensory details to complete his Life Timeline at the beginning of the school year, Curtis submitted 25 pages of sensory details and unbelievable sketches. At the same time, when students are tasked to do other heavier writing tasks, Curtis goes through what he have called his “moments” where he shuts down, talks to himself about “these teachers” and then proceeds to complete the writing task in the way he wants to do it. He benefits from one-on-one attention to get him past these moments, and it usually means talking to him about how his day is going first before even diving into talking about the work.
Curtis is displaying the description of a visual learner, which is something his math and science educators could use to help him relate to the content. As an aspiring science educator, I know there are so many resources that can be supplied to help students be successful. As a visual learner myself, drawings of processes had a huge influence in my understanding of new material.
Curtis’ emotions can be very much up and down and all over the place. They often go in a negative direction when he is triggered by factors like not being immediately successful or where he perceives he is being judged by his peers. He often feels like he is being judged even when a student is only asking him a clarifying question. He looks to teachers for approval constantly and relationships with grownups are very important to him. He appreciates being thought of as being more mature than his peers.
Curtis is not a disciplinary issue although some teachers have said he has an attitude with them, which is why he has been kicked out of classes a few times.
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