Through this third week of teaching, I have realized that you will have great days, okay days, and just terrible days. By now, I have taken almost complete control of the classroom, and it's a been crazy, but fun! Although I'm stressed, I still look forward to each day. Planning has gotten much easier, especially now that I am familiar with the text books and corresponding websites. I have also become quick with coming up with extra assignments when all I have planned doesn't fill the entire period. The students treat me with respect, and I feel comfortable enough to reprimand them whenever necessary without having to look to my mentor teaching first. Today my teacher was not at school, so there was a substitute in the classroom. Since I have been in control of the class full-time, I tested myself to see if I could handle the whole day without any assistance from my mentor teacher or the substitute. Surprisingly, the students were great. There were no behavioral issues and the day went by smoothly. This gave me a lot of confidence in myself. For the past few weeks, I have been back and forth about whether I could handle high school special education as a full-time job. Now I know it's possible and I might even enjoy it. I definitely need to keep my sense of humor though!
Another thing that has improved is my collaborative class for transitional math. At first, the students were shy about asking me for help over the other two more familiar teachers in the room. Now, they raise their hands and ask me to come over to help. Although I am not always sure how to do the problem immediately, I work through it with them and check to make sure I led them in the right direction. I have a lot of fun in that class and it's nice to have a mixture of students as opposed to just having all students with IEP's singled out. I also think it's interesting to see them in an inclusive setting. On the first day of this class, I after walked around the class to observe them do independent work. I could only suspect one or two students as maybe having learning difficulties. When my teacher and I discussed the other students, I was surprised at some that had IEP's. This definitely makes me lean towards full inclusion, especially when students just have mild learning difficulties. It's amazing how the social aspect of LRE's can have an affect on the students academic abilities.
For next week, my goal is to differentiate intruction for my algebra classes because the student's are so different in abilities. My only worry is that the students will have trouble staying on task while something else is going on in the same room. For example, I may briefly go over a concept to the whole group, then assign higher students independent or group work while I explain the concept more in-depth for lower students. I have already been doing this for the past few weeks on the spot, but sometimes I feel like I have students sitting with nothing to do for a few minutes, and I definitely want to avoid that.
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I'm wondering....what makes the difference between a great, okay, and just terrible day. I'm sure it has something to do with the behavior and learning of your students....but I'm wondering what other factors might affect the kind of day you have.
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting to read that some students had been shy about asking you for help, but now feel comfortable enough to ask you questions. I think this provides evidence about how important it is to develop good relationships with each student. They have to trust us. They have to know that it's okay to make mistakes in front of us....and that we'll help them. Learning is often a risky business and it seems you've done a great job of establishing a safe classroom climate for your students.
I couldn't agree more with you about full inclusion. I, too, have seen how students with mild disabilities are able to achieve even beyond expectations when provided with the circumstances and opportunities to do so. It goes to show how we do have to have high expectations for all our students. Obviously, our high expectations have to be realistic and we have to provide the circumstances so our students can achieve our expecations....but again, I think we sometimes expect too little of too many of our students.
So, you've set a goal for next week....I'll be interested to read some of the strategies you use to differntiate instruction and how your students respond to them. Although it seems that you had a "rough" beginning, I'm thinking that you're going to be sad to leave in a couple of weeks. I'm sure your students will miss you.
Sharon
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ReplyDeleteI'm so glad to read that things are going well for you.....as I knew they would! You're proving to yourself, with every new experience, that you can handle all of it! You are a TERRIFIC teacher and you'll be able to work through ANYTHING because you have the know-how and the drive that it takes. Can't wait for you to come back!
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