Truly Eye Opening

I have had a hard time figuring out exactly what I have wanted to say about my student teaching experience. To say the least, it has been eye opening.

I spent my first semester at a local high school, and although it totally changed my beliefs of working with high school students, I knew where I wanted to be (7th or 8th grade). This being said, I now have a new appreciation of how mature the sophomores I was working with were. I also appreciate how much more work 7th and 8th graders do in comparison to my sophomores that were totally uninterested. At least most of my middle school students will do their work!

I think that one of the most important parts of my student teaching experience, outside of the teaching aspect, has been the reflective one. There have been nights where I went back to my dorm room and just cried. The lives of some of my students are not ones to write home about. Most days I feel so inadequate, and yet, its my students that keep me going. Working at a school that is very low income has taught me that the students really look to their teachers as role models, and oftentimes for some type of affection that they will not receive at home. Some of my best students have the saddest stories, and yet they keep trucking, but what keeps them going is the teachers that work with them.

Although I knew I was doing a decent job at my placement, and have made a lot of connections with students, it was one particular interaction that will make leaving the hardest I believe. I was talking with some of my REAL (homeroom) students about my graduation, and that May 5th would be my last day with them. One of the more difficult students who I had been working extensively with looked at me and said "...you're leaving soon? But, you're the only teacher here that likes me."

That. That interaction made this whole semester of tears, frustration, but all encompassing happiness worth it.

Balancing Authority and Empathy

The amount of lessons I have learned definitely compensates for the extent of the struggles I have faced while student teaching. Throughout my life, I have opened my heart to children. I have not only pursued a degree in teaching, but I have also worked at multiple daycares and babysat for numerous families. While it is easy to sympathize with my students, a major lesson I have had to learn while student teaching is how to control the level of my sympathy. A classroom environment, as a student teacher, has put me in a position of authority that I have yet to venture into during my adulthood. With this authority, has come a new revaluation. In order to be a role model, I have to realize that I am not the parent of these kids. Although I love them, I need to put a barrier up between their lives outside of the classroom and mine. This barrier at first was hard to create, but was necessary. I have learned while connecting with my students, the importance of a relationship between a teacher and a student. One must be in a position of authority while being in a position of a mentor and a friend. My students have responded better once I learned to level these two out with my personal investment and emotional attachments to each child. 

Of course I need to be aware of their struggles outside of school, but while doing this I need to refrain from placing judgement. I have seen teachers look at incoming students and judge them based on things they have seen or heard. It is so important to treat every child with the same empathy and understanding. 

 

How have you all made sure to not place judgement on students based on what you have heard?

What To Do?

Hey guys, so I have a student in my class that will not listen and fight back, just to get my attention. For example, today I told another student to not put her fingers in her ears while the teacher was talking because it was rude. So the student that doesn't listen, instantly puts her fingers in her ears and sits, looking at me, waiting for me to respond. I have stopped responding and usually let another teacher work with her to get her stuff done, but I hate leaving it to them. Any ideas as to what might work with her to get her to listen and not continue with this behavior?

(I have done check ins with her about how the period was going and if she was listening, but it works for a few days, but doesn't work all week. And I do give her attention when she is listening, play with her when I can so it's not as if I don't work with her)

Music In the Classroom

          With the school year winding down, I’ve noticed an increase in the stress levels of students and in their ability to focus. As a student, and even as a teacher, I continually listen to music as I work to maintain focus and keep my stress levels down as I work. As a student, my school discouraged us from listening to music. I have pondered this idea for a while now as a future educator. Now that I am in schools, I think about what the positive effects on listening to music while completing work may be. I know there is research that shows a moderately strong relationship between music and student effectiveness and understanding while completing work; similar to that of chewing gum.
          My mentor teacher, will often let his students chew gum or have a mint while taking a quiz or test. I would like to try this with music. The difficult task I’m confronted with is determining if I should let the students choose their own music to listen to. There are also times when the classroom can get rowdy with a large number of students in conversation with their peers. Could music keep this volume of noise down?

Plan Ahead Ladies and Gentlemen!

                How obvious a statement right? I'm not just talking about being one or two days ahead in your planner either. If you're anything like me, when you started your placement, new responsibilities came at you quickly and began to pile up. Once it seemed as if you mastered those responsibilities, you were required to start teaching lessons.
            What I'm getting at, is that no one sat down with you and said "Hey, let's look at my planner and how I run things, and lets get yours filled in with what the week(s) are going to look like". That would have been nice though!
             I'm halfway through my placement here and I just barely started doing this. I pick one day that I can meet with each of my cooperating teachers, and sit down with them, We plan out what lessons I'm going to teach, and then I fill out what they'll be teaching in a different color. This allows me to see where my teaching fits into the larger picture. It also allows me to feel more confident and in control of how the week will look, and not be left feeling like things are just piling up on me or given to me last minute.
            I hope this was helpful to any of you reading this that may be feeling the same way as I was. Just remember, collaboration and communication are key to success. When teachers are on the same page, your students will recognize this and feel comfortable as well!


Happy teaching!

Jenn Adams :)

Including all of your students!

Hello all!

I guess to start this off, I can give you all a bit about who I am. My name is Zach Briggs. I am currently doing my student teaching in a special education placement in St. Albans, VT. I enjoy long walks on the beach, deep conversation, holding hands, romance novels, and pruning the garden. What? Too much?? Fine. I GUESS I’ll just keep it focused on our placements.

Sorry JT...

I, like all of you, am experiencing the TIME OF MY YOUNG LIFE being in a student teaching placement and, like it or not, we’re coming to the end of our time there and the real world is COMIN' IN HOT! We’re gonna be having our own classrooms, with our own students, and our OWN BENDY NECAP RULERS!!!

Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about.

I want to take my time here with this lovely blog post that's already going out of control to go over some of the inclusion strategies we can use for students who are in special education. I thought, with my current placement, it really makes the most sense and I can talk about some of the stuff that I see on a regular basis. NOW, I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that you’re probably thinking to yourself "Why are you telling me this? I’ve talked about inclusion strategies like 10,000 times” and to that I say, buckle-up sister! Cause this is 10,001!

*ding*

So let’s start with what inclusion means. Inclusion means supporting special education students by accommodating and modifying student work to help meet their needs. I believe that all educators should be doing this as much as possible. It’s not Ye Olden Days anymore, it’s time to get with the program and start teachin’ all the kiddos, not just the ones who are where you want them to be.

"Time to fight social oppression of special education!" - That guy.

Not to go into TOO much detail, cause again, we’ve heard it all already, let me list off some of the main examples of inclusion I have seen in my placement.

Scaffolding

Manipulatives

Strategic Grouping

Extra time (on assessments, time to think, support time)

Accommodating work (amount of work, differentiating to meet student level)

OF COURSE UNIVERSAL DESIGN OF LEARNING (UDL)

OH YEAH!

I want to go into one of these in more detail, Manipulatives. When I first think of Manipulatives I think of base ten blocks, play money, pattern blocks, and other math manipulatives but they really can be found all over. From puzzles and games to markers and other art supplies, manipulatives are anything that can give the student something to DO when learning. These items are multisensory, represent ideas in more than one way, promote communication, and increase confidence in a subject area. This idea helped create ACTION BASED LEARNING or ABL, which if you’ve never heard of it before, is a very kinesthetic way for students to move and interact with their environment and learn. Here is a link for more details on ABL and how you could be involved with it in the future.

Bright, beautiful, captivating, CoverGirl.

With that being said, you don't NEED to be a part of ABL in order to implement ABL's ideas. All classrooms can be action based and can have students interact and explore their environment. Even Middle and High school classrooms, which are typically more lecture based than exploring your surroundings don't need to be. The best part of Middle and High schoolers is they can be expected to do things without constant supervision (even though they don't always act like they can handle it. NO DISRESPECT TO THOSE STUDENTS, but I was one of them once and let's be honest. I probably STILL shouldn't be expected to do things without supervision). These are perfect times for students to go out and learn by doing. Have students plant a garden that they tend to every day and explore the life and water cycle. Have students go on nature hikes and explore their towns. have students find real life MATH (WHHHAAAATT?!) and find ways that it applies to their everyday life and real world implications from stop signs to money to dimensions of buildings and architecture all the way to the video games they play. These real life experiences are going to have a much longer lasting implication on these students and as far as I'm concerned, are the more important for students with special needs. 

COME ON, we all know that this game is actually FILLED with crazy mathematical concepts and students would be none the wiser.

So, to wrap it all up in a B-E-A-UTIFUL bow, I just want to end with this quote that I really believe are words to live by for all teachers:
"Our job is to teach the students we have. Not the ones we would like to have. Not the ones we used to have. Those we have right now. All of them." -Dr. Kevin Maxwell

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