Through working
in a small group in the resource room, I have noticed how it is more demanding
than a general ed. Classroom in my opinion.
By working with a smaller group, I feel that the students expect you to
work with them one on one and give them your undivided attention. However, with a group of four, I need to work
with all students and give them the assistance they individually need. I also feel as if I need to get to know the
students better with what they are able to do independently and what they need
assistance with. I do not want to
provide them with too much assistance, but I also want to see what they can do
independently. Teaching in a special
education classroom, has been a new experience for me and it is so much
different than teaching general ed. I
feel as if I have to implement a new strategy for teaching a small group of
students with disabilities. They require
different teaching methods and different assistance compared to a large class
setting.
My mentor teacher and I discussed my action research today, and we decided that I would work with a 3rd student who is categorized as LD in reading. However, both my mentor teacher and his general education teacher would classify him as a non-reader. I plan to work with him on identifying letters, identifying letter sounds, and identifying site words. I want to look at how it increases his reading scores and increases his word identification and ability to read fluently and understand. The student is very motivated to read, he never gives up, and always tries his hardest to complete the activities independently. I feel that he could benefit greatly from the extra activities and strategies to help him to become a reader!
It only took me 8 days with the students to catch a cold! However, I am feeling more comfortable now just jumping in with my mentor teacher as she is teaching. It is almost like we are co-teaching together and that is a great feeling. We are developing a professional relationship and understand each other’s boundaries. It takes time to understand each other as educators, and I feel as if we are on the right track to be able to co-teach well together to benefit the students.
During my small group with Sharon Hayes, we were talking about professional relationships and how we should be able to discuss our strategies and ideas with each other without taking it personal, and throughout my time in the school over the past few years, I have seen how some teachers take everything very personal. They think other teachers are attacking their character and strategies and are not focused on the students. The student should be the most important aspect of every decision; I feel that the only person suffering is the student because they are not benefiting from the educators feeling as if they are being attacked. It seems that we as educators need to be more open minded and realize that we each have our own way of teaching and strategies and that is okay. It doesn't mean our way is right and theirs is wrong, but that some strategies work better in different classrooms and with different students.
I am still developing my action research question, but as I develop my thoughts and try to get them in order, my mentor teacher, teacher ed coordinator, and the student’s general ed teacher have given me many great ideas. They all seem to think that phonetics is not working for him to learn to read and suggested sight vocabulary with the dolche word list and dell word list. I would like to do baseline data with letter recognition, letter phonetics, site words, and a reading passage. I will also use any testing that the general ed teacher or special ed teacher has on file for him to better understand him as a student. I will do an interest inventory with the student to get to know him better to find passages that will interest him. The student is always very willing to share and elaborate. I may even try reading activities/tests to him and see if he scores better on them if he is read to and gives his answers orally then when asked to be written.
It only took me 8 days with the students to catch a cold! However, I am feeling more comfortable now just jumping in with my mentor teacher as she is teaching. It is almost like we are co-teaching together and that is a great feeling. We are developing a professional relationship and understand each other’s boundaries. It takes time to understand each other as educators, and I feel as if we are on the right track to be able to co-teach well together to benefit the students.
During my small group with Sharon Hayes, we were talking about professional relationships and how we should be able to discuss our strategies and ideas with each other without taking it personal, and throughout my time in the school over the past few years, I have seen how some teachers take everything very personal. They think other teachers are attacking their character and strategies and are not focused on the students. The student should be the most important aspect of every decision; I feel that the only person suffering is the student because they are not benefiting from the educators feeling as if they are being attacked. It seems that we as educators need to be more open minded and realize that we each have our own way of teaching and strategies and that is okay. It doesn't mean our way is right and theirs is wrong, but that some strategies work better in different classrooms and with different students.
I am still developing my action research question, but as I develop my thoughts and try to get them in order, my mentor teacher, teacher ed coordinator, and the student’s general ed teacher have given me many great ideas. They all seem to think that phonetics is not working for him to learn to read and suggested sight vocabulary with the dolche word list and dell word list. I would like to do baseline data with letter recognition, letter phonetics, site words, and a reading passage. I will also use any testing that the general ed teacher or special ed teacher has on file for him to better understand him as a student. I will do an interest inventory with the student to get to know him better to find passages that will interest him. The student is always very willing to share and elaborate. I may even try reading activities/tests to him and see if he scores better on them if he is read to and gives his answers orally then when asked to be written.
That sharing professional ideas in a way that doesn't offend but invites collaboration is one of the trickiest things you can do as a professional. It's so critical though! Isn't it amazing how dedicated some of these students are to learning. He sounds like a bit of a hero, actually!
ReplyDelete:-)Sarah