Intern Year: Fall 2013: Week 6

         One of my students who is autistic has been very unfocused and off task lately.  He is obsessed with a game, Infinity, that he plays at home.  Instead of focusing on the lesson or answering questions, he replies with a comment about Infinity.  The student is promised that if he is good at school and earns all of his stickers, he will get to play Infinity or get a new Infinity action figure.  So when he is at school, he is completely focused on earning all of his stickers and Infinity.  The general education teacher, aide, and I have decided that he has become obsessive with it, and it is interfering with his learning.  The general education teacher wrote a note home to his mother about Infinity interfering with his learning.  We are hoping that the mom will stop promising him these rewards if he earns all of his stickers, because then he cannot focus on his school work.

            Another one of my students has been absent for six consecutive school days.  She has been away from instruction for 10 days.  However, when I was doing morning bus duty today, she came in and was so excited to see me!  She is on a kindergarten ability level, but is a fourth grader.  She gave me a big hug, and I was able to help her through the breakfast line.  I was very surprised that she remembered me and took to me so easily again.  However, it is going to be difficult to get her back on track with a schedule and completing work.  Also, I am wondering if we are going to have to reteach everything from before.  Today will be very interesting to observe her behavior, what she retained, and her willingness to complete work. 

            There was a tense situation on Tuesday.  The student who had missed 6 days of school returned.  However, it was like starting from the beginning with her.  She was very resistant and did not want to complete her work.  She cried, screamed, fell on the floor, and ripped her paper.  In the end, she bit herself enough to leave teeth marks.  It was a very intense situation.  My mentor teacher was handling the situation, but I was working with another 4^th grade group as this was all going on.  My group of students was taking a test and the situation was very distracting to both the students and myself.  I did not know how to alleviate the distraction and keep the students focused on the test.  My mentor teacher explained that since the student was away from the structure of school for 10 days, she had to start at the beginning with her.  She explained that she needed to break the wall down with her, and demonstrate that she was not giving in.  It was a very difficult to watch the situation occur, but I understand why my mentor teacher could not give in.  She needs to establish the environment that will occur in her classroom.  The student was trying to get out of doing her work, but my teacher stood her ground to try and break the wall down that the student put up since she was off from school.  My mentor teacher had to document everything and stressed the importance of keeping a record of everything that occurs with students that could be of concern if anyone would happen to address it.

            I got to sit in at my first IEP yesterday.  It went very smoothly compared to what I thought an IEP would go.  It was only about 20 minutes long, and the special education teacher went through and explained each part of the IEP with the new changes.  The parent was very understanding and gave her concerns about what she would like to see in the IEP.  The parent and special education teacher were able to agree on the new changes.  It seemed very simple, but from my understanding, not all IEP meetings go that smoothly.  I would be very interested to see an IEP meeting that is more difficult, because I will encounter those in my career.

Intern Year: Fall 2013: Week 5

           The week has been flying by!  I am not teaching full time except for one half-hour block, which is very exciting!  It feels very different teaching full time for the entire day, and it keeps me very busy.  As a special education teacher, I see the importance of being on time and being prepared.  I only have a limited amount of time with students, and I am on a very set schedule.  So it is important that I utilize the time I have with the students to complete the instruction and activities.  I feel that I am getting better with my time management with lessons.  My blocks are half hour blocks with the students, and they are not always in the special education room.  So I am very conscious of my time and the lessons that I plan out for each block.  In some cases, I wish I had more time with the students, especially if they are not understanding or able to apply the concept we are working on.  I feel like sometimes a half an hour is just not enough, but I am learning to use my time better and focus more on accomplishing the learning goals.

            Another wondering that I am having deals with co-teaching.  In my placement, I co-teaching in a fourth grade classroom for math and reading for a half an hour each.  However, I would not categorize it as co-teaching.  In my education courses at WVU, I have learned and read about co-teaching in many different contexts, but I feel like we are not “co-teaching”.  When co-teaching, the teachers collaborate and work together to create the lessons and assessments, and they focus on each other’s strengths and ideas.  I feel that I am just providing behavior support and making sure the students are on task.  The general education teacher provides the instruction, and she will ask for my input.  But mostly, I walk around the classroom, provide support if any student needs it, provide behavior support with all students, and make sure all students are on task.  It is hard to just stand there at some points and watch the instruction.  I feel like I should be doing more, but I do not want to overstep my boundaries.  The general education teacher and I get along, but I feel like we have not developed a relationship as co-teaching partners yet; I do not know my role in the co-teaching situation.

This week there has been a lot of firsts for me.  I had to give my first demerit to a student.  The student took a quiz in my classroom, and when she was finished, I sent her back to class.  However, when I walked back to the classroom about five minutes later, she was still out in the hallway wondering around.  I explained that when we got back to the classroom, she would have to move her star, and she began to cry.  I felt really bad, but I knew that I had to stand firm in the consequences.  When we got back to the classroom, her star was already on red and the next step is a demerit.  Therefore, I had to write her up for a demerit.  Her general education teacher was very upset, and the student began to make up stories to get out of it.  But, the classroom teacher did not accept them, because the student has been lying about everything.  It was a hard thing to do, but I had to give her the demerit.

Another first for me was taking an object off of a student that they should not have had in school.  When I realized what it was, I was very scared.  I went straight to the general education teacher that I was co-teaching with, and she took the issue straight to the principal.  It made me realize that students have access to many objects at home that are harmful to themselves or others.  Even if the student does not know what it is, they still are held accountable for bringing that object to school. 

I have also realized that I implement very different classroom management in the resource room compared to a whole group general education classroom.  I have a rewards system in place with stickers and tickets.  If the students work hard and are focused on the lesson, they receive a sticker when they leave.  When they fill up their sticker chart, they get to go to the prize box.  If they are not focused or working hard during the lesson, they lose a sticker for the day.  I also pass out tickets to students that they can use in their general education classroom for great thinking, kindness, and good deeds that I notice.  When I was in a general education classroom, I had to address behaviors more than I do in the resource room.  Sometimes, it is difficult to alter my behavior/classroom management for the resource room to the general education room when I co-teach.  

Intern Year: Fall 2013: Week 4

I now really understand when teachers say, “Most of your days are really good, but then there are those really, really bad days”.  Yesterday was definitely one of those days; it felt like nothing was going as planned and everything was so unsuccessful.  First, the 3^rd grade reading group that I co-teach with was a disaster.  The intern in the third grade class did not provide me with any assignments to provide support for the students with like we discussed the week before.  Therefore, I had to think on my feet and find an activity to use for the students.  On top of that, the topic was elapsed time and none of the students were grasping the concept.  It felt as if I was speaking in a different language and none of the students understood me.  I tried to teach it in different ways to try and reach the students ability needs, but I felt like I was missing what they were needing to understand the concept.  However, the general education teacher said this is more of exposure for them, and it is a very difficult concept for any student to grasp and one of the hardest concepts to teach.  Today, I hope to try a different strategy to teach elapsed time, and I am prepared with my own lesson and assignment today. 

            The next bad part of the day occurred with the student who is MI and has a seizure disorder.  Sometimes, she gets in moods where she does not want to work and will be defiant, mean, and disrespectful.  Even though she is on a kindergarten/first grade level academically, she has an attitude of a 4^th grader.  I was reviewing her spelling words with her for the week; she was supposed to read the word that was on each flashcard.  However, that was not what she wanted to do.  She was making up words, complaining/whining, double talking, mocking,  and refusing to do work by laying on the floor.  It was a disaster; even her sticker/reward system was not successful.  My mentor teacher stepped in and took over and I took the other group that was in the room at the time.  I felt like us switching places was really great, though.  We work well as a team; she saw that I was struggling greatly, just like she was earlier in the morning with the student, and she stepped in to help the situation and see if she could get the student to comply with completing work.  However, she was not successful either.  The student ripped the paper, scribbled on the paper, and laid on the floor.  Everyone was feeling so frustrated and defeated after that situation that we had the student sit for the five remaining minutes.  My mentor teacher and I have been brainstorming to find a solution to the problem, and I feel like we are a great co-teaching team.  We have a great personal and professional relationship, and she treats me like an equal, not a student teacher.  I feel like I am having a great student teaching experience so far!

            In the afternoon, the third grade group came in for reading support.  It was a complete disaster.  The story this week deals with money, budgeting, allowances, and savings.  We read the strategic level of the leveled reader, but the students were not able to relate to the story and therefore, did not understand the story.  I decided not to go further with the story, because the students did not understand and were not relating to the story.  We then previewed the story, and I explained and asked the students to make predictions.  However, it seemed like I was talking a different language again.  The students did not understand the concept of making predictions, and by this time, time was up for the lesson. 

            Today has already been a better day, and it seems that the students and I are on the same page and I am reaching the students and their understanding.

            Yesterday was definitely a better day.  The students were more focused and engaged in the lesson.  My mentor teacher said that sometimes you just have bad days, and Monday must have been one of them.  Being in the special ed. room, I feel that the day flies by!  I am with different students every half hour and it keeps the day moving quickly and on my toes.  I have become very flexible, and I feel as if I am able to teach and co-teach with my mentor teacher very comfortably. 

            I am struggling with organizing my action research.  I have my ideas of what I want to do in my head and my research questions, but I am struggling to create a clear concept of the interventions and strategies I will use with the student.  I feel that I have a lot of great ideas and strategies I want to use, but I do not know how to make them all fit together.  Today, I am going to focus on organizing and setting up plan of action for my research.

          Now that we are ending the week, this week has been a great learning experience for me.  There have been a lot of situations that occurred this week that I have encouraged and discouraged me.  Elapsed time was a very hard concept for my third graders.  I felt like no matter which way I taught it or which strategy I used, the students were not able to apply the strategies.  I felt completely defeated even though the general ed. teacher explained that elapsed time is one of the most difficult concepts to teach, and the students might not understand the concept.  However, when the students took the test, I was pleasantly surprised with their grades!  It appeared that they did understand the concept of elapsed time somewhat.  This taught me that even though the lessons I teach may not always seem successful, some parts of the concept sunk in with the students.  I need to not look so much as the lessons as unsuccessful, but as a learning experience to improve my teaching strategies.

Intern Year: Fall 2013: Week 3

It was a difficult start to the week with a three day weekend.  Most of the students had a hard time getting adjusted back to the routine.  As I began planning my lessons for next week, I noticed the difficulty special education teachers face when planning.  They have multiple grade levels, multiple ability levels, and multiple modifications/accommodations they need to take into consideration.  Most of their plans are dependent on the general education teachers and their plans.  It seems that special education teachers have to wait to make their plans around the other general education teachers’ plans.

            I faced a situation today where I was not sure how to handle it.  While working with the 3^rd grade reading group, the students were following along, but the one student is not able to read at all.  I read most of the story to them so they would be able to understand, but the students asked why CJ didn’t have to follow along and could just listen.  I wasn’t sure if what I said what acceptable.  I said, “We are all different and learn differently, and the student learns best by listening”.  I did not want to make the student feel uncomfortable, but it seemed like my answered helped the other students to understand. 

            I feel that I am really starting to develop my research question and action research project now.  At first, I felt like I wanted to only focus on site words, but I see now that I am going to need to use many different strategies with the student.  I am going to use letter recognition, phonemic awareness, site words, and reading on ability level.  I am focused on assisting this student to read on some level.  At this point, he is not even able to identify most words or even letters.  Through my action research project, I hope to give the student the ability and tools to read more fluently and without having to decode each individual letter.  I hope that it will give him a better quality of life and make school more enjoyable.  He does not lack motivation and is not at a frustration level, yet.  However, I hope through my action research, he will be able to read at a level that is comfortable for him where he can participate with his grade level peers.  I know that I am not going to make miracles happen and have him reading on level, but I hope that he will be able to read more fluently to help him in every aspect of his life.

            I really see how flexible I need to be as a teacher.  Yesterday during my first lesson,  I observed that my students really did not understand the concept I taught them, and they were not able to apply what I taught them.  Therefore, in the afternoon I switched up my lesson and extended what I was teaching in the morning.  It took some quick thinking and some Pinterest ideas to get myself ready for the second lesson.  I am even going to take it further this morning and have the students apply what they learned about sequencing by relating it to their own life.  I have learned that even if you make plans, you don’t always follow your plans.  The plans are mostly an outline of what you will do throughout the week, and they are not set in stone.  Things change, and it is important that I am able to be flexible and have other ideas ready to make sure the students are able to understand and apply what they learned during my lesson.

            I was co-teaching in the 4^th grade math class today assisting with the students with special needs.  They were working with money and making change.  I was working and focusing on the students with special needs.  General ed. Students were also asking for some assistance, and one boy asked for my help and was in tears.  He was so upset that he did not understand how to count up from a price to make change from $10.  I acknowledged that he was really upset that he did not understand.  So, even though he was not a student I normally work with, I took the time to reteach the lesson and work through a few problems with him.  By the end, he was calmed down and seemed to understand the concept.  I then told him that if he needed more help or needed it explained more, he could come to my classroom and I would help him.  This really showed me that even though I am in a special ed. Resource room, I am actually there to help all the students, because not all general ed. Students are going to understand the concepts and material right away.  All students, general ed. And special ed. Included, will need my assistance while I am co-teaching in the classroom.

            I am having trouble with having a student of mine focus and complete work independently without sitting there and prompting him to complete the work consistently.  I do not know how I can keep him focused, engaged, and completing his work.  I feel as if I keep using different teaching strategies and methods and I teach in different ways, but nothing keeps him completing his work and on task.  His general ed. Teacher is having the same problem and cannot get him to complete his work.  She sends the work home that is not finished, but it is never returned.  The only way that he will finish his work is if someone sits with him one-on-one and prompts him continually.  I am lost as to what I can do with him to get him to focus.  He has ADD, and I need to find strategies that I could use with him.