Intern Year: Spring 2014: Week 6

The state department came to monitor our school last week in regards to special education.  This was because they were held accountable for something.  However, something happened that shocked me.  The school was allowed to pick the IEPs that were going to be reviewed, the teachers who were going to be interviewed, and the classrooms that were going to be observed.  Also, they were given the interview questions and acceptable answers.  I believe that the visit from the state department did not demonstrate or show anything.  They did not get a real feel of the school or the different parts of the school.  It was like a show almost.  How are we fixing schools that are not in compliance if they are putting on a show, because they know what is going to happen or what is expected of them.  To me, this seems like the biggest problem in schools, because the state department should be monitoring and fixing what is wrong.  But they cannot fix what is wrong if a show is being put on and they tell the schools what they will be looking for.

This week, I noticed that one of my students came into school with a black eye.  This student lives at the mission and his mother is an addict.  When the student came up to ask about using the restroom, I asked about what happened to his eye.  He explained that he walked into a door and was completely closed off and not looking at me.  It gave me a very uneasy feeling in my stomach.  Something did not feel right.  I told my mentor teacher about what happened, and she then casually approached the student and asked what happened.  He explained that him and his brother got into a fight.  My mentor teacher then addressed that issue that his explanations did not match up, and she wanted him to feel safe and that he could talk to us about anything.  He finally explained that his mom got mad at him in the morning because he was not ready for school.  She then took a glass and hit him.  I had never felt so upset or heartbroken or helpless.  I wanted to do so much for this student, but there was nothing we could do except call Child Protective Services, and after that it was out of our hands.  I feel like there was was something more I needed to do; I did not want this student to go back into such a hostel environment.  However, after we called CPS, we could just try to make the student feel as safe and comfortable as possible when he was in school.  I don't think I will ever get used to seeing a student being hurt physically or emotionally by someone who is supposed to take care of them and protect and guide them.  However, I know I cannot stop this from ever happening, but I hope to make my students feel as safe as possible while they are in my classroom.

Today in my sixth grade English co-teach class, the general educator was going over parts of speech and sentence structure that she taught earlier in the week.  However, the students were not able to apply what they learned.  The teacher was easily frustrated and was taking it out on the students.  She put them on the spot and embarrassed some of the students who did not know the answers.  Instead of looking at her own teaching, she was blaming the students for not understanding what she taught.  I feel like she should have evaluated how she taught the students and maybe use a different strategy.  To me, if my students do not understand the content, it is because of how I taught it.  I do not think the students should ever be blamed for not understanding the content.  It is the teacher's instruction that was not effective for the students.