Poverty

I do not face poverty day to day personally or professionally, but on occasion a student that enters our school is from an incredibly low income household or even homeless. I’m thinking of a specific child I taught, that lived between homes and a car. He and others in similar situations seemed distracted and often misplaced work. He frequently arrived without shoes or a jacket. He was in survival mode, which meant that schoolwork was not a priority. I spent much of my time nurturing him with kindness and trying to inspire him to aim for his goals. I was resourceful in gathering supplies, clothing, and food items to provide him while he was with me. (One year, he even spent Christmas Eve with my family, because he and never had a visit from Santa before).  I just tried to make school a fun, engaging, and safe place to be.

Another major concern for children like him is the quality or lack of health care they receive. The few poverty-stricken students I've had in my class were all facing health issues that needed to be dealt with. One was facing obvious diabetic issues, and have had many others with chronic asthma. This was very hard for me to stand by and watch and not be able to help. 

Professionalism

I believe I am a professional, because I respect the rules, leaders, and routines at my school. I try to model going above and beyond to my peers along with maintaining boundaries to take care of myself. I believe that when I am doing my best, acting out of kindness, and keeping the child’s best interest in the forefront, I am acting professionally. I often seek advice and feedback from my peers and school leaders to better myself and grow.

Unprofessional Behavior

I have witnessed a staff member acting unprofessionally by listening to her gossip and vent about another staff person. Initially, I listened and said nothing to avoid a conflict. Afterward, it was weighing on me, and I eventually suggested that she solve the problem in person. Since then, I have supported our school in a plan of “Courageous Conversations” and a “No Venting Zone”. In this environment, we neither listen nor participate in negative conversations about people or our school. It helps us to focus on solutions and the fact that we are here for the children. This is such a more comfortable and positive circumstance to work. 

Bullying

As a child I experienced bullying as a victim, bully, and witness. I was part of a trio of girlfriends that often excluded one another and other girls. Along with excluding, my "friends" gossiped and hurt the girls on the outside of our group. In hindsight, when I chose to participate in this behavior, I assume it was due to fear of my own exclusion from the group, which occurred from time to time. This experience has helped me spot this scenario in the classroom and empower bystanders and group members to challenge the bully. It has also helped me be proactive and speak to girls about insecurities and maintaining positive, healthy friendships. At our school, I support the discipline policy which strictly enforces no gossiping or insulting, because I know that bullying starts with those smaller acts. I “survived” the situation by eventually moving out of those friendships, but now I feel like I can support and prevent girls from entering into those relationships. 

Semester 2 Goals

This semester my goals are to continue to do my best, stay on track with assignments and job responsibilities, and continue to grow and learn. With the stress of school and work, I am striving to keep my attitude positive and implement positive self-talk and affirmations for my students. I am lucky to be supported by my Cadre leader that is readily available to answer questions and offer advice. This is just the kind of support I need: a great “Go-to Person”.

Curriculum Mapping

Curriculum mapping is a very important at the school I work at. Because the Montessori model is to group the kids in three year blocks (3-6 yrs., 6-9yrs., 9-12 yrs., and 12+ or middle school) we need to have a strong map. We call this a 3-year cycle. We need to make sure that while a child is in our class we have covered everything. I have sat on the team that does the curriculum mapping, and while it's not an easy task, it is so important and rewarding. I feel it gives the teachers a roadmap of the content that needs to be covered in a years time, yet the freedom to differentiate the instruction from there.

Differentiating Instruction

As a student, a mom,  and a Montessori teacher, I strongly believe that the one-size-fits all approach to teaching is the most damaging. In my opinion, the ability to differentiate instruction is what makes the best teachers stand above the rest. I believe that the first thing needed to be able to differentiate instruction to your students is to know them...truly get to know each child. If you know what kind of learner they are and what makes them "tick", I believe you can give them all the best possible education. One way I've gotten to know the learning styles of the students in my class is to give them a learning inventory. This not only can be used as a tool for me, but I like to see them reflect on how they feel they learn best. Assessing often is another way to really know where your kids are at. If I know where they all stand in a subject, or even a single topic, I can then group the kids and give smaller group lessons. By knowing how the kids learn best, I can give different tasks or follow-ups to the kids on the same topic. This gives them an opportunity to become an expert on their portion of the topic taught, and then share that with the class. Another, more traditional way to differentiate is to give different homework as needed. I really feel that there is no right or wrong way to differentiate instruction, you just need to know your students and the rest will come.

Collaboration

Luckily, I have a very good working and personal relationship with all of the regular ed teachers. I feel I am in a good position at times, because for the last 12 years I was on the other side of the SpEd teacher/regular ed teacher table. If I had to name one, a challenge we've had this year is concerning the modification of the SpEd students' assignments. It's sometimes hard to draw the line between what the regular ed teachers are supposed to do, versus what I do, and what the special ed teacher has done in the past. If I have time between pull-outs and teaching my remedial math and grammar class, I usually work on creating modified classwork (for the other classes) for my SpEd students. For example, the students are participating in a "Mapping the World by Heart" program this year. If I know in advance what continent the students will be working on next, I can either simplify or retype the checklist or enlarge a blank map and darken the lines for those who need it. Technically, this is something the general teachers are responsible for because it is their class, but if I have the time, I am of course happy to help. The challenging part for me is that the teachers have grown used to me helping in this area, so I'd feel guilty if I ever backed off. I haven't found yet that I don't have enough time to help modify the work, but next year I will have more SpEd kids at the Middle School than any year in the past.

Technology in the Classroom

I love to use technology in the classroom when I can, and more importantly, when it's relevant. At my school, as a special education teacher, I have access to two laptops, one iPad, and the Mimio system. For the most part, I use the laptops when working with the kids who use the Reading Horizons reading program, and any word processing. I use the iPad quite often, as it is can be used for almost anything. I appreciate the portability of the iPad, and the kids enjoy using the Dragon (speak to text) program. The iPad also has many useful apps for my autistic students. The Mimio (an interactive whiteboard system ) is the the one I am least familiar with. I just haven't gotten my hands on it enough to feel totally comfortable with it. My goal is to get comfortable with it by the end of the school year, so this summer I can include it when lesson planning for next school year.

Reading- Prompt 7

In my opinion, teaching kids (with disabilities especially) to read is one of the most challenging things. I use a wide array of strategies, but although I've been teaching 4th, 5th, and 6th grades for over 10 years, it still seems I'm searching for the right tools...this feels like a weakness. For the ones who are really struggling, I go back to the basics, work on decoding strategies. For those with reading comprehension issues, I tend to teach the tricks, and work on the engagement needed to fully comprehend. I really enjoyed reading a book called The Book Whisperer. I feel that this was a very easy going approach, yet inspiring. After implementing some of the authors strategies, I can see a shift in the attitudes of some of my students.
With the Common Core standards being implemented, I'm seeing the heavy concentration being put on finding the theme of the text, and the overall analysis of the piece. This is stirring up a lot of angst, especially with the high number of students on the autism spectrum that I see.
I feel like I have embraced the Common Core standards, I've even chosen to attend a 3-day conference on the language arts portion. But in all honesty, I know I still have a lot to learn.

Classroom Management- prompt 6

When browsing the web for classroom management articles, I was excited to stumble upon one called Classroom Management for "Specials". Sadly, after reading the article, I don't feel I agree with most of the authors ideas or strategies. The author suggests using too many scare tactics, rather than establishing a positive rapport with the students. It seems that when kids go to "specials", such as, music, PE, health, they are more apt to misbehave. In turn, I feel that there is higher burn out rate for those teachers. As mentioned in some of my previous blogs, prior to this year, I taught my own classroom and was even department head for 15 years. For the first time in my teaching career, I feel like I am having to put extra effort into establishing a close rapport with the kids I have in my classes. I don't think I realized before how much this effects special teachers, or those who only teach one or two classes.

Assessments- Prompt 5

In reflecting on our use of assessments in our classrooms, I would probably give myself a 7. I feel a 7 is appropriate because although the assessments we use are meaningful and consistent, I wish I could find more time to create more of a variety of assessments. For example, in areas like geography, I feel we have a very engaging way to assess the students' learning. The students choose follow-ups off of a menu of options to be able to prove mastery in a topic. In mapping, these options may include drawing & coloring beautiful maps, building topographical maps with clay, or students can always propose another idea to the teachers.
In math and grammar, we are using a more traditional approach in assessments, as we are using the tests that accompany the textbooks. In my remedial math class, I can often find time on Mondays to have the students complete the "B" test. The "B" test is similar the test they will take on Wednesday, which is the one recorded in the grade book. Since I started doing this, I have seen a tremendous increase on homework and test scores. This gives them an opportunity to ask questions, seek clarification on concepts, and reduce test anxiety before Wednesday. It also shows me which concepts need reviewing or reteaching. I often have to differentiate my instruction, and come up with different avenues for the students to understand the content. As a teacher, my favorite moments are the "Aha! Moments", which I feel wouldn't be as frequent if I didn't put the time into frequently assessing and differentiating instruction.

Reflection/Student Engagement- prompt 4

In a word, my time in the classroom to this point has been a relief. Leaving the regular ed classroom after 15 years to pursue special education was scary. To this point, I am so happy with my choice. Most of my job this year consists of pull outs, but because I teach two classes in addition to the SpEd portion of my job, I am still using classroom management strategies and student engagement. I am always walking around when giving lessons or feedback. Montessori classrooms lend themselves to both independent projects as well as group projects, so I feel it is easier for my students to stay engaged throughout the work time, even the more difficult students.

Special Education- prompt 3

Meeting the needs of students with disabilities is a challenging, yet rewarding job. As a special education teacher, it is imperative that I am in constant communication with the lead teachers. I am fortunate to work a school that fosters both communication and collaboration between teachers. In addition to having a section of the weekly team meeting to discuss our special education students, I am able to spend some time in each classroom observing and helping as needed. I can then go back to the teachers and offer suggestions and my help in creating modifications. We also offer tutorials at the beginning of each school day. This takes place the half hour before the official start of the school day, and is a great opportunity for the students (especially those with special needs) to get any additional help they needed on homework the night before, or just to get organized for the day.

What's Working, What's Not...prompts 1 and 2

One of the things in my classroom that I am most proud of is the sense of community the class has. I feel like in just a short time, I have built a close rapport with the kids. The environment is comfortable, which in turn makes it easier for the kids to ask questions and learn. Another thing I am proud of is that due to good planning, I have been able to stick to a schedule of lesson plans. I feel like everyone benefits when I am more prepared.
One thing I'd like to do more of, especially in my math class, is to be able to tie in the use of more manipulatives and hands on activities during the lessons. This is something that the students (and I) coming from our Montessori 4th, 5th & 6th grade classrooms are used to and enjoy. With about an hour for each math lesson a day, I feel like this is a do-able goal. I am going to work on shortening the teacher-directed lesson to leave time for more hands-on activities. Another thing I'd like to work on is finding a better procedure for correcting homework. Right now, the students are correcting their own homework assignment as I read the answers out-loud. I feel like this takes too much time away from the class period. I am currently asking around and gathering ideas from other teachers on my campus.