For my work sample I am working on teaching my students to find items in a grocery circular and then total the items. It is the IEP goal for two of my students. Boring. Who does that in real life? Sorry if you do that. No offense.
One of the issues for these students is teaching generalizing skills. Sure, they can add the items in the classroom looking at a fake grocery advertisement. But could they go into a store and find those items and total them? Well I decided to find out.
Unfortunately my teaching style is very impulsive. I needed my students to go to the store to buy items for a cooking project. So I thought I would kill two birds with one stone by giving my students a list of grocery items and we could do our lesson for my work sample at the store.
I had a general idea of what I would need to do with these students. They had been to this store before and I had an idea of how I would manage four students and an I.A. at the store. What I had not planned on was that my University Supervisor decided to do a surprise visit to observe my lesson. Awesome. Well, not so much.
In all fairness I don't think I could have planned it better the first time. There were so many variables I just could not account for. But overall I thought it went well. My students did well. They understood the concept. We had so much fun I decided to do it again the next day.
The second time it went much better. I printed out specific worksheets with visual aids for some of my students. This worked much better. Live and learn, right? I knew they enjoyed it the first time because they voted to go to Bi-Mart for math on a day where it was pouring down rain and windy knowing we would have to walk in it to go to the store. But it was fun for all of us.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Balancing Act
I really thought I was going to cry this week. In fact, I told my male mentor teacher. I am sure that was awkward for him. But it is true. My whole world has become special education. I go to my placement and then come home and have to do prep work for the next day.
I miss having a life. And now when I get around people the only thing I know to talk about is special education. I feel so out of touch with the rest of the world. And I am pretty sure I am picking up some autistic tendencies. Great.....
I had been having a hard time finding my place in the classroom. I felt more like an educational assistant than anything else. Next week I am "officially" taking over. But even that looks like a glorified E.A. position. I know I can't have the whole class since I am only a student teacher. I guess the only other thing I would do as a real teacher is all the IEP paperwork.
I forced myself to hang out with friends on Thursday night. I am scared that I will get burned out before I even get a real job. I am just trying to find more balance in my life. My priority next week is to get more time for myself in my schedule. We will see how that goes...
I miss having a life. And now when I get around people the only thing I know to talk about is special education. I feel so out of touch with the rest of the world. And I am pretty sure I am picking up some autistic tendencies. Great.....
I had been having a hard time finding my place in the classroom. I felt more like an educational assistant than anything else. Next week I am "officially" taking over. But even that looks like a glorified E.A. position. I know I can't have the whole class since I am only a student teacher. I guess the only other thing I would do as a real teacher is all the IEP paperwork.
I forced myself to hang out with friends on Thursday night. I am scared that I will get burned out before I even get a real job. I am just trying to find more balance in my life. My priority next week is to get more time for myself in my schedule. We will see how that goes...
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Disability vs. Learned Behavior
Working in a high school level life skills class one gets to see how the educational system has benefited or hindered a student. It never ceases to amaze me how people can undermine the abilities of a person with a disability. Case in point: K. who is a student who has autism and seizures.
This student would throw fits and scream when he did not get his way. So in order to prevent the behaviors, his former teacher put him a wheelchair in case he had a seizure. This also controlled him enough that the were able to push him around the gym to appease him. He was isolated from his peers. He had no expectations placed on him.
Then he gets to Steve's amazing class. And Steve creates an environment where students are given the tool to be independent to the best of their ability. The student no longer has the wheelchair (he only needed it in case he had a drop seizure). He goes to P.E. and joins the group. He gets his own snacks. He even uses a switch to go in front of the class and communicate a message of his choice (i.e. talk about the weather, schedules, something special, etc.). He has a voice.
The reason I bring up students like K. is because they have so much potential in the right hands. So much of what we define as "disability" is actually a learned helplessness. I am not downplaying the fact that these students do have disabilities and it means that they may interact with their environment in more creative ways than most people. BUT sometimes the people who should be pushing them to be the best they can be (i.e. parents and teachers) are the ones holding them back. I think every person wants to have a voice and be heard. This population is no different. They don't want to be treated like helpless babies. They can be successful if they have creative people working with them who think outside of the box in order to find ways for them to be heard. That is what I strive to do in my class. Let's see how it works out:).
This student would throw fits and scream when he did not get his way. So in order to prevent the behaviors, his former teacher put him a wheelchair in case he had a seizure. This also controlled him enough that the were able to push him around the gym to appease him. He was isolated from his peers. He had no expectations placed on him.
Then he gets to Steve's amazing class. And Steve creates an environment where students are given the tool to be independent to the best of their ability. The student no longer has the wheelchair (he only needed it in case he had a drop seizure). He goes to P.E. and joins the group. He gets his own snacks. He even uses a switch to go in front of the class and communicate a message of his choice (i.e. talk about the weather, schedules, something special, etc.). He has a voice.
The reason I bring up students like K. is because they have so much potential in the right hands. So much of what we define as "disability" is actually a learned helplessness. I am not downplaying the fact that these students do have disabilities and it means that they may interact with their environment in more creative ways than most people. BUT sometimes the people who should be pushing them to be the best they can be (i.e. parents and teachers) are the ones holding them back. I think every person wants to have a voice and be heard. This population is no different. They don't want to be treated like helpless babies. They can be successful if they have creative people working with them who think outside of the box in order to find ways for them to be heard. That is what I strive to do in my class. Let's see how it works out:).
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
The Problem with Placement
This week I started working in a high school life skills class. When I think of life skills I imagine students in wheelchairs or that they have low-functioning autism or have intellectual disabilities to the point of having limited verbal communication. I was surprised when half my class had intellectual disabilities and could carry on a conversation with me.
So then the question on my mind is why is a young man who has a first grade reading level and can function with minimal assistance in the same class as student who has cerebral palsy? Blame it on the system. When determining placement the IEP team has to look at every option. The problem is that in between being placed in a life skills class or pulled out in a resource room, there are few options for these students.
I can't even imagine how those higher functioning students feel being placed in a class with kids that are so much more academically and socially below their level. It would be like placing a sophomore in high school in the same class as a kindergartener. They have such very different needs.
The students with intellectual disabilities put up with the students who have autism or down syndrome. They treat them with the same patience an adult might with a small child. One young man was very happy when I came into his class. He has an intellectual disability and was grateful to play catch with someone who could throw the ball.
So it is in this strange world where we assume that all people with the same disability need the same levels of support. Therefore we put them in classes with their disabled "peers" and assume they can benefit from the same level of academic and functional supports. I will try not to complain. It is just that the bottom line is that special educators need to understand that these students are on INDIVIDUALIZED Education Plans because they are individuals.
So then the question on my mind is why is a young man who has a first grade reading level and can function with minimal assistance in the same class as student who has cerebral palsy? Blame it on the system. When determining placement the IEP team has to look at every option. The problem is that in between being placed in a life skills class or pulled out in a resource room, there are few options for these students.
I can't even imagine how those higher functioning students feel being placed in a class with kids that are so much more academically and socially below their level. It would be like placing a sophomore in high school in the same class as a kindergartener. They have such very different needs.
The students with intellectual disabilities put up with the students who have autism or down syndrome. They treat them with the same patience an adult might with a small child. One young man was very happy when I came into his class. He has an intellectual disability and was grateful to play catch with someone who could throw the ball.
So it is in this strange world where we assume that all people with the same disability need the same levels of support. Therefore we put them in classes with their disabled "peers" and assume they can benefit from the same level of academic and functional supports. I will try not to complain. It is just that the bottom line is that special educators need to understand that these students are on INDIVIDUALIZED Education Plans because they are individuals.
Foreigner in a Strange Land
Week 3 of student teaching. I miss my behavior kids. No restraints. No yelling. No cursing. No runners. What is this horrible place? What is a girl who is used to dodging punches and being called every name in the book supposed to do? It just doesn’t feel right. These kids listen. I don’t even have to count to three. I am a foreigner in a strange land.
Alright some parts of a life skills class are nice. I don’t come home exhausted from having to do a seated restraint on a kid because the safe room that was supposed to be built in the summer was never built and now it is November. Definitely don’t miss those days where you hate yourself for having to put your hands on a kid. Or coming home with bite marks and bruises.
But being in a life skills classroom is different. I feel like I moved to a different country. I like the culture. The staff is awesome. The kids are amazing. I just don’t speak the language or completely understand their culture.
I feel like a tourist who has studied up on a country and then when you arrive at the country you feel completely unprepared. Granted, most of my training in low-incidence disabilities has been beneficial. But I am working with individuals, not statistics. Each individual person is different and deserves to be treated like an individual and not a list of characteristics from a textbook on disabilities.
I always felt the best way to learn the language was to immerse yourself in the culture. When I took Spanish in high school and college I became increasingly frustrated. The Spanish I learned wasn’t what was going to help me out on the streets in Mexico. I needed to be in a position where I had to be completely immersed in the culture and could only speak the language.
The problem with life skills is that I feel like I am in a U.N. meeting with no translators! I am trying to communicate with various individuals who all speak different languages. Some are non-verbal. Some use itouches to tell you their basic needs. Some speak ASL. Some show you pictures. All of them don’t understand body language at some level. Do they make an English to disability dictionary to help me translate? Of course, if I could understand those students they are probably feeling the same way.
Alright some parts of a life skills class are nice. I don’t come home exhausted from having to do a seated restraint on a kid because the safe room that was supposed to be built in the summer was never built and now it is November. Definitely don’t miss those days where you hate yourself for having to put your hands on a kid. Or coming home with bite marks and bruises.
But being in a life skills classroom is different. I feel like I moved to a different country. I like the culture. The staff is awesome. The kids are amazing. I just don’t speak the language or completely understand their culture.
I feel like a tourist who has studied up on a country and then when you arrive at the country you feel completely unprepared. Granted, most of my training in low-incidence disabilities has been beneficial. But I am working with individuals, not statistics. Each individual person is different and deserves to be treated like an individual and not a list of characteristics from a textbook on disabilities.
I always felt the best way to learn the language was to immerse yourself in the culture. When I took Spanish in high school and college I became increasingly frustrated. The Spanish I learned wasn’t what was going to help me out on the streets in Mexico. I needed to be in a position where I had to be completely immersed in the culture and could only speak the language.
The problem with life skills is that I feel like I am in a U.N. meeting with no translators! I am trying to communicate with various individuals who all speak different languages. Some are non-verbal. Some use itouches to tell you their basic needs. Some speak ASL. Some show you pictures. All of them don’t understand body language at some level. Do they make an English to disability dictionary to help me translate? Of course, if I could understand those students they are probably feeling the same way.
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