The cerebrum -- which is just Latin for "brain" -- is the newest (evolutionarily) and largest part of the brain as a whole. It is here that things like perception, imagination, thought, judgment, and decision occur. I hope you are thoughtful as you leave your comments on this blog.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Field Observations
Use this area to record your field observations. Remember, you are required to complete five but the more, the merrier. Additionally, responding to others' posts make for a lively discussion.
I've been observing in middle school art classrooms. So far I've witnessed two classes in which there have been inclusion students who were accompanied by separate teachers. In both instances, the general art teacher has given direction to the class at large and then gone from table to table to lend assistance or keep the students on task. The teacher gave them as much attention as all the other students, with additional support coming from their teacher. In the eighth grade class, the inclusion teacher was going so far as to cut out paper for the student. In contrast, the sixth grade teacher offered suggestions on color choices and assisted more on keeping the student following direction.
Has anyone else had similar (or different) cases of co-teaching? I was struck most by the fact that the main teacher and inclusion teacher didn't interact much.
I have been observing high school for the past few weeks. Next week I will see a middle school inclusion program. In general, I have been unable to distinguish the inclusive students except for a few who are obviously learning disabled as evident from their behavior or extra attention from the inclusion teacher. In all the different inclusion classrooms I have seen, the students are spread out, not in one group or only on one side of the room, and the only time they are separated from the class is during testing if they get special accommodations. The teachers are comfortable teaching inclusion and mostly use a co-teaching strategy. When asked how they prepare I have gotten a standard, "we worked together before so we know the lessons and we kind of wing it." There has been one teacher who says she meets with the inclusion teacher for about a half hour every other week to discuss what will be happening. So far I haven't seen the purpose of the extra teacher. In fact, the other day I observed a 2 period class. The inclusion teacher was only scheduled for the second period and the teacher was able to handle the first period just fine, and in my opinion better than when the inclusion teacher was present.
I started my observations this week in a high school. I am in math classes from grades 7 - 12. All the classes I am observing have a few students with IEPs. Most of the time, as Brandon stated, I am unable to tell who has the IEP. The majority of the classes are taught lecture based. A few times the students are allowed to work on a hand-out with a partner or in groups. One particular student, who has an obvious disability, was in a 10th grade geometry class. He did not have another teacher with him which I thought he should have. I was unable to speak to the teacher about this student after class as time did not allow. But from my observations he was just left in the classroom on his own. He was not paying attention, staring out the window, did not work on the Do Now and at one point during the class had his eyes closed sleeping. The teacher did nothing. She did not try to motivate him or engage him in the class discussion at all. He was sitting in the first row, last seat. When the teacher told the students to work on the questions on the board in groups he was left alone. The other students were not mean to him, but it was as if he wasn't there. At one point he dropped a pencil on the floor and was sitting on the floor looking for it. The student in front of him helped him get it. This student got nothing from this lesson/class. He was left on his own to function in a regular class setting and from what I observed was unable to do so. Has anyone else seen this situation in there school?
Today's observations were in different classrooms from the other day. One particular class I observed was called Topics in Algebra and basically it was a regents review class. It was taught by 1 general teacher. There were only 4 students in the class. The teacher sat with the students in a circle. All of the students have IEPs. When I spoke to the teacher after class she said they all have failed the regents 2 or 3 times. It was like a private tutoring class. It seemed like only one of the students was taking the class seriously, asking questions and doing the problems. The others were talking and not very focused. I don't know how much they are getting out of the class.
This week I observed in a variety of different classrooms. One class I observed in had 3 IEP kids and it was an Algebra/Lab Class. Every other day half the kids stay for the next period for lab. The teacher sits at a desk in the front of the classroom with a chair next to it. The students are told to work on their homework and come up to him if they have questions. It seemed like a very odd set up to me. The teacher did not walk around the room to see their work. One student sat in the room and did nothing the whole period. He did not even have a book on the desk and the teacher said nothing. At the end of the period the teacher told me he gets a 50 every marking period and is "just there". The student obviously needs so intervention. Then on the other end of the spectrum there was a student who completed his homework and was looking for more work. The teacher gave him extra problems from the textbook.
So last week I observed a High School Inclusion Art class different than any other class I have ever observed or attended. It was amazing! The class consisted of 3 students and 5 teachers/aids. The 3 students have autism. 1 boy and 2 girls. There is the art teacher, who is very experienced and comfortable in any classroom situation, then there are 2 student helpers, who come to help in their free periods and seem to really enjoy helping. Then there are 2 inclusive teachers(?) who are with the 3 students all day.
Everything is procedural, which keeps the students following steps so they always know what's next. This is good for both the teacher and the student. It keeps them focused on a goal and these are the steps to get there. They all sat at the same table and drew flowers and cat tails in a clear vase. Each student had a different view of the flowers, but each was given 5 colors of neon chalk and a piece of black construction paper. They were constantly reminded to "draw what you see". The students knew fat lines vs. skinny lines, as well as colors, shapes and symbols. They aren't held back by what they think flowers and cattails should look like. The teachers use positive reinforcement to reassure the students. The students are drawing and thinking for a purpose. They often need questions to challenge and reinforce what they are doing. All 3 students have the same disability, but they all have different views, different perspectives, and different thought patterns. The results were very bright, child-like images. General education students couldn't try to draw so abstract. I found it amazing. The whole process from putting on an apron, so they don't get dirty, to using the chalk in different techniques, to washing their hands thoroughly so their is no chalk residue. I think this type of environment is really beneficial to these students because it allows growth at their own rate, there is no judging or prejudice, and no so many distractions that could and would interfere with their learning and development.
I encourage all of you to READ each other's posts... you will see as I have that the experiences that you have will be diverse and you should aspire to "BE" the good experiences that you have seen and "USE" the bad ones to grow from and pledge yourself to be different in your own classroom.
In the same art classroom where I observed many teachers and the three young talented autistic students, there was a really cool machine that I didn't know the name of in class. It is called the "Mayster Braille Loom", designed by Jennifer Mayster. Instead of written language it's a woven language using colored strings, knots and colored threads. It is based on the braille alphabet and 7 colored or textured threads. The threads or strings are weaved to make a code, and each row represents a single letter. You have to decode the pattern according to the color or textile pattern. The letters form words, phrases, and messages. There is way more info on their website:
I have never even heard of this machine/tool before I came to this school. At first I was a little confused about how it works and it is complex, but after doing more research and reading up on it, It really is such a great tool for blind students, but also for any student with or without disabilities. You learn the braille alphabet, and you learn a new form of communication. I also think this a good tool for your more quiet students who don't communicate much. Students can express themselves in a new way without saying a word or picking up an paintbrush. You don't have to have talent or skill, just learn the language and the tools are available.
I have been observing the same inclusion class for about three periods a week for the last four weeks. This is a co-taught classroom with one math teacher and one special education teacher. At the beginning of my observations, before the students arrived, I discussed the nature of the class with the two teachers. Half the class has IEP's and the rest do not. The students without IEP's generally tested the lowest on assessment tests. On the first day they issued me a challenge, they would not tell me who the IEP students were for the first couple of weeks. They wanted me to see if I could tell. It was very difficult for the first few weeks until the students had to fill out what is called a "learning survey." The survey consisted of 20 simple questions that many students filled out in five minutes. It took others the entire period. This enlightened me to just how difficult it is for some student to focus and I assumed these were mostly the students with IEP's. The next period there was a quiz for which most of the IEP student were brought to a separate classroom to take. All of the students who took a long time filling out the survey were brought to the separate room.
After having the experience of interviewing the special education teacher a while back, I found that I was more aware of the inclusion students and the support (or lack of) they were receiving. In one case, I went over to the table where the two inclusion students and their aide were sitting and commented on their color choices for their art project. The subtlest of effort on my part seemed to matter positively to both the students and their aide. It amazes me that some teachers don't realize this and reach out more to include their inclusion students. I am aware of how many students demand their attention, but a little bit goes a long way.
I have been observing 3 inclusion classrooms for the past month (sorry i didn't post after each individual visit) and the biggest thing i noticed was that the cooperation and organization between the TA and teacher were completely different in all three rooms. The first classroom is an Earth Science class of about 18 students and one TA, the second is an 8th grade general science classroom with about 25 students and one TA, and the third is a biology elective class with mixed grade levels, 1 head teacher, TA and about 13 students. My first two observations in the Earth Science and 8th grade classroom were completely different. I did not even know that the TA in the 8th grade classroom was a TA. I had seen him around the building and I honestly thought he was either a coach or phys. ed teacher-- just because he was always dressed in athletic gear. When i observed the class for the first few times, I didn't ask if there was a TA in the room just that if it was an inclusion classroom. So when I noticed him in their, I really thought he was just friendly with the teacher and students. He would sit in the back on the radiator and joke with the kids whenever they made a silly comment. He stayed in their the whole class, and I feel naive for saying it, but even for the fact that he was there for the entire period, I didn't make the connection that he could possibly be a TA because he did not help with anything. He made the kids laugh and picked on kids in a funny way but that was all. When I realized he was a TA i was a shocked and all the other staff wasn't surprised because they knew him to be like that. Even the head teacher said to me that he really doesn't do much. So what is the point? I thought it was senseless and if these kids need that extra help they were not getting it!
The second classroom was the Earth Science classroom. I immediately recognized the teacher in the back of the classroom as a TA and she came over to introduce herself to me. She was extremely helpful with telling me about how the whole process works. Basically she told me she made sure the kids did their homework, stayed on task during the period and did not act out behaviorally during the class. She walked around the room, disciplined the students when needed and helped out very much. The biggest thing I felt that should be incorporated is having these teachers be a little more knowledgeable in the content area they are a TA in.
So over all my experience has been just in these classrooms and extremely drastic between the two. I also want to comment, that many times the TA is not even present, she/he has been absent and there is not a sub or any replacement for them. Thought it was interesting and when I asked about it, it was nothing out of the ordinary but usually there should have been subs. My biggest concern is that students have this accomodations on their IEP for a reason and I feel as though they are not always being fulfilled.
I plan to visit a self-contained and autistic classroom during the next week and hope to provide additional positive feedback. :)
Last Thursday I did 4 hours of observations in the high school. One class I observed in was called Contemporary Math. According to the teacher these are the struggling students. Most have an IEP and are seniors that are considered "slower". There was only one teacher in the room. I was told by the teacher that these students were going to be taking a quarterly on Friday. The don't take mid-terms or Finals, they take 4 tests to make it "easier" for them. I found this interesting and different. I observed in another class called Math 8. The first half of the class the teacher went over formulas and then gave a quiz for the last half. I noticed that 2 students asked the teacher questions and one of those students asked her a question 5 times. After class she told me this student had an IEP. Then when the bell rang a different student became very nervous and agitated. Apparently he did not have time to finish the test. The teacher told him he cold finish it later with Mrs. ? - she mentioned a name. The teacher later told me that he did have an IEP and would finish the test in the resource room. She said he is very smart and comes up with different ways to solve math problems, but he does have other issues.
I observed an Inclusive English class, 11RS. The class is supposed to be co-taught, but one of the teachers was out that day, so Ms. Arcuri was on her own. But this was not a problem. There are only 12 students in the class, all have IEP's and each struggle in different ways. The students are reading "All Falls Down" by Robert Cormier. This is a 7th grade reading level book, but is being used in this class because all the kids have trouble in reading in comprehending. Most of the students need a little more time and need repeating of questions often. At the start of class Ms. Arcuri handed out a quick quiz as an assessment to see who read for homework over the weekend. I thought this was great. It is a good way to review, and also build their grades. The short quiz is also a tool to check for understanding. Ms. Arcuri gave her students choices for some of the questions. For example answer 2 out of 5, etc. There is an Aim and Do Now on the board, and the homework is written in the corner of the board (as always). The Do Now attempts to connect the book to the students and real life. After the quiz Ms. Arcuri handed out a graphic organizer sheet, so that her students take notes and use it as a study guide. She walks around while going over the quiz to make sure all the students are on task. She ties in the Do Now and starts a list on the board, the class is brainstorming. She asks questions to get them to where they need to be. She asks questions to get them to realize and answer the questions to make connections. She asks questions to move forward. They answer the questions and write them down in their study guides together as a class, and with the teacher, through discussion, while Ms. Arcuri adds the students' responses to the growing brainstorm list. Ms. Arcuri often repeats and reiterates so that all students are together and not falling behind. She goes around and asks each student for their input, she is checking for understanding often. This really helps! One of the students made a comment that shows he has truly made a connection to the book..."this is one of those 'Twix' type of moments like the commercial." The rest of the class replies, "yeah!" That one line made me realize that this kid made the connection to his life, to real life. After reviewing the rest of the homework chapters and discussing , they all make predictions to what will happen next in the book. The students are thinking on high levels of Bloom's Taxonomy and probably aren't even aware of it. I think Ms. Arcuri did a very good job at not making the connections for her students, but providing the vehicle and the tools they need to make the connections and getting them where they need to be.
I did my last observation last week. I was in various classrooms through out the day. Each class had a few students in them with IEPs. I was able to observe again in the same class I was in when the student began to act out because he was unable to complete the test. The student participated during the class and gave a different way to solve a problem. The teacher called on him whenever he raised his hand and she really involved him in the class discussions. Another class I saw was a Pre-Algebra 7 class. The students are preparing for the NY Assessment. The Do Now on the board was to work in the workbook on old Assessment tests. The students worked together on the problems. While this was going on the teacher sat in the back of the classroom with 3 students (with IEPs). After class she told me these students need her extra help/review for the upcoming test. She said she will continue to have her class set up in this format with the better students working on problems and her in the back with the IEP students. They need the extra tutoring/ one-on-one help before the test.
As I mentioned in class last week, I observe a co-teaching environment a couple of times a week at a NYC middle school in Queens. The class does not at all take advantage of having two teachers in the room. The desks in the class are set up to have seven tables of 3-5 students and just about every class the table will work on a handful of questions as a group. At the least, it would make sense for the special education teacher to work with a group that may have a greater amount of students in need of special attention. This would keep them on task and help them fully understand the direction, two tasks that seem to cause trouble for a few students. This would effectively lower the student-teacher ratio and could really target their learning. This would be similar to the scenario in Gina's post above and was what I expected going into a co-taught classroom.
However, it has not been the case. During group work one teacher will grade or book-keep while the other will make sure there is order in the class. I am all about letting students explore in order to learn and foster independence, but many of these students need direction or at least a starting point for their work. When I am in the classroom I feel as if I am in a regular classroom with two observers. It is a shame the this school is afforded the opportunity to have a co-taught classroom but the students are not able to reap the benefits.
One good experience I saw in the co-teaching environment was when the math teacher was conducting a probability lesson. She was asking the students that if they were to pick the names of the months out of a hat what is the probability that they would pick a month that started with "J". One student, who I do not believe has an IEP, raised her hand and asked how many months there were in a year. This is a sixth grade classroom and that kind of information should be known already. The math teacher told here that there were 12 months, looked at the special ed. teacher, who nodded back, and then the lesson proceeded. Later on the special education teacher talked to the student about key fact like months in a year, days of the week, number of days in a year, etc. She also discussed facts that would be needed for their assessment test like how many cards are in a standard deck.
This instance was one of the few times in my observation that I saw the co-teaching system being used beneficially. Instead of having to stop a lesson and discuss the number of months in year, which would be necessary yet known by most of the class, the special education teacher was able to explain this to the student without disruption or embarrassment. Although, it was a nice use of having two adults in the room, isn't what the special ed. did something that an aid could have done just as easily?
For the past few weeks I have stopped observing at the middle school level and started at the high school in the same district. It amazes me a little how even a single grade difference can change a teaching environment. The two art teachers I'm observing is the head of the art department, who has been working there for fifteen years, and a teacher out of school two years ago, who is a long term substitute for another art teacher on maternity leave.
The younger teacher has a particularly interesting fourth period class. It's Drawing & Painting I, which is supposed to be a class with a prerequisite of Studio Art that used to have a class size of around fifteen students who were recommended for it. In recent years it has become a highly inclusive classroom that certain special education students are pushed into in hopes that they can get an "easy grade". The result is an extremely hectic environment in which the substitute has to be constantly directing people on task and attempting to motivate them to do some kind of work. She did not explicitly state what the type of learning problems exist in the classroom, but implied that many where emotional or behavioral.
The teacher told me that the situation was not what she expected dealing with students with IEPs. She told me there is one student who she submits a checklist for everyday, to show whether or not he worked or listened to instructions and a place to leave additional comments. Earlier in the spring semester, when she took over this job, the teacher would try hard to work one on one with the student and try to modify his tasks for the day in hopes that he would do some kind of work. It would work for the day, but the next he'd be back to sitting there doing nothing. The teacher would write long notes on the checklist and call the parents to inform them of what was going on in the classroom. After a while the special education teachers told her not to bother modifying the work for him or writing long notes; the student was not interested in working and the parents did not show much interest in what was going on. They had hoped this would be the one class he'd show enough interest in to pass for the semester, but since that was not the case she was told to simply scale back and do what she could.
I was a bit horrified at what the teacher was telling me about this situation with her inclusion students. She said she tried not to take the actions (or inactions) of the students personally, but it was still tough. I am not sure if she was told to not bother with some students because she is merely a long term substitute or another reason entirely. While you can she she has scaled back concentrating on just inclusion students in order to help everyone in her overlarge class, she still does a decent job at classroom management and trying to motivate, even if it takes halfway through the period for some students to pick up a paintbrush.
Along with observing a co-teaching environment, I also am observing a lessons taught by one teacher. She teaches the same basic lesson to both class, but there are some alterations that are interesting. These slight alterations are based on the fact that she teaches to student with different learning abilities. In other words the entire sixth grade is “tracked”, and students move from class to class in the same group. Teachers then give the same basic lesson to advanced students as they do to classes filled with students who have IEP’s. This essentially gives the teacher the opportunity to differentiate her lesson by teaching a slightly different lesson each period.
Although on the surface this may seem like a good way to run a more controlled, efficient classroom, I feel that the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. By having such a narrow achievement level in a class room the opportunity for peer learning is diminished. This creates an atmosphere where all the students in the classroom are leaning heavily on the teacher. Also, having middle school students together for many periods a day yet with different teachers creates an unwanted dynamic in the classroom. Problems from previous classes come into the new class. My cooperating teacher had to waste time changing seating arrangements because two students carried-in a disagreement from a previous class. I know that this could happen in schools with a more regular schedule, but having an entire group together the whole day opens up more opportunities for disruption.
Motivation plays a large part in a high school art class. In certain ones, there are just as many kids motivated to put their heads down or play on their phone as there are who actually do work. Unlike an English or math classroom (at least the ones I took in high school), there is not as much lecturing or explaining from the teacher. Most art teachers that I have had or am observing present a new project, then help any students who need help. Hopefully they can check in on each student at some point, whether they need the additional help or not.
That is the ideal situation. Most times I have been observing, this has not been the case. Sometimes there are classroom management issues that need to be addressed, other times certain students need more one on one time with the teacher to understand part of the project. Most classes have about 25 students and towards the middle of the day there can be up to ten extra students visiting on their lunch or free periods. Sometimes, the "unmotivated" get lost in the crowd.
One of the teachers I observed will give the class reminders in order to motivate: "This project is due this week! I'll let you hand it in Monday morning if you need extra time, but any later than that and it drops a letter grade!" Yet some students simply aren't motivated in that manner. Today there was a boy sitting staring at his painting, partly done from the last class. He had the reference ready and was showing good effort, but fifteen minutes into class and he hadn't gotten paint or made any indication that he was going to work. Since the teacher was busy, I told the boy I thought he was doing well and I liked the landscape he had chosen. He quietly said thank you and I moved on to looking at the next person's work. A minute later I saw he had gotten up to get paint and he soon got to painting. The threat of a low grade did not motivate him to work, but someone paying attention to him and his artwork did.
I realize observing and teaching can be a great difference, but I hope I can be remembered that not every student is motivated the same way we are and sometimes we need to reach out in order to figure that way out.
This passed week I finished my observations at a Middle School. Throughout my time there, I observed co-teaching environments, inclusive environments, and classes with gifted students. There were some differences between the classes on the surface, but at the class’ core there was not much of a difference. In fact, their similarities were very striking to me. All the classes I observed were math and, as I might have mentioned on this blog, the main differences between all the classes was the difficulty of the problems presented. For instance, in an advanced class, the students would have to figure out the area and perimeter of a complex object in which all the sides are not labeled and some sides with measurement in decimals. In the inclusion classes or co-taught classes, the shapes would be simpler and every side’s length would be labeled. Other then some small content changes, there was not much of a difference between the classes. Since students in the advanced classes would grasps topics faster, teachers in those classes would be able to cover more content. For those students with learning disabilities not much was done to make lessons appeal more to them. They seemed to have difficulty grasping lessons at times, but it did not seem like much was tailored to their form of learning. Those classes seemed to be less visual and did not use the interactive white board as much; instead those classes were taught very much in the skill-and-drill style. This amounted to these classes trying to catch-up by going slower.
Throughout my observations there were a bunch of reoccurring themes. In the High School, most teachers employed the same teaching strategies. I would switch classes when the bell rang, walk through the halls, sit in the new room and basically the only difference was the physical teacher, not the teaching. this was disappointing especially when I was told that "in science, we consider lab time as teaching through inquiry." This is polar opposite from the values, teaching, and view points of my Adelphi career. when I did observe labs, they were all "cookie cutter" where students followed a list of directions to get the desired result. The students rarely thought about what they were actually doing or how it related to the class material. they just did it to get a grade and push it out of their mind. The teachers didn't help the situation and much time was spent trying to keep the students on track before the bell rang. During labs, I would walk around and interact with the groups. I would ask them questions to get them to tell me what they know, what they didn't know and I would try to help as best I could. I got a lot of compliments from teachers by doing this, I just feel like they were lazy. Its sad how many teachers just throw material out there and don't care if it sticks or not.
My best day of observations was at Mineola middle school. The first thing I noticed was the culture and the environment of the school. The best description I can come up with is, not intimidating, welcoming, safe, tolerant, and kind. I got these feelings not only from the decoration of the school but from almost everyone I came in contact with. Plus almost every classroom had at least one poster that read, "fair is not always equal" or "Fair is not equal, its what you need" or some version of this. It was awesome, i wish i went to school there.
In my first class, we were going outside on a "rock find field trip." However, this was initially delayed by student questions. Soon all the questions seemed to revolve around diamonds and the teacher stoped the class, and took about 3 minutes to tell the class all about diamonds from the mining, to manufacturing to jewelry. It was the perfect example of a "teachable moment." He delayed his plans by a few min to really teach his students. While he was speaking all of the students were staring at him being very attentive. It was very cool, but not as cool as when we were back in the classroom and the teacher was breaking rocks with a hammer so the students could look at the rock characteristics. This teacher was all about getting the students involved and excited about what they were doing,and this was evident by the students' behavior in the class.
Another class had the best example of inquiry style teaching that I have seen in real life. It was a 6th grade science class and they did projects on types of storms, like thunderstorm, lightning, winter storm, tornado, etc. The students were split into groups, assigned a topic and then given a few days to research, gather information, create a poster board and a presentation for the class. While one group was giving their presentation, the other groups had worksheets to fill out, so the students were learning from each other! The teacher just set the whole thing in motion. The first few minutes of the period the groups were allowed to finish up and get ready. It was very cool to go around to the groups and talk to the students. They were all so involved with their particular storm and knew a ton of information. I was very impressed.
As a contrast to my last post, I also did some middle school observations in the Huntington School district. However, these few hours made me realize what not to do. I had heard good things about this teacher before I observed so I was excited to see how she conducts her class. Unfortunatly I got my hopes up. It was an inclusion class with a co-teacher. This class they were doing a lab experiment. At first, the teacher is at the front behind the big table and the coteacher is sitting in one of the rows in the back of the classroom. the rapport between the teachers and students was surprising to me. The conversations were very sarcastic and seemed demeaning to me. for example, "I wish I could send you to the office", "you guys are so annoying", "why wont you listen to me". There seemed to be very little control as much time was spent trying to calm students down. The inclusion teacher was just being a disiplinarian whispering in students ears to get them to be quiet and stay in their seats.
Finally when it was time to begin the lab, the main teacher gave a very brief explanation, gave them all worksheets, and directions - on what Not to do. Then sent them to their lab groups to start. The two teachers then gathered themselves at the front of the room and began chit chatting about everything but the class. Meanwhile, most of the groups are just sitting there not doing anything. So I went over and started helping one of the groups. Once i got them to form a hypothesis, correctly set up the apparatus, and begin recording information I went back to the teachers. I asked her if the procedures were written down so the students could follow them better. She said not really, and she was right. On the worksheet there were about 4 very basic directions.
All I kept thinking was why are you trying to make it hard for these kids? The whole class could have gone so much better if she just changed a few things. I would have the experiment set up done on the teachers desk so students could see what is is supposed to look like. Then I would have better directions. I would also have the class come up with a hypothesis together so everyone is on the same page. Finally, I would actually work with the groups instead of yelling from the front of the room.
Worse than the teaching practises was the teacher conversation. There were two main topics being discussed; facebook, and other teachers in the middle and high school. The comments and feeling they expressed were disgusting and they were bashing teachers in the high school that I considered to be pretty good teachers. I still don't understand why they would choose to have that conversation in front of me. Looking back, I think I was more upset that the conversation was within earshot of the rest of the class, its not like they were whispering. And why weren't they doing thier job??
The other teacher I observed in the art classroom was also school wrestling coach. I mention that because his coach-like way of motivating sometimes cropped up in the way he interacted with students. He is a bit imposing when you first meet him, looking more like your perception of a gym teacher. Then he pulls on his apron with a plethora of pencils sticking out of it and shows the students how their wrists are built like hinges, allowing them to draw perfect circles.
I could tell the positive attitude he showed the students made him well liked and made the students feel they could come to him with any problem, class related or not. I still felt there could be more work on motivating the students in the classroom. He has the right mindset, now just needs to apply it just that extra bit to reach out to the struggling students.
One of the days I got to see an interesting perspective of the same lesson taught two different ways by two different teachers. Both teachers used the same powerpoint to guide the class. One teacher seemed to rely on it while the other used it as a guide for class discussion. It was an introduction to ecology lesson. Teacher "A" barely paid attention to the powerpoint and was more focused on the students. He asked them questions to make them think, then made them explain their idea further, while interjecting to correct any misinformation. the discussion revovled around the interactions between plants and animals and the environment, and also discussing biotic vs. abiotic. I think he did a great job of getting main points across to the students and to get them thinking like scientists about ecology even though there was very little note taking.
In the next period, the powerpoint was followed more closely. The students were provided with a guided note sheet where all they had to do was fill in blanks in the sentences. (same sentences apear in powerpoint). The teacher rushed through, barely asking questions for comprehension or any actual thinking. It was lecture, boring but the students behaved very well. they stayed quit and most would fill in their sheets. But there was very little interaction between teacher and student, at least not like the previous class with teacher A.
Interestingly, in the second class there was a reward system in place. The students were "paid" in fake dollars if all their work was complete. At the end of the week the students could "buy" little trinket things or candy from the teacher. He also had a raffel system where a student could win a slurpie or something like that. His reasons for this procedure was basically for classroom management purposes. I didn't like this reward system because the students goal moves from do the work to learn, to do the work to get something. I think it is a bad motivation tool.
I witnessed another reward system later that day with another teacher. She does a "free time bank" where when students are conducting themselves appropriatly they can earn free class time. I'm not sure of all the details, but after some amount of time, the class can "cash in" their time and just hang out in class. I think this reward system focused more on improving behavior than just finishing classwork which aligns with Lavoie and other research about positive praise and reinforcement.
I observed an English 12RS class with 24 students and about 12 or so students with IEP's. The desks were in pairs. Today they were presenting their issue for their research papers about social issues. The issues had to be topics they care about. All the students put their names in a hat and she picked one. Then that student would pick he next and so on. The students have to present their issue and talk about what the issue is, who or what it effects, and why you chose that issue. Each presentation is supposed to be about 5 minutes. After each presentation the student was allowed to look at the rubric and see what they are being graded on. There was a lot of commotion and talking the entire period. The teacher was trying to get them to focus constantly, but after being silent for about 30 seconds it would start up again. Another thing was that some of the students weren't ready to present that day so she let them go the next day, but some other students who were prepared felt that wasn't right or fair.
I like a couple things she did, but I think I would tweak them a bit. I would let the students see the rubric before the presentation, so they know what they must do to earn an A or B or whatever grade it is. Also maybe including some visuals along with the presentations, this way some students are hearing the presentation and looking at the images, instead of talking to each other the entire class. Also the desks set up in pairs I feel is beneficial at times, but is at times distracting as well. Of course they can be multi tasking, but listen to talking while someone is presenting is just rude. The visuals might help control the volume, as well as give the students a better idea to what the presenter is talking about.
About a month into my observations I came across this 10th grader who was on the spectrum for autism and she was in the 4th period Creative Crafts art class. They were doing printmaking and monoprints. While in the class she understood everything and was fine, it wasn't until the other girls in the class started talking about her right in front her. She was honest with them and said some (not so nice) things. Shortly after she was taken out of that class. I thought this was horrible because the arts are one of the areas that allows personal expression and growth. I think if this student was in an art class with a teacher whose focus is to build a positive, non-judgmental environment, she could excel and and grow, instead of being put down by (not so nice) teenage girls. Inclusive art classes should be offered more in every school. Classes where negative remarks are not tolerable, and it is more of a coach/teacher/guide role. Only positive, constructive criticism and advice. I think this type of environment would greatly benefit children with autism, learning disabilities, and general ed students as well.
Another option could have been to not take her out of the class, but to talk to that group of girls and make them aware of their surroundings and peers. I think shaping better people is more important than passing a test. There are usually other options than the quick and easy one. I think the focus of any teacher, or school, should be to help shape better people, more open-minded, more unbiased, and more understanding. I hope one day she will take some art classes again and this time have a positive outcome. No one should put someone else down, no matter what. No one likes that feeling, so why make someone else feel that way.
I observed at Mineola Middle School from March 15 - 19th. The first day of observation I went to many different classrooms. My first class was a very colorful Co-Math room with a lot of student work on the walls. The concept on display was “Pi” and students had made shirts and posters to really get into it. I definitely would have done I *pi symbol* PI, haha get it? Anyway, the teacher began class with checking homework, going over the weekly assignments schedule, and handing out an equation review packet. The teacher explained to me that in order to help the kids learn combining like terms, she played Beyonce “To The Left” song, to help them remember to move everything to left. Eh, I didn’t really like this because.. You can move them to either side, really. The class was taught by the general ed teacher speaking to the class and the special education teacher writing the problems on the board. The aid stayed back with her specific student. The next time I was in the classroom was on March 19th and the students had reached the final pages of their equation packet. The class began by the teacher, special education teacher, and aid walking around checking homework for completion. Although most of the students didn’t complete their homework, when asked if they had questions, none of them spoke. The class then worked independently while the 3 adults walked around. For the most part, this math class wasn’t very interactive and the students didn’t talk unless they were talking to each other about unrelated issues.
The other math class I was in was another Co-Math class on March 16, 17, and 18th. This math class started with the Do Now which was a few problems on the board while the general ed and special ed teacher walked around. While the general ed teacher led the class, I noticed the special ed teacher speaking to individual students. The co-teaching relationship seemed a little more friendly than the other math class, the teachers spoke to each other and the special ed teacher was able to build on what the general ed teacher said to the class. One thing I didn’t like was that once they were going over the do now, the answers were on the smart board and then the homework answers were displayed for students to check themselves. I think the do now definitely should have been solved by a student, and the homework questions could have been demonstrated since they were being graded on completion instead of accuracy to show how you get the right answer. Something I really liked was when the general ed teacher made a reference to a video game and the student with the aid, who had not participated at all during class, could relate and got excited about the concept. The next time I was in the class I was much happier because the teacher demonstrated correct ways to solve the problems on the board and asked the students to find mistakes. One thing I will definitely employ that this teacher did was asking the students if they were ready before moving on to the next problem. I saw partner work the next day but the partners didn’t seem very enthusiastic to be working together and didn’t really talk to each other. Both teachers walked around and talked to students while they did independent work.
In both math classes, I felt that the special education teachers paid careful attention to “their” students when walking around. I also felt that they were over shadowed by the general education teacher. There was also little student participation even though they were prompted often. I think both classrooms would function more efficiently if they were at tables, or in a U shape. Rows can be very intimidating and suffocating. I hate sitting in rows and why speak up when you are talking to the back of people’s heads?
For March 15 and 19th I was in a co-taught ELA room, which like the math rooms, was very colorful with student work on the wall. On the 15th, the class began with a free write (which is what I would like to do each day with my own English class) and wrote about their weekends and were able to share if they wanted to, help fostering both writing and speaking skills. The Unit being covered was a poetry unit, and the general ed teacher led the class, asking them to write on the poem any questions they have. As the special education teacher read the poem, the general ed teacher would lead a discussion. The two were able to feed off of each other, and the students were told that any notes they took on the poem could be used on their final. Finals in middle school? Absurd! The students sat at table and participated whenever prompted. On the 19th, the class took notes from the board about the genre of the poetry they were reading and then read the poems. For the most part, the general ed teacher led the class while the special ed teacher walked around. The students seemed interested and spoke up with questions even when they weren’t prompted. The two teachers stayed after class for a few minutes to discuss the direction they wanted next week to go in, and set up a meeting time for early Monday morning to get a definite plan in place. This co-taught relationship was probably the best one I saw during my observation because they both worked with the students and were planning together.
Two meetings that I saw during my observation were a parent/team meeting and a CSE meeting. At the parent meeting, the team teachers, translator, and parent sat in a circle. Although students are invited to attend, the parent did not want his son to. The teachers went around in a circle and discussed some of the problem they were having with the student, but all teachers mentioned how smart he was and know he has the potential to do well. One thing that I didn’t like was that most of the teachers spoke to the translator. In Sociolinguistics, we discussed speaking to the person who needs the translator, not the translator because it makes the person feel like they don’t matter. It must already be uncomfortable listening to people tell you how bad your child is doing in another language, and even worse when no one is making eye contact with you. Something else that kind of rubbed me the wrong way was when the guidance counselor asked what they could do about it, and none of the teachers offered any solutions. The translator actually spoke up because I guess she has been through a few of these, and suggested a homework sign off sheet. The meeting was held in a regular classroom, but the CSE meeting was held in the office in a meeting room, and the student, parent, teachers, guidance counselor, school psychologist, and assistant principle were present. I liked that the student was very involved in the process and was constantly asked his feelings and opinions. It was a very hopeful and positive meeting, as the adults had a lot of confidence in the student. I was glad I was able to see these meetings because although we talked about them in class, I got to actually see them going on. There is a lot of behind the scenes stuff I wasn’t aware of in school. Like the student in the meeting, I also had a 504 plan, but mine was for dietary issues not academic or behavioral issues. I was never involved in the meetings, but always told what accommodations I would receive. I would have liked to have been involved, and as a parent, I will involve my child in any parent/teacher meeting or a CSE meeting involving a 504 or IEP. I think student input is very important, and as discussed in class, students care more about issues when they are involved.
During my observation, I got to spend a lot of time working with special education students in the resource room and support room. In the resource room, students sit at table and go over their work from their other classes with the special education teacher. I don’t think we had this in my high school. The only thing I remember about special education was the special education classroom in the vocational building and they were definitely not included in regular education classrooms. I think that the resource room and support room are great for kids because in the other classrooms, I didn’t see them speaking up as much as they did in these rooms. They were much more comfortable and had more involvement with the special education teacher and aid. I was able to lead a group in the resource room for math review and also another two times for science. I enjoyed working with the kids. One time, in the support room, I was working with a child who had an aid, but the aid wasn’t around so I was asked to help. I noticed in other classes that he seemed very distracted and didn’t really pay attention, but when looking at his English test, he had answered a lot of questions. When he is prompted, he does his work. We discussed this situation in class and I do believe that because of the constant attention for his aid, he has learned helplessness and waits to be told what to do. When he saw the aid wasn’t around and I was there to help, he did begin to take initiative but then stopped, and waited to be told what to do. At first, I was all for having an aid for the student, but now I see that it can actually be detrimental and aids can be used in other ways in the classroom. Without the crutch of aids, students can rely more on themselves and progress even more.
I saw a lot of things during my observation, but one of the things I will take with me the most is thinking on your feet. One day, in English class, a student ran in at the beginning of class and said that the other teacher who is now working in the computer lab will take some of his students and let them work with photo story and give him her students who were finished. I immediately saw two problems: the first, the lack of planning, and secondly, a teacher having to conduct class with some of his students, and some students he doesn’t even teach. These students aren’t doing the same thing in their English classes, but the History teacher must not have taken that into account and just figured he could babysit. He looked at me and said, well there goes my whole lesson, any ideas? I had none to offer him at the moment because within the next 30 seconds the class was full of new faces. He had the students rearrange the desks in a half circle and conducted an activity for the whole class to take part in. They had to go around the room and start creating a story, while the person in front of them acted it out. This is useful for everyone because it required them to participate, pay attention, use their imagination, and at the end, he connected the activity to literature and writing. Although one class was on one unit, and one on the other, he was able to connect it to both. As a teacher, your day isn’t always going to go as planned, and even though you may have a great lesson, you have to be able to conduct class as normal when that lesson no longer works for your class. Instead of getting frustrated, telling the other teacher no, or teaching his lesson knowing half the room would gain no benefit, he was able to engage the entire class and make the situation a positive one. I think this is a very important quality for a teacher to possess.
The majority of my observations that I have done have been in two science classrooms that have Teaching Assistants. After doing almost 20 hours of observations between the two, I have noticed very little value that these T.A.s have provided besides making the teachers life a little bit easier during that period. In both of these classrooms the main purpose of the T.A was to aide in classroom discipline. In the high school Earth Science classroom the T.A. was a former police officer who had little tolerance for misbehavior during the classroom. When I was given the opportunity to speak to both the teacher and the T.A., this seemed to be a good role to play because it really did allow the classroom to run better. When the T.A was not in class (which was quite often from what I have noticed for various reasons I am not quite aware of) the classroom was a very chaotic. Students always were calling out and misbehaving and when the T.A was not there to nip it in the bud, it was just continue on through the rest of the period. I was actually able to observe periods in which she was not there, and it was quite a signficant difference at times. When the T.A is in the classroom, she is making sure that the students have their homework out, following along with the worksheets and making sure they are paying attention. There were times when the head teacher needed something from the science office, and the teacher would have to go and get information-- yet not even know where her desk was! There were times when the TA was making photocopies during the period. I feel like they were on the same page as what their roles were because it was the same thing every time. However, often times, the TA did not know what they would be covering or going over in class that day.
The next main chunk of my observations came from an 8th grade general science class which also had a TA. There were about 28 students in the class. The interesting thing to note about this class is that, the first half of the semester they had a veteran teacher who went on maternity leave at the beginning of April and for the rest of the year is a leave replacement teacher. She actually is a younger teacher, who is still in her first year of teaching. What was clearly observed by my part was, again, had to do with discipline-- but the noticeable difference between the two teachers. I understand the two different experience levels of the teachers and coming in so late in the school year playing a factor, but what I also noticed that the TA actually was very beneficial to the leave replacement. Most of the observations I did in the classroom in february and march I previously had blogged about him not doing much and joking around with the class. The classroom ran smoothly and I really didn't notice any need for a TA at all. Students seemed to be engaged in the class, paying attention, and 'behaving'. Towards the transition from their original teacher to the leave-replacement, which was just a brief one day introduction, the classroom environment had changed slightly and students began to act out more during class. It was during this time that I noticed him be more involved in controlling the class, walking around the room making sure the students were doing their work, and even more so than I saw in the other class that I observed was that during the note taking, he was actually going around making sure students understood what they were doing and writing down. He was the number one reason to help the classroom behavior get back on track. Another thing I noticed was that the new teacher did not really check on the student IEP's for clarification of specific student needs. She just came into the position and went about her teaching in the same manner that she had done in her previous job. I was able to speak to her about that a little and asked her what she does differently for those students that have IEP's. She responded that before her first day, she checked the students who had an IEP and planned her lesson the same as she would. She did speak to the teacher who was on maternity leave and that teacher provided her with any issues that she should be specifically concerned with but that was all. There are many students in the class who have various learning disabilities and a range of IEP's that need to be understood and respected--which I think are not. In both classrooms, that I have just mentioned- the students are all taught the same way. There is a powerpoint lecture and notes are taken. There is homework from the textbook, reviewbook, or worksheets. Nothing is really different from that. There is no group work, no differentiated instruction, no inquiry, none of the educational strategies that we have studied and learned to be so successful. It really is a shame to see that these students have these IEP's, have available to them an extra teacher, and really, does not seem to be helping them as it should!
I was also able to do a few observations in a self-contained classroom and one resource room. The first thing I noticed that was different than any of the classrooms I have done my observations or teaching in, is class size. There were no more than 12 kids in the class room at any time when I observed. I feel as though this made a huge difference in the amount of one-on-one help you can provide to a child versus a classroom of 24 or 32. Another big difference that I noticed in these classrooms, not sure if any one else noticed (and I'm sure I won't be hearing anything back since I'm way overdue with my blogs!!), but both these two classrooms and most of the other special education classrooms I noticed all had chairs arranged in a circle, or circle lab benches. I just thought it was interesting that they were arranged in that matter for the special education classes and not all classes. I assume it has to do with classroom size but I also feel as though it has to do with the difference in teaching styles between the two different types of classes. There was much more group work, lots of going over problems, asking questions, worksheets and review questions asked in these classrooms. Although I only saw a few, and I did not get to speak to the teachers, I do not know if this was the case all the time or just happened to be the days that I was there observing. The pace was much slower and a lot less content was covered. Again, I don't know if they were just doing a review and going over material or if that was the way the class always was. I feel as though a resource room would be a beneficial period to have with general ed students as well, because review of homework and notes would be helpful for any student trying to learn new material. In high school, I was in all advanced classes and had no IEP, yet thinking back now I think I would have done even better had I had a period in which I was required to have a resource room. It would have helped me go over any subjects that I was having trouble in with a teacher present and accessible to help me during the whole period. In general, although I only saw a few of these classes, I really think that the teachers were great and did incoporate some of the strategies that I have learned throughout my education at Adelphi. The greatest difference is that these classrooms were much more student-centered and more student-student interaction as opposed to the teacher lecturing, students taking notes and the TA making sure they are all behaving.
ok. Managing inclusive environments journal #1. Ok, so, so far so good. I am observing at Uniondale High School in the art department. There are 6 teachers so I have been floating a bit amongst the teachers but for the most part I have been with Mrs. Yaron. She is the teacher that has been here the longest and is in charge of the A/P program, senior portfolio, and art club as well as her normal periods. Uniondale is (obviously) an inclusive school district. As far as I am concerned so far, there are no students with disabilities in her classes - at least outward disabilities. NO wheelchairs or braces, no extra teachers or preferential seating that I am aware of - nothing. I will be interested to find out if there are students who do have I.E.P's. The only thing that I have heard that has clued me in that this is in fact an inclusion school is when a student mentioned a second teacher in her english class for (insert boys name here). Other than that - nothing. I'll be back when I start asking some questions.
Managing Inclusive Journal Entry # 2 - Hello. I actually asked today about the inclusion status - if you will - of the art classes my cooperating teacher has at the moment. The main teacher I am with, Ms. Yaron, has two current students with I.E.P's. They are both autistic . I never would have noticed them myself but she pointed them out for me. I plan to keep an eye on them to see if i pick up on anything now that I am aware of this. I also asked about the schools data/student management systems on the computers. They use something called PowerSchool. They keep track of daily attendance on this period to period as well as grades per project/per semester. Ms. Yaron also showed me that students with special needs are marked with an exclamation point in a triangle next to their name on the class roster. If you click on this icon it brings you directly to the I.E.P on IEPdirect.com. We didn't have much time to do this but she said we will definitely get to it tomorrow. untill then...
Journal Entry #3 - Ok so, Ms. Yaron sat with me and actually went to the I.E.P website. It was interesting to see and easily accessible. She also has informed me that for one of her autistic students, she has to fill out a daily form. She will be showing this form to me in the future but she says it is because the boy is switching medications and they are monitoring him. I get it. Its different though. I never had friends in highschool with I.E.P's. I don'd even think we had them to be honest. Only friend I had with an exception - if you will - to the normal school day routine was my friend Alex with diabetes. That was really it. Anyway, the coolest thing I have seen by far was a student's response to her exposure to this schools environment being Inclusive. Normal day, normal class, and a student was about to open a candy she bought when she stopped mid rip and said "is anyone in here allergic to peanut butter"? I thought that was awesome. Small but great. She was aware of the kids that she has come across in her life that this could be a huge problem and threat for so she checked. It's something, like I said, so small but so huge because I would never think to ask that before opening a candy bar. Especially not when I was in high school. Till next time...
Journal entry #4 - Managing Inclusive Environments at Uniondale. Observing again today. Asked for help with my I.E.P form for this class and Ms.Yaron brought me directly to one of the special ed teachers. Ok. For one, this woman was wonderful. She was professional - she meant business - but also approachable. After introducing myself and going over the sheet, she immediately started digging for information while verbalizing her process. It was so helpful. She explained what usually is included, showed me the blank pallet that I.E.P's fill, and told me possible differences from school to school, child to child. She clearly knows what she is doing and has years of experience. I also benefited from meeting her because I got to see the "special" room environment. Though small, it is inviting. A few desks are lines with chairs in the center of the room with a handful of computers on the wall. Students were there working quietly and came to the teachers desk if they had a question or needed help. She was the only teacher in the room but there was also a smaller connected room to the side with two more students and an additional adult. It felt intimate and comfortable. I also happened to run into one of Ms. Yaron's autistic students there. He was quietly working on a science ditto with a text book close by. We left after she helped me out (ALOT). Look forward to seeing more of her with any additional questions I have.
JOURNAL ENTRY 5!!! The last one. It is a sad day here at Uniondale because it is my last one. I will miss this classroom and school. I'll say this much...I'd work here in a heartbeat as an art teacher but you could not pay me enough to teach one of the general ed topics like math or science. No way Jose! I like that in the art room - as in any art room really - that there is always room for differentiated instruction due to a child's disabilities be them learning physical or whatever. I like that this school is so large and yet so intimate. The teachers know their student's and have an awareness of their strengths and weaknesses. Ms. Yaron is amazing with her students both general ed and special ed. She's a natural. Warm and motivating. She sets high standards for every one of her kids and I wish to be like her when I teach in the future. I also would like to comment on the fact that technology has gotten us to a place where we can access information, like an I.E.P with the click of a mouse. That's awesome! I'm horrible with names - I can't even imagine what it's going to be like remembering a child's disabilities and specific needs. I'm sure I'll do fine but having things like IEPdirect.com is a relief and a blessing. Student's here (at least in the art rooms) love the atmosphere that's been created for them by the teachers. I feel that no single student stands out as someone who struggles more than the next. It really has been a privilege to be here and watch how this environment works. (she also let me teach a bit which was amazing). So, it's over. Inclusive environment still intimidating but I feel a little better now that I have experienced it first hand. Till my classroom...signing out.
42 comments:
I'll start us off!
I've been observing in middle school art classrooms. So far I've witnessed two classes in which there have been inclusion students who were accompanied by separate teachers. In both instances, the general art teacher has given direction to the class at large and then gone from table to table to lend assistance or keep the students on task. The teacher gave them as much attention as all the other students, with additional support coming from their teacher. In the eighth grade class, the inclusion teacher was going so far as to cut out paper for the student. In contrast, the sixth grade teacher offered suggestions on color choices and assisted more on keeping the student following direction.
Has anyone else had similar (or different) cases of co-teaching? I was struck most by the fact that the main teacher and inclusion teacher didn't interact much.
-Meghan
I have been observing high school for the past few weeks. Next week I will see a middle school inclusion program.
In general, I have been unable to distinguish the inclusive students except for a few who are obviously learning disabled as evident from their behavior or extra attention from the inclusion teacher. In all the different inclusion classrooms I have seen, the students are spread out, not in one group or only on one side of the room, and the only time they are separated from the class is during testing if they get special accommodations.
The teachers are comfortable teaching inclusion and mostly use a co-teaching strategy. When asked how they prepare I have gotten a standard, "we worked together before so we know the lessons and we kind of wing it." There has been one teacher who says she meets with the inclusion teacher for about a half hour every other week to discuss what will be happening.
So far I haven't seen the purpose of the extra teacher. In fact, the other day I observed a 2 period class. The inclusion teacher was only scheduled for the second period and the teacher was able to handle the first period just fine, and in my opinion better than when the inclusion teacher was present.
I started my observations this week in a high school. I am in math classes from grades 7 - 12. All the classes I am observing have a few students with IEPs. Most of the time, as Brandon stated, I am unable to tell who has the IEP. The majority of the classes are taught lecture based. A few times the students are allowed to work on a hand-out with a partner or in groups.
One particular student, who has an obvious disability, was in a 10th grade geometry class. He did not have another teacher with him which I thought he should have. I was unable to speak to the teacher about this student after class as time did not allow. But from my observations he was just left in the classroom on his own. He was not paying attention, staring out the window, did not work on the Do Now and at one point during the class had his eyes closed sleeping. The teacher did nothing. She did not try to motivate him or engage him in the class discussion at all. He was sitting in the first row, last seat. When the teacher told the students to work on the questions on the board in groups he was left alone. The other students were not mean to him, but it was as if he wasn't there. At one point he dropped a pencil on the floor and was sitting on the floor looking for it. The student in front of him helped him get it. This student got nothing from this lesson/class. He was left on his own to function in a regular class setting and from what I observed was unable to do so. Has anyone else seen this situation in there school?
Today's observations were in different classrooms from the other day. One particular class I observed was called Topics in Algebra and basically it was a regents review class. It was taught by 1 general teacher. There were only 4 students in the class. The teacher sat with the students in a circle. All of the students have IEPs. When I spoke to the teacher after class she said they all have failed the regents 2 or 3 times. It was like a private tutoring class. It seemed like only one of the students was taking the class seriously, asking questions and doing the problems. The others were talking and not very focused. I don't know how much they are getting out of the class.
This week I observed in a variety of different classrooms. One class I observed in had 3 IEP kids and it was an Algebra/Lab Class. Every other day half the kids stay for the next period for lab. The teacher sits at a desk in the front of the classroom with a chair next to it. The students are told to work on their homework and come up to him if they have questions. It seemed like a very odd set up to me. The teacher did not walk around the room to see their work. One student sat in the room and did nothing the whole period. He did not even have a book on the desk and the teacher said nothing. At the end of the period the teacher told me he gets a 50 every marking period and is "just there". The student obviously needs so intervention. Then on the other end of the spectrum there was a student who completed his homework and was looking for more work. The teacher gave him extra problems from the textbook.
So last week I observed a High School Inclusion Art class different than any other class I have ever observed or attended. It was amazing! The class consisted of 3 students and 5 teachers/aids. The 3 students have autism. 1 boy and 2 girls. There is the art teacher, who is very experienced and comfortable in any classroom situation, then there are 2 student helpers, who come to help in their free periods and seem to really enjoy helping. Then there are 2 inclusive teachers(?) who are with the 3 students all day.
Everything is procedural, which keeps the students following steps so they always know what's next. This is good for both the teacher and the student. It keeps them focused on a goal and these are the steps to get there.
They all sat at the same table and drew flowers and cat tails in a clear vase.
Each student had a different view of the flowers, but each was given 5 colors of neon chalk and a piece of black construction paper. They were constantly reminded to "draw what you see".
The students knew fat lines vs. skinny lines, as well as colors, shapes and symbols. They aren't held back by what they think flowers and cattails should look like.
The teachers use positive reinforcement to reassure the students. The students are drawing and thinking for a purpose. They often need questions to challenge and reinforce what they are doing.
All 3 students have the same disability, but they all have different views, different perspectives, and different thought patterns.
The results were very bright, child-like images. General education students couldn't try to draw so abstract. I found it amazing. The whole process from putting on an apron, so they don't get dirty, to using the chalk in different techniques, to washing their hands thoroughly so their is no chalk residue.
I think this type of environment is really beneficial to these students because it allows growth at their own rate, there is no judging or prejudice, and no so many distractions that could and would interfere with their learning and development.
I encourage all of you to READ each other's posts... you will see as I have that the experiences that you have will be diverse and you should aspire to "BE" the good experiences that you have seen and "USE" the bad ones to grow from and pledge yourself to be different in your own classroom.
In the same art classroom where I observed many teachers and the three young talented autistic students, there was a really cool machine that I didn't know the name of in class.
It is called the "Mayster Braille Loom", designed by Jennifer Mayster. Instead of written language it's a woven language using colored strings, knots and colored threads. It is based on the braille alphabet and 7 colored or textured threads.
The threads or strings are weaved to make a code, and each row represents a single letter. You have to decode the pattern according to the color or textile pattern. The letters form words, phrases, and messages. There is way more info on their website:
http://www.maysterdesignsltd.com/maysterloomCode.htm
I have never even heard of this machine/tool before I came to this school. At first I was a little confused about how it works and it is complex, but after doing more research and reading up on it, It really is such a great tool for blind students, but also for any student with or without disabilities. You learn the braille alphabet, and you learn a new form of communication.
I also think this a good tool for your more quiet students who don't communicate much. Students can express themselves in a new way without saying a word or picking up an paintbrush. You don't have to have talent or skill, just learn the language and the tools are available.
I have been observing the same inclusion class for about three periods a week for the last four weeks. This is a co-taught classroom with one math teacher and one special education teacher. At the beginning of my observations, before the students arrived, I discussed the nature of the class with the two teachers. Half the class has IEP's and the rest do not. The students without IEP's generally tested the lowest on assessment tests. On the first day they issued me a challenge, they would not tell me who the IEP students were for the first couple of weeks. They wanted me to see if I could tell. It was very difficult for the first few weeks until the students had to fill out what is called a "learning survey." The survey consisted of 20 simple questions that many students filled out in five minutes. It took others the entire period. This enlightened me to just how difficult it is for some student to focus and I assumed these were mostly the students with IEP's. The next period there was a quiz for which most of the IEP student were brought to a separate classroom to take. All of the students who took a long time filling out the survey were brought to the separate room.
After having the experience of interviewing the special education teacher a while back, I found that I was more aware of the inclusion students and the support (or lack of) they were receiving. In one case, I went over to the table where the two inclusion students and their aide were sitting and commented on their color choices for their art project. The subtlest of effort on my part seemed to matter positively to both the students and their aide. It amazes me that some teachers don't realize this and reach out more to include their inclusion students. I am aware of how many students demand their attention, but a little bit goes a long way.
I have been observing 3 inclusion classrooms for the past month (sorry i didn't post after each individual visit) and the biggest thing i noticed was that the cooperation and organization between the TA and teacher were completely different in all three rooms.
The first classroom is an Earth Science class of about 18 students and one TA, the second is an 8th grade general science classroom with about 25 students and one TA, and the third is a biology elective class with mixed grade levels, 1 head teacher, TA and about 13 students.
My first two observations in the Earth Science and 8th grade classroom were completely different. I did not even know that the TA in the 8th grade classroom was a TA. I had seen him around the building and I honestly thought he was either a coach or phys. ed teacher-- just because he was always dressed in athletic gear. When i observed the class for the first few times, I didn't ask if there was a TA in the room just that if it was an inclusion classroom. So when I noticed him in their, I really thought he was just friendly with the teacher and students. He would sit in the back on the radiator and joke with the kids whenever they made a silly comment. He stayed in their the whole class, and I feel naive for saying it, but even for the fact that he was there for the entire period, I didn't make the connection that he could possibly be a TA because he did not help with anything. He made the kids laugh and picked on kids in a funny way but that was all. When I realized he was a TA i was a shocked and all the other staff wasn't surprised because they knew him to be like that. Even the head teacher said to me that he really doesn't do much. So what is the point? I thought it was senseless and if these kids need that extra help they were not getting it!
The second classroom was the Earth Science classroom. I immediately recognized the teacher in the back of the classroom as a TA and she came over to introduce herself to me. She was extremely helpful with telling me about how the whole process works. Basically she told me she made sure the kids did their homework, stayed on task during the period and did not act out behaviorally during the class. She walked around the room, disciplined the students when needed and helped out very much. The biggest thing I felt that should be incorporated is having these teachers be a little more knowledgeable in the content area they are a TA in.
So over all my experience has been just in these classrooms and extremely drastic between the two. I also want to comment, that many times the TA is not even present, she/he has been absent and there is not a sub or any replacement for them. Thought it was interesting and when I asked about it, it was nothing out of the ordinary but usually there should have been subs. My biggest concern is that students have this accomodations on their IEP for a reason and I feel as though they are not always being fulfilled.
I plan to visit a self-contained and autistic classroom during the next week and hope to provide additional positive feedback. :)
Last Thursday I did 4 hours of observations in the high school. One class I observed in was called Contemporary Math. According to the teacher these are the struggling students. Most have an IEP and are seniors that are considered "slower". There was only one teacher in the room. I was told by the teacher that these students were going to be taking a quarterly on Friday. The don't take mid-terms or Finals, they take 4 tests to make it "easier" for them. I found this interesting and different.
I observed in another class called Math 8. The first half of the class the teacher went over formulas and then gave a quiz for the last half. I noticed that 2 students asked the teacher questions and one of those students asked her a question 5 times. After class she told me this student had an IEP. Then when the bell rang a different student became very nervous and agitated. Apparently he did not have time to finish the test. The teacher told him he cold finish it later with Mrs. ? - she mentioned a name. The teacher later told me that he did have an IEP and would finish the test in the resource room. She said he is very smart and comes up with different ways to solve math problems, but he does have other issues.
I observed an Inclusive English class, 11RS. The class is supposed to be co-taught, but one of the teachers was out that day, so Ms. Arcuri was on her own. But this was not a problem. There are only 12 students in the class, all have IEP's and each struggle in different ways.
The students are reading "All Falls Down" by Robert Cormier. This is a 7th grade reading level book, but is being used in this class because all the kids have trouble in reading in comprehending. Most of the students need a little more time and need repeating of questions often.
At the start of class Ms. Arcuri handed out a quick quiz as an assessment to see who read for homework over the weekend. I thought this was great. It is a good way to review, and also build their grades. The short quiz is also a tool to check for understanding. Ms. Arcuri gave her students choices for some of the questions. For example answer 2 out of 5, etc.
There is an Aim and Do Now on the board, and the homework is written in the corner of the board (as always). The Do Now attempts to connect the book to the students and real life. After the quiz Ms. Arcuri handed out a graphic organizer sheet, so that her students take notes and use it as a study guide.
She walks around while going over the quiz to make sure all the students are on task. She ties in the Do Now and starts a list on the board, the class is brainstorming. She asks questions to get them to where they need to be. She asks questions to get them to realize and answer the questions to make connections. She asks questions to move forward. They answer the questions and write them down in their study guides together as a class, and with the teacher, through discussion, while Ms. Arcuri adds the students' responses to the growing brainstorm list.
Ms. Arcuri often repeats and reiterates so that all students are together and not falling behind. She goes around and asks each student for their input, she is checking for understanding often.
This really helps!
One of the students made a comment that shows he has truly made a connection to the book..."this is one of those 'Twix' type of moments like the commercial." The rest of the class replies, "yeah!"
That one line made me realize that this kid made the connection to his life, to real life.
After reviewing the rest of the homework chapters and discussing , they all make predictions to what will happen next in the book. The students are thinking on high levels of Bloom's Taxonomy and probably aren't even aware of it.
I think Ms. Arcuri did a very good job at not making the connections for her students, but providing the vehicle and the tools they need to make the connections and getting them where they need to be.
I did my last observation last week. I was in various classrooms through out the day. Each class had a few students in them with IEPs. I was able to observe again in the same class I was in when the student began to act out because he was unable to complete the test. The student participated during the class and gave a different way to solve a problem. The teacher called on him whenever he raised his hand and she really involved him in the class discussions.
Another class I saw was a Pre-Algebra 7 class. The students are preparing for the NY Assessment. The Do Now on the board was to work in the workbook on old Assessment tests. The students worked together on the problems. While this was going on the teacher sat in the back of the classroom with 3 students (with IEPs). After class she told me these students need her extra help/review for the upcoming test. She said she will continue to have her class set up in this format with the better students working on problems and her in the back with the IEP students. They need the extra tutoring/ one-on-one help before the test.
As I mentioned in class last week, I observe a co-teaching environment a couple of times a week at a NYC middle school in Queens. The class does not at all take advantage of having two teachers in the room. The desks in the class are set up to have seven tables of 3-5 students and just about every class the table will work on a handful of questions as a group. At the least, it would make sense for the special education teacher to work with a group that may have a greater amount of students in need of special attention. This would keep them on task and help them fully understand the direction, two tasks that seem to cause trouble for a few students. This would effectively lower the student-teacher ratio and could really target their learning. This would be similar to the scenario in Gina's post above and was what I expected going into a co-taught classroom.
However, it has not been the case. During group work one teacher will grade or book-keep while the other will make sure there is order in the class. I am all about letting students explore in order to learn and foster independence, but many of these students need direction or at least a starting point for their work. When I am in the classroom I feel as if I am in a regular classroom with two observers. It is a shame the this school is afforded the opportunity to have a co-taught classroom but the students are not able to reap the benefits.
One good experience I saw in the co-teaching environment was when the math teacher was conducting a probability lesson. She was asking the students that if they were to pick the names of the months out of a hat what is the probability that they would pick a month that started with "J". One student, who I do not believe has an IEP, raised her hand and asked how many months there were in a year. This is a sixth grade classroom and that kind of information should be known already. The math teacher told here that there were 12 months, looked at the special ed. teacher, who nodded back, and then the lesson proceeded. Later on the special education teacher talked to the student about key fact like months in a year, days of the week, number of days in a year, etc. She also discussed facts that would be needed for their assessment test like how many cards are in a standard deck.
This instance was one of the few times in my observation that I saw the co-teaching system being used beneficially. Instead of having to stop a lesson and discuss the number of months in year, which would be necessary yet known by most of the class, the special education teacher was able to explain this to the student without disruption or embarrassment. Although, it was a nice use of having two adults in the room, isn't what the special ed. did something that an aid could have done just as easily?
For the past few weeks I have stopped observing at the middle school level and started at the high school in the same district. It amazes me a little how even a single grade difference can change a teaching environment. The two art teachers I'm observing is the head of the art department, who has been working there for fifteen years, and a teacher out of school two years ago, who is a long term substitute for another art teacher on maternity leave.
The younger teacher has a particularly interesting fourth period class. It's Drawing & Painting I, which is supposed to be a class with a prerequisite of Studio Art that used to have a class size of around fifteen students who were recommended for it. In recent years it has become a highly inclusive classroom that certain special education students are pushed into in hopes that they can get an "easy grade". The result is an extremely hectic environment in which the substitute has to be constantly directing people on task and attempting to motivate them to do some kind of work. She did not explicitly state what the type of learning problems exist in the classroom, but implied that many where emotional or behavioral.
The teacher told me that the situation was not what she expected dealing with students with IEPs. She told me there is one student who she submits a checklist for everyday, to show whether or not he worked or listened to instructions and a place to leave additional comments. Earlier in the spring semester, when she took over this job, the teacher would try hard to work one on one with the student and try to modify his tasks for the day in hopes that he would do some kind of work. It would work for the day, but the next he'd be back to sitting there doing nothing. The teacher would write long notes on the checklist and call the parents to inform them of what was going on in the classroom. After a while the special education teachers told her not to bother modifying the work for him or writing long notes; the student was not interested in working and the parents did not show much interest in what was going on. They had hoped this would be the one class he'd show enough interest in to pass for the semester, but since that was not the case she was told to simply scale back and do what she could.
I was a bit horrified at what the teacher was telling me about this situation with her inclusion students. She said she tried not to take the actions (or inactions) of the students personally, but it was still tough. I am not sure if she was told to not bother with some students because she is merely a long term substitute or another reason entirely. While you can she she has scaled back concentrating on just inclusion students in order to help everyone in her overlarge class, she still does a decent job at classroom management and trying to motivate, even if it takes halfway through the period for some students to pick up a paintbrush.
Along with observing a co-teaching environment, I also am observing a lessons taught by one teacher. She teaches the same basic lesson to both class, but there are some alterations that are interesting. These slight alterations are based on the fact that she teaches to student with different learning abilities. In other words the entire sixth grade is “tracked”, and students move from class to class in the same group. Teachers then give the same basic lesson to advanced students as they do to classes filled with students who have IEP’s. This essentially gives the teacher the opportunity to differentiate her lesson by teaching a slightly different lesson each period.
Although on the surface this may seem like a good way to run a more controlled, efficient classroom, I feel that the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. By having such a narrow achievement level in a class room the opportunity for peer learning is diminished. This creates an atmosphere where all the students in the classroom are leaning heavily on the teacher. Also, having middle school students together for many periods a day yet with different teachers creates an unwanted dynamic in the classroom. Problems from previous classes come into the new class. My cooperating teacher had to waste time changing seating arrangements because two students carried-in a disagreement from a previous class. I know that this could happen in schools with a more regular schedule, but having an entire group together the whole day opens up more opportunities for disruption.
Motivation plays a large part in a high school art class. In certain ones, there are just as many kids motivated to put their heads down or play on their phone as there are who actually do work. Unlike an English or math classroom (at least the ones I took in high school), there is not as much lecturing or explaining from the teacher. Most art teachers that I have had or am observing present a new project, then help any students who need help. Hopefully they can check in on each student at some point, whether they need the additional help or not.
That is the ideal situation. Most times I have been observing, this has not been the case. Sometimes there are classroom management issues that need to be addressed, other times certain students need more one on one time with the teacher to understand part of the project. Most classes have about 25 students and towards the middle of the day there can be up to ten extra students visiting on their lunch or free periods. Sometimes, the "unmotivated" get lost in the crowd.
One of the teachers I observed will give the class reminders in order to motivate: "This project is due this week! I'll let you hand it in Monday morning if you need extra time, but any later than that and it drops a letter grade!" Yet some students simply aren't motivated in that manner. Today there was a boy sitting staring at his painting, partly done from the last class. He had the reference ready and was showing good effort, but fifteen minutes into class and he hadn't gotten paint or made any indication that he was going to work. Since the teacher was busy, I told the boy I thought he was doing well and I liked the landscape he had chosen. He quietly said thank you and I moved on to looking at the next person's work. A minute later I saw he had gotten up to get paint and he soon got to painting. The threat of a low grade did not motivate him to work, but someone paying attention to him and his artwork did.
I realize observing and teaching can be a great difference, but I hope I can be remembered that not every student is motivated the same way we are and sometimes we need to reach out in order to figure that way out.
This passed week I finished my observations at a Middle School. Throughout my time there, I observed co-teaching environments, inclusive environments, and classes with gifted students. There were some differences between the classes on the surface, but at the class’ core there was not much of a difference. In fact, their similarities were very striking to me. All the classes I observed were math and, as I might have mentioned on this blog, the main differences between all the classes was the difficulty of the problems presented. For instance, in an advanced class, the students would have to figure out the area and perimeter of a complex object in which all the sides are not labeled and some sides with measurement in decimals. In the inclusion classes or co-taught classes, the shapes would be simpler and every side’s length would be labeled. Other then some small content changes, there was not much of a difference between the classes. Since students in the advanced classes would grasps topics faster, teachers in those classes would be able to cover more content. For those students with learning disabilities not much was done to make lessons appeal more to them. They seemed to have difficulty grasping lessons at times, but it did not seem like much was tailored to their form of learning. Those classes seemed to be less visual and did not use the interactive white board as much; instead those classes were taught very much in the skill-and-drill style. This amounted to these classes trying to catch-up by going slower.
Throughout my observations there were a bunch of reoccurring themes. In the High School, most teachers employed the same teaching strategies. I would switch classes when the bell rang, walk through the halls, sit in the new room and basically the only difference was the physical teacher, not the teaching. this was disappointing especially when I was told that "in science, we consider lab time as teaching through inquiry." This is polar opposite from the values, teaching, and view points of my Adelphi career. when I did observe labs, they were all "cookie cutter" where students followed a list of directions to get the desired result. The students rarely thought about what they were actually doing or how it related to the class material. they just did it to get a grade and push it out of their mind. The teachers didn't help the situation and much time was spent trying to keep the students on track before the bell rang.
During labs, I would walk around and interact with the groups. I would ask them questions to get them to tell me what they know, what they didn't know and I would try to help as best I could. I got a lot of compliments from teachers by doing this, I just feel like they were lazy. Its sad how many teachers just throw material out there and don't care if it sticks or not.
My best day of observations was at Mineola middle school. The first thing I noticed was the culture and the environment of the school. The best description I can come up with is, not intimidating, welcoming, safe, tolerant, and kind. I got these feelings not only from the decoration of the school but from almost everyone I came in contact with. Plus almost every classroom had at least one poster that read, "fair is not always equal" or "Fair is not equal, its what you need" or some version of this. It was awesome, i wish i went to school there.
In my first class, we were going outside on a "rock find field trip." However, this was initially delayed by student questions. Soon all the questions seemed to revolve around diamonds and the teacher stoped the class, and took about 3 minutes to tell the class all about diamonds from the mining, to manufacturing to jewelry. It was the perfect example of a "teachable moment." He delayed his plans by a few min to really teach his students. While he was speaking all of the students were staring at him being very attentive. It was very cool, but not as cool as when we were back in the classroom and the teacher was breaking rocks with a hammer so the students could look at the rock characteristics. This teacher was all about getting the students involved and excited about what they were doing,and this was evident by the students' behavior in the class.
Another class had the best example of inquiry style teaching that I have seen in real life. It was a 6th grade science class and they did projects on types of storms, like thunderstorm, lightning, winter storm, tornado, etc. The students were split into groups, assigned a topic and then given a few days to research, gather information, create a poster board and a presentation for the class. While one group was giving their presentation, the other groups had worksheets to fill out, so the students were learning from each other! The teacher just set the whole thing in motion. The first few minutes of the period the groups were allowed to finish up and get ready. It was very cool to go around to the groups and talk to the students. They were all so involved with their particular storm and knew a ton of information. I was very impressed.
As a contrast to my last post, I also did some middle school observations in the Huntington School district. However, these few hours made me realize what not to do. I had heard good things about this teacher before I observed so I was excited to see how she conducts her class. Unfortunatly I got my hopes up. It was an inclusion class with a co-teacher. This class they were doing a lab experiment. At first, the teacher is at the front behind the big table and the coteacher is sitting in one of the rows in the back of the classroom. the rapport between the teachers and students was surprising to me. The conversations were very sarcastic and seemed demeaning to me. for example, "I wish I could send you to the office", "you guys are so annoying", "why wont you listen to me". There seemed to be very little control as much time was spent trying to calm students down. The inclusion teacher was just being a disiplinarian whispering in students ears to get them to be quiet and stay in their seats.
Finally when it was time to begin the lab, the main teacher gave a very brief explanation, gave them all worksheets, and directions - on what Not to do. Then sent them to their lab groups to start. The two teachers then gathered themselves at the front of the room and began chit chatting about everything but the class. Meanwhile, most of the groups are just sitting there not doing anything. So I went over and started helping one of the groups. Once i got them to form a hypothesis, correctly set up the apparatus, and begin recording information I went back to the teachers. I asked her if the procedures were written down so the students could follow them better. She said not really, and she was right. On the worksheet there were about 4 very basic directions.
All I kept thinking was why are you trying to make it hard for these kids? The whole class could have gone so much better if she just changed a few things. I would have the experiment set up done on the teachers desk so students could see what is is supposed to look like. Then I would have better directions. I would also have the class come up with a hypothesis together so everyone is on the same page. Finally, I would actually work with the groups instead of yelling from the front of the room.
Worse than the teaching practises was the teacher conversation. There were two main topics being discussed; facebook, and other teachers in the middle and high school. The comments and feeling they expressed were disgusting and they were bashing teachers in the high school that I considered to be pretty good teachers. I still don't understand why they would choose to have that conversation in front of me. Looking back, I think I was more upset that the conversation was within earshot of the rest of the class, its not like they were whispering. And why weren't they doing thier job??
The other teacher I observed in the art classroom was also school wrestling coach. I mention that because his coach-like way of motivating sometimes cropped up in the way he interacted with students. He is a bit imposing when you first meet him, looking more like your perception of a gym teacher. Then he pulls on his apron with a plethora of pencils sticking out of it and shows the students how their wrists are built like hinges, allowing them to draw perfect circles.
I could tell the positive attitude he showed the students made him well liked and made the students feel they could come to him with any problem, class related or not. I still felt there could be more work on motivating the students in the classroom. He has the right mindset, now just needs to apply it just that extra bit to reach out to the struggling students.
One of the days I got to see an interesting perspective of the same lesson taught two different ways by two different teachers. Both teachers used the same powerpoint to guide the class. One teacher seemed to rely on it while the other used it as a guide for class discussion. It was an introduction to ecology lesson. Teacher "A" barely paid attention to the powerpoint and was more focused on the students. He asked them questions to make them think, then made them explain their idea further, while interjecting to correct any misinformation. the discussion revovled around the interactions between plants and animals and the environment, and also discussing biotic vs. abiotic. I think he did a great job of getting main points across to the students and to get them thinking like scientists about ecology even though there was very little note taking.
In the next period, the powerpoint was followed more closely. The students were provided with a guided note sheet where all they had to do was fill in blanks in the sentences. (same sentences apear in powerpoint). The teacher rushed through, barely asking questions for comprehension or any actual thinking. It was lecture, boring but the students behaved very well. they stayed quit and most would fill in their sheets. But there was very little interaction between teacher and student, at least not like the previous class with teacher A.
Interestingly, in the second class there was a reward system in place. The students were "paid" in fake dollars if all their work was complete. At the end of the week the students could "buy" little trinket things or candy from the teacher. He also had a raffel system where a student could win a slurpie or something like that. His reasons for this procedure was basically for classroom management purposes.
I didn't like this reward system because the students goal moves from do the work to learn, to do the work to get something. I think it is a bad motivation tool.
I witnessed another reward system later that day with another teacher. She does a "free time bank" where when students are conducting themselves appropriatly they can earn free class time. I'm not sure of all the details, but after some amount of time, the class can "cash in" their time and just hang out in class. I think this reward system focused more on improving behavior than just finishing classwork which aligns with Lavoie and other research about positive praise and reinforcement.
I observed an English 12RS class with 24 students and about 12 or so students with IEP's. The desks were in pairs. Today they were presenting their issue for their research papers about social issues. The issues had to be topics they care about.
All the students put their names in a hat and she picked one. Then that student would pick he next and so on. The students have to present their issue and talk about what the issue is, who or what it effects, and why you chose that issue. Each presentation is supposed to be about 5 minutes.
After each presentation the student was allowed to look at the rubric and see what they are being graded on.
There was a lot of commotion and talking the entire period. The teacher was trying to get them to focus constantly, but after being silent for about 30 seconds it would start up again. Another thing was that some of the students weren't ready to present that day so she let them go the next day, but some other students who were prepared felt that wasn't right or fair.
I like a couple things she did, but I think I would tweak them a bit. I would let the students see the rubric before the presentation, so they know what they must do to earn an A or B or whatever grade it is. Also maybe including some visuals along with the presentations, this way some students are hearing the presentation and looking at the images, instead of talking to each other the entire class. Also the desks set up in pairs I feel is beneficial at times, but is at times distracting as well. Of course they can be multi tasking, but listen to talking while someone is presenting is just rude.
The visuals might help control the volume, as well as give the students a better idea to what the presenter is talking about.
-Ryan
About a month into my observations I came across this 10th grader who was on the spectrum for autism and she was in the 4th period Creative Crafts art class. They were doing printmaking and monoprints. While in the class she understood everything and was fine, it wasn't until the other girls in the class started talking about her right in front her. She was honest with them and said some (not so nice) things.
Shortly after she was taken out of that class. I thought this was horrible because the arts are one of the areas that allows personal expression and growth.
I think if this student was in an art class with a teacher whose focus is to build a positive, non-judgmental environment, she could excel and and grow, instead of being put down by (not so nice) teenage girls. Inclusive art classes should be offered more in every school. Classes where negative remarks are not tolerable, and it is more of a coach/teacher/guide role. Only positive, constructive criticism and advice. I think this type of environment would greatly benefit children with autism, learning disabilities, and general ed students as well.
Another option could have been to not take her out of the class, but to talk to that group of girls and make them aware of their surroundings and peers. I think shaping better people is more important than passing a test. There are usually other options than the quick and easy one. I think the focus of any teacher, or school, should be to help shape better people, more open-minded, more unbiased, and more understanding.
I hope one day she will take some art classes again and this time have a positive outcome. No one should put someone else down, no matter what. No one likes that feeling, so why make someone else feel that way.
-Ryan
I observed at Mineola Middle School from March 15 - 19th. The first day of observation I went to many different classrooms.
My first class was a very colorful Co-Math room with a lot of student work on the walls. The concept on display was “Pi” and students had made shirts and posters to really get into it. I definitely would have done I *pi symbol* PI, haha get it? Anyway, the teacher began class with checking homework, going over the weekly assignments schedule, and handing out an equation review packet. The teacher explained to me that in order to help the kids learn combining like terms, she played Beyonce “To The Left” song, to help them remember to move everything to left. Eh, I didn’t really like this because.. You can move them to either side, really. The class was taught by the general ed teacher speaking to the class and the special education teacher writing the problems on the board. The aid stayed back with her specific student. The next time I was in the classroom was on March 19th and the students had reached the final pages of their equation packet. The class began by the teacher, special education teacher, and aid walking around checking homework for completion. Although most of the students didn’t complete their homework, when asked if they had questions, none of them spoke. The class then worked independently while the 3 adults walked around. For the most part, this math class wasn’t very interactive and the students didn’t talk unless they were talking to each other about unrelated issues.
The other math class I was in was another Co-Math class on March 16, 17, and 18th. This math class started with the Do Now which was a few problems on the board while the general ed and special ed teacher walked around. While the general ed teacher led the class, I noticed the special ed teacher speaking to individual students. The co-teaching relationship seemed a little more friendly than the other math class, the teachers spoke to each other and the special ed teacher was able to build on what the general ed teacher said to the class. One thing I didn’t like was that once they were going over the do now, the answers were on the smart board and then the homework answers were displayed for students to check themselves. I think the do now definitely should have been solved by a student, and the homework questions could have been demonstrated since they were being graded on completion instead of accuracy to show how you get the right answer. Something I really liked was when the general ed teacher made a reference to a video game and the student with the aid, who had not participated at all during class, could relate and got excited about the concept. The next time I was in the class I was much happier because the teacher demonstrated correct ways to solve the problems on the board and asked the students to find mistakes. One thing I will definitely employ that this teacher did was asking the students if they were ready before moving on to the next problem. I saw partner work the next day but the partners didn’t seem very enthusiastic to be working together and didn’t really talk to each other. Both teachers walked around and talked to students while they did independent work.
In both math classes, I felt that the special education teachers paid careful attention to “their” students when walking around. I also felt that they were over shadowed by the general education teacher. There was also little student participation even though they were prompted often. I think both classrooms would function more efficiently if they were at tables, or in a U shape. Rows can be very intimidating and suffocating. I hate sitting in rows and why speak up when you are talking to the back of people’s heads?
For March 15 and 19th I was in a co-taught ELA room, which like the math rooms, was very colorful with student work on the wall. On the 15th, the class began with a free write (which is what I would like to do each day with my own English class) and wrote about their weekends and were able to share if they wanted to, help fostering both writing and speaking skills. The Unit being covered was a poetry unit, and the general ed teacher led the class, asking them to write on the poem any questions they have. As the special education teacher read the poem, the general ed teacher would lead a discussion. The two were able to feed off of each other, and the students were told that any notes they took on the poem could be used on their final. Finals in middle school? Absurd! The students sat at table and participated whenever prompted. On the 19th, the class took notes from the board about the genre of the poetry they were reading and then read the poems. For the most part, the general ed teacher led the class while the special ed teacher walked around. The students seemed interested and spoke up with questions even when they weren’t prompted. The two teachers stayed after class for a few minutes to discuss the direction they wanted next week to go in, and set up a meeting time for early Monday morning to get a definite plan in place. This co-taught relationship was probably the best one I saw during my observation because they both worked with the students and were planning together.
Two meetings that I saw during my observation were a parent/team meeting and a CSE meeting. At the parent meeting, the team teachers, translator, and parent sat in a circle. Although students are invited to attend, the parent did not want his son to. The teachers went around in a circle and discussed some of the problem they were having with the student, but all teachers mentioned how smart he was and know he has the potential to do well. One thing that I didn’t like was that most of the teachers spoke to the translator. In Sociolinguistics, we discussed speaking to the person who needs the translator, not the translator because it makes the person feel like they don’t matter. It must already be uncomfortable listening to people tell you how bad your child is doing in another language, and even worse when no one is making eye contact with you. Something else that kind of rubbed me the wrong way was when the guidance counselor asked what they could do about it, and none of the teachers offered any solutions. The translator actually spoke up because I guess she has been through a few of these, and suggested a homework sign off sheet. The meeting was held in a regular classroom, but the CSE meeting was held in the office in a meeting room, and the student, parent, teachers, guidance counselor, school psychologist, and assistant principle were present. I liked that the student was very involved in the process and was constantly asked his feelings and opinions. It was a very hopeful and positive meeting, as the adults had a lot of confidence in the student. I was glad I was able to see these meetings because although we talked about them in class, I got to actually see them going on. There is a lot of behind the scenes stuff I wasn’t aware of in school. Like the student in the meeting, I also had a 504 plan, but mine was for dietary issues not academic or behavioral issues. I was never involved in the meetings, but always told what accommodations I would receive. I would have liked to have been involved, and as a parent, I will involve my child in any parent/teacher meeting or a CSE meeting involving a 504 or IEP. I think student input is very important, and as discussed in class, students care more about issues when they are involved.
During my observation, I got to spend a lot of time working with special education students in the resource room and support room. In the resource room, students sit at table and go over their work from their other classes with the special education teacher. I don’t think we had this in my high school. The only thing I remember about special education was the special education classroom in the vocational building and they were definitely not included in regular education classrooms. I think that the resource room and support room are great for kids because in the other classrooms, I didn’t see them speaking up as much as they did in these rooms. They were much more comfortable and had more involvement with the special education teacher and aid. I was able to lead a group in the resource room for math review and also another two times for science. I enjoyed working with the kids. One time, in the support room, I was working with a child who had an aid, but the aid wasn’t around so I was asked to help. I noticed in other classes that he seemed very distracted and didn’t really pay attention, but when looking at his English test, he had answered a lot of questions. When he is prompted, he does his work. We discussed this situation in class and I do believe that because of the constant attention for his aid, he has learned helplessness and waits to be told what to do. When he saw the aid wasn’t around and I was there to help, he did begin to take initiative but then stopped, and waited to be told what to do. At first, I was all for having an aid for the student, but now I see that it can actually be detrimental and aids can be used in other ways in the classroom. Without the crutch of aids, students can rely more on themselves and progress even more.
I saw a lot of things during my observation, but one of the things I will take with me the most is thinking on your feet. One day, in English class, a student ran in at the beginning of class and said that the other teacher who is now working in the computer lab will take some of his students and let them work with photo story and give him her students who were finished. I immediately saw two problems: the first, the lack of planning, and secondly, a teacher having to conduct class with some of his students, and some students he doesn’t even teach. These students aren’t doing the same thing in their English classes, but the History teacher must not have taken that into account and just figured he could babysit. He looked at me and said, well there goes my whole lesson, any ideas? I had none to offer him at the moment because within the next 30 seconds the class was full of new faces. He had the students rearrange the desks in a half circle and conducted an activity for the whole class to take part in. They had to go around the room and start creating a story, while the person in front of them acted it out. This is useful for everyone because it required them to participate, pay attention, use their imagination, and at the end, he connected the activity to literature and writing. Although one class was on one unit, and one on the other, he was able to connect it to both. As a teacher, your day isn’t always going to go as planned, and even though you may have a great lesson, you have to be able to conduct class as normal when that lesson no longer works for your class. Instead of getting frustrated, telling the other teacher no, or teaching his lesson knowing half the room would gain no benefit, he was able to engage the entire class and make the situation a positive one. I think this is a very important quality for a teacher to possess.
The majority of my observations that I have done have been in two science classrooms that have Teaching Assistants. After doing almost 20 hours of observations between the two, I have noticed very little value that these T.A.s have provided besides making the teachers life a little bit easier during that period. In both of these classrooms the main purpose of the T.A was to aide in classroom discipline. In the high school Earth Science classroom the T.A. was a former police officer who had little tolerance for misbehavior during the classroom. When I was given the opportunity to speak to both the teacher and the T.A., this seemed to be a good role to play because it really did allow the classroom to run better. When the T.A was not in class (which was quite often from what I have noticed for various reasons I am not quite aware of) the classroom was a very chaotic. Students always were calling out and misbehaving and when the T.A was not there to nip it in the bud, it was just continue on through the rest of the period. I was actually able to observe periods in which she was not there, and it was quite a signficant difference at times. When the T.A is in the classroom, she is making sure that the students have their homework out, following along with the worksheets and making sure they are paying attention. There were times when the head teacher needed something from the science office, and the teacher would have to go and get information-- yet not even know where her desk was! There were times when the TA was making photocopies during the period. I feel like they were on the same page as what their roles were because it was the same thing every time. However, often times, the TA did not know what they would be covering or going over in class that day.
The next main chunk of my observations came from an 8th grade general science class which also had a TA. There were about 28 students in the class. The interesting thing to note about this class is that, the first half of the semester they had a veteran teacher who went on maternity leave at the beginning of April and for the rest of the year is a leave replacement teacher. She actually is a younger teacher, who is still in her first year of teaching. What was clearly observed by my part was, again, had to do with discipline-- but the noticeable difference between the two teachers. I understand the two different experience levels of the teachers and coming in so late in the school year playing a factor, but what I also noticed that the TA actually was very beneficial to the leave replacement. Most of the observations I did in the classroom in february and march I previously had blogged about him not doing much and joking around with the class. The classroom ran smoothly and I really didn't notice any need for a TA at all. Students seemed to be engaged in the class, paying attention, and 'behaving'. Towards the transition from their original teacher to the leave-replacement, which was just a brief one day introduction, the classroom environment had changed slightly and students began to act out more during class. It was during this time that I noticed him be more involved in controlling the class, walking around the room making sure the students were doing their work, and even more so than I saw in the other class that I observed was that during the note taking, he was actually going around making sure students understood what they were doing and writing down. He was the number one reason to help the classroom behavior get back on track. Another thing I noticed was that the new teacher did not really check on the student IEP's for clarification of specific student needs. She just came into the position and went about her teaching in the same manner that she had done in her previous job. I was able to speak to her about that a little and asked her what she does differently for those students that have IEP's. She responded that before her first day, she checked the students who had an IEP and planned her lesson the same as she would. She did speak to the teacher who was on maternity leave and that teacher provided her with any issues that she should be specifically concerned with but that was all.
There are many students in the class who have various learning disabilities and a range of IEP's that need to be understood and respected--which I think are not. In both classrooms, that I have just mentioned- the students are all taught the same way. There is a powerpoint lecture and notes are taken. There is homework from the textbook, reviewbook, or worksheets. Nothing is really different from that. There is no group work, no differentiated instruction, no inquiry, none of the educational strategies that we have studied and learned to be so successful. It really is a shame to see that these students have these IEP's, have available to them an extra teacher, and really, does not seem to be helping them as it should!
I was also able to do a few observations in a self-contained classroom and one resource room. The first thing I noticed that was different than any of the classrooms I have done my observations or teaching in, is class size. There were no more than 12 kids in the class room at any time when I observed. I feel as though this made a huge difference in the amount of one-on-one help you can provide to a child versus a classroom of 24 or 32. Another big difference that I noticed in these classrooms, not sure if any one else noticed (and I'm sure I won't be hearing anything back since I'm way overdue with my blogs!!), but both these two classrooms and most of the other special education classrooms I noticed all had chairs arranged in a circle, or circle lab benches. I just thought it was interesting that they were arranged in that matter for the special education classes and not all classes. I assume it has to do with classroom size but I also feel as though it has to do with the difference in teaching styles between the two different types of classes. There was much more group work, lots of going over problems, asking questions, worksheets and review questions asked in these classrooms. Although I only saw a few, and I did not get to speak to the teachers, I do not know if this was the case all the time or just happened to be the days that I was there observing. The pace was much slower and a lot less content was covered. Again, I don't know if they were just doing a review and going over material or if that was the way the class always was. I feel as though a resource room would be a beneficial period to have with general ed students as well, because review of homework and notes would be helpful for any student trying to learn new material. In high school, I was in all advanced classes and had no IEP, yet thinking back now I think I would have done even better had I had a period in which I was required to have a resource room. It would have helped me go over any subjects that I was having trouble in with a teacher present and accessible to help me during the whole period.
In general, although I only saw a few of these classes, I really think that the teachers were great and did incoporate some of the strategies that I have learned throughout my education at Adelphi. The greatest difference is that these classrooms were much more student-centered and more student-student interaction as opposed to the teacher lecturing, students taking notes and the TA making sure they are all behaving.
ok. Managing inclusive environments journal #1. Ok, so, so far so good. I am observing at Uniondale High School in the art department. There are 6 teachers so I have been floating a bit amongst the teachers but for the most part I have been with Mrs. Yaron. She is the teacher that has been here the longest and is in charge of the A/P program, senior portfolio, and art club as well as her normal periods. Uniondale is (obviously) an inclusive school district. As far as I am concerned so far, there are no students with disabilities in her classes - at least outward disabilities. NO wheelchairs or braces, no extra teachers or preferential seating that I am aware of - nothing. I will be interested to find out if there are students who do have I.E.P's. The only thing that I have heard that has clued me in that this is in fact an inclusion school is when a student mentioned a second teacher in her english class for (insert boys name here). Other than that - nothing. I'll be back when I start asking some questions.
Managing Inclusive Journal Entry # 2 - Hello. I actually asked today about the inclusion status - if you will - of the art classes my cooperating teacher has at the moment. The main teacher I am with, Ms. Yaron, has two current students with I.E.P's. They are both autistic . I never would have noticed them myself but she pointed them out for me. I plan to keep an eye on them to see if i pick up on anything now that I am aware of this. I also asked about the schools data/student management systems on the computers. They use something called PowerSchool. They keep track of daily attendance on this period to period as well as grades per project/per semester. Ms. Yaron also showed me that students with special needs are marked with an exclamation point in a triangle next to their name on the class roster. If you click on this icon it brings you directly to the I.E.P on IEPdirect.com. We didn't have much time to do this but she said we will definitely get to it tomorrow. untill then...
Journal Entry #3 - Ok so, Ms. Yaron sat with me and actually went to the I.E.P website. It was interesting to see and easily accessible. She also has informed me that for one of her autistic students, she has to fill out a daily form. She will be showing this form to me in the future but she says it is because the boy is switching medications and they are monitoring him. I get it. Its different though. I never had friends in highschool with I.E.P's. I don'd even think we had them to be honest. Only friend I had with an exception - if you will - to the normal school day routine was my friend Alex with diabetes. That was really it. Anyway, the coolest thing I have seen by far was a student's response to her exposure to this schools environment being Inclusive. Normal day, normal class, and a student was about to open a candy she bought when she stopped mid rip and said "is anyone in here allergic to peanut butter"? I thought that was awesome. Small but great. She was aware of the kids that she has come across in her life that this could be a huge problem and threat for so she checked. It's something, like I said, so small but so huge because I would never think to ask that before opening a candy bar. Especially not when I was in high school. Till next time...
Journal entry #4 - Managing Inclusive Environments at Uniondale. Observing again today. Asked for help with my I.E.P form for this class and Ms.Yaron brought me directly to one of the special ed teachers. Ok. For one, this woman was wonderful. She was professional - she meant business - but also approachable. After introducing myself and going over the sheet, she immediately started digging for information while verbalizing her process. It was so helpful. She explained what usually is included, showed me the blank pallet that I.E.P's fill, and told me possible differences from school to school, child to child. She clearly knows what she is doing and has years of experience. I also benefited from meeting her because I got to see the "special" room environment. Though small, it is inviting. A few desks are lines with chairs in the center of the room with a handful of computers on the wall. Students were there working quietly and came to the teachers desk if they had a question or needed help. She was the only teacher in the room but there was also a smaller connected room to the side with two more students and an additional adult. It felt intimate and comfortable. I also happened to run into one of Ms. Yaron's autistic students there. He was quietly working on a science ditto with a text book close by. We left after she helped me out (ALOT). Look forward to seeing more of her with any additional questions I have.
JOURNAL ENTRY 5!!! The last one. It is a sad day here at Uniondale because it is my last one. I will miss this classroom and school. I'll say this much...I'd work here in a heartbeat as an art teacher but you could not pay me enough to teach one of the general ed topics like math or science. No way Jose! I like that in the art room - as in any art room really - that there is always room for differentiated instruction due to a child's disabilities be them learning physical or whatever. I like that this school is so large and yet so intimate. The teachers know their student's and have an awareness of their strengths and weaknesses. Ms. Yaron is amazing with her students both general ed and special ed. She's a natural. Warm and motivating. She sets high standards for every one of her kids and I wish to be like her when I teach in the future. I also would like to comment on the fact that technology has gotten us to a place where we can access information, like an I.E.P with the click of a mouse. That's awesome! I'm horrible with names - I can't even imagine what it's going to be like remembering a child's disabilities and specific needs. I'm sure I'll do fine but having things like IEPdirect.com is a relief and a blessing. Student's here (at least in the art rooms) love the atmosphere that's been created for them by the teachers. I feel that no single student stands out as someone who struggles more than the next. It really has been a privilege to be here and watch how this environment works. (she also let me teach a bit which was amazing). So, it's over. Inclusive environment still intimidating but I feel a little better now that I have experienced it first hand. Till my classroom...signing out.
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