Originally posted March 10, 2008
By Carol Eisenbise
Special education teacher, Gilbert, AZ
CEC Treasurer, 2008
I’ve been a member of CEC since 1987. I currently teach students with emotional disabilities, grades 9 through 12, and all four core subjects. I’m proud to say that I am “highly qualified” in all four areas.
When I decided to blog about frustration, I was originally thinking about student frustration. But I may even put a word in about teacher frustration! Let’s start with the students.
Most students with emotional disabilities have an extremely low tolerance for frustration. Maag calls it the “Back to Zero Rule,” where past experience means nothing. These students cannot recall ever being successful: “Why bother trying, I’ll only fail.” So there is a lot of deserved praise in my class, with emphasis on the word “deserved” because students know when you’re merely appeasing them. The goal is to find a balance between challenging them (because they don’t want “baby work”) and making the level of work so difficult that it frustrates them. It may be a matter of the level of work or the amount of work; either one can be adjusted to accommodate individual student needs.
The students in my classes know that they must be of at least average intelligence; it’s a criterion for the program. But they are not all working on grade level for a variety of reasons; some are below and some are above grade level. So arranging instruction can be VERY tricky. It’s a very good thing that I have two excellent, experienced paraprofessionals who work with me. Sometimes they’re checking up on students who are in regular classes, but most of the time they’re sitting with a student (or two or three), making sure that they are doing the work assigned to them. Because the program is so flexible, there could be three different sections of math or three different subjects being taught in one class period! This is where the teacher frustration comes in.
Planning can be a nightmare! Right now I have four different levels of math and I’m thinking of splitting up one of them, based on the fact that two of the four students in one period are at the frustration level and refuse to work. So that’s another lesson I’ll have to plan. But that’s just what we do. I have a section of social studies and three periods of English. Somehow, don’t ask me how, all my English students are working on the same thing . . . at the same time! That is my biggest time saver!
So even though we want to minimize the students’ frustration, we also need to take care of own frustration. Remember, there is only so much we can do. Try to compartmentalize. Try taking a yoga class once a week (we have one right in our school every Wednesday!!). Try walking. Try drinking lots of water (I live in a desert). Try anything that works for you. Be good to yourself.
I am a paraprofessional in Spring, Texas. I really like the way you praised the paraprofessionals in your classroom and how they work with the students. I hope that the teacher I work with apprecitates the work that I do with our students.
Posted by: Brenda Walker | December 11, 2009 at 09:40 PM
Hello to S. Menashe, T. Reeder, Beverly and Mr. Crister. I had no idea that my blog was still getting comments or I would have responded much earlier!
Mr. Crister, I don't know much more about the back to zero concept other than what John Maag mentioned at the conference I attended (try googling or binging Dr. John W. Maag - Professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln). I do know that my most successful students in math are those who can recall what they learned the day before. I'm at the point where I'm going to play some memory games (like Concentration) just to get students used to memorization.
Beverly and T., I know just what you mean. Sometimes a para can be worse than having another student. The Gilbert Public Schools has really good training sessions that are required for all paras. Some are general in nature and others are geared toward the type of classroom in which they work. You might also want to find out what the qualifications are to become a para and see if they can be updated to include more updated skills! Try googling "Lifelines in the Classroom." This should give you information about training modules for paras. They are EXCELLENT! I've used them for 10 years now.
S. Menashe, thank you for your compliment. But talk about frustration: I just re-read my blog and I have to tell you that I am no longer highly qualified in ANYTHING! Talk about frustration! I'm beginning to think this is a money-making scheme for the testing companies. Our special ed teachers are getting so demoralized. I really wish I knew what to do. But I don't so I'm going to enjoy my summer vacation - school is already out for most of us here in Arizona!! Woo-hoo!
Carol
Posted by: Carol Eisenbise | June 01, 2009 at 05:49 PM
I would love to hear more from Carol Eisenbise. This blog about her class is wonderful!
Posted by: S. Menashe | May 28, 2009 at 04:20 PM
I am a Special Ed Para Educator working in an intermediate self contained program for high functioning Autism, asperger's and other processing issues who have behavior issues also. I am currently also in a teacher certification program for Special Ed. I have worked with the same Fron this situation, I am realizing that one of my greatest fears is being the lead teacher in a program with incompetent paras. Any ideas out there for training of Paras?
Posted by: T. Reeder | March 20, 2009 at 12:49 PM
I am frustrated. I have classroom aides with little to no skills and I am expected to train them also. Because I have a newer program I have gotten aides that have bumped into my classroom in order to keep a job and it is ugly and a horrible thing to do to my students.
I think classroom aides don't need to run boardmaker but I would expect them to have basic computer skills like word and power point. I have checklists and have yet to get the aides to accomplish the items on the check list and I am told I have to put up with it. Thanks but I would rather have a broom closet and no aides.
So let me heard from you is this a problem isolated to my district or do you encounter the same problems
Posted by: Beverly N | February 23, 2009 at 08:14 PM
we need more about back to zero. that lack of learning curve is a really tough issue - like Groundhog Day in that you start every day from scratch on some issues.
i for one need more on this topic. much more.
Posted by: mr. crister | January 25, 2009 at 01:20 PM