All special education
teachers know about the three-year reevaluation. Every three years, we are
required to take a look at our students’ progress, behavior, medical and family
information and any changes that may have occurred in their lives during this
time. As teachers, we complete assessments, complete observation forms and fill
in the data collected three years ago so it can easily be compared to new data.
General education teachers and parents also complete observation forms and
share any other relevant information.
What’s the point of all
this? We are determining whether or not the student continues to need special
education services and if the current services are meeting his or her
needs.
I felt good
coming into this year. I was teaching the same three classes I taught last
semester, and I learned a ton from last semester. I had a new behavior plan I
was ready to use. My long range plans were all finished last semester. I had
begun developing individual lesson plans. My class sizes were smaller. I was
better prepared. Even the grass was greener.
I said the class
sizes were smaller, but one of them was much
smaller. When I left last semester, I had five students enrolled in my third
period class. For a high school class of students in non-diploma classes, I
prefer 5-10 students. Any less and it seems too quiet. Any more and it gets to
be too much to handle. Of my original five, I slowly began losing students,
each for a different reason.
“Being yourself is the best thing that you can do for you
and those around you.”-Anonymous
I have to agree with this quote and I think it speaks to the
nature of self-advocacy. Many times our students with exceptionalities are
faced with the challenge of feeling sad, confused, humiliated or even inferior
for being considered different than their peers and needing support to be
successful. So many of the students I work with resist asking for help and
even accepting help in the general education classroom setting or within their
communities because the thought of being ostracized is just too much of a
burden to carry.
I want to use the occasion of this post to speak to seasoned
teaching professionals. The tips below reflect certain values that I have adopted
as a matter of professional disposition.
First, try really,
really hard not to be a Negative Nellie.
I understand that may be difficult given that you have been teaching for a long
time, may not like all the changes the government keeps imposing on teachers
and schools and that you may not even like your students. I get it. Teaching is
often unheralded and we teachers are often pariahs. That does not mean that you
have the obligation to instill all sorts of negativity into the lives and
hearts of new, young teachers. This is the number one reason I do not eat in
the teachers’ lunch room. Ever.
Holiday break is
officially over and as the new semester starts, I’m not only planning for my
classroom, I’m also preparing to teach a new college course. Last fall was my
first endeavor in teaching higher education, and it turned out to be a blast. I
taught an introduction to special education course to students preparing to be
general education teachers. The course covered the disability categories of
IDEA, each disability’s characteristics and basic information about IEPs and
the referral process. It was so fun talk about my passion with a group of
interested individuals! I definitely had to do some outside study and research
to prepare for class but, overall, I felt comfortable with the topics covered
in the intro course.
One of the greatest privileges of my job is occasionally
I am given the opportunity to change a parent’s perspective his/her child’s
mind. One of the greatest misconceptions about giftedness is that a gifted
child is a perfect child. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. A
gifted mathematician might struggle to read and a talented musician might
struggle to sit still in the classroom.
Most gifted children struggle with asynchronous
development, which confuses parents and teachers alike. For example, a five-year-old
child may read a book intended for eighth graders (well above age level) and
ask her bewildered father for help tying her shoe (age appropriate) while
sucking her thumb (below age level). Difficulty with social skills, overexcitabilities,
extreme perfectionism, fear of failure and many other things can mask a
student’s giftedness. Uncovering that
giftedness can change a child’s life–and the lives of their entire family.
As 2012 rolls into 2013, now seems like a good time to make some resolutions for this year. One nice thing about teaching in a high school situation like mine is that all courses last only one semester. Last semester’s classes are done, and I get a fresh start with a new set of students. Without further ado, here are my 2013 resolutions.
Behavior management -- I'm determined to get behavior management under control this semester. Thanks to the feedback I received from many of you on an earlier post, I have devised a plan that I believe both positively reinforces positive behavior and punishes negative behavior. I introduced the plan to the students today and they seem to like it. I’ll keep you updated on the progress of the system, and if it works, I’ll share it with you to try!
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