John: New Year, New Classes

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.

By the time school started, it was me and one student. Just the two of us in class together. Besides the fact that it was weird teaching in a one-on-one setting for an hour and a half, I had a bigger problem. This class was the one that normally operates the smoothie and coffee shop at my school. You can read some of my past posts about the smoothie shop, but basically, we make and sell drinks to students during three lunch periods to practice job skills and behaviors. As you can probably guess, one student plus me is not enough to run the whole smoothie and coffee operation.

Another problem was that our resource classes (for students pursuing a regular diploma) were grossly overpopulated. Rooms were so full the teacher could barely move; much less have room to teach. You can probably see where this is going. A week into the new semester, I began changing student class schedules, checking with case managers to approve changes and teaching study skills to relieve some of the burden of the large class sizes.

I’m conflicted about how I feel about this change. The coffee and smoothie shop was a ton of work. I will not miss the mountains of dirty dishes, the haunting smell of coffee trailing me anywhere I went or the trash bags full of dirty rags and towels to be washed. However, I really enjoyed the shop and had fun in that atmosphere with the students. I wish we could find another way to get students on campus the experiences to practice with real-work settings. What do your schools do to give students work experience and skills?

For the rest of the semester, look for more posts about helping students through regular education classes.

Comments

[Mary Beth Diehl]

Hi John. Sorry to be late to the party. The coffee shop isn't gone for good--just closed temporarily, as many food services places do in areas [beaches, ski resorts] that have a seasonal clientele. It does make sense to shut it for now, given the lack of resources--bravo for making the hard call :) Your colleagues will [hopefully] not forget that you stepped up to help them when they needed it. Is there ANY way that some of the students working towards regular diplomas can also work in the shop--use as a reward, practice any social/work skills, etc.? Any students [sadly] who need to move from resource classes [diploma] to job skills [not]? Sorry if any/all of this sounds bizarre--just throwing out ideas--hate to see ANYONE beaten down by the RIDICULOUS One Test For All mentality :( [will spare you my rant] One Test For All--its' like Lord of the RIngs, but not as much fun

[John]

@Sue Great question--the answer is, "Do I ever!" I have lots of problems with one test determining if a student gets a dipoma--mild disability or not.

Easily the most difficult parent meeting I had last year was with two parents who bought the cap and gown, invitations, and diploma fee--then I told them that their student had failed his final attempt at the HSAP.

I may write an entire post on exit exams this semester because I think these tests are doing an injustice to all students.

If you would like to research this topic further, you can find a CEC position paper on High Stakes Testing at this link. http://www.cec.sped.org/~/media/Files/Policy/CEC%20Professional%20Policies%20and%20Positions/ExitExams_Policy.pdf

[Sue]

Do you have any thoughts or concerns regarding withholding diplomas from high school students with mild disabilities who are mainstreamed in general ed. classes who have not been able to pass the HSAP exam? I'm collected as much information as I can on this.

[John Romig]

@Sheryll I agree that students could benefit from some "soft-skills" work experience. However, I think that earning a regular diploma is more important for these students. Right now, these students don't have the academic skills to pass the SC exit exam and earn a diploma. I can't justify spending two days (40%) of the week working in the coffee shop when they need so much help in academic areas.

Thanks for the comment, though. We are looking for ways to keep the coffee shop going somehow.

[sheryll]

We also allow those students who are graduating with the typical diploma to work in our coffee shop. they also need the soft skills of handling the clients, the work routine. it is part of our transition plans for our students. I don't see why you can't do it everyother day as part of their transition plans. Learning to work with others is just as important for the first group of students as it is for the second group