Reality 101: CEC's blog for new teachers

Jerry: Words for New Teachers to Live By

I recently had the opportunity to fill in for a friend at a local university. She teaches an undergraduate level introduction to special education class and asked me to deliver her lecture.

The class was composed mostly of very young prospective teachers. And, on top of that, most were general education majors, with only one special education major.

We began the evening easily enough with a brief introduction and a plug for Reality101. Then we watched a short DVD of a woman named Sue Rubin and her compelling story told in Autism is a World. After that we spent about 20 minutes discussing the professor’s notes about autism spectrum disorders (ASD)—the briefest of introductions to be sure, but enough to pique the interest of the students and whet their appetites for something bigger and better.

Jerry: Seasons of Change

“Run on and on…Run on and on…The loneliness of the long distance runner…

“I've got to keep running the course
I've got to keep running and win at all costs
I've got to keep going, be strong
Must be so determined and push myself on.”

–The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, by Iron Maiden

I simply cannot believe that we (I) only have about three months left to teach this year. I cannot believe how fast the first six months have gone by. Now here I am, on our seventh or eighth snow day of the year and I am pondering all that has gone before and all that I have yet to do and where I am currently. Some things have changed since I first started writing for Reality101.

Jerry: Zero-Tolerance Wouldn’t Work in My Classroom

“School discipline policies and practices emerge in political contexts and result in negotiation among conflicting aspects of democracy. For example, the Gun-Free Schools Act (GFSA) was originally passed in 1994 and reauthorized in the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) in the wake of several high profile shootings in public schools. The provisions of NCLB that address school violence reflect society’s belief that the common good requires ensuring the safety of its members. The bill articulates a ‘zero tolerance,’ or ‘one strike and you’re out’ policy for certain behaviors (Kaufman et al., 2001), accepting the loss of individual rights as an acceptable sanction for those who place others in danger.

“The law requires a one-year mandatory expulsion for any student entering school with a weapon (NCLB, Sec. 4141, b). Infractions occurring on school property must be reported to law enforcement authorities (NCLB, Sec. 4141, h, 1). Under GFSA and NCLB, states are obliged to create similar zero-tolerance laws or risk losing federal funds (NCLB, Sec. 4141, b)” (McCarthy & Soodak, 2007).

Jerry: Some Tips for Seasoned Teaching Professionals

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.

Jerry: Reflections on the First Half of the Year

I thought that for this post I would share some of the ups and downs, trials and travails of my first 18 weeks as a full-time special education teacher.

First, I think it goes without saying that teaching is exhausting work. It may or may not be typical of most teachers, but I arrive at 7:30 a.m. each day and I typically do not leave before 5 p.m. My day is filled with managing schedules, writing curriculum, practicing IEP goals/objectives, recording data, bus duty and so on and so forth. Somewhere in the midst of all this I also get to teach to a group of students whose ages range from 1st grade to 7th grade.

Jerry: Managing Adults During Meltdowns

In a classroom full of boys there are bound to be times when things are somewhat hectic, chaotic and downright ugly. In my classroom, we label such times as Meltdown Level Events or MLEs. We take these events very seriously and even though these events sometimes happen rather unexpectedly, we are always on high alert and well prepared.

When I was first hired for my position last February, I took some time to do some observations. I really had no idea what the staff was talking about when they informed me that my student frequently engaged in rage-filled shouting episodes that would make Sam Kinison seem rather weak by comparison. Then I experienced a MLE. It is truly a sight to behold. I have heard this child scream himself hoarse. It is brutal for the child to experience; it is painful to witness and even worse when one of his meltdowns is aimed at you.

Jerry: (Para) Professional, Part Three

I know a paraprofessional who was responsible for getting children off the bus in the morning. Among the children who were helped off the bus was a student with multiple disabilities who was amazingly adept at taking off her shoes and did so frequently. One morning, the student arrived on the bus and had, predictably, in the course of her ride, taken off her shoes. The paraprofessional collected the child and promptly allowed her to walk into the school building without shoes, in nothing but socks. In November. This was, in my view, an individual who was not trained properly to work with students with disabilities.

In this final part of my three part series, I will note three ideas that I have come across in literature and in my personal experience that I believe might pave the way forward if we are serious about providing paraprofessionals with the respect their work deserves.

Jerry: Alarm Clock Words

In her short book Teaching a Stone to Talk, Annie Dillard comments that words, some words, bring us back to reality, waking us from sleep. The people who use those words catch us asleep or ‘dead and gone and grieving’ and become, as it were, alarm clocks rousing us from our slumber.

She writes, “The mind—the culture—has two little tools, grammar and lexicon: a decorated sand bucket and a matching shovel. With these we bluster about the continents and do all the world’s work. With these we try to save our very lives.” (Annie Dillard, Teaching a Stone to Talk 24).

Jerry: (Para) Professionals, Part Two

When I was student teaching, I had to learn the hard way that being a teacher in a special education classroom involves more than knowing good ABA or PBIS or RTI or any of the other million and one interventions we have at our disposal each day. It also means being a manager of people and learning how to get those people to work in a way that ultimately benefits the students, and to work with the teacher to create an environment where education can happen.

Two experiences really brought the issue of the paraprofessional to the forefront of my thinking so that even now I tend to obsess about it to the point that, maybe in the future, I can conduct some research and begin to offer ways to make that job a rewarding career for some folks.

Jerry: (Para) Professionals, Part One

“Many paraprofessionals who assist with instructional tasks do not receive the training that they need so that they can be successful at these tasks.” (Keller, Bucholz, Brady, 2007).

Indeed, this was one of the biggest issues during my student teaching experience that I decided would not be an issue when I actually started teaching. Ironically, I understand it too well because I started out as an educational assistant and, at times, was a substitute in the special education classroom. Trust me when I say that, given what I now know about students with disabilities, I was worse than clueless then.

Jerry: The Voice of Gladness

“No one can say, of course, except each for himself, but I believe that it is possible to say at least this in general to all of us: we should go with our lives where we most need to go and where we are most needed.” (Frederick Buechner, Secrets in the Dark, p.39)

I like that quote, a lot. Buechner is, maybe, speaking of something else, but I think he is also speaking in an, albeit, roundabout and unbeknownst-to-himself kind of way, about special educators; our calling; our day in and day out among students who are differently-abled. Maybe you are not so much into thinking that what you do every day is a calling—something that you did not choose, but something that chose you. Maybe you are.

Jerry: Walking Out the Front Door

“‘It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door,’ he used to say. ‘You step into the Road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to.’” (Bilbo Baggins, from The Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R. Tolkien, p.82)

When I was in college, I had a professor who really liked to plan and organize—had his schedule down to the minute. I asked him one time, “What about spontaneity? Where’s the space for that?” His response was, “Spontaneity doesn’t accomplish anything.” And I get it that in special education one of the greatest tools in our toolbox is planning and  predictability (Carter, Swedeen, Trainor, 2009). We regiment their daily schedule with picture schedules, routine, and sameness. It helps them to minimize the overwhelming “OhmyGodsomethingisdifferentwhatdoIdonow” kind of disasters.

Jerry: First Day of School Excitement

While you are reading this today (Aug. 21), I am enjoying my first day of classes with my new students. My day began around 7:45 a.m. when they started exiting their buses and happily making their way into the school building for breakfast. Attendance has now been checked, the Pledge recited, and they have arrived in my classroom. We are learning about our daily routine and making preparations for our engaged learning. Before I move forward, however, I need to back up just a bit and tell you how I got to Aug. 21, 2012.

Last week was a fun week. As I have mentioned elsewhere, I was hired in to my current position with about 12 weeks remaining in the 2011-12 school year. Thus I really did not have to prepare a classroom for my students’ arrival; it was more like the students prepared for me. This year is different.

Jerry: Fear and Trepidation in Ohio

My first summer vacation is nearly finished, which means there are a lot of thoughts, emotions, and ideas fighting for space inside my head as the new school year approaches its commencement date.

I was hired as a moderate/intensive intervention specialist with about 12 weeks left in the 2011–12 school year to work with two students: a young man who has an autism spectrum disorder and a young Amish girl whose diagnosis is still a bit of a mystery. By the time the school year ended, I had picked up two more students: a female high school sophomore and a male kindergartener. I really had no time then to think about how I felt. I had a job. It was time to get busy.

Meet CEC's New Bloggers for the 2012–13 School Year!

Charmelle, Danielle, Kaylie, Jerry, and John are special and gifted educators, and they're excited to share the ins and outs, the ups and downs of the coming school year.

Charmelle is an elementary special education teacher who is busy balancing work, graduate school, and family life with a 2-year-old.

Danielle was a high school mathematics teacher, but has now spent the summer excitedly preparing for her new role as a K–12 gifted and talented coordinator.

Jerry takes on special education as a second career—and he’s ready to tackle his first full year of teaching.

John, following in his mom’s footsteps, decided to become a teacher. After switching his major to special education, he’s never looked back.

Kaylie has found her calling as a middle school special education teacher and couldn’t be happier.

Stay tuned for another dynamic and inspiring year at Reality 101! They kick off their blogging next week--don't miss a post!