Reality 101: CEC's blog for new teachers

Reality Check with Theresa: From One End of the Spectrum to the Other

Remember Theresa? She wrote for Reality 101 in 2011–12. She was in her third year as a special education teacher in the Chicago area, working with third- and fourth-grade students with a vareity of disabilities in a resource classroom setting. Reality 101 is circling back with her for a Reality Check to get her perspective and sage advice for new teachers.

Oh, what a difference a year makes! It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost a year since I was sharing my classroom, struggles and successes with Reality 101. During my last blog, I shared that I would be leaving my beloved 4th grade for another grade level, and I could not have predicted what a change was in store for me.

Thank You!

CEC thanks Allisence, Jessica, Richard, and Theresa for a wonderful year of blogging! We have loved getting to know you, your schools, and your students through your posts. Thank you for sharing with us this past year; you will be missed here at Reality 101!

For those Reality 101 readers that have loved reading about our bloggers, don't worry, they won't be gone completely. Here's how you can follow them:

Allisence: on Twitter @allisence or on her blog, http://allisence.wordpress.com/.

Richard: on Twitter @ExceptionallyED or on his blog, http://exceptionallyed.wordpress.com/.

Theresa: on Twitter @MsTheresaQ or on her blog, http://mstheresaq.blogspot.com/. 

 

Theresa: So Long, Farewell

I cannot believe that I am sitting down to write my last entry as a CEC Reality 101 blogger. It seems like just yesterday that I was writing my bio and posting my first entry. I have really enjoyed every minute of this last year blogging for CEC! It felt so great to share my successes and my frustrations, and I really appreciate all of the kind words of support and suggestions from everyone. While I didn’t have the same kinds of craziness I’ve experienced in my first two years of teaching, my third year didn’t disappoint, that’s for sure.

Theresa: "Restful" Summer of Professional Development

Whoever said that one of the “perks” to teaching is summers off must have never actually asked teachers what they do during summer. So far, during my summer “vacation” I have had zero weekdays off from doing work stuff. These past three weeks have been filled with professional development and meeting after meeting. I do have to say that I am excited to have such wonderful opportunities this summer.

I attended a three-day professional development conference about English language arts Common Core State Standards (CCSS). A team of teachers and I learned more about the CCSS and how to use them to write language arts unit plans with performance assessments. The tricky part comes now, where we need to take the three days of training and condense it down into the two days that we have to share with the rest of our colleagues in August.

Theresa: Reading Wrap Up

Unlike my fellow Reality 101 bloggers, who have been on summer vacation for a couple weeks now, I am just starting my first week. The last couple of weeks for school seemed to get longer and longer. I have never felt so burnt out from teaching before. I think that the stress and climate of the year seemed to have really caught up with me. Even being tired and ready for the year to be over, I still managed to get in a couple really cool projects and activities at the end of the year.

Theresa: Marching in Red

I seem to be getting the reputation of being a big activist when it comes to protests, marches, and rallies. After the NATO conference here in Chicago, one of my co-workers came to me and said he watched the news all weekend to see if he could catch a glimpse of me on TV. While I’m all for a good protest and march, the NATO marches were a bit too unpredictable for me.

I recently had the opportunity to be a part of a historical rally and march. On Wednesday, May 23rd, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) held a State of the Union meeting at the Auditorium Theatre. Leaving the house on Wednesday morning, I said to my dad, “Watch for me on the news tonight.” While I know that is not a normal thing people say to each other, my dad looked at me all decked out in red with my “Proud to be a CTU Member” button on and said, “Okay.”

Theresa: Taking Learning Outside the Classroom

I feel like I have been going nonstop these last couple of weeks—between wrapping up the state audit, all of my new responsibilities as union rep, and keeping my students busy and interested in learning this last month or so of school. To break up the weeks my students and I have gone on three fieldtrips in the last two weeks, and we still have one more coming up this week!

While taking a group of students with special needs on a field trip can be somewhat hectic, I know it is worthwhile because they get so much out of it. My students rarely leave the neighborhood that they live in, so any time they leave it’s like leaving the country for them.

Theresa: The Story of a State Audit

With the start of May I wish I could say that things are starting to slow down and relax for my students and me. But with the last day of school not until the middle of June, we still have a way to go and there’s no relaxing for us. I have experienced quite a few new things these last couple of weeks that have really put me outside of my comfort zone. The last week in April our special education program was audited by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE).

Theresa: From Convention to Classroom

I had been looking forward to the CEC 2012 Convention & Expo ever since I found out I was selected to be one of the Reality 101 Bloggers. When I arrived at the Denver Convention Center, I was a little bit overwhelmed. Looking through the Convention program, I found myself wishing I could be in more than one place at a time. I took an initial look through the program, and found some sessions that interested me. I went back a little later and narrowed my choices down. Before I knew it, I picked sessions based on two themes—vocabulary instruction and math instruction (two of my loves!).

Theresa: Welcome to CEC 2012 Convention & Expo!

Greetings from Denver, the Mile High City!  I am very excited to be in Denver for the CEC 2012 Convention & Expo. My experience so far has been very welcoming, everywhere you look are huge signs that say “Denver Welcomes CEC!” I am so excited to be a part of the largest group of special education teachers gathered anywhere--5,000 strong. It’s also great to be celebrating CEC’s 90 years of serving children and youth with exceptionalities.

I can honestly say that I have been looking forward to the 2012 CEC Convention & Expo ever since I found out I was selected to be a Reality 101 Blogger. Getting ready for Denver hasn’t been as easy and carefree as I would have hoped for. I had 15 fourth graders to prepare for my absence (one of whom is Juan, just back from his extended stay in the hospital). So with lesson plans done, and extra work available if needed, I left my classroom in the capable hands of my substitute and the teacher assistant. So far I heard there has been a surprise fire drill, which threw off my to the minute lessons plans. However, I’m just glad it was a fire drill, and that my classroom didn’t actually catch on fire in my absence.

Theresa: Dealing with Tough Issues

Here in Chicago we’ve been experiencing an extremely warm spring. We just finished off eight record days of over 80 degrees. The exceptionally warm weather has really brought about quite a bit of turmoil in the neighborhood where I teach. The gangs have been becoming more active and my students look at me worriedly every time they hear a police siren outside.

The warm weather has also brought something out in one of my more difficult students, Juan (pseudonym used), who I dedicated a whole blog entry to in December. Recently Juan’s behavior has been slowly spiraling out of control, but what happened this past week was unexpected.

Theresa: Students Take on Testing

I feel like my life has been consumed by testing these last couple of weeks.  There has been the countdown to testing, and now the actual five days of testing. As I have been thinking about what I want to write for this blog entry, the only thing I can think of is testing. I’ve shared in my past entries about how testing frustrates me, and how I wish there was a test that gave a true measurement of my students. But this blog entry is going to focus on how I prepare my students to actually take the test.

Theresa: The Personal Side of Teaching

I have recently had the opportunity to be a cooperating teacher for six graduate students from DePaul University. They are currently in the same program that I was in, just three short years ago. It has been wonderful having an extra person in the classroom these last couple of weeks. My students have loved the extra attention from our “visitors,” and I have enjoyed seeing some of my more quiet students interacting with our visitors.

I have really wanted them to get their “feet wet” while working with my students. I have let them decide what they want the kids to call them, whether it’s by their first name or last name. What has been interesting is seeing how they all were unsure about how much of their personal lives to they share. When my students have asked them a question, the graduate students have looked at me for guidance, as if they are unsure how much they should share. I think that as long as you are comfortable with what you are sharing (and it is grade level appropriate), it is fine.

Theresa: One Person, Making a Difference

This past weekend I attended the Illinois Council for Children with Behavior Disorders Winter Drive-In Conference. While not all of my students have behavior disorders, they do have a wide-range of disabilities and I found that a lot of the information and strategies can be applied to all of my students. I attended a special workshop about teaching self-management skills to students, and I am so excited to get to implement it in the next couple of weeks. I also attended sessions on best practices for working with aggressive youth, and another on using wikis, blogs, and other technology. Ideas are swirling in my head, and I am practically giddy with excitement to try them out with my students.

Theresa: Wishing for a Jolly Good Measure of Ability

As the days keep getting shorter and colder, and the snow starts piling up, I know that can only mean one thing…it’s time for my least favorite season. I know you must be thinking winter, and while, yes, that is my least favorite season, it is not what I’m describing here. I’m talking about testing season. In the span of two weeks that we have been back from winter vacation, I have had to take three days out of my schedule to administer standardized tests. The sad thing is, that those three days are just the beginning. There are at least another two days coming up in the next couple of weeks.

Theresa: Mini-Lessons on Mini-Lessons

This year my school has decided to use mini-lessons as a way to increase our student’s comprehension. As a school we have been doing professional readings, watching video clips (both of good mini-lessons and not-so-good mini-lessons), developing and modeling them as well. I really got a feel for all of the components that must be in a mini-lesson: Connection, Teaching Point, Active Engagement, and Link. Because I am on my school’s Instructional Leadership Team, I was one of the first to begin piloting mini-lessons in my classroom. When it came time to actually try out my mini-lesson I was excited. I thought that my students would really enjoy it and I couldn’t wait to hear their discussions during the active engagement component.

I planned and planned and was finally ready for my math mini-lesson. I called my students over to the carpet, and the wonderful smooth transition that I envisioned in my mind was so different from what I was witnessing. I should have known at this point that this wasn’t going to be good, but I kept going.

Theresa: Sharing Old, and Creating New Traditions

I have been talking with my students a lot about holiday traditions. We began talking about traditions in November when it was Thanksgiving time. Our conversations have continued into December focusing on all of the holiday celebrations my students have coming up. My students really love hearing about my family’s holiday traditions. I've shared that every year on Christmas Eve my parents would let my brother and I open one present, and that present would always be a board game. We would always play the board game as we spend time together as a family on Christmas Eve.

This year I had the opportunity to share one of my favorite traditions with my students. My dad generously purchased chocolate advent calendars for all of my students. I passed them out on Dec. 1 and my students were so excited to eat their first piece of chocolate that was made in Germany! Every day my students rush into my classroom and excitedly ask "Can we eat our chocolate now Ms. Q?" and then they ask, "What number do we get to eat today?” About half way through the calendar, I concluded that giving a bunch of fourth graders chocolate first thing in the morning, might not have been the smartest decision I've ever made. But I can put up with their hyper behavior just to see the happy looks on their faces.

Theresa: Learning to Let Things Go

This school year has felt so much different from the past two years.  There seems to be some underlying stress that is always present.  Looking around every day, I see teachers who are exhausted.  Everyone is holding onto their coffee cups for dear life in the morning, and they often get more coffee at lunch as well.  As pressure comes from all directions, administration, teachers, and students are all starting to feel it.

It seems like every year the students come in lower than the year before, and the bar for their performance is set higher and higher. All of the students in my school are expected to be “meeting” or “exceeding” on the standardized assessments. I am proud to say that we have done really well the past couple of years, and our school is no longer on probation. So now, we are working even harder to ensure that our students continue to do a great job. I feel like it is an endless job to accommodate and modify the curriculum in such a way that my students can show their growth and do well on the standardized assessments.

Theresa: Attention Where Attention is Due

I have this student, Juan, and there are some days working with him that I earn every single penny that is on my paycheck. Juan will push me and push me every day; we constantly battle to see who will have the power for the day. That being said I know what he is doing, and why he is doing it, but sometimes I will still let him engage me in this battle.

I have taken many approaches to working with Juan. I often try the “good cop” approach where I am as nice as can be. I will compliment him just for coming into the classroom on his own two feet (he will often take a running start and slide in on his knees!). I will say, “I like the way Juan turned in his homework and sat down at his desk. I like how Juan has his pencil out and is showing me that he is ready to learn.” This will work for a while, but when I stop praising him every 20 seconds then he begins to start getting antsy.

Theresa: I AM a Teacher!

“Oh, you’re not a real teacher.”

“Thanks for turning in your report card pick up attendance sheet, but yours doesn’t count.”

“Since you’re not a real teacher you don’t get a new computer for your classroom.”

“You’re so lucky that you only have10 students in your classroom at a time.”

Those are just some of the typical comments I get throughout the year at my school. I feel like I really have many obstacles to overcome just in how I am perceived by my coworkers as a special education teacher. I have learned not to take too much offense when one of my colleagues or administrators makes a comment similar to those above, but it still stings a bit.

I understand that what they are trying to say is that since I do not have a homeroom I do not get the same things or have the same requirements as does a teacher with a homeroom. One of my colleagues was recently asked about her classroom, “Why do you need to use all of this space? You’re just a resource teacher.” She later called me to vent about her experience, and I told her that I wish this were the first time I was hearing things like this, but it wasn’t.

Theresa: Test-Taking Anxiety

I cannot believe that it is already the end of the first quarter! I am glad to say that I managed to input my grades and finish the IEP report cards well before they were due! I am starting to feel the effects of way too many things going on at once in my classroom and I really think my students are starting to feel it too.

Last week we took yet another standardized assessment. This one is a new one for us; it is based on the new Common Core State Standards. I really have mixed feelings on the assessment. I understand that my school district is trying to get a baseline for where the students are performing on the new Common Core State Standards. But is it fair to expect students to do really well on an exam revolving around standards that they are not being taught and to which the curriculum is not yet aligned?

Theresa: Send Me a Postcard!

Reflecting is a big part of teaching, and I’ve never been really good at “formally” reflecting on my teaching practice. Some of my best ideas, reflections, and brainstorms come during my car ride to and from school or when I’m out walking my dogs. So, as I was thinking about how to reach 30 bilingual 4th graders (six of which have IEPs) during my co-teaching, I came up with a great idea: POSTCARDS! You’re probably asking yourself, how is a little 3x5 piece of paper with a picture on it going to help you teach? Trust me, it will!

My 4th graders are studying the states and regions of the United States in social studies. I know that my students rarely get the chance to travel outside of the Chicago area, and if they do, they don’t take fun random trips around the country, but, rather, go to Mexico to visit their families.

My plan is to expose my students to all of the content of States and Regions through postcards. I made a quick call to my dad, who had just left that morning for a trip to North Dakota. I begged him to buy postcards wherever he stopped, once I explained it was for my students he quickly agreed.

Theresa: Classroom Management Woes

“Teacher…teacher…TEACHER!!!”

“I will call on students that raise their hands, and my name is not ‘Teacher.’”

“But why can’t I call you that? You ARE a teacher!”

Classroom management is something I really believe is one of my strengths. Yet this year, I feel like I’m having difficulty getting all of my students on board. I’m frequently getting outbursts like the ones above. I’m trying to figure out what I’m doing differently this year, but I think that it’s simply that the dynamics my students bring to the classroom are a lot different than what I’m used to.

This year presents a really unique challenge for me: My students will be as quiet as possible when I give them an in-class assignment to work on. It is sometimes so silent that I can hear a pin drop. (And yes, I know this is not a usual occurrence in special education resource rooms!)

Theresa: Too Much of a Good Thing?

Disclaimer: I am not a super hero, nor do I claim to have super-human powers.

Collaboration. (sigh) It seems every time I turn around someone is talking about it. I almost feel like I need to put a dollar in a “swear jar” whenever I hear the word “collaboration.”

I understand that collaboration is a necessary part of my job in order for my students to succeed. However, I feel like the expectations placed on me in this area are unobtainable. As much as I would like to be in more than one place at a time, it is just not possible (hence the need for super-human powers—and maybe Richard’s cape).

Theresa: My Co-Teaching Comfort Level

When looking through my students’ IEPs, nothing increases my anxiety more than seeing the word “co-teaching.” Behavior plans, transition difficulties, and problems listening to adults do not faze me. However, when I see that my students require co-teaching, I begin to feel a slight panic.

I know some teachers really enjoy co-teaching, but I have to admit, it is not one of my favorite things. Don’t get me wrong: I want to do what is best for my students, and if co-teaching is what they need, then that is what I will do. I have taken the classes, attended the PDs, and watched the videos about “ideal” co-teaching. But it is still something I am not very comfortable with.

This year, I am so lucky to be co-teaching with a wonderful colleague (and she is probably reading this right now, too!). Having a general education teacher who is willing to accept you into her classroom is really one of the most important things when it comes to successful co-teaching. I know that some teachers like to be left alone in their own classrooms, but come on! Having two teachers at once is better for all of the students.

Theresa: New School Year, New Classroom

I remember a veteran teacher once telling me, “You know, teachers who are really good at cleaning up classrooms tend to get their classrooms changed a lot.”

That seems to be the case with me. Once again, it is time to set up my classroom for the year, and once again, I am moving to a new classroom. It seems that I am one of those teachers who is really good at turning an ugly classroom into a very functional and inviting space for my students.

I loved how big my first classroom was. There was so much space that my students could spread out and work or read without disturbing their peers. There were tons of extra desks and tables that made it really easy to designate spaces for centers and other classroom activities. Granted, the dingy carpet was held together by various layers of duct tape, but I did not mind. Some deodorizing spray, carpet squares, and throw pillows were all it took so you did not notice the carpet.

Theresa: Where Would We Be Without Mentors?

What defines a new teacher? According to the school district I work in, you are considered a new teacher for the first two years. (And here at Reality 101, it’s three.) Now that I am entering my third year of teaching, I wonder if I missed the finish line where one becomes less of a new teacher and more of a veteran teacher.

One sign that I have graduated from new teacher status is that I get more and more responsibilities at work. This year I have been asked to sit on administration interviews of teacher candidates and to take on students from different universities as they complete various requirements for their teaching courses.

As a first- and second-year special education teacher, I was lucky enough to receive mentoring services from an induction coach through the Chicago New Teacher Center. My coach last year gave me exactly the support I needed. When she came into my classroom, she would know if I was having a good day or a bad day; she would know when to take notes and when things should be “off the books.”

Theresa: Tales from the IEP Meeting

When I was going to school for my master’s degree, I took one class in which we spent a lot of time conducting mock individual education program (IEP) meetings. What I remember most was how much anxiety they caused me. Thoughts would race through my head: How am I supposed to be in this meeting when I know nothing about the student? Won’t I know a lot more about the student when I am a teacher? Why are is everyone acting so crazy? They don’t act like that in real meetings, do they?

Fast-forward to my very first IEP meeting as a special education teacher. It was two years ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday. I was very new and thought that all IEP meetings were like the ones practiced in my classes or imagined in my head. Boy, was I wrong!

This was an initial evaluation for the student, and his mother was hesitant about the whole idea of special education. When it was time for introductions around the table, I said, “Hi, I’m Theresa, the special education teacher.” The parent became so irate at the idea of her child needing special education that she rose out of her chair and stood over me in such a way that I almost felt threatened.

Theresa: Stocking Your Classroom with DonorsChoose.org

Back-to-school has always been one of my favorite times of year. I look forward to seeing the great sales every Sunday. Who doesn’t love crayons for 25 cents, notebook paper for a penny, and rulers for 50 cents — the deals just keep coming!

However, what I really love (and hate at the same time) is when the teacher catalogues start coming in the mail. I will spend too much time drooling over things I wish I could have in my classroom. I mean, who doesn’t want a traffic light decibel reader or a wireless Eggspert in her classroom? But then reality sets in when I look at the prices, and I begin to wonder if there is some magical classroom out there that actually has all of these great things. Or do all teachers drool at the catalogues as I do?