I am not a morning person by any stretch. I have been a night owl for
as long as I can remember. In college I could do all-nighters regularly, but
waking up for an 8 a.m. class was impossible. My morning routine often
consisted of staying in bed until the absolute last possible minute, rushing
through the shower, throwing on the first outfit I came across and running out
the door to get to work on time. I’m never late, but it certainly wasn’t a
foundation built for a successful day.
I recently read an e-book by Laura Vanderkam called What the Most
Successful People Do Before Breakfast: A Short Guide to Making Over Your
Mornings—and Life. The book was extremely helpful for me, and I highly
recommend it if you are unsatisfied with your hectic morning routine. In the
book she suggests three things that should be done before the rest of the world
is awake: nurturing your career, nurturing your relationships and nurturing
yourself. I have applied these three categories to my morning routine and have
found them to be very beneficial.
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.
As I mentioned in my last post, substituting can be a very
beneficial way of making positive impressions at a school. Some teachers end up
substituting as a last resort after a failed job search. If you are trying to
get a full-time position, you need to make positive impressions with
principals, secretaries and teachers. All of these parties can have a say in
you receiving a full-time job.
I’m going to focus on how to make a good impression with the
teacher you are substituting for because that’s what I know best. Some of the
tips might sound like common sense, but they are all here because someone has
violated them at some point while subbing in my classroom.
I got an e-mail recently from someone looking for a teaching
job. She was frustrated in her search and didn’t know where to begin. Many of
the comments I get from readers of Reality 101 are from student teachers or
college students, who are studying to become special education teachers. As the
end of the semester approaches (can you believe it?!), I want to share some job
search tips for teachers.
Teaching is a unique profession in that the vast majority of
hiring is done over a span of just a couple months. In most other professions,
you can search just about any time of the year and find openings. For teachers,
however, the months of January–May are your peak time. If I had to be more
specific, I would say the months of March and April.
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.
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.
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.
Remember
Jennifer? She wrote
for Reality 101
in 2009–10. She's in her second year of teaching kindergartners with various disabilities in Pasadena, Calif. Reality 101 is circling back with her for a
Reality Check to get her perspective and sage advice for new teachers.
One of the best things about
special education is that when someone asks you to write about things that have
changed in your teaching career, you can honestly say things are just as
exciting, interesting, new, challenging, and, occasionally, as daunting as
ever. While I feel stronger as a professional, that I have a greater sense of
“ownership” in my classroom, and am more experienced when making decisions for
my students, I am still always learning, always questioning, and always
surprised by what each day brings.
Dr. Seuss once said, “The more that you read, the more
things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.” This
quote truly resonates with me as I think about the needs of my students and
their struggles in the area of reading.
Last year in my first year of teaching, I found it
challenging to teach my students how to read. All my previous graduate
coursework had prepared me to provide students with all of the strategies and
tools to use when they were reading, but not so much on how to provide reading
instruction. Like many special educators, I am committed to ensuring the growth
and progress of my students. And just like Dr. Seuss’s quote I want to allow my
students to read more and learn more so that the places they will go in life
are limitless.
I sat down to begin
drafting an IEP and discovered that a student’s “current” assessments were pushing
three years old. Obviously, a lot can change in three years. In the past, I’ve
scrounged around in my filing cabinet and found some type of assessment I felt
was appropriate, completed it, and added it in without giving it much more
thought; definitely not the best way to approach the very important task of
assessing a student.
This year, I decided to
improve in this area. I took the time one afternoon to go through the
assessment tools I had gathered from various workshops and inherited from
teachers before me. I’d previously organized them all in my filing cabinet but
had not taken the time to really study them. After going through, I realized how
valuable these assessments really are. I kept coming across areas that I know
my students need work in; simply reading through the assessments helped me see
areas of need I had not considered before.
It is spirit week at my school. Homecoming on Friday, music
playing in the hallways between classes, pie eating contests, Ms. Homecoming Court,
and more festivities make up the events of the week. For teachers, spirit week
can either be a headache or a great way for your students to see you get out of
your comfort zone. Assuming you choose the latter, you are going to do lots of
dressing up each day.
I love clothes. My wife gives me a hard time about how much
I enjoy shopping for clothes. Her rule is that whenever I spend money on
clothes she gets to spend the same amount on her own. For my fellow fashion
lovers going into the teaching profession, there are some pieces that need to
be added to your wardrobe for your first year of teaching.
I think it is very common for teachers to believe that it
would be impossible for them to teach any grade other than the grade they
teach. When I meet elementary school teachers, they tell me that they could
never teach teenagers, I tell them I could never teach little kids, and then we
both laugh and agree we could NEVER do middle school.
I’ve spent five years building my solid identity as a high
school teacher, and four of those were as the teacher of primarily juniors and
seniors. During my first year, I developed a firm belief that anyone under the
age of 14 was perpetually sticky.
I have just completed the week of inservice at my school. I appreciated all of the uninterrupted time in my classroom to prepare my room and my materials for the upcoming year. I am excited about implementing many of the new ideas I have for my classes.
One new idea that my wife gave me is using desktops as dry erase boards. Who knew you could use dry erase markers on desktops and wipe them off easily with wet wipes? Call me easily amused, but I thought this little known secret was one of the coolest teacher tricks I had heard in a long time. I thought it must be too good to be true so I went to Google to see if the internet had any wisdom regarding dry erase markers and desktops. Come to find out, lots of people out there have successfully used dry erase markers on desktops. Still a little nervous about ruining my room’s desks, I drew a tiny dot on a desktop, and to my surprise, the dot wiped off easily! I now have all kinds of ideas for using dry erase markers in my class this year. I think students will love this idea because of the novelty it presents.
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.
Typing this post is testimony that I survived the first week of school. I’ll give a brief Sports Center rundown of the highlights:
Thrilled that my returning students quickly settled back into the classroom routine.
Met seven amazing, full-of-personality sixth graders.
Was informed that I will likely receive another student in the upcoming weeks along with an individual assistant for that student.
Discovered I have an IEP to write for a student I’ve known for approximately four days.
Had one of my students accidently activate the fire alarm in the cafeteria during lunchtime.
Needless to say, I did not set my alarm clock on Saturday! Oh, and on a personal note, I got engaged this weekend! I’ve definitely been blessed with an exciting week!
Knowing that I was starting a whole new position when I left school at the end of May, I had all these grand designs that I would do lots of planning and develop lots of ideas during summer break. Reality set in a week later when I returned to start teaching summer school. I was teaching six different courses in a day—three at a time in the morning and three at a time in the afternoon. The resulting chaos isn’t relevant to this discussion, except (of course) for the honing of my differentiation skills (three courses in the same room will do that!), and the severe lack of planning for my new job as the K–12 gifted and talented coordinator my school. Sigh.
As my summer vacation comes to a close, I anticipate returning to my classroom and my students for the upcoming school year. I have not just spent this time resting and relaxing, but reflecting. During my vacation, I examined some of the successes and challenges I faced through my first year as a special education teacher.
In my current position, I work as a resource teacher and support students with IEPs in the general education classrooms through co-teaching. The biggest challenge was collaboration with my colleagues in the general education classrooms. Of course, we could communicate with each other, but working together at times was difficult. It was hard for them to fully understand the benefit and purpose of my presence in the classroom, and I was often faced with the feeling that I was invading their territory or being viewed as an assistant, floating around the room to help out. Not, only was I the new teacher on the block, but now I wanted to be in their space and I was expected to teach with them.
In less than two weeks, summer will be over and a new school year will be firing up. Everywhere I go it seems like people are asking me, “Are you ready to go back?” I’ve been answering them pretty adamantly with an “Absolutely!”
Don’t get me wrong, I love my summer break and try to live it up to the fullest during my time off. These past two months have been jam-packed: a trip to Arkansas to meet my boyfriend’s family, where I did some amazing hiking; early morning runs (followed by naps sometimes lasting until noon); a trip to church camp; pool time; an epic adventure to Idaho, Yellowstone, and the Grand Tetons; an attempt to increase my domesticity by cooking a new recipe every week; the Batman movie marathon, which ended in me becoming an avid fan; a building project for my parents; Vacation Bible School at church (which involved me dressed as a panda); and, of course, the occasional days of in-service and professional development.
I need to go back to school to recuperate! My students are not the only ones who thrive on routine and I am definitely ready to settle back into mine.
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.
It seems as though a few days ago I was packing up my classroom, and yet I have just a few more weeks before pre-planning starts and school begins again. I am very excited for what next year holds. I have spent my break reading and immersing myself in education literature to find inspiration and ideas for next year. I have reflected on last year and have begun to develop goals for next year.
My first goal is to create an environment that approaches behavior proactively rather than reactive. I admit this is still a work in progress, but I want to eliminate the points/rewards programs that are so popular in EBD rooms. I plan to transition to teaching the behavior explicitly and holding my students to that standard regardless of if they are having a bad day or forgot their meds. I feel as though they need to learn now, when they have a safety net that those excuses and that mentality will not be there when they are older. I think this will take a significant effort and interfere with some instruction, however if my students cannot manage their behaviors, it won’t matter how well they grasp the content.
Seeing as many of us are beginning summer break, here’s your opportunity to catch up on movies. Chances are you’ve seen these five movies about real people in real schools, and been inspired. Of course, if your first year of teaching isn’t quite like this, don’t fret. Teaching in real life isn’t quite the same as teaching in the movies.
Stand and Deliver (1988)
Real Teaching: You may enter a classroom and discover it is overcrowded, not everyone speaks English, and not everyone has the basic skills necessary to study the subject matter you are teaching them.
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).
I have to admit. These past few days, I've been a little bitter – a little bitter towards my college alma mater and a little bitter towards my state Department of Education. It's a little silly because they technically didn't do anything wrong and haven't technically wronged me, but, man, I am a little bitter.
Let me explain. The past year and a half, I've been in the process of making a major career change. I used to be a graphic designer. I worked for a major newspaper in the Valley of the Sun and everything was dandy. Well, then I decided to become a teacher for a number of different reasons, but the point is I enrolled in an accelerated (18-month) alternative dual certification program.
What a first week! As a teacher in a self-contained classroom, I was aware that I would be teaching all the subjects to students in all grades, plus two elective courses. I was happy when I found out that I only had one eighth grader for one class, which meant I would only be teaching two grades for the majority of my day.
As the summer progressed, I decided to be proactive and begin lesson planning, which also helped me meet and build relationships with those need-to-know teachers who are the best of the best in their subjects.
Going into pre-planning, I felt assured that I was fully prepared and ready for my students. But by the end of day two, frustration consumed me. It was not the frustration that comes with setting up my first classroom or normal beginning-of-the-school-year stress. Rather, it was the sense that my school expected me to be Captain Planet.
Why Captain Planet? “Earth! Fire! Wind! Water! Heart! . . . By your powers combined, I am Captain Planet!”
As a new teacher to Henry County Schools, you must go through a week-long teacher induction program (TIP). If you talk with veteran teachers, you are warned of the stereotypical monotone presenters (think Charlie Brown’s mom) spouting endlessly about policy and procedure.
Luckily, my TIP experience was the complete opposite. It made me feel as though I am a new member of a family that is excited to have me there and will support me throughout my first year and career within the education system.
As I got out of the car Monday morning, my stomach was turning and my mind steadfastly preparing for three days of boredom. However, by the time I reached the front door I couldn’t believe where I was. Administrators from the central office and school leadership were outside and within the lobby of the auditorium, greeting us with smiles, taking time to have conversations with us, and providing a welcome unlike any other. Within an hour, district officials had us laughing and even singing a song about how excited we were to be in Henry County Schools!
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