Time

Time.  Time goes by quickly, even though some days may seem that is crawling by.  Here I am, finding myself at the end of the third week at this new school.  In 7 weeks I will be lining up with my fellow student teachers and preparing to enter the “real world.”  Looking back at this week, though, I am also happy with how much we were able to accomplish as a class, despite the days of frustration and moments where it seems we are simply moving backwards.  Time has been a blessing, a frustration, but ultimately a reality I am learning to accept as it chooses to come and go. 

This week was a long week for me.  Many things happened, many changes took place, and I now feel as though I have settled into the routine day to day activities with the students.  I am finding myself searching for ways to change the normal day routine almost selfishly as a way to entertain myself and my paraprofessional, while finding new activities to try and engage my students in.  I do not see this as a bad thing, however, but rather as an opportunity to explore what works and what doesn’t.  My cooperating teacher has given me a freedom to give just about anything a try. 

I began a unit on Lewis and Clark this week.  While much of the content is above the students heads, my teacher and I both agree that it is still important that the students be exposed to the information.  To learn this content, I have taken the students on an outdoor exploration to color picture of sights and sounds we encounter, have done some interactive map work, and have tried to teach them about a compass and directions.  From day to day I use informal assessments to find out if any of the knowledge is sticking.  One of the students seems to understand while the rest are not too certain.  I do find myself trying to fight the defeatist attitude that occasionally creeps up inside, but changing my focus has helped immensely.  If at first you don’t succeed, try try again, right? 

This week was also an up and down week for me emotionally.  I spent much time reflecting on how emotions, though often perceived as a bad and distracting part of the human life, really are what makes teaching worthwhile and enjoyable.  The ups and downs of emotion are what make us human, and rather than seeing this as a distraction, I have tried to find ways to view emotion as an asset to my teaching.  I have tried to use the feelings that I have about the day in such a way that it motivates and inspires my energy that I take into the classroom and into my lessons.  Granted, this doesn’t work the way I hope it will all of the time, but I still think its beneficial to give it a try.

So as this week has drawn to a close and a new one lurks right around the corner, I can honestly say I’m looking forward to the end.  While there is still much time left, I understand that time runs its course at a consistent pace, and nothing I can do will change this.  I am excited to get away from student teaching and find myself in my own classroom with my own students.  However, I continue to see this placement as an opportunity to try, explore, experiment, and experience as much as is possible.  Attitude is everything, and it is with a positive attitude and an optimistic outlook that I close this week. 

Learning Potential

In reflection of the past week of student teaching, I am left with strong thoughts about learning potential.  I believe that every human has the capacity to learn.  In this placement, I am faced with a new set of students, each with a new set of prior knowledge, life experience, and learning style.  While each of these students is diagnosed with a disability and have major learning difficulties, they still, along with every other human, are able to learn.  It is, however, a new experience for me to truly dive in and figure out how to best teach to each of their needs in order to encourage and promote learning.

                One statement my cooperating teacher has made to me many times is, “studies show that for students like ours, the learning cut-off is 5^th grade.”  I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and reflecting about this statement over the past 2 weeks.  Now, she does make sure to follow up and say this doesn’t mean she thinks they can no longer learn.  Rather, this means we must find new ways to try and stimulate their growth, as it may be more difficult for them to achieve learning goals now that they are older.  After hearing this statement, how does a teacher not slip into the mindset that their teaching is “less worthwhile” than teachers in the primary grades?  Each lesson I have prepared thus far, I have reflected on my informal assessment realizing that only one or two of the students seem to have taken anything from the lesson.  Do I believe that my teaching was worthwhile though?  Of course!  While the general content I was choosing to teach may not have stuck with many students, I know there are skills within the lesson that were developed further in some way, shape, or form.  Each student was involved.  They were touching, feeling, hearing, moving, and experiencing the world around them.  Active involvement creates a conducive environment to learning, and I see this to be a successful endeavor no matter what the outcome of the assessment. There are days, however, I fear that my desire, drive, and positivity will eventually turn me to buy into the phrase that “the learning cut-off is 5^th grade.”  How does a special education teacher fight against the flow of endless studies showing inadequacies in special needs students and finding negative responses to students’ abilities to learn?  It is at this point that I can do nothing but pray God keeps giving me the fire for teaching and the capacity to love each of my future students to the fullest.

                For one of the lessons I taught this week, I took the kids outside for a walk through the neighborhood.  We began in the classroom, each taking a brown paper bag and decorating it to become our “leaf explorer” bags.  Each student added something to the bag other than their name, so it seemed to be a success.  Then out we went with the goal in mind to collect at least 10 leaves in our bags.  Some students ran to a pile of brown, seemingly ugly leaves and shoveled them into the bag until they were pouring out the top while others picked one leaf at a time, being sure to examine it thoroughly before letting it enter the bag.  When the walk was over, we went back inside and dumped our leaves on the table.  Each student then picked their favorite 4 leaves and took them to their desk for further examination.  Each student attempted to make an ‘observation’ about one of the leaves and tell the class.  Eventually, we took out paper and crayons and made leaf prints which are now displayed with colorful frames at the front of the classroom.  Overall, this lesson, as well as many of the structured lessons I have taught following my cooperating teachers format have taught me so much about the students.  The more time I spend playing with various types of lessons and learning strategies, I hope to continue to understand more deeply the best way to help each of these students achieve learning throughout the next eight weeks of my teaching. 

Second Placement

I’m back in Chicago.  After a few long plane rides and many unforgettable memories my time in South Africa has come to a close.  I had hoped to reflect more in depth via this blog and my other blog, but rather have found personal reflection time to be more beneficial.  I want so badly to share my experiences with others and help others understand all the intricacies of my last placement.  This, however, seems to be an impossible feat, often resulting in frustration and “Africa-sickness.” Rather I have come to realize I just need to take this one day at a time.  My experiences in South Africa have shaped the way I think, process, view situations and approach teaching.  Now is the time where I figure out how these experiences will shape my teaching practice and worldview.

For the next 9 weeks I will be teaching at Kolmar School in the Developmental Learning Program (DLP) associated with Spalding and the Eisenhower Co-op.  My classroom consists of 7 boys.  Two students are in Grade 6 and the other five are in Grade 8.  These students function at very different levels and represent many different disabilities and nationalities.  The diversity of the group excites me, and I look forward to exploring various types of teaching to see how I can benefit the group as a whole while addressing each individual need as well. 

Last week I put in four days at this school.  My teacher welcomed me in and I enjoyed observing and watching how she runs the classroom.  There is one Paraprofessional in the classroom, so there are 2 adults for the 7 students. Much of the instruction is done split in groups to give the students more individual attention.  The use of technology is fairly minimal, but it really doesn't seem too necessary with these students.  A few times a week the students have access to a smartboard, participate in group speech, library, PE, and Literacy groups.  Art has been cut from the program along with music, which seems to be fine with my classroom teacher.  The day is very scheduled out, which is nice for the students.  Much time is also spent transitioning, having them use the bathroom, clean up the room, prepare for lunch, etc.  The pace of the class is much slower than I had anticipated, which is a change from my previous placement.  This may turn out to be an okay difference though.

On Tuesday I plan to take over full time.  While this feels a little soon, I think it really is best that I just get thrown into the swing of things to keep me going.  I am confident in my ability to handle the classroom, I am just a little wary of returning to a slower paced “Americanized” educational environment.  But the comforting part is that I am here to learn, and here to help students.  The students really make teaching worthwhile, so I look forward to getting to know these boys on a deeper level.   I am not sure how to describe all of my feelings about this transition, so I will leave it at that and take it one day at a time!