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.