Reality 101: CEC's blog for new teachers

Richard: Helping or hurting?

Working as an EBD teacher in my first year is hard! I struggle daily with deciding what battles to fight and which not to fight. I am constantly asking myself if I am protecting the student from their disability or if I am enabling them. I recently chose not to address a student's actions, and because I didn't, the child took that inch and ran a mile with it, resulting in her fighting with another student. I was told that every negative or inappropriate student behavior in EBD has to be addressed and dealt with. I disagree.

In retrospect I should have addressed the first issue so that it didn't end with my student fighting another. I also realize that I am new at this and I will make mistakes along the way. This bad decision has made me excessively aware of each and every thing my students do as I work through all the potential outcomes of an action before I provide a response. I honestly detest it.

Allisence: An update on Felipe

Remember cute and adorable Felipe? Remember how he used to be so willing to do whatever I asked him to do? Remember how before winter break his behavior did a 180? Ah, Felipe, yes, I remember.

I finally did get a chance to sit down with mom and dad right before break. They agreed that something seemed to be off — they saw the same change in behavior at home. Felipe was having an especially hard time getting ready in the morning, which of course affected the rest of his school day. As a mini-team, we decided to simply give Felipe a break, slow things down a little bit, and see what happened after the New Year.

The Monday after break, Felipe walked into school the happiest little clam I had ever met.  He was so excited to be back! Dad told me that during vacation, Felipe woke up every morning asking if he could go to school again and if vacation was finally over. While I was surprised Felipe craved being at school so much, I could understand his desire for the structured school day and the learning opportunities school offers him.

Jessica: Changing her luddite ways

This past weekend, I attended the California League of Schools (CLS) Technology & RTI Conference. The opening speaker was Will Richardson. His inspiring message challenged all teachers to become students again. He referenced a rather fabulous quote by Alvin Toffler: “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, relearn.”

Richardson opened with two stories, the first about his daughter’s history exam questions on the middle ages and the second, about a young man who had created a name for himself as a cinematographer. The latter was essentially self-taught, having learned all he needed to know about video editing through online communities. These people represent two kinds of learners - those learning what they are told to learn and those learning what they love to learn.

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.

Richard: The beauty of communication

Communication is the foundation for many things.  I have learned in my first six months of teaching that it often takes precedence over most other “must haves.” Communication is pivotal in reaching students, maximizing the impact of a strategy, and getting along with coworkers. Communication also happens to be one of the largest areas of frustration for a new teacher like me.

I came into a system with established systems and unspoken rules that I wasn’t told about in my orientation to the school. The only way to really figure it out has been trial and error. The error part got to be tough for a while, but after the break I seem to be doing much better about asking the right people the right questions and abiding by the many non-spoken rules.