Reality 101: CEC's blog for new teachers

Jessica: Social Skills—Then and Now

While at the CEC Conference & Expo, I attended the Sunshine State Social, which was a party for CEC members from California and Florida. While I’m a California girl now, I grew up in Florida, so this social felt like it was made just for me.* Among the people I met at the social were representatives from Talent Assessment, a reading curriculum researcher, a SELPA director, and a couple CEC chapter heads. We talked about the paths that led to our job choices and our experiences within the field. Overall, it wound up a highly entertaining evening that ended with making new professional acquaintances. In short, I networked.

Allisence: Testing Breaks the Classroom “Norm”

Having been back in the classroom a good two weeks now since returning from Denver, you’d think my students and I would have adjusted back to our normal schedule already, but what is normal, really?

Here’s a glimpse at our week right after the conference:

Monday: “Today you will take the Science/writing portion of the Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS) …”

Tuesday: “Today you will take Reading, Part 1 and Math, Part 1 of the AIMS…”

Wednesday: “Today is a half day so please rest your brain and don’t think about testing even though you’ve been testing the past two days and will test the next two days.”

Thursday: “Today you will take Reading, Part 2 and Math, Part 2 of the AIMS…”

Friday: “Today you will take Reading, Part 3 and Math, Part 3 of the AIMS…”

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!).

Richard: Professional Development Rejuvenates Motivation to Teach

On April 7th, I presented at the 2012 Harvard Student Research Conference, presenting a paper on disproportionality in ethnic groups severed under the EBD category. While there I had the honor and privilege to hear Dr. Eleanor Duckworth speak as the Keynote Address. Dr. Duckworth is the former student and translator of Jean Piaget. Dr. Duckworth spoke on the importance of teaching students to learn and not memorize and for students to embrace knowledge. She also talked about how teachers should never be complacent—teach to the potential and future of your students, not to the proficiency of a test.

Richard: Exploring the CEC 2012 Expo Hall

The CEC Convention & Expo is the event of the year for special education professionals and stakeholders in special education. There are many exciting opportunities to learn new strategies for teaching out students, updates from Washington, D.C. and the CEC on policy, and amazing fellowship opportunities.

Another exciting component of the Convention is the Expo. The Expo is a large showroom of hundreds of vendors from across the nation—all there to disseminate their products, information, educational programs, and even job opportunities. At first glance the Expo can be a bit overwhelming. You are greeted with smiling faces and aisle after aisle of colorful, moving, and exciting products for special education practitioners.

Jessica: Connections from Denver to the Classroom

I’m here in Denver right now, enjoying the CEC 2012 Convention & Expo, endeavoring to explore the vast, wild world of special education.

*Tip for attendees: use mini post-its to mark off the pages in your program with your desired sessions, and write the times on the post-its.

As a side note, I am also enjoying the metropolitan sights offered by downtown Denver, where I last set foot in 1993. A highlight of my stroll down the 16^th Street Pedestrian Mall was seeing a man on stilts dressed as Superman run down the sidewalk while a random passerby shouted, “Up, up, and away!” Ah, the city—my old friend.

Allisence: Bloggers and Students Engage at CEC 2012 Convention

Sunday night, I was so nervous that I couldn’t sleep. Even though it’s the point in the week where I usually sit there and wonder if I should still be a teacher, this past Sunday night was especially nerve-wracking. Not only was I experiencing my “normal” school day jitters, I still had to write lots of sub plans, and I was about to leave my room for three days.

Getting no sleep, trudging through those sub plans, and learning to accept that whatever happens while I’m gone is just the way it’s going to be has all been worth it now that I’m in Denver at the CEC 2012 Convention & Expo.

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.

Jessica: Can We Really Save Them All?

While still working on my credential, I observed a teacher who reserves a space in her classroom for the students who don’t want to learn. Students can choose to sit in the back of the room and joke around quietly with each other rather than waste her time and take away from the students who actually do want to learn. After she installed that routine in her classroom, she noted a remarkable leap in productive instructional time. The students who wanted to learn improved by leaps and bounds as compared to when she tried to teach them alongside unwilling participants. At the time, I was horrified by her plan and wrote my assigned reflection on just that thought: horrified that someone would give up on kids. Here’s a quick quip from that reflection: “If I am to succeed in Special Ed, I have to believe that there should be better expectations than the simple one of ‘be quiet while I teach the others.’”

Allisence: School Day Jitters

Do you ever get so nervous that all you want to do is run? Maybe it’s before a big performance or right before making a speech in front of a large audience. Either way, those are situations where a little anxiety is expected, right? But how about going to work every day? Do you get nervous or scared about going to work everyday? Because I am always nervous about going to school.

It’s been seven months since the first day of school and every Sunday night, I still wonder if I can get up the next morning and make it to school so much so that sometimes, I think I should just quit. I honestly don’t know why I feel this way. My principal has told me that I’m pretty decent for a first year teacher, I know my students like me, and I really do love my job, but every Sunday night and especially the Sunday after a long break, all I want to do is run away and hide.

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.

Richard: Planning for Behavior

This past month has been a March Madness of IEPs at my school. We all try to hold IEP meetings during this month to review student progress and make schedule arrangements for next year.  I found myself called to LEA several IEP meetings with students of various disabilities that were having or have had a history of behavior problems. Being the EBD teacher and Positive Behavior Support Coordinator, I have been given the role of behavior specialist.  As I sat in on meetings I noticed a common theme; many teachers struggle with behaviors that appear complicated, but have a fairly simple resolution.  

Jessica: Teamwork Strikes Back

In my past two posts, I’ve written about the importance of teamwork and a common IEP team scenario wherein the parents and school district fail to reach agreement on how to address the needs of a child. In the grand spirit of Star Wars, I am going for a trilogy of teamwork-related posts.

This post focuses on when the general education teacher and specialist (you) fail to agree on accommodations and modifications. Unless you’re Darth Vader with the full backing of the Dark Side, you’re going to have to learn how to reach an accord with colleagues.

Allisence: Learning to Teach Rule Breakers

In 1795, John Newbery published a children’s book called Goody Two-Shoes that tells the story of a poor, but virtuous orphan girl named Margery Meanwell, who went through life with only one shoe. One day, she met a rich man who gave her a pair of shoes — two shoes. The fable teaches us that being virtuous pays off.

The modern-day term “goody two-shoes” was popularized by this story. Growing up, I was pretty much a goody two-shoes. I did everything I could to avoid troublemakers at all costs. While I knew that there were kids in my school who got suspended, even expelled, I was never friends with them. And with that, I’ve never had to deal with the idea of suspensions until now.

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.

Richard: Working with the End in Mind

This weekend my mother graduated from Kaplan University with her Associates degree. As I was basking in proudness of my mother, my mind wandered to my students. While my students are only in middle school, I have started working with them on at least thinking about what they may want to do when they graduate from high school.

We started the year off with year-long goals and recently worked on long-term goals. They use a great Web resource, www.gacollege411.org to take interest and personality tests that are supposed to help guide them down the right path, as well as to research careers and the steps needed to reach their dreams.

Allisence: Schedules and Schedules and Schedules—Oh My!

I started with three and things were easy. Two weeks into the school year, I got another and things were still going well. Two months ago, I got another one for half a day, which was something I could handle. Two weeks ago, I got another and all of a sudden everything was thrown for a loop. If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m talking about students.

I’m certainly not complaining about the size of my class. I’m pretty sure I have the smallest class in my entire district and I dare say one of the smallest classes ever, but considering the students that are currently on my caseload, things are definitely not easy.

Jessica: When Teamwork Goes Wrong, Part I

In my previous post, I stressed the importance of teamwork and emphasized how an individual’s needs cannot truly be met without a successful team. A commenter posted the following question: what happens when the team doesn’t agree? I don’t know about you, but if I had a single, definitive answer to this question, my life would be a whole lot easier. In this post and my next one, I will address what I consider the two most common obstacles to achieving team consensus and action:

• The parents do not agree with the recommended services.
• The general educator does not agree with the specialist’s recommendations regarding accommodations and modifications.

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.

Richard: Life Outside of Paperwork

This year has felt like a never-ending tsunami of paperwork, data collection, meetings, and feelings of being overwhelmed and frustrated. I often find myself getting stressed over getting IEPs completed and done to the very best of my ability, working on transition plans, creating innovative lesson plans, being proactive with my classroom management and addressing student behaviors, and then there is actually getting up and teaching; that I forget to stop and simply enjoy being in the profession that I will call home from here on.

Jessica: A Team Effort

I don’t know how many times I’ve heard, read, or said it: the “I” in IEP stands for individualized. Indeed, the goal of special education is to come together as a team to create an appropriate learning environment that meets the individualized needs of our exceptional students. In a larger sense, the aim of all education is to recognize every student’s needs and differentiate within the classroom to see to it that all their individual needs are met.

Hmmm. Everybody say it with me, “Easier said than done.”

Let me explain my work environment:

Allisence: 'Tis the Season for Testing

Deck the desks with tears and weeping,
Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la.
'Tis the season to be testing,
Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la.

Don we now our blank stare faces,
Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la.
Troll this song my mind it chases,
Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la.

What is that you ask? Those are the lyrics floating through my head all the days long as my students and I endure second trimester benchmark testing. And it really must be testing season if more than one of us are blogging about it.

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.

Richard: Student to Inmate and Back Again (Hopefully)

This past week was full of new experiences. One of my students, David (pseudonym used) got in to some trouble over the weekend with the local police and fire department. Long story short, he was unmedicated that day, angry over something that happened at school with a classmate, and decided to release his anger at home. 

When he was absent on Monday, I called home to make sure he was OK. When his mom reported that he would be back the next day, all was well. A few hours later, she sent me an e-mail saying he will be out for the week, with no explanation. I assumed he was sick and went to the doctor. The next day I get a note from our lead counselor telling me to pack his things and post his grades as he has been withdrawn on behalf of the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice. That day after work, I got a call from his mother letting me know that he may be out longer than a week, but was not sure how long. During our conversation I discovered that she was unaware that he had been withdrawn from school and the emotional saga that ensued was heartbreaking. I have talked to her every day this week to provide a shoulder to lean on. I feel as though even though he is not technically my student, he is still my student.

Allisence: How Deep Are Your Roots?

In the early 1990s, Brian Andreas, an American artist began collecting stories. He innovatively used the Internet of that time and collected thousands of stories from around the world. These stories eventually grew into colorful, hand-lettered prints—the foundation for StoryPeople.

One of Andreas’ prints is called Deep Roots. The story says this: When I die, she said, I’m coming back as a tree with deep roots and I’ll wave my leaves at the children every morning on their way to school and whisper tree songs at night in their dreams. Trees with deep roots know about the things children need.

Jessica: From Conference to Classroom

As I noted in my previous post, I attended the California League of School’s Technology & RTI Conference. I will also be attending the CEC Conference this coming April. Which brings me to a point: I like conferences. Why? I like interacting with like-minded people who aren’t my everyday comrades in arms. When you teach at a rural school, you know everyone’s life story, as in every student in my district’s entire <100 student population. It’s like I go to work every day and it’s a great big family reunion: this makes it much harder to be objective about lesson planning and teaching technique. Attending conferences is my outlet to find out how other educators are getting by in the classroom, educators who know nothing at all about 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.

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.

Allisence: Almost a “Real” Teacher

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.

Jessica: Making Every Minute Count

Just because I’m still on winter break doesn’t mean I’m not planning things for the upcoming weeks. I find it ironic that some of my favorite days at school are the days when there are no students, though I use this time to organize my room and prepare it for their return. Being a fairly new teacher, I’m also still learning about what works and what doesn’t work when it comes to classroom organization.

For example, you know what doesn’t work in my classroom? My current pencil system. To all of you veteran teachers out there, feel free to have a good laugh at me right now because I’m on the losing side of the battle between me… and my classroom pencils. It’s like this: from August to December, several students would daily break their pencils and walk to the pencil sharpener, at which point the situation dramatically worsened because if more than one person was in line, they would talk, and if they waited in their seats, they would only be paying attention to when they could get up to use the sharpener. Lest we think the problem ended when the bell rang, the number of students who left my classroom with my pencil diminished the number of pencils for use the next day.  

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.

Richard: Anticipation of the Future

My state has adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), the lastest educational fad to equalize education by having what is more or less national teaching standards. While I like the idea of everyone in the nation finally (with skepticism) being taught and held to the same academic standards, I wonder how that will have an impact on students with exceptionalities.

I recently received a rather thick binder of the new English/Language Arts standards that also include Social Studies and some Science standards and am a bit concerned on how well this new system will work for my students. While the standards themselves are a great tool to aid in curricula planning, they have their shortcomings. They use an abundance of primary sources and really increase the rigor of p-12 academics, but I fear that based on our old way, the new way will be too difficult for many students and things will change before we get them to the level the new standards require.

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.

Allisence: What’s Up with Felipe?

Meet Felipe. Felipe is one of the most adorable little kids you’ll ever meet. He has perfect curls and long, long eyelashes. Teachers and administrators he meets out in the general education world fall for his charm all the time. They come up to me and say, “Aww, Felipe is just so cute!” Sometimes, I’ll even find myself battling to be the disciplinarian when he plays around, doesn’t finish his work, and has to stay in during recess to do it.

With a little bit of encouragement, Felipe is usually very compliant and willing to work. Recently, however, I’ve noticed a complete change in his behavior. Felipe needs constant redirection for every task.  He’s less willing to work with the classroom aides. He shortcuts in line and is not willing to share, and there are times when he has simply been rude toward both adults and other students.

Jessica: Recipe for Learning

As we creep towards winter break, I have begun calling family and friends who I will be seeing on my days off. Several of my friends were in the process of buying ingredients for, or making cookies for, holiday cookie parties when I called. In case you haven’t been to one, a cookie party is where everyone brings a several dozen homemade cookies to a party. At the party, you taste everyone else’s cookies, and then you leave with a handful of new cookies, as well as new recipes to try out. I love these parties, but regrettably, I wasn’t invited to any holiday cookie parties this year. It’s not a big deal, though, because I’ve been waaaaay busier this year than in previous Decembers.

In addition to my regular job duties, I am the director for the winter program. For the past several weeks, I’ve been working with the entire student body on reading lines, singing songs, and making crafts and costumes for a winter program involving forest animals explaining the meaning of Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa. As I near performance night, I know there will be mistakes. The sound system may produce ugly feedback. Students may exit to the wrong side. Someone will probably forget their lines. But it is what it is. I have reached the point where I have fixed what I can and accept what I cannot fix.

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.

Richard: Halftime!

This week is going to be the last week of school for the first semester. As I put the finishing touches on final exams and study guides, I took a moment to reflect on my students over the past four months and would like to share some of my reflections with you.

My students have made some notable gains. I currently have one sixth-grader. He came to me refusing to do any work that required him to read or connect several ideas together. He also could not subtract, multiply, divide, and would get instantly aggressive at the mere mention of fractions or decimals.

Allisence: Life in the Classroom Fishbowl

My students love Connect-the-Dot puzzles, mainly because they think it’s fun and because they love numbers about a billion times more than letters. In keeping with that theme, I’ve decided to share with you 10 dots that get you from my windowless classroom to what’s become a fishbowl reality.

Dot 1: My classroom is approximately 12’x25’ complete with 2 windows: 1 skinny tall one on the door and 1 next to the door that has cage-wiring inside it so is pretty useless as an actual window.

Dot 2: My windowless classroom sits in the Osborn School District and my school district loves to partner with Arizona State University (ASU) in hopes of bettering our teaching and student learning.

Dot 3: As part of our partnership with ASU, we started participating in something called TAP. TAP stands for Teacher Advancement Program and is used as a way to measure teacher-added value, among other things

Jessica: Doorway to Another World

My general ed co-teacher planned a field trip to Pinnacles National Monument, a national park of epic rock formation. I sportingly agreed to be a chaperone, not knowing what I'd signed on for, which brings me to an important point: never agree to chaperone a field trip to a place you know nothing about.

Pinnacles is indeed majestic, beautiful, grandiose, and multiple other adjectives one might use to describe the wonders of nature. Pinnacles is also, um, high. With narrow paths. And loose rocks. It also didn't help that I recently watched the movie 127 Hours.

I hiked these switchbacks with a group of 3rd-, 4th-, and 5th-graders.

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.

Richard: To Summative or Not to Summative

As the semester ends, it is now the season of final exams. I find the idea of finals in middle school a little odd, but I will work with what I am given. I find them odd because in my district we take regular common formative assessments (CFAs) at the end of each unit.

I know what your thinking, I said formative, so what’s the issue? Well, it is a misnomer. We use them not as we go, but at the end (summation) of a unit. For example, we may give the CFA at the beginning of a unit as a pre-test, then give the same test as the unit exam. In my mind, that makes it more of a dual function diagnostic/summative exam rather than formative. If it were a true formative, we would give it to students in chunks, as they finished a lesson in the segment. Instead we wait, hype it up, provide a study guide, and give it as a chapter test by another name.

I must admit, I don't like the CFA process and don't use them often in class as we are prescribed to do. The tests typically have no fewer than 50 multiple choice and matching questions. Unfortunately, for students who need read-aloud accommodations, have processing deficits, and/or a general low frustration level, those kinds of tests simply aren’t effective in my setting.

Allisence: Talkin' the Talk and Walkin’ the Walk

ap•pre•ci•a•tion [uh-pree-shee-ey-shuh’n] noun 1. gratitude; thankful recognition

One of the things I really appreciate is that my school is an International Baccalaureate Candidate School, and one of the things I appreciate most about the IB Primary Years Programme is the IB Attitudes. We want our students to be global citizens who exhibit  respect, independence, confidence, tolerance, enthusiasm, curiosity, creativity, cooperation, empathy, commitment, integrity, and appreciation.

As a school, we're focusing on appreciation this November — I'm guessing because it goes along well with Thanksgiving. As I was trying to prepare an initial lesson on what appreciation is and how we go about exhibiting that attitude on a regular basis, I was struck by how little appreciation I really show.

I can honestly say that I am extremely appreciative of my students, my aides, my fellow co-workers, and the simple fact that I have a job, but I'm also extremely positive that I'm appreciative of all these things only on the inside. I'm pretty sure nobody, except those of you reading this right now, has any idea how appreciative I really am, which is really sad.

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?

Richard: Who's Really in Control?

Students with emotional/behavior disorders are known to be highly vocal, active, and bold. Many times they will often blame other people or things for their behaviors. With their external locus of control, they often times report to staff that the (this or that) made me do it, or (somebody) said/did (something) so that made me do what I did. I have been amazed by the extent to which they externalize the control for their actions for nearly everything that occurs within their world.

I have come to the saddening realization that no matter how strong of a bond I think my students and I have, as soon as something happens, it becomes a “But, Mr. Williams did (this or that) and so I (did this or that).” When did Mr. Williams do (this or that)? “Oh, um, um, um, like a few weeks ago I think, (pause) but I just remembered, so, yeah, that's why I did it!” This is usually said with a look of great satisfaction for reportedly getting me "in trouble."

Jessica: Where It's AT

Have any of you seen the movie Soul Surfer? It’s the true story of a surfer whose arm was bitten off by a shark and despite this loss of limb, she made it back into the professional surfing circuit. I was mesmerized by this movie. One of my favorite moments in this movie, I must admit, was when the girl’s father adapted her surfboard by adding a handle to the center so she could duck dive with one arm. When he revealed it, I said to my husband, “That’s assistive technology.”

Assistive technology (AT) is a growing source of interest to me. It started with this amazing video I watched about the many AT devices used by Richard Devylder, a man who has lived his whole life without arms or legs. It really showed me how people with even the most seemingly unconquerable disabilities can achieve success and independence in life. Then, last February, I attended the California Association for Resource Specialists’ annual conference. It was the first time I’d attended a special educator conference, and it made for a great first experience.

Allisence: Queen of Crazy Field Trips, Part II

I declare that I am still the Queen of Crazy Field Trips. Kids’ Day at the Fair was an absolute blast! My students had such an awesome time even if they had to endure the 30-mph crawl there since I’m not exactly the most confident driver. Once there, they got to go on rides, play games, pet all kinds of animals (including a kangaroo), eat a free hotdog lunch, and get a stuffed animal. 

It was also great just to see all kinds of kids with all different exceptionalities have an opportunity just to be kids and to do things they may not have a chance to do otherwise. All the people who worked the rides that day, coordinated the parking, and handed out food were all volunteers who wanted to make the day special for students with exceptionalities. It was moving to see the community really come together and embrace our students.