My first week in Elliott - 4th grade inclusion classroom

            It felt strange walking up those unfamiliar school steps and approaching the security desk first thing Monday morning. Thanks to our summer program placement and training days, Ridge Street – the facility and faculty – were already very familiar by my first day of school.  However Mrs. Diaz and Ms. Gennaro immediately welcomed me into the classroom. The students were sweet and curious. The room looked huge to me with three loooong rows of students (We’ve thankfully changed back to groups.) After the pledge of allegiance, Mrs. Diaz told the students I was going to do an activity with them, and I was on. I took a deep breath as I stepped to the front of the class. There seemed to be SO many of them, but the teacher instinct kicked in, and I conducted a little True/False activity for the kids to get to know me better. They had fun getting to know the less obvious facts about me – jumped out of a plane, etc…- and I them, as I had them all introduce themselves and share their favorite activity.

            My class is a fourth grade inclusion classroom. There are 24 students with 10 students who are either classified, in the process of being classified, or have a 504 plan. There is one personal aide in the classroom, and she is actually a new addition. She was brought in for Aiden (diagnosed with autism) about a month ago, but the teachers tell me that Aiden’s behavior seems to have worsened with her presence rather than improved. I think she was previously an aide for younger grades and has expressed that she doesn’t feel comfortable redirecting (which often includes confronting Aiden). She refused, for example, to take responsibility for him on our trip to the Liberty Science Center. They are trying to work with her to give her more guidance for how she should be working with Aiden.

            With so many kids with needs (well beyond the 10% Dr. Lalyvani’s research suggests), there is always something for me to do and someone for me to help. The more open-nature of the instruction (reader/ writer’s workshop and small group work) also facilitates my assistance. My efforts to assist students 1-on-1 often annoyed Lisa because she believed they undermined efforts to make the students more independent. Mrs. Diaz and Ms. Gennaro don’t share this view. So, I have conducted small-guided reading groups as well as assisted students 1-on-1 during writing, reading, and math. I’ve worked a lot with  Issac, who has only just been classified through Mrs. Diaz and Ms. Gennaro’s efforts, but came in to the classroom reading at around a Kindergarten level.  I conducted my first “official” whole group lesson on Friday.

            I’ve witnessed the need to be flexible my first week as I’ve seen administrative decisions and other matters change quickly. We were informed Monday that we’d be taking a field trip on Wednesday to the Liberty Science Center. At the LSC, our school’s lunches were never deliverd, and so our student sat there for over an hour as the Ridge Street School group ate their lunches and then left. Finally, we got the OK to buy the cheapest item available for the kids to eat.  Sadly, all the confusion took up a great deal of the day at LSC, but otherwise the students had a great time, and it was a great way for me to get to know them almost immediately in a different way. As I left on Wednesday evening, both the teachers and the students said that they would miss me the next day.

            The biggest difference I noticed during my first week in special ed was in myself. I noticed I laughed more and joked more. I sang. I was myself. It was the first time I truly realized how much I was not myself in my previous placement. It makes a huge difference in my own personal sense of satisfaction, but I believe it will also make a difference in my ability to teach as well. 

My Week at Roberto Clemente

Reflection for my first week at Roberto Clemente Elementary School:  2/4/13 - 2/8/13

Class:  3rd and 4th Grade Language and/or Learning Disability Mild

My week began immediately on a theme of community.  I met Mrs. Pino on Monday morning, and she introduced me to her daughter, Riley.  Riley goes to kindergarten here, and loves making colorful sketches on the whiteboard in our classroom while she waits to be taken down to her class.  She is escorted by Angel, a student in our who is excited to have a special task and with a lot of responsibility.  Though I haven't seen his IEP, I believe this task is connected it.  

Before class began, I was given a tour of the school.  Along our walk, we'd pause at different classrooms or in the hallway where Mrs. Pino would introduce me to other teachers, security guards, the nurse, and other members of the Roberto Clemente community.  Though it will take me some time to learn them all, I felt really welcomed and appreciated the tour.

Mrs. Pino had told the students, on the Friday before my arrival, that they would be having another teacher come into the classroom community.  Perhaps this is why many students were eager to engage in varied interactions.  There were stories, questions, and calls for me to look at their work.

Mrs. Pino is very organized and her general presence is a balance of being warm, poised, direct, and fierce in a way that conveys and demands respect.  She has experience with the residency and immediately created a space for me to fully engage with the students.  At first I took notes on observations of the morning routine that involved the classroom aids doing a homework check, a do now of division problems and fact families that had to be copied from the Smart Board into their morning work journals, supplemental worksheets of the same skills, and a morning written entry including message highlighting the special class for the day and the weather.

After the morning routine, I formally introduced myself to the students with a PowerPoint presentation called, The Story of Me.  I had made this for an assignment at Seminar with the purpose of introducing myself to the students at Bragaw.  It had worked so well there, that I updated it and used it at Roberto Clemente.  The students loved it!

After the PowerPoint, I told the students that I was happy to share my story and would also like to know about their story.  The only parameters I gave them were that I wanted some form of writing along with illustrations that tells me about who they are.  I offered a few prompts connected to what I shared, e.g. their name, birthday, members in their family, and their dream.

I also told them that they would have all week to work on them.  We would give them time in class, and they could also take their story home to finish it.  On Friday, we would all have a chance to present our stories.

By Wednesday, I marveled at how quickly I had melded into the classroom community.  The students, whom the teacher noted were one of the best classes she's taught in her 14 year career, were respectful and open to my role as an additional teacher.  As I led shared readings in literacy, health, and social studies; introduced an inquiry lesson on the snails, fiddler crabs, and frogs in our classroom; and played a few games all of the students participated with enthusiasm.  At the end of the day, Wednesday, I told the students that I'd be gone every Thursday but that I would be returning Friday.  I  told them this would be the schedule until the end of the year, and it was a joy to hear the students express happiness that we'd be together for so long.

On Friday morning, I stopped by Bragaw to deliver movies I made for the students.  They highlighted our time from September through January.  Ms. Wise was caught in morning traffic, and unfortunately, I didn't get to see her.  I did, however, get a warm greeting from the head custodian and the security guards who told me I could leave the videos with them to pass on to Ms. Wise.  Here's my video:

After dropping off the videos, I went to Roberto Clemente with excitement stirring within.  It felt really nice to maintain my connections to Bragaw and have the opportunity to grow in a classroom at a different school.  I looked forward to seeing and hearing the presentations from the students.  Also, I had an overall feeling of satisfaction at how my placement was going and for all that I'd learned in the first week.

The presentations went really well.  12 out of 16 students presented, with two being absent, one forgetting the story at home, and the other, a student who has issues with completing tasks, who had not done one.  He is a student that I will have to encourage and understand with tenacity because I can tell he has so many ideas to share.  It seemed that after hearing and seeing everyone's presentations, the students were regretful in not having one to present to the class.  I filmed the presentations and will incorporate them into a movie for my time at Roberto Clemente.  

Now that they've had practice at telling their stories, I would like to have the students create a PowerPoint for their Story of Me.  So, I will be designing lessons for them to do during part of their time at their weekly computer lab session.  It will reinforce literacy skills in writing and speaking; teach them how to use PowerPoint and it's creative features such as accessing it, creating a layout, font settings, inserting pictures, and being ready for a formal presentation of their PowerPoint on the Smart Board.  

With my time here at Roberto Clemente, I want to continue encouraging community building.  As was noted in our class, Partnerships with Families...everyone has a story to tell and given an opportunity, most often they love to tell it.  With these stories, I aim for our class to gain a better understanding of ourselves, each other, and our community.  I see it happening, and it is satisfying.

First Week at Peshine

After having had such an amazing placement as I did at Ridge Street, I was both nervous and enthusiastic about starting a new placement in a new environment with a new mentor, and most importantly with new students. I also had many questions about what things would look like in a "Renew" school. After just one day, I could see things would definitely be different! However, after one week, although I know there will still be many more changes to which I will have to adjust, I recognize that my learning goals continue in this placement and there is so much more I can and will learn in this new placement.

The first focus I took going into the week was to learn about my students. I introduced myself to each of them individually on the first day and spent the week learning more about them and letting them know things about me, especially interests we share like playing music or liking basketball and video games. I also spent a lot of time asking questions about the resources used in the classroom to teach. There is a new ELA program (Read180, Making Meaning) and a new Math program (Go Math!) to accompany a slew of new technological resources (Smart boards, Smart Response, Kickboard, Dreambox, and several others). I'm still processing how this more basal-oriented style of teaching will go along with my more organic lesson planning style, but I've already adapted some Making Meaning lessons to go along with skills we are teaching in Read180 in order to start experimenting with a small group model for literacy instruction. One thing that has helped me acclimate to the new Math resources is that my new students are basically in the same place as my former students (division), so I have some lessons and strategies that I can use right away.

I've also begun wrestling with the idea of a self-contained BD classroom. So far, I've found that the "disabling condition" for our students does not seem to be their particular emotional or behavioral issues, but rather the model that places them all in the same classroom. I know that I have a lot more to learn about students with BD, but I do know that I prefer the small group model of instruction, which leads me to believe that either a smaller class size, near-exclusive small group work, and preferably inclusion would all be more effective models than the environment that Newark currently considers the "model" for BD. Thankfully, my mentor is open to questions and suggestions, and Ms. O'Neill has stated repeatedly that she is willing to try any ideas I come up with that might aid in the instruction of our students.

I know this placement is very different from my last one, but I have already discovered that I will enjoy learning here just as much. I do find some of the days long and some of the moments draining (such as watching students restrained), but all the adults in the room care deeply for our students and handle the kids and themselves professionally and respectfully. I look forward to learning more from our aides- Ms. Spears, Ms. Washington, and Ms. Armstrong- as well as from Ms. O'Neill as I continue getting to know my students and how to best use the resources available at Peshine to make myself a better teacher and make a positive difference in the lives of my students.

New Jersey Regional Day..... February 19, j

My first day at my special education placement will not be until Tuesday, February 19, 2013.  In preparation for this placement,  on Wednesday, February 6, 2013, I went to visit the school and to meet the students.  Since I did not call ahead of time, I was not aware that my assigned class was on a field trip to Rutgers.  The visit to the school was not a total waste as I had an opportunity to meet the school principal Michelle Adubato.

My meeting with Michelle (all staff are referred to by their first name even the students call staff by their first name) was interesting.  She and I met for what I have referred to as an impromptu interview.  She asked me about my professional background, my definition of teaching, and my experience in my current placement.  She even wanted to know what I new about her school (glad I had been doing some research on the school).

Our 15 minute meeting concluded with a discussion about clarity from our text The Skillful Teacher.  Michelle stated that she is great fan of the book and that she often refers to the book when working with her staff.  She explained that she is a very hands on principal and that she always expects excellence from her staff.

I am glad that I stopped by the school but the impromptu interview/visit did nothing to quiet my nerves or the anxiety I am feeling.  I am confident that I will learn a great deal about working with such a fragile population but I have many questions.

I will be working with students who are in grades 7 and 8 but are developmentally on a pre-school/kindergarten level. I can not help but wonder what were the children like before coming to Regional Day?  Did the children receive early intervention services?  Did the children fall through the cracks?  Is a self-contained class in a self contained school the best educational environment for this population?  What will the future hold for this population?  Will I be able to assist in their growth and development?

These are just a few of my questions I hope to have answered over the next five months.  I am looking forward to adding additional tools to my toolbox and I am looking forward to the challenge of working with the label of PDD.  A label what is in a label??????????????????????????????

New Placement, New Learning

I was not looking forward to leaving my classroom at Ridge Street School. I developed a wonderful professional and personal relationship with my mentor, and I grew to love the students in my classroom. I believe that they know how much I care about them, and are confident that I valued each of them for who they are as individuals for the time I was with them. I wasn't sure I would be able to walk into a completely different placement in the middle of the year and feel as part of the classroom. Especially since there would also be three aides whose presence would surely alter the dynamic of my relationship with both my new mentor and students.

When I started my new placement last Monday, I did not know what to expect. Sure, I had spent time getting to know my mentor when I observed her class last year, but my purposes for being there would be very different this time around. I wouldn't just be observing and helping out, I would be taking on all the responsibilities of a teacher for the remainder of the school year. I wondered how well my sudden presence would be received.

After spending 4 days in my new placement, I have come to realize a few things. First, I will have to make some adjustments. I have to develop a different kind of relationship with my new mentor because she is a different person, and the needs of the students in her classroom are different than in my previous placement. Change is good, and I am at the point in the residency where I do not need as much support as I did 5 months ago. The timing is just right for me. I know I have a steep learning curve. There are new strategies, materials, techniques, websites and procedures I will have to learn about and use on a daily basis. Perhaps most important of all, I know I will grow to love this new group of students just like I did at my old school. Every day that I come back, I sense them opening up to me more and growing aware that I am going to be a permanent fixture in the classroom. It will take time to develop these relationships, and I just have to remind myself that everything did not fall into place instantly in my last placement.

I am excited about what the next 5 months will bring. I know I will learn a great deal and push my practice to new levels. I am also someone who will bring new ideas and ways of doing things that I have gathered during my time in the residency. I am confident that I will a well-rounded resident who is ready to become an effective teacher of record.