First week in PreK

Walking into McKinley for my new SPED placement was familiar and exciting. Ms Guzman has been wonderful at introducing me to their routines and procedures, while allowing me to explore the classroom and the students on my own as well. It is a vastly different environment from my last placement. Nieves's 3rd grade class at Abington was home to 28 students with one full time aid. My new class consists of 10 students...9 boys and 1 girl, all ranging between the ages of 3 and 5. There are 2 aids that are in the classroom full time.

The variance in student ability is astounding, with several students reading, communicating and questioning, while others are competely non verbal and have yet to be potty trained. It has become quite evident that while there is certainly time carve out for group lessons and shared learning experiences, the majority of instruction happens on a one on one level. As we all learned in our previous Pre K placements, the Creative Curriculum is designed to offer instruction through play time. During that time is when most of the teaching happens. Ms. Guzman is fabulous at circling the room and scaffolding each childs playtime experience with prompting and questioning that meets them each at their own level.

There is also a large discrepancy between the invovement levels of the students parents. Some are in the classroom regularly, and bringn classroom treats and goodies for all. Others have a hard time remembering to pick their children up, and refraining from arriving (I believe) under the influence of narcotics. What the children share is their excitement for being in the classroom. As a mom of toddlers, I can appreciate the wonder that the PreK classrooms in Newark hold for young minds. There is so much to do and for them to explore. Shelves and shelves of puzzles and blocks, pretend areas and science discoveries. There is enough in the classroom to keep them busy all day long, and yet I find that they all find comfort in one or two areas alone.

I am interested to see how the remainder of the year unfolds for me in my new placement. Several of the students have already taken a strong connection with me, and Ms. Guzman feels that I have already progressed some of their learning in the short time that I have been there. It will be an adjustment for me coming from the third grade. While chatting with Evan at Seminar, I told him that I hadnt really taught a lesson yet. He replied..."Theres always time for a read aloud!", to which I responded that I had probably done more than a dozen in the three days that I was there. This got me thinking. In addition to the read alouds, I had colored, played pretend, built with blocks, painted, sang songs, and led a dancing congo line through the classroom, all while asking questions, responding to inquiry and modeling social interaction. Now, again, as a mom, this is just a typical Saturday afternoon for me. But to a Prek aged child, this is indeed the way they acquire information. I guess I did teach a few lessons after all :-) 

Reflection: First Week of Sped Placement

I did not really know what to expect going into this new placement.  I was extremely sad to be leaving the Abington community, my mentor and my students in a place where I felt completely comfortable and essentially being dropped into a new setting in the middle of the year. I was also pretty nervous and anxious after hearing some not so great things about the area from numerous people. Even though I had met my mentor last Thursday, I didn't exactly know how to read her which left me rather apprehensive about approaching her. When meeting her, she told me that her aides are somewhat territorial, which definitely didn't help my case of nerves.

When I walked in on Monday, I kind of just sat back and got my bearings. It was busy from the moment that the students walked into the room. Since they are in Pre-k, the first thing that they did was go to the bathroom. As a matter of fact, we spend a lot of time going to the bathroom throughout the day. We have 9 students (8 boys and 1 girl), 4 of which are nonverbal and a set of twins. There are also 3 aides in the room along with my mentor. Two are personal aides and the other is the standard classroom aide. I actually get along well with all of them, which is helpful. There are just a lot of people in one room with only 9 students which takes a lot of getting used to.

By Tuesday and Wednesday, some of the children were saying my name, laughing with me and actually acknowledging my presence which definitely eased some of my nerves and concerns about fitting into the classroom. My mentor explained to me that she had just gotten about half of the students 3 weeks ago so we're all learning together, which is very reassuring.

I taught my first small group lesson on Wednesday. I worked with the verbal students on writing the letter B. They are able to identify it and tell me things that start with the letter B but have not mastered writing it yet. We used instant jello POWDER on wax paper and the students traced it over and over again using their fingers. We repeated "straight line, fat belly, another fat belly" over and over. It was very interesting to watch them use their little fingers to make the letter.

I'm looking forward to the next couple of months in this placement. I think that there is a lot that I can learn especially in the areas of differentiation and the importance of documentation. I'm also going to be working on implementing PECs into the classroom so that is something that I am definitely excited about. Coming from 3rd grade to pre-k and going from teaching fractions to the letter B will take some getting used to, but I'm ready for it.

First Week SPED

It's difficult to put into writing my thoughts about my new placements, especially after only being there for four days. We are all in a transition period; we have said goodbye to our old placement and students and have embarked on the final placement of our 18 month journey. I'm sure everyone has had to make adjustments this week and will continue to do so throughout our SPED placements.

After hearing about my placement, I was looking forward to the next five months. I was thrilled to be working alongside a resource teacher with a wonderful reputation that pushed into two rooms. I was going to get to see two different inclusion classrooms, participate in IEP meetings for a variety of students K-5, and be part of joint-planning sessions for different grade levels. I thought my placement was a dream come true... Fast forward a few hours and my mentor quit the program and a replacement mentor was found. I'm not ashamed to say that I was extremely disappointed and broken-hearted. Even while I write this I'm am upset. In the short 44ish hours I had my initial placement, I was able to vividly envision an awesome learning environment, jam-packed with quality teaching and learning opportunities for me and my new students.

Despite my disappointment I went into my first day (Monday) with an open mind. (I guess I had to since I never got to meet my teacher before walking in that day.) The classroom consists of four students (1 girl, 3 boys), a "classroom aide," and my teacher. In the four days I have been there one day one student was absent, and another day two students were out. It is interesting to be in a classroom fro an entire day with a teacher, an aide, a resident, and two students (one of which is non-verbal). It's even more interesting when one of the students gets pulled to do Wilson... 

I have concerns about my placement, but I'm trying to look on the bright side of things. I'm unsure what the rest of the semester will be like, but it will be an experience.

           PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCES AT BRANCH BROOK ELEMENTARY

       Parent Teacher Conferences in Ms. Forfa's class are warm, to the point, and compassionate. Fortunately, the parents in this community obviously care for and are concerned about their children, and may not be troubled by the burdens that affect other communities. Out of a class of 26 students, 26 parents/caregivers were present! Not only was my mentor Dana  Forfa's 2nd grade class replete with eagerly anticipatory parents, from the "staff room" conversations I held during the week, practically every teacher in the building was busy meeting with his or her classroom parents. (I make a point of this because, in stark contrast, the parent turnout at Maple Ave. School, earlier this year, was disappointing to say the least.)

        Anthony P's mom arrived with her usual warmth and smiling face, yet, she always seems to be waiting for the bad news...which NEVER comes! Her son is a delight and works exceptionally hard on each and every assignment.  Earlier in the school year, I had the opportunity to sit in on a Child Study Team meeting about Anthony. His mother was extremely worried because she was informed by the professional staff at at his previous school, that he would probably need an intervention of some type. Neither Ms. Forfa nor I felt that there was any type of behavior, academic or otherwise, that would warrant an intervention. Ms. Forfa stressed, "You just let him read at home, to you and to anyone else, and we'll take care of the rest!" Anthony is progressing well...

        Joselyn G.'s mom came in and was immediately informed how well her daughter was doing. (Something she is well aware of because every time I see her coming into the school or leaving, I give her an update on her daughter's progress. She is an energetic, bright and respectful young lady (actually all of our students are) who wants to do well and continues to make every attempt to do so. Because I have established a wonderful rapport with all of the parents I have met, Joselyn's mom felt comfortable enough to ask ME to make sure her hair was "in place" for picture day.

       Nicolas R's mother appeared, as she usually does, to pick her sons up (he has a younger brother in kindergarten) and was more than amenable to engage in a conversation about Nicolas' progress. Nicholas is a quick-witted, intelligent young man with a penchant for conversation with his table mates, especially Jaelyn, who sits alongside him. His reading level is a 16, which is the independent level for a second grader. Unfortunately,  Nicolas' parents recently separated and it is obvious that his frustration thresh hold is becoming lower.  For instance, if he is made aware that he has responded incorrectly to a math homework answer, he becomes easily agitated; Recognizing this, and utilizing the knowledge obtained regarding his family issues, I always begin by telling him how great he is doing and that he only made a couple of slight errors (which is the truth). Also, whenever he or any of the students respond correctly to all of their homework problems, I put the word PERFECT! on their paper. This seems to evoke a deep sense of pride in the students, as well as their parents. (Homework correction time has also become a time where I can implement expansion of vocabulary strategies. For instance, each week the word for really good or great papers changes: Excellent, Fantastic, Superb, etc. have all been relished by the students and can actually be seen appearing in their descriptive writings.)

       Leeah S, recently named student of the month waited outside while her parents came in and were given the wonderful news that their daughter is doing exceptionally well. This type of feedback ALWAYS makes a caregiver beam with pride. 

       Luis M. is the oldest of three boys, and his mom is now pregnant with, you guessed it, boy number 4! Luis is extremely bright, but would habitually fall asleep during class. Ms. Forfa addressed this area of serious concern with the principal, Mr. Cullen, previously, and apparently Luis' mom has been making a great effort to avert a serious problem. She stated that he would take long naps after school, then could not go back to sleep once he finished his extended nap. Ms. Forfa suggested that he not be allowed to nap after school or if so, only for an hour. His mom agreed, and apparently it has been working...He no longer falls asleep! Luis is a wealth of knowledge, something his mother attributes to the fact that he reads, reads, reads, all the time.  I know this is true, because at every given opportunity he wants to tell me about a book he is reading and is even utilizing words such as strategy and text-to-self connections without prompting!  He is a joy to have in class and his mother was proud to hear it...

       All in all, Parent Teacher Conferences at Branch Brook School were pretty much ideal. One can only hope that the parental turnout and level of concern in other areas of this fine city,  will reach Branch Brook's proportions. Perhaps, when we have our own classrooms, we will find inventive and persuasive ways to help those parents who have difficulties, become model parents as well.  A collaboration between teacher and parent (s) is crucial for the success of our children!

PT Conference Reflection

I had the nerve-wracking pleasure of participating in my first set of parent-teacher conferences at Ridge Street. Overall, the experience was a positive one, but there were definitely some important lessons that I learned about preparation and cultural awareness that I hadn't deeply considered prior to the conferences.

First, preparation is key. Mrs. Comesanas has a binder in which she keeps all her printed online assessment tool reports (DRA/Slosson scores, previous year reports, individual and group reports) so that she is ready to tell a parent where a student fell relative to his or her personal progress, progress relative to that of his or her peer's in this year's class, and progress relative to benchmark targets. She was comfortable with locating data on the students on command, so clearly she knows how to manage the online data. She also had anecdotal notes for each student and other comments prepared. These were all things I would want to emulate in my practice as a teacher.

I was able to participate in some of the preparation as well. In fact, Mrs. Comesanas entrusted me with recording detailed notes on each student's reading log, because my notes became a focal point of her conferences when she discussed literacy with her students. I took notes on the kinds of books our students were reading, whether there was a good variety, whether they seemed to be spending too much time on a particular book or repeating books frequently without additional insight in their notes, as well as the quality of their writing in the reading logs. As I wrote down the notes, I paused to consider what a wonderful assessment tool reading logs are for all the skills mentioned above, and more! I think that a reading log will be something I will try to incorporate as a daily homework assignment. In addition to motivating students to read, requiring parental signatures also creates an additional ability to dialogue with parents and feel like you're communicating with them, and ensuring that parents are forced to be interested in their students' learning and work.

One challenge that came up was with Spanish language. While I was able to understand the content of each conference, it was difficult for me to get heavily involved in them because my ability to speak Spanish has not caught up to my ability to understand it. I had let my Spanish studies fall off my radar for a while when I learned early in the year how  much Spanish my students actually spoke. Our one L2 student left the class at the end of October, so since then I've spoken very little Spanish to my students because our language of instruction is always English. What I didn't consider was that my students' English would be SO much stronger than that of their parents, which meant I did not prepare Spanish comments for the parents in advance. Knowing this might be a challenge even in a non-ELL classroom next year, I think one change I will make with my own conferences will be to write comments in Spanish ahead of time, because it will give me a crutch to lean on when making comments and will give parents something to refer to without having to rely on my broken or inadequate Spanish. A good lesson learned!

I also had a bit of an awkward moment with the one conference I was asked to hold on my own with the parent of the student whom I studied for my literacy child study. I looked over his scores and my log notes, but I didn't really know all of his grades off the top of my head. Unfortunately, this caused me to give serious pause when I moved to discuss the grades and saw that Angel was failing math. I did not remember that his grade was an "F" and thus was very nervous explaining to a parent that her son was having serious struggles in a major subject area. I did adapt well on the spot, because I do know Angel well and was able to explain that his math struggles were largely a result of his literacy struggles, and so to improve on his math grade I would focus heavily on his reading skills to enable him to read directions, solve word problems, and execute exemplars. The lesson I took from this was two-fold: have my own set of notes with my students' grades independent of his/her report card, and review them before each conference, even if that means asking the parent to wait while I gather my thoughts; and, it is a good thing I know my students well because it meant the difference between appearing a little nervous and appearing a lot incompetent.

Lastly, it was very interesting to see the difference between student behavior during class and behavior with a parent present. Our most jovial students looked nervous and stone-faced, and I felt really bad that a discussion that was aimed at helping them was causing them so much stress and anguish. We had a student break down and cry because she wasn't getting "A's" (Mrs. C told me that her father had probably set unreasonably high expectations of her and she hadn't met them). Other students looked really sad when their struggles were discussed, but we always included them in those discussions and let them know that our goal was to help them, not to let them keep earning bad grades. Once we calmed students down, set clear expectations and a plan of action to help them moving forward, their demeanor improved across the board.

In conclusion, there was a lot that I learned at each stage of the conference- preparation, execution with the parent, and including students in dialogue about their learning- that I hope to take with me when I prepare for my own set of conferences next year. It was much different from last year's conferences, where I sat across the room as a silent and for the most part invisible observer. There was no escaping the eyes or questions of concerned parents. Luckily, they seemed to have full confidence in both my and Mrs. Comesanas' insights and were willing to work with us to help their students continue learning. Also, I learned that bilingual classes always have perfect or near perfect parent attendance at these conferences, which speaks to the importance of education and parental involvement as a matter of home culture. We had at least one parent attend for each of our 14 students!