Colleagues and Collaboration

I was so worried when I went to my first staff meeting before the beginning of the school year. I had no idea what anyone looked like and I was terrified that they would reject me or brush me off because I was young. Soon I found out that would never be the case with my colleagues. They are awesome!

The hallways at the middle school are separated primarily by grade level (700 Wing is 7th grade, 800 Wing is 8th grade, etc.) and I started working in the 7th grade wing so I could be next to the 7th grade resource teacher. This was helpful at the beginning of the year when I was so worried about starting the year out right, but I began to struggle because I wasn't physically near my grade-level colleagues. Either they had to go downstairs to bring me items and talk about students OR I had to go up there to return items and chat about students. It became a bit too exhausting and it was hard to work with them.

Thankfully, the next year it was decided that there was room for me to move upstairs. I am so happy about that. I can walk down the hallway and talk about accommodations or what I am hoping for them to look out for. I can return tests more easily easily and the students can come to my room for tests more easily. And, the most important thing, I got to know them better.

It is so important to have a positive relationship with peers. I learned that very quickly on. I'm glad that I am working with such exceptional educators that have helped me grow as a person and as a teacher. I can't imagine starting teaching without these individuals!

Thanks for reading,

Kelli

Classroom Design

If I could choose what kind of desks I wanted in my classroom, this room would look somewhat different. However, it was not up to me on what desks I would be getting, though I was able to wrangle some circular tables and a few longer desks that I am happy with. While I only have between 6 and 12 students in my resource room, I have plenty of desks to choose from. It's always interesting to see where the students choose to sit and how possessive they become of their area. I don't make a seating chart unless absolutely necessary because I want these students to be as comfortable as possible in their areas. With that said, the round tables sit 4 and, without fail, there are only 2 students at each table. So, my current set-up is student-oriented in which I move around the classroom and work with students on an individual or small group basis.

Ideally, I would like to have a classroom that is station-based. If I had more instructional assistants (not complaining, just a fact), I could have an area for students (with goals in reading comprehension) to practice with ReadWorks passages and answer comprehension questions. I could also have an area for students to practice math, either related to what they are working on in class or to boost their confidence in previous areas that they are struggling with. I could also have a check-in station, about 5 minutes in length so I can work with each student briefly on organization, checking PowerSchool grades, and checking Canvas to make sure their planners have been filled out correctly.

With all that said, these stations don't need to be mandatory. I can set it up so that each student has to work with me or the IA twice a week for 15 minutes each or something similar to this. I don't want to take away their ability to work on homework, but recently, I've been working on finding engaging activities for my students to complete in the resource room as a way to work on their goals. It's somewhat tricky to get the students in the mindset that "Study Hall" is more of "Let's Work on Your IEP Goals" Hall. It's also going to be tricky to talk to the parents about this switch as they are often expecting their students to work on just homework in the resource room.

This change won't happen overnight, but I'm trying my best to ease everyone into this setting as best as I can.

Thanks for reading,

Kelli

(Playing a review game - answer a question then pass it on to another person to answer a question)

Discussing Accommodations

What I've learned in my year and a half as an eighth grade SPED teacher is that accommodations can be tricky to implement. The easy ones are extended time, small group testing, preferential seating  and read aloud as needed (i.e. state testing accommodations). The tricky ones are those "additional accommodations" listed on the IEP, such as providing study guides at least one week in advance, highlighting key words on assignments, and prompting to remain on task. Many accommodations fall on the general education teacher and it is the law that these, and many others, are provided consistently.

Therefore, every school year, I meet with teachers and discuss what I know about the incoming students. At the end of the previous school year, I met with the 7th grade resource teacher to get an idea of what the students are like. I sat in on her classes and briefly talked to the students. She also made "cheat sheets" for her students that I could provide to the teachers, highlighting the disability categor(y/ies), accommodations needed, and strengths/weaknesses. Seeing what she did, I now do the same thing. While I could hand out the "IEP At a Glance" that is provided by the IEP software, this contains so much information that it is not feasible for each teacher to read through the goals, transition services, and accommodations.

I have over 30 students on my caseload. With the two eighth grade teams, it has usually been split about 50/50 on where the IEP students will go. I don't want to burden each teacher with 15-17 IEPs to read through. Therefore, creating these "cheat sheets" will go a long way to helping the teachers understand the basics about the students.

Back to accommodations. Like I said, so many of these accommodations will be up to the general education teachers to provide. I can prompt them as many times as I want until I'm blue in the face, but some of these are hard to implement, and I can understand that. I have one instructional assistant and he can't be in 10 different classes at once. So, by breaking down the accommodations and discussing how these can be provided is necessary to begin with at the beginning of the year.

It's not just the teachers that I need to meet with at the beginning of the year, but I also talk to the students at the beginning of the year about their accommodations. Students in middle school need to be aware of what can be provided for them in the classroom so that they can advocate for themselves when they need something. That's the big thing in middle school: self-advocating. That is what I push for and that is what I expect from the students by the end of the year.

The basic run-down of this post is to discuss accommodations. Don't get me wrong, I know the teachers are doing their absolute best to reach all learners and level the playing field; however, I think a discussion of accommodations and how these can be provided in the classroom will go a long way for their growth and the students' growth.

Thanks for reading,

Kelli

(Agenda on the board for what students need to work on, what is due for the day, and what is coming up in the next week or so)

Beginnings of A Blog

New Year, New Ms. Neumann.

I've tried blogging before, but it hasn't been easy for me to keep it up. Now, with IEP meetings, progress monitoring, sponsoring Quiz Bowl at the high school, and teaching two homebound students, I am busy every day after school every day of the week. Don't get me wrong, I love what I do and I'm happy that I've taken on an extra responsibility this year, but it takes away significantly from my "free time." With that said, I am going to try my best to post at least once a month.

Anyway, I'm going to start off by discussing pedagogy. Here's how Merriam-Webster puts it:

pedagogy (n): the art, science, or profession of teaching

 Now, this word is in the Top 10% of words looked at on the M-W website. Teachers, students, parents, and many others are curious that when they see the word "pedagogy," what could that possibly mean and how does it apply to me?

When I was interviewed for about 15 teaching positions, both elementary and special education, there was always a question related to pedagogy. Now, being straight out of college, I'm sure I had some sort of memorized answer that I was sure would impress anyone and everyone. After teaching for a year and a half at the middle school level, I've realized what nonsense that answer probably was, likely a textbook response.

I've always been taught and it's been drilled into me that students are not empty cups waiting for teachers to fill their brains with knowledge. No, I think that students are more like a never-ending tornado, sweeping up knowledge everywhere they go. Tornadoes are formed by the combination of cold air and warm air pressing from each side, just like students have been formed by the knowledge they are taught and they knowledge they have learned on their own. Where these student tornadoes choose to go is up to them, but it is our job to guide and mentor them through the middle of the storm called life.

What I'm trying to say here is this: pedagogy is how teaching takes place in our classrooms. As a resource teacher, I am not the context expert. While I've learned and (re-learned) the material that is being covered, I will not say that I am as talented as the eighth grade math teacher in algebra or a language arts teacher on the works of Shakespeare. However, that doesn't mean I don't teach. I teach and discuss the content with the students, but I also teach executive functioning skills such as organization, preparation, and the ever-present turning in work on time.

With all that said, pedagogy in the resource room is creating a safe, caring environment in which I can guide the learners along their path, not push them where I want to go. Within myself, I need to continue to remind myself of this.

Thanks for reading,

Kelli

(Keys to Success - all students wrote down what they think is the key to success and we hung them on the back cabinets)