Personal Goal Check

I started this blog with several goals in mind.  I am checking in to let you know how I'm doing.

1)  Reflective writing more often, perhaps every day?  Well, daily reflective writing hasn't happened for me.  I haven't journalled daily (school-wise or other-wise) but I did just update my hiking journal from August through today!  When I started this blog,  I really hoped I'd be able to scratch out some kind of entry each day but I haven't done that either. 

2)  Steer my practice based on reflection.   While I haven't written every day, what I HAVE done is talk openly with my co-teacher Mr. B about our plans and my concerns.  I think the accountability of my (imaginary) legions of readers has helped me be more active in taking steps to make improvements as soon as I notice a problem or need something to change. 

3)  Share the ups & downs of co-teaching.  I hope this has been successful so far. One thing I've learned already through this process is that every co-teaching story is different. Whether mine sounds similar or totally foreign, I hope my thoughts and stories are helpful to someone else.

4)  Connect with fellow educators.  My (imaginary) legions of readers keep mostly to themselves but I realize that knowing I am writing for the public has, I think, encouraged me to be more open with my fellow teachers in my new district.  I love meeting new teachers and sharing ideas!  A few weeks ago, I asked my principal to connect me with an experienced co-teacher at another school.  Meeting with her was quite helpful ~ in part because she acknowledged that her school's first year with co-teaching was rocky! Whether it's thanks to the blog or just thanks to a new school year starting, I'm feeling more confident than ever before in communicating with colleagues.

My Own Space!

So, I'm a bucket teacher.  

When I was in middle school, my dad was a "cart teacher."  He didn't have his own classroom so he kept all his materials on a cart and wheeled around the school during passing periods.  (This created prime opportunities for my friends to tattle on me to him which led to "Why did I hear you were chewing gum at school today?" conversations.  Clearly, I was more inconvenienced by his cart status than he was, right?)

Now I'm in different rooms all day and, in fact, have my teacher desk in a classroom where I do no teaching.  So, I have one of those plastic bins for hanging files that I tote from classroom to classroom.  I started out the year with a dud of a bin and was delighted to get a new one that worked better for me.  More delighted when a student noticed and admiringly said, "Oh!  You got a new bucket!"  So, that's me.  A bucket teacher.

My administrators surprised me yesterday by letting me know that I would get "my own room" for exactly one of my classes plus my planning period.  Hey, at least these two periods are consecutive so I get to be in one place for 2 straight hours!  Woo hoo!

I'll still have my bucket but, this will be the first room in the school that I can officially and legitimately call "MINE."  I know all you teachers know what that means:

Borders and posters and bins, oh my!

I am looking forward to creating my own space and establishing better routines for the class that I will have there.  Currently, I pop into the classroom as the previous teacher is finishing up (or running into my class time...) and we trade off computer time and I can't always get my slide up to the screen right away for the start of class nor post my own classroom expectations.  So, I'm excited for yet another fresh start this year.

Change Up

I haven't posted all week.  It's not that I haven't been teaching, co-teaching, reflecting and adjusting.  I have been doing all of that.  And then some.

Teaching / Co-teaching:  We are finally getting into the real deal curriculum for the year and I am excited!  There's only so much getting-to-know-you and baseline-gathering one can do before the call of a fresh text book is too much to deny!

Adjusting:  I have been making good on my plan to steal (learn?) strategies from my co-teachers. I started doing "the hand thing" or "Give me 5" with one of my classes as they are such engaged chatters that audible attention getters are just not working.  This is not a new approach but after I saw it work well with 7th graders, I decided to use it with my 8th grade class.  So far so good.  

Reflecting:  There's been much reflection this week.  Not all of it super positive for my teaching mentality.  Here's why:  Several changes to our co-teaching and inclusion model have been made.  (Notice the passive tense?  This was one of those "from above" type decisions that a teacher and principal can do little more than say ok about.)

About 2 dozen kids who have Special Ed needs and were previously included in the Gen Ed classroom with Special Ed support were pulled out of 1 or 2 Gen Ed classes and put into Special Ed-only classes.  Or, as I like to say, "excluded from Gen Ed."  

After getting totally pumped up about inclusion (remember my "Hopes" post?) this was a difficult blow.  I continue to feel pretty deflated about the whole thing, especially since it was a blanket decision that did not involve much / any individualized decision making.  It was a bummer.  

BUT, I'm a Special Education teacher and I love teaching students who have special needs and I was actually a bit excited to have 2 of my OWN classes (1 math and 1 LA).  I am enthusiastically planning for both classes.  So, that's the bright side.  

It's been hard to write about my feelings on this because it is conflicting.  I believe some kids need a special environment and special instruction sometimes, but I just keep thinking about the messages of exclusion that are being sent to Special Ed and Gen Ed students.  I will leave you with a student response from a survey I gave to my new classes.

What has been your proudest moment in middle school?  "When I got out of [the special ed class] but now I'm back in.  :( "

My Hopes

I have a lot of hopes for the incredible potential of co-teaching!

After reading up a bit on co-teaching, my mind started whirring as I thought about how cool it could be to teach a whole, HUGE class of middle schoolers. (I'm used to 6 - 12 kids at a time!)  I started looking forward to all the ideas I could copy and steal from first hand exposure with other teachers.  I was excited to share planning and brainstorming time with another educator!  I was happy to imagine 2 adults role-modelling sharing, negotiation, collaboration and (probably very real) problem solving right in front of all those kids.  

Possibly the thing that most excites me about co-teaching is the awesome opportunity it could provide for students.  First, students with Special Ed services sometimes miss out on a certain level of complexity when they are not included in General Education classes.  What we consider pull-out services or Resource Room settings are sometimes so singularly focused on skill acquisition in the mechanics and application of reading, writing and math topics that students can miss out on the complex and sometimes beautiful chaos of higher level discussion and creation that can happen in the larger classroom.  So, the chance for a kid who is used to being in a 'special' room for reading to use the same materials and contribute to the same discussions as all her peers could be an awesome opportunity for growth!

Second, over the years, General Ed students have seen a disappearance of some of their peers.  Co-teaching could change that.  I know how educators (myself included) see this: Kids in Special Education need special services to best gain the skills they lack.  Yes, I agree with this and have been trained and believe that a kid will not dramatically increase his reading ability, for example,  if he's not explicitly taught reading.  And for students in Special Ed and their families, they understand the same reasoning and are often excited for the chance to catch up.  Bu-uut, what about the other kids?  The kids who used to have class with a certain someone and now they don't.  Maybe the kids noticed the student was slower in math, or couldn't keep up with the homework, or was so rowdy he frustrated all the teachers.  And maybe they know that there's the other class where he goes for help now. 

But what other messages are kids receiving?  Are they learning that if you can't go with the flow you're out?  Are they learning that the slowest person will one day be gone?  Are they learning something about what's normal?  About what's acceptable?  About who is normal?  About who is acceptable?  And are they missing out on contributions and insights that only someone who needs to ask the same question a couple times to hear the answer in a couple different ways might offer.  I don't know.  And I'm afraid we don't know a lot about the impacts of removing kids from classes. But I am wholly HOPEFUL that an inclusive setting, with support for those kids who need it (in Special Ed or otherwise) could be incredible for all students involved.