This week was really short. I was sick on Monday, so I was only with the students for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Friday was an in-service day for all of the teachers and teacher’s assistants. This week was pretty much the same routine. We try to start out each day with morning circle, position the students, feed, change, and care for them. On Wednesday, I again was able to do swimming with a few of the students. When we got to the pool, one of the students started having seizures, so we waited awhile to see if she would stop. We didn’t want her to not be able to swim. She ended up being able to go in the pool. It’s a lot of work to be in the pool with the students. We have to get them in, put flotation devices on most of them, and then do therapy with them. We have to know each student and what sets them off and take care with them in the water. The student that I usually work with has a lot of sensory stuff going on and if he gets water past his mouth, it causes him to throw up. Then we have to get our students out of the water, which often takes longer than getting them in. For our one student, we have to use a lift to get her out. That was the first time I got to see the lift in action and it was really cool. Some of the technology that they have come up with to make things simpler is amazing. On Thursday it was very hectic. We have conductive ed. in the morning at all separate times. One of my students had been acting very strange all day. Right before Dr. Powell showed up for observation, he projectile vomited everywhere. That was extremely unexpected, but it finally made sense why he was not acting himself. It was sad to see. He had been laying down when he threw up and was not breathing, so they had to put him on his side and pat his back. He did start breathing and was okay after that. We think it’s because his mom gave him benadryl and that mixed with his seizure medicine did not mesh well together. We did a lesson the Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. I felt that it went really well, especially for the end of the day. There was a student or two, who were not willing to participate at times, but for the most part, they showed good looking and feeling, and smelling. We did a few tasting things, but only one student can eat by mouth. I made all of the parts for the book and laminated them and velcroed them so we could stick them to the board. I also made a caterpillar out of pom poms. I really liked this for my students who are blind and/or deaf. They were able to feel and use their tactile senses to follow with the story.
On Friday, I went to a FIESTA in-service. Fiesta training was basically coming up with a way to make the classroom more of a functional learning environment. They encouraged work-stations, having up schedules for each individual student and the class as a whole, and having the IEP goals of the students available for the people in the classroom. Someone also suggested having a binder for each student separated by related services so that all of the information was in one place instead of scattered. For the second half of the day, I spent about 10 minutes in a seminar about fading prompts, but then got called out for a meeting for our CARE program. Care is the lowest program of the school, the one that I am in. Although I did not have much to add to the conversation, as it is not my place, it was interesting and educational to be in a meeting with the principal, vp, related services, and the teacher’s for the CARE students. They were trying to figure out what to do for mine and Sue’s classroom. We have a new student coming on Tuesday with a nurse. Our room is very cramped and we already have 8 students, which the CARE program caps at 8 students per classroom. One of the other classrooms also has 8, but the other 2 have around 3-5 because not all of their students ever show up. I’m not quite sure we have come up with a solution to the problem, it’s kind of a work in progress. After the meeting, Sue and I talked a lot about some options and thought of ways to rearrange the room for our new student and nurse. It will be very interesting to see how this all plays out on Tuesday. The in-service day lines up with IPTS 10G. participates in professional dialogue and continuous learning to support his/her own development as a learner and a teacher. At the conference, I talked with other teachers and support staff about ways to improve our classrooms. Together we worked to grow and get ideas from each other. We want to do the best that we can with what we have to provide the best environment for our students.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Monday, March 19, 2012
Week 9 (2nd placement)
This week was so much better than the first week. I am definitely feeling more comfortable and I feel like I am able to do more. The first couple days of this week I was still doing a lot of observing, because last week was short and this week was short also. On Tuesday of this week, we received a new student. I kind of took over as her aide for the week. Unlike most of our students, she is ambulatory. She is also a heavy drooler. This provides a great challenge when feeding her. Sue and I were talking to the O.T. Sue M. and we were wondering what she was capable of with feeding. When Sue M. came in for O.T. on Friday, she did a chew test and kinda observed her. The student didn't really chew with her teeth, but with her tongue and Sue M. thought that she would be capable of feeding herself. Problem being, I don't think anybody ever made her feed herself, so I was going to have to teach her. The thing that I have learned with this student is that she has the capabilities to do things on her own, but nobody has every made her do things herself or taught her how. This was my challenge for the next few weeks. It makes me sad to see that she is not as dependent as she could be because people did not take the time to teach her how to be independent. Your goal as an educator is to give your students as many tools as possible to learn and grow to be an independent individual. Even though my students might not grow up to be independent like you or I, why not let them be as independent as they possibly can?
I also had the privilege of going swimming on Wednesday. This is great therapy for my students who are very stiff. It's a lot of work getting them ready and into the pool, but it is so worth it! Most of my students love it and it's fun because you get to see them interact in an environment where gravity is not keeping them from doing things like walking or moving their legs/arms. We stretch them out and try to work on moving the muscles that rarely get used. The warm water and warm environment is a good therapeutic thing for them even without the other stuff. As fun as it is, it isn't playtime. You have to constantly be watching your student and making sure that they are safe. With certain students, water can only go up to a specific level on their body or they will throw up. There are a lot of sensory things going on that you need to watch for.
Word for the semester- Flexibility. Wow, is that going to be an important word to embrace. I know that teachers in general have to be flexible, but teachers in the special education field have to be more so. You never know where the day is going to take you. There are so many things that could change the way the rest of the day will flow. Sick students, seizures, aides being missing, related services not showing up, something runs longer than planned, a parent visit, and IEP... The list goes on. I feel as though we encounter something everyday that puts the day a little bit off. I'm learning a lot about being flexible and coming up with things off the top of my head. Sue had me jump in a few times for morning circle this week when a visitor came to the classroom that she needed to talk to. Put me in front of 20 kids and I'm not scared. Put me in front of 8 kids and 5 aides and I'm very intimidated. Adults are scary! But my aides are very kind and supportive, so it's not as scary anymore.
Sue and I have been talking a lot about organizational stuff. I know it's been really hard for her this year. Her room staff is continuously leaving and they get so many subs, people don't know what they're supposed to do, things get done twice, or not done at all. We also feel that certain students would benefit from being with a different aid. We came up with a solution, we hope! Sue made up cards for each student for morning and afternoon. There are instructions specific to each student on the card. We have Velcroed them to the wall and we have also velcroed the names of the aides. We will switch the aides with the students every few days or so. This is also great for having a sub. Then we can swap who gets who and give the sub a student that is a little less involved and there will be specific instructions on the card. We plan on putting this up sometime next week and hopefully give it a try.
I really feel like I am growing here. It's a whole new way of teaching and you can't just stand up there and talk. You really really have to get the students involved and do tactile things with them. For my students who are blind, you have to make it auditory, and for my students who are deaf you have to make sure there is a visual. Sitting through IEP meetings is also teaching me a lot. They're not as scary as I made them out to be in my head. It's a great experience to see how they work and how they're run.
I also had the privilege of going swimming on Wednesday. This is great therapy for my students who are very stiff. It's a lot of work getting them ready and into the pool, but it is so worth it! Most of my students love it and it's fun because you get to see them interact in an environment where gravity is not keeping them from doing things like walking or moving their legs/arms. We stretch them out and try to work on moving the muscles that rarely get used. The warm water and warm environment is a good therapeutic thing for them even without the other stuff. As fun as it is, it isn't playtime. You have to constantly be watching your student and making sure that they are safe. With certain students, water can only go up to a specific level on their body or they will throw up. There are a lot of sensory things going on that you need to watch for.
Word for the semester- Flexibility. Wow, is that going to be an important word to embrace. I know that teachers in general have to be flexible, but teachers in the special education field have to be more so. You never know where the day is going to take you. There are so many things that could change the way the rest of the day will flow. Sick students, seizures, aides being missing, related services not showing up, something runs longer than planned, a parent visit, and IEP... The list goes on. I feel as though we encounter something everyday that puts the day a little bit off. I'm learning a lot about being flexible and coming up with things off the top of my head. Sue had me jump in a few times for morning circle this week when a visitor came to the classroom that she needed to talk to. Put me in front of 20 kids and I'm not scared. Put me in front of 8 kids and 5 aides and I'm very intimidated. Adults are scary! But my aides are very kind and supportive, so it's not as scary anymore.
Sue and I have been talking a lot about organizational stuff. I know it's been really hard for her this year. Her room staff is continuously leaving and they get so many subs, people don't know what they're supposed to do, things get done twice, or not done at all. We also feel that certain students would benefit from being with a different aid. We came up with a solution, we hope! Sue made up cards for each student for morning and afternoon. There are instructions specific to each student on the card. We have Velcroed them to the wall and we have also velcroed the names of the aides. We will switch the aides with the students every few days or so. This is also great for having a sub. Then we can swap who gets who and give the sub a student that is a little less involved and there will be specific instructions on the card. We plan on putting this up sometime next week and hopefully give it a try.
I really feel like I am growing here. It's a whole new way of teaching and you can't just stand up there and talk. You really really have to get the students involved and do tactile things with them. For my students who are blind, you have to make it auditory, and for my students who are deaf you have to make sure there is a visual. Sitting through IEP meetings is also teaching me a lot. They're not as scary as I made them out to be in my head. It's a great experience to see how they work and how they're run.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Week 8 (2nd Placement)
I'm going to start this week's blog by saying that after my first day at my new placement, I considered running away and never coming back. Really, I did. I went from being with 20 regular ed. 4th graders, to 8 students ages 9-13 that functioned at around an 18 month-old level. That was a dramatic change. This was a scary new experience. I had absolutely no idea of where to even begin. I had never been with a population this low on the spectrum before and it terrified me. I truly do believe that every child is capable of learning, but I had no idea how to go about doing this.
Throughout the week, I slowly started to become more comfortable with where my placement was. By Thursday, I was starting to enjoy it and I was looking forward to going. This is going to be a placement where I will be doing a lot more aiding than actual teaching. I spent my week observing and jumping in with little things. We do a lot of positioning the students, feeding them, stretching them, changing them, and making sure that they get their therapy and other sorts of special services. On the first day there, one of the aides had me jump in an change a diaper and help her lift students and take off their coats. I was concerned especially with lifting. Most of these kids are very fragile and I have not had any special training of any sort with lifting. I don't want to hurt them. I talked to my teacher, Sue, about this and she assured me that she didn't want me to do anything I'm uncomfortable with and that they will teach me how to do all of it.
I saw a lot of different things this week: Conductive ed., p.t., o.t., swimming, and I sat through 2 IEP's. On the first day I was there, I witnessed a few seizures. I saw a Grand mal and I believe petite grand mal. Now I have seen many seizures, but this one was very scary, because my student was sleeping in his stander when all of a sudden he started seizing. I have never seen people move that fast. Wow. I also realized how important it is to make sure everything is done correctly and to make sure that these students are safe, first and foremost. There were a couple of incidents where the aides were careless and the students could have been seriously hurt. Thankfully, they were okay.
Even though I will not be doing a lot of teaching at this placement, I have no doubt that I will learn a lot just by being exposed to everything. I am already trying to plan activities around Dr. Seuss and his books. Another challenge with this placement is going to be all of the adults in the room. Holy cow. There is so much "take charge" in the room. I have no idea how Sue does it. She has to manage all the adults and make sure the students are taken care of. I'm sure I will learn a lot from her about that. I can already see that having a staff that is willing to work together is key to running a successful classroom.
Schmidt
Chapter 6 in Schmidt was one of my favorite chapters thus far. I love reading and writing. I want my students to love it too. As I have said before, at my last placement I started creative writing with my students. I gave them a picture and instructed them to write a story about it. They basically had free reign. I think this really excited a lot of them. Students have GREAT imaginations and are rarely given the opportunity to use them. I know my group of students were very creative in their writings.
I was excited to see that we used one of the strategies in Schmidt's book. "Listen and Draw," is a strategy we used every day during Read Aloud. I would read from a novel for about 15 minutes and the students would draw what they were hearing. Something that would especially stick out to them or a kind of collage of key things from the story. I also enjoy "Author's Hour." Giving students the opportunity to have the spotlight and read their stories is a great incentive for doing their best work and being creative. There were many great ideas, but these were my favorites.
Throughout the week, I slowly started to become more comfortable with where my placement was. By Thursday, I was starting to enjoy it and I was looking forward to going. This is going to be a placement where I will be doing a lot more aiding than actual teaching. I spent my week observing and jumping in with little things. We do a lot of positioning the students, feeding them, stretching them, changing them, and making sure that they get their therapy and other sorts of special services. On the first day there, one of the aides had me jump in an change a diaper and help her lift students and take off their coats. I was concerned especially with lifting. Most of these kids are very fragile and I have not had any special training of any sort with lifting. I don't want to hurt them. I talked to my teacher, Sue, about this and she assured me that she didn't want me to do anything I'm uncomfortable with and that they will teach me how to do all of it.
I saw a lot of different things this week: Conductive ed., p.t., o.t., swimming, and I sat through 2 IEP's. On the first day I was there, I witnessed a few seizures. I saw a Grand mal and I believe petite grand mal. Now I have seen many seizures, but this one was very scary, because my student was sleeping in his stander when all of a sudden he started seizing. I have never seen people move that fast. Wow. I also realized how important it is to make sure everything is done correctly and to make sure that these students are safe, first and foremost. There were a couple of incidents where the aides were careless and the students could have been seriously hurt. Thankfully, they were okay.
Even though I will not be doing a lot of teaching at this placement, I have no doubt that I will learn a lot just by being exposed to everything. I am already trying to plan activities around Dr. Seuss and his books. Another challenge with this placement is going to be all of the adults in the room. Holy cow. There is so much "take charge" in the room. I have no idea how Sue does it. She has to manage all the adults and make sure the students are taken care of. I'm sure I will learn a lot from her about that. I can already see that having a staff that is willing to work together is key to running a successful classroom.
Schmidt
Chapter 6 in Schmidt was one of my favorite chapters thus far. I love reading and writing. I want my students to love it too. As I have said before, at my last placement I started creative writing with my students. I gave them a picture and instructed them to write a story about it. They basically had free reign. I think this really excited a lot of them. Students have GREAT imaginations and are rarely given the opportunity to use them. I know my group of students were very creative in their writings.
I was excited to see that we used one of the strategies in Schmidt's book. "Listen and Draw," is a strategy we used every day during Read Aloud. I would read from a novel for about 15 minutes and the students would draw what they were hearing. Something that would especially stick out to them or a kind of collage of key things from the story. I also enjoy "Author's Hour." Giving students the opportunity to have the spotlight and read their stories is a great incentive for doing their best work and being creative. There were many great ideas, but these were my favorites.
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