My biggest take away from the past few weeks is the importance of allowing the classroom activities to be child directed (for the most part... I don't mean that the child runs the classroom, but I mean that child's interests are incorporated into classroom activities and to value the process over the product).
Sounds easy enough, but harder said than done, especially when you are (more than) slightly type "A" like myself.
First example: one of my co-teacher's students gets a real sensory kick out of crinkly paper and he likes to reach and touch the butcher paper tree on our wall and pull at it during circle time. Megan is so understanding and always is patient explaining that its a sensory thing for him, never getting annoyed, like I would have. One day he pulled a big piece of butcher paper from behind a cupboard and was playing with it, getting it all wrinkled. I feel like most teachers would have rushed to him and taken the paper away from him and redirected him. Megan let him keep playing with the paper and for our table time we used the paper and taped it to the table and all the students painted on it. Of course, this little guy starts ripping the paper off the table. My first instinct was to stop him cause he was "messing up" the paper. Megan let him rip it off. She helped me realize that its more important for him to get to play with the paper and have fun, then it is to preserve it!
Second example: My little guy came for the first time today. During art time I gave him a red construction paper apple, red paint, glitter, sponges, and some red items to stick on it. He really enjoyed painting with a brush, but soon got very intrigued by the sponges. I gave him some glue, and he went to town on his apple and was having the time of his life! So many teachers get so weird about glue (like kids can only use a tiny little drop) so my instinct was to take the glue away and say something like "you've used enough." This time however, I let him do what he wanted with it. He ended up making a 3-d tower by glueing a sponge to the apple and another on top of it. And sprinkling a generous amount of glitter on the top. Maybe it wasn't what I envisioned for a simple collage product, but I think it was more important for him to interact with the materials and learn through playing with them.
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Pending...
So, I have gone through orientation and I officially have my classroom. Notice I don't say class...
I am sharing a classroom with the sweetest lady ever, Megan. I am so happy to be her team teacher. She has been amazing in showing me everything and I have already learned so much from her and the way that she interacts with her students. The classroom that I am in is specifically designed for kiddos with intellectual disabilities, orthopedic impairments, medical conditions or some combination of these things. Its been great to take a back seat these first couple of weeks and observe Megan and learn some of the strategies that she uses with the kids.
Her students come in the morning, and theoretically, mine come in the afternoon. School has been in session for a week and a half, and I'm yet to have any students of my own yet. I learned yesterday that PUSD has 500 special ed referrals that they are working through (assessing and placing) and I was hired in anticipation of an influx of kiddos who have the above mentioned issues (since they wouldn't fit well in a traditional SDC (special day class). Fun fact: my caseload (as well as Megan's) most likely won't be above 6 kiddos (because of the severity of their needs).
All that to say, we are basically waiting on the district to assess and filter kids through the system to get them to me! It's been a nice slow start to my career. I've had a lot of time to organize and decorate the room, which has been great, but I'm so ready to meet my kiddos and get started!
I am sharing a classroom with the sweetest lady ever, Megan. I am so happy to be her team teacher. She has been amazing in showing me everything and I have already learned so much from her and the way that she interacts with her students. The classroom that I am in is specifically designed for kiddos with intellectual disabilities, orthopedic impairments, medical conditions or some combination of these things. Its been great to take a back seat these first couple of weeks and observe Megan and learn some of the strategies that she uses with the kids.
Her students come in the morning, and theoretically, mine come in the afternoon. School has been in session for a week and a half, and I'm yet to have any students of my own yet. I learned yesterday that PUSD has 500 special ed referrals that they are working through (assessing and placing) and I was hired in anticipation of an influx of kiddos who have the above mentioned issues (since they wouldn't fit well in a traditional SDC (special day class). Fun fact: my caseload (as well as Megan's) most likely won't be above 6 kiddos (because of the severity of their needs).
All that to say, we are basically waiting on the district to assess and filter kids through the system to get them to me! It's been a nice slow start to my career. I've had a lot of time to organize and decorate the room, which has been great, but I'm so ready to meet my kiddos and get started!
Monday, July 28, 2014
How did I get here?
One bachelors degree in liberal studies + one masters degree in teaching + multiple subject teaching credential = my own classroom/ dream job =)
That's how I thought it would turn out. I was wrong. It went more like this
One bachelors degree in liberal studies + one masters degree in teaching + multiple subject teaching credential = 3 years of substitute teaching + an early childhood special education credential
Thats 7 years of full time coursework + a semester and a summer of prerequisites.
I learned through this process to be open to where life takes me and allow myself to go places I never thought I would.
When I was a substitute teacher, I learned to not be picky and to not be scared. I ended up in all sorts of classrooom including from a month of middle school pe, to high school special ed (where I had to teach a sex ed lesson), to a day at the high school where all the expelled kids got sent (I was told by security to not be alarmed if kids lit a joint in my classroom!).
My favorite days of subbing were when I got to go to special education preschool classrooms. While far from peaceful, these classrooms were always amazing to me. Young children learning life skills and receiving services to help them reach goals. I spent a few days in a deaf and hard of hearing class in LBUSD which was a really neat experience. I discovered Mitchell Child Development Center in SAUSD and it was there that I realized that I wanted to shift dreams (although I'd already completed 6 years of coursework and had nearly 50K in student debt) and get my early childhood special education credential.
This realization started as a whisper, as a simple "what if" in my head that I tried to shut out. I had already chosen my path and just needed to wait out the recession to get a general education teaching job. I even got into a BTSA program through LBUSD to clear my multiple subject credential. I attended the first week of the BTSA program and then quit suddenly. I realized that all I was doing was postponing what I new I really wanted to do, special ed. The next week I applied to Cal State Fullerton's early childhood special education credential program and the rest is history....
except that history starts now!
after 5 interviews (Santa Ana, 2 in LAUSD, Irvine, and Pomona) I received a much anticipated phone call informing me that I had been recommended for hire by Pomona =)
I hope to document my first year of teaching here for all of you beautiful people to follow along with, as sadly, I doubt I will have much time to see you in person.
That's how I thought it would turn out. I was wrong. It went more like this
One bachelors degree in liberal studies + one masters degree in teaching + multiple subject teaching credential = 3 years of substitute teaching + an early childhood special education credential
Thats 7 years of full time coursework + a semester and a summer of prerequisites.
I learned through this process to be open to where life takes me and allow myself to go places I never thought I would.
When I was a substitute teacher, I learned to not be picky and to not be scared. I ended up in all sorts of classrooom including from a month of middle school pe, to high school special ed (where I had to teach a sex ed lesson), to a day at the high school where all the expelled kids got sent (I was told by security to not be alarmed if kids lit a joint in my classroom!).
My favorite days of subbing were when I got to go to special education preschool classrooms. While far from peaceful, these classrooms were always amazing to me. Young children learning life skills and receiving services to help them reach goals. I spent a few days in a deaf and hard of hearing class in LBUSD which was a really neat experience. I discovered Mitchell Child Development Center in SAUSD and it was there that I realized that I wanted to shift dreams (although I'd already completed 6 years of coursework and had nearly 50K in student debt) and get my early childhood special education credential.
This realization started as a whisper, as a simple "what if" in my head that I tried to shut out. I had already chosen my path and just needed to wait out the recession to get a general education teaching job. I even got into a BTSA program through LBUSD to clear my multiple subject credential. I attended the first week of the BTSA program and then quit suddenly. I realized that all I was doing was postponing what I new I really wanted to do, special ed. The next week I applied to Cal State Fullerton's early childhood special education credential program and the rest is history....
except that history starts now!
after 5 interviews (Santa Ana, 2 in LAUSD, Irvine, and Pomona) I received a much anticipated phone call informing me that I had been recommended for hire by Pomona =)
I hope to document my first year of teaching here for all of you beautiful people to follow along with, as sadly, I doubt I will have much time to see you in person.
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