What do we tell regular educators when they ask, “What am I supposed to do with a student who has an average-below average IQ and achieves pretty close to that level?”? I have encountered a certain population @ my school…a group of kids that are not achieving at grade level, have moved from another school, may have environmental problems, and teachers do not know what to do with them and do not act like they plan to teach them. What does a special educator w/a full caseload do? What should be said to my principal? She wants to support both sides…
I have come to the conclusion that many general educators are so focused on teaching and being accountable to district administrators, they will not individualize or accommodate these students.
What ideas do you have for me?
Re: HELP!!!
Have you tried grouping in the same classroom and going into the classroom to support the students in the general ed. room? What I do is get the teacher’s lesson plans ahead of time and figure out what hand held charts, numberlines, Franklin Spell Checkers, spelling words, etc. would be appropriate for the students so they could be successful alongside their peers. It’s amazing how much they can do with their classmates with support in the classroom. Of course when the instruction gets too difficult, you could pull them out for certain units or do completely different instruction for reading, spelling, or math if needed.
As far as the principal goes, maybe you need to talk to him/her to hire an aide, who can support the students when the special ed. teacher is unavailable. When I work with individual students in my room, an aide is available to help the students who are more capable stay in the classroom with success.
Re: HELP!!!
What a great question but there’s probably no easy answer. Your teachers would need a good leader to get them on board with this issue.
I agree with you. Any child deserves attention. But your principal isn’t going to be able to legislate that.
What would I do? I’d make every contact I had with these kids even if it’s a pass by in the hall as warm and friendly as I could. I’d be that tiny bright spot in the day cause sadly sometimes that’s all we can do.
What about community volunteers, though? Any chance there of getting some volunteers to shower some positive attention on these children?
Re: HELP!!!
Have you tried grouping in the same classroom and going into the classroom to support the students in the general ed. room? What I do is get the teacher’s lesson plans ahead of time and figure out what hand held charts, numberlines, Franklin Spell Checkers, spelling words, etc. would be appropriate for the students so they could be successful alongside their peers. It’s amazing how much they can do with their classmates with support in the classroom. Of course when the instruction gets too difficult, you could pull them out for certain units or do completely different instruction for reading, spelling, or math if needed.
As far as the principal goes, maybe you need to talk to him/her to hire an aide, who can support the students when the special ed. teacher is unavailable. When I work with individual students in my room, an aide is available to help the students who are more capable stay in the classroom with success.
Re: HELP!!!
Have you tried grouping in the same classroom and going into the classroom to support the students in the general ed. room? What I do is get the teacher’s lesson plans ahead of time and figure out what hand held charts, numberlines, Franklin Spell Checkers, spelling words, etc. would be appropriate for the students so they could be successful alongside their peers. It’s amazing how much they can do with their classmates with support in the classroom. Of course when the instruction gets too difficult, you could pull them out for certain units or do completely different instruction for reading, spelling, or math if needed.
As far as the principal goes, maybe you need to talk to him/her to hire an aide, who can support the students when the special ed. teacher is unavailable. When I work with individual students in my room, an aide is available to help the students who are more capable stay in the classroom with success.
Re: HELP!!!
What a great question but there’s probably no easy answer. Your teachers would need a good leader to get them on board with this issue.
I agree with you. Any child deserves attention. But your principal isn’t going to be able to legislate that.
What would I do? I’d make every contact I had with these kids even if it’s a pass by in the hall as warm and friendly as I could. I’d be that tiny bright spot in the day cause sadly sometimes that’s all we can do.
What about community volunteers, though? Any chance there of getting some volunteers to shower some positive attention on these children?
Have you tried grouping in the same classroom and going into the classroom to support the students in the general ed. room? What I do is get the teacher’s lesson plans ahead of time and figure out what hand held charts, numberlines, Franklin Spell Checkers, spelling words, etc. would be appropriate for the students so they could be successful alongside their peers. It’s amazing how much they can do with their classmates with support in the classroom. Of course when the instruction gets too difficult, you could pull them out for certain units or do completely different instruction for reading, spelling, or math if needed.
As far as the principal goes, maybe you need to talk to him/her to hire an aide, who can support the students when the special ed. teacher is unavailable. When I work with individual students in my room, an aide is available to help the students who are more capable stay in the classroom with success.