My new principal (K-6) is positively adament about pushing-in for Comm Arts. She has banned us from pull-out in the a.m., saying that we are to be in the classrooms supporting Writer’s Workshop and Shared Reading or Guided Reading times. While I certainly *want* sped students to access the general education curriculum, I don’t want to sacrifice real achievement in reading and writing. I also don’t want to pull during content subjects unless I must.
In the upper grades (4-6), students are often reluctant to work on word recognition skills in the proximity of non-sped students. I can see pushing in for a comprehension-only group very easily, and including some at-risks. I am not seeing the vision for students with LD who struggle to decode words.
This school hasn’t had a decoding expert and many students need serious attention in this area. Our Lindamood-Bell-based early intervention helps the less severe decoding-issue kids; however, the more serious kids need more intervention.
I’m interesting in hearing how folks would solve this problem and experiences with push-in, skills-driven Comm Arts services.
Don't know her well enough yet
I think she’s an extrovert. I think she’s a thinker. I think she’s a judger. She may be an ESTJ, just like moi. She’s trying to break teachers out of the mainstream mentality, I know that.
Perhaps there are other dynamics afoot…
Still, I’d like to hear from people who have successfully married the push-in and pull-out concept…
leveled/differentiated reading and math times
One of the ways we have managed this in our elementary school is to have designated full grade level reading and math periods. Students are leveled in both reading (using DRA , QRI, predomenantly, and other information as appropriate) and math (pre-testing -curriculum based assessment materials) and then divided into groupings. All students move at the same time period to their “reading” or “math” teachers—from 1-6 grades (periods are arranged so that each grade level is at a different hour, allowing the LD teacher to run to the next class level if his/her responsiblity is spread across grade levels). Grade level Teachers— SpEd and Gen Ed—may find that they have students in their group with and without IEPs. As a student is improving and gaining ability they are moved up (or down if need be). Students’ progress is reviewed each interim period minimally.
Content is accomplished with push in.
You won't believe the luck!
I told my new principal last evening that if I’d known what I know now about my sped role in her building, I wouldn’t have taken the job. Today, I got a new job. She got 2 paras and I get to go teach reading to at-risk H.S. students.
I’m not an elementary-level person and I think this will work out well.
Good karma :-)
This sounds a whole lot better! Maybe somebody with some sense saw that hole in the jigsaw puzzle and realized there was a piece better suited to fit into it :)
The bottom line (preaching to the choir, here) is that the best way to provide access to the general curriculum is to provide reading skills, since so much of the general curriculum depends on it.
Your adamant principal — what’s behind her thinking? I’d figure out whether she was convinceable or not; is she a thinker or a feeler in the Myers-Brigg lingo? If she’s a nurturing, passionate kid-lover then our analytical approach probably ain’t gonna sway her an inch. Our numebrs and statistics aren’t the “Real Kids” in front of her, those real kids she feels so strongly should not be isolated. (Unless, of course, budget is her driving force…)
You might be able to push for intensive early remediation of the pull-out type that’s seen as short-term, with assessment and re-instatement when the kiddo’s caught up, or for that matter arbitrarily at 16 weeks (and then you’ll have this little ace up your sleeve because there will be some seriously peeved mums who see progress and then see it stopped… and you’ll have gotten *progress.*)