Hi, my name is Brandi. I’m a resource teacher at an elementary school. This is my first year teaching elementary. My dilema is collaboration with general education teachers. I feel like I’m invading on their territory. They aren’t much help and my principal would like for me to stay in the classroom as much as possible. Not to mention I don’t have very many resources or materials to work with. I have been thinking about pulling my kids and working with them individually, because it is very difficult to give them services that they need in a classroom with teachers who are not supportive. Are there any suggestions out there?
Re: Resource
I’d first chat with your principal and gain some sense of why he wants you in the room. Then discuss your different ideas with him.
Most resource room teachers have a decision to make. Will they try to remediate their students’ underlying weaknesses or will they support them in the work they’re assigned in their regular classrooms? It’s usually hard to do both and both approaches come with their drawbacks.
If you devote the time to working on improving their skills, they can still flounder in their work as it’s usually not modified for them. If one devotes the time to supporting them in their school work, their skills go unremediated.
If one can manage to remediate their skills through the process of supporting them in their work, … it’s the ideal help they need.
Good luck.
Re: Resource
Hey Brandi,
I’m also a resource teacher, but at a middle school, and I am sometimes concerned about pulling kids from class. However, some of the teachers are too fast for many of my students, therefore, the only way for them to learn the material is to pull them. One thing I have done is set up folders for each subject that I am in collab with them. I leave these folders in my room and tell my kids that they can look in them whenever they need information that they didn’t get. At first the students didn’t use the resource, but now special ed. and general ed. students both come to my room during homeroom and at lunch. So I guess if you feel that the students would benefit more from you pulling them out, that’s what you have to do. You are there to help with their education and so are the general ed teachers. If the general ed. teachers have a problem with what you are doing then suggest that they give you better ideas.
thank you for looking and asking for help with this, i wish more teachers would do what your doing instead of just handing them a book to read.
I’m a.d.d. and l.d. with a 6th gread reaiing leval and can’t thank my special ed. teacher enough for what she did.
one on one works great. find something they like to read and not push them to read a serton book. the more you push the worse it gets. keep in close contact with their parents to fill them in every steap of the way. expect them to get in truble, they will and wont to just so you will yell at them or to pay attenchion to them. give them small goals to set and a reword when the make the goal, weither it is a soda or a pat on the back in frot of the class to show how much you thank them.
most importent, treat them all like people, thats what they are. they will hate you but you will get through to them and thats what you wont. the school may not like what you do but the parents will and thats what you need the school to see. when a parent comes in to the school and said their child is learning, you are doing you job to the best. some of the most famus people in the world were in classes like yours and they are doing well now. I’m finishing a book right now on how our brains work so when teachers like you ask you can see what we see. You have a ruff road ahead but DON’T EVER GIVE UP!