I have been teaching self-contained ED for 13 years and have recently been reassigned to teach resource LD. I currently serve 20 students in either reading, math, written expression, or a combination of subjects. The problem that I’ve been trying to resolve is whether it would be better for me to develop lessons for my students or to allow them to bring work from their regular ed. classrooms. For example, some of the teachers that I’ve dealt with require the LD students to do reading in their class and then either bring their work from class to me or do it later in class or as homework. I hate to see my students penalized by having extra work to do, but I know that we must work on other things. I would really appreciate any advice or suggestions.
Pat
Re: K-6 resource room
Thanks Anitya,
In my head and heart I know that I need to be teaching my students the skills they need to be able to work independently, but I frequently have some teachers who make comments that all we do in my class is play and the work we do is too easy. I’ve tried to explain that I’m teaching the kids at their ability level not grade level. Some of these teachers then require my kids to do the assignments that were given while they were in resource. I’ve tried to explain that I will provide the grades for the areas that I see them for, but still the kids are punished. Have you ever had to deal with this kind of problem and what did you do? Do you see your kids by grade level or by area of academic weakness?
Re: K-6 resource room
Sorry, we are way ahead of you. I do give grades for subjects the resource students take with me. Teachers never complain about what I do. Document all you do with test and assessment data, that should create better understanding. In other words if data shows child to be reading at 2nd grade level and further profiles skills the child has and does not have, it is pretty hard for a classroom teacher to be angry the child is doing second grade level work. Teachers should be happy you are doing this teaching so they don’t have to.
Students do not make up missed work. You might need to sit down with those teachers and plan what the child is responsible for in their classroom. I always offer to send work if needed, they never take me up on this offer. But,I feel the offer communicates that I am here to help.
Re: K-6 resource room
I think the problems I’m having stem from the fact that the previous resource LD teacher had the resource room set up as a tutoring and study hall program and now I’m trying to change things. Most of the teachers have been cooperative but there are a few who aren’t. Unfortunately these teachers have several of my students.
How do you schedule seeing your students? Do you pull them out by grade such as 4th grade from 9:00-10:00 or by subject (Reading 9:00-10:00)? How do you schedule students that you see for more than one subject?
Re: K-6 resource room
Hi Pat, I agree with Anitya about how you should structure your resource room. If the teachers continue to give you a difficult time, speak with your special ed. director or principal and see if they can help.
As far as scheduling goes, it’s the most confusing thing imaginable! I pull kids for their reading/math when their classrooms do reading/math. I group writing under reading, and all my kids have both reading and writing goals, so I don’t schedule those two separately. The way our school works is that almost everyone does reading in the am and math in the pm, so I pull them for reading in the morning, in-between specials for as long as their IEP says, and then in the afternoon at the same time their class does math. This means that I have reading running all morning, and math all afternoon, with different grades (I teach 4-6 in an elementary school) always in the room at the same time, and different kids, and myself, coming in and out. However, I have a pretty small caseload, considering what others on this board have, so it’s not too bad. I have each child’s schedule for the week posted on the wall next to my table, and in my plan book (a nice big 3-ring binder) the times that child comes for that day is listed next to each day’s plans. It gets hard when I have a kiddo for 7.5 hours for reading, 5.0 for math, and then the speech pathologist tries to pull them for language an hour a week! I hope this makes sense! I’ve been doing this for ten years now, and this works for me, the kids, and our school’s system. I’ll be happy to explain anything that doesn’t make sense, or if you have any questions. Good luck!
I hardly ever run into anyone who teaches a K-6 resource room as I do. Most seem to have more than one resource teacher so they split the grades.
If you are writing goals and objectives on their IEPs and if they are significantly below grade level, then you will probably need to TEACH in the resource room rather than serve as an “assignment tutor.” If your 5th graders read at, perhaps 3rd grade level, what good will you be doing them by helping them do their fifth grade spelling words, when they cannot spell 3rd grade words?
If they CAN actually DO the grade level work with a little extra support, then you may want to provide assignment tutoring. In that case, their IEP goals would be written on grade level standards for their present grade level placement.
The adage that you can “give a man a fish and he eats for a day (help child do assignment and the assignment is done for that day) or you can teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime” seems to apply to resource room teaching. Personally, I want my students to MASTER the skills they need to become proficient enough in reading, writing and math that they may someday NOT need me. In too many instances if I overfocus on assignment tutoring, I encourage dependence and keep the child working at his or her frustration level. We learn little to nothing when forced to work at our frustration level.