I teach special educaton in a SDC setting at a local middle school. Next year I am going to be teaching 6th grade language arts/social studies classroom using the collaborative model. I have mixed feelings that this model is going to work having regular ed, RSP and SDC students with an aide in my classroom. I would like to hear your comments on whether this works or doesn’t work. I did see a message that addresses this issue and saw mixed reviews.
Wondering if this works or not.
collaborative Modeling
Thank you for your reply.
First off this idea isn’t going to work because in discussion with another teacher who has seen collaborative modeling going on, the staff is to new to each other since we just opened last year, and we have had no training on how to implement this model. The idea is that we will meet on Fridays to discuss the previous week lesson and to go over what will happen on Monday next week. The intent is to mainstream all of the students in to regular classes with supports thereby making the NCLB more effective. I just wonder how some of my students who will “melt down” from frustration be able to handle the pressure of being in a classroom with more students and harder work?
The collaborative model that works for me and has been very successful is each SDC teacher takes a cirriculum and teaches only that subject. Then we rotate the kids through the classes so they aren’t with a teacher all day. The students then feel like they are with the rest of the campus in rotating classes. Gives me time to really focus in on what each individual student needs for the time I have them.
Christopher
Mixed reviews are the story — depends very, very much on training of the teachers involved and the resources available. (If the real bottom line motivation of doing it is to spend less, things don’t tend to go well.) Kate Garnett’s article on “Inclusion: Issues and Answers” has some excellent ideas - my other favoritest articles are the ones about “watering up” the curriculum. (Google “watering up” and you’ll prolly find it faster than wandering through the site). www.powerof2.org is also a good resource for ideas.
Planning is a huge part of making it work — making differentiation seamless is often painfully neglected and that’s what will turn good intentions into the “warehouse & babysit” version of inclusion that gives it a bad name.