My dau is starting sixth gr. next year (they just got out yesterday and I'm already worried about next year)…Back to the question…Has anyone had any experience with class within a class teaching method…I would like to hear the good and bad as my dau is scheduled to be in this situation…It sounds great, I just don't want to be set up for a really bad year. for those that are unsure of the arrangement…it is a regular clasroom with both the reg ed teacher and an "extra" teacher for the kids on IEPs…the LD kids have this extra teacher all through middle school and she does their study hall time and ots of extras like study guides for tests etc. Like I said, it sounds great but I would like to hear from any parents that have already done this! I did visit a classrom and you wouldn't know one teacher from the other and same with the kids!
Re: class in a class method of teaching
. That you went to the see the classrooms and their teachers is a great thing. From what you’re describing, the class within a class approach is working well at your middle school.
As Sue J wisely suggests though, it never hurts to ask a few more questions.Are the LD kids given anything else? Is the curriculum modified in any way? Must they meet the same expectations as everybody else? Do they have to take the same tests in the same allotted time? Do they have the same homework and are they expected to complete it in the same amount of time as the other kids? And, very importantly, are their grades awarded on the same standard as the other kids? When a teacher is grading papers, is the work of kids with diagnosed writing issues being held up and judged along with kids who have no writing issues?
If you really wanted to get to the heart of the matter and are willing to take risks, you could ask the school questions like… does the reg. ed teacher plan the lesson and set the class requirements or do the two teachers do it together?
Re: class in a class dosnt work
in ohio we call this an “alternative service delivery option” I dont believe in candy coating things, so sit down, this is what it means….
They will segregate all of the kids on IEPs in a given grade level into one class regardless of the disability, they will fill the rest of the class with the schools lowest achieveing students (half of whom need IEPs but their parents are still fighting to get them tested) and the rest will be behavior problems, and or english as a second lang. students.
These children will only be exposed part of the material the normal kids are exposed to, the school will tell you they learn the same “basics” basics is the operant word here. they will staff this room with one reg ed teacher whom they want to quit and one sp-ed teacher who may be their part of the day.
the parents wont relize what hit them till there child gets to highschool and trys to take their first college prep class and fails flat on their face because after years of being exposed to only the “basics” they do not have the needed skills to pass the college prep classes, at this time the school will not provide the child with a tutor so they children can pass the college prep classes, instead they will place the child in more “nasic classes” where they graduate with “cirtificates of attendence” or they can go to a vocational school where they can train to be “food service handlers, electitions assistants, etc” upon compleation of these “work study programs” these children will be fully prepared to enter a minimum wage paying job.
IF YOUR IN A STATE WHERE YOU HAVE A SAY, JUST SAY NO, if you have any doubts get on your phone and call Learning disability associations in several states other then your own and ask them about the wonderfull results of a “class within a class” (you may have to explain what you mean as they will most likely call it something else)
It can be good, and it can be awful — depends on whether the two teachers have done preparation before they’ve embarked on this, or were told to do it; depends on whether or not they’re given time to plan (“here’s how I was going to present this part of the Industrial Revolution… how are we going to make this work for all the kids?” — and the time to make materials that will work), how big the class is, etc.
I did it with a teacher because we taught the same subject at the same time and she had a small class… it worked great. That was my last year at that school, though; the next year, another teacher took my position. I wish I knew why, but it didn’t work as well (according to that teacher). Some regular ed teachers treat sped teachers as some kind of underqualified aide (and it gets a little dicey when in fact the sped teacher does know a whole lot less about the subjet area, and perhaps not a lot more about teaching kids with special needs, or perhaps a whole lot more but hte regular ed teacher just doesn’t buy any of that stuff).
If you got good vibes from being in the classroom — sounds like it’s a working version of inclusion :) You might want to ask about accommodations, grades, what happens at test-taking time, and that sort of thing.