I have just accepted a job as an 8th grade resource teacher at a middle school. I will be teaching LD kids and am nervous! I am coming from regular classroom elementary school so this is entirely new for me. Is there anyone out there who has this job or knows anything about what I am about to teach? I’m unclear as to whether my students will stay with me all day or come to me inbetween other general ed. classes. I would most appreciate any ideas for working with LD eighth graders. Thank you!
PLease find out!
I”ve been there and done that. Most important part of my job was conveying that I had high expectations for them. I did both content areas and “resource room” and once or twice, combined classes with a “regular” teacher and team taught.
I’ve got lots of stuff on my website (look in the “older students” section for “resource room - tips for a working model”) — gotta tell you, if you walk in there and hope to wing it, it’ll be a zoo. It does *NOT* have to be. :!:
8th grade RSP
I taught 8th grade RSP at a middle school for 14 years. Usually Resource kids are in special ed for less than half of their day. Since they change classes at middle school my kids all had regular science, social studies and pe. Some were in regular math classes. My job was mostly reading and English and support for the reading and writing in their regular program. You do need to look at your school and see how kids are scheduled and what you need to teach. Then as others have said you need to have high expectations and good curriculum. You are preparing these kids for high school in one more year. As much as possible mirror the regular 8th grade curriculum, so your students feel that they are learning the same things as their friends. Read the same short stories and novels as the regular English class. Incorporate study skills and organization from day one - it is often very difficult for kids to manage so many classes, etc. Does the school have textbooks and curriculum for your students? Do they have a specific reading or written language program that they use? What do the 6th grade and 7th grade teachers use? As you find more information, post again. I’m sure many of us can help you.
Resource Room
I think resource room teaching comes down to this. Do you support the students in their current work in other classes or do you seek to solely remediate their weak skills? It’s hard to do both and by middle school, students with weak skills have often become very discouraged.
What is your school’s philosophy? If it allows you to support the students in their current work, that’s what I would do. It’s hard to ‘catch up while keeping up’ and your students will be expected to keep up by their regular teachers.
Help them keep up and you can’t go wrong.
Re: New Middle School LD Teacher Needs Ideas
While helping them with the regular curriculum is good, the greatest gift you can give them is remediating their reading. Do not send kids to high school reading at an elementary level. Go get some training in one of the effective reading methods right away.
Janis
Resource Room Resource
If you need to remediate spelling, decoding, and vocabulary with age-appropriate materials designed for LD students in middle school, check out Looking Glass Spelling at www.gwhizresources.com
I think you need to ask the principal these questions. I teach resource at a middle school. I teach reading to lots of different students plus I also tutor them in their reg. ed classes. In my school resource means they have some reg. ed classes but not all. I have some kids for reading, language and math and some for just math. Check at the school and see what exactly you will be teaching. I would ask about material too and books.
Nan