Hi,
I am a teacher canidate. I have done my student teaching and now I am taking a class where I get to work with L.D. students. I had a question about when I get my own classroom how I can I manage my time successfully with students who are mentally handicapped. I see that some teachers have a hard time getting these students on task and keeping the other students on task when this students becomes a distraction. Thanks!
Re: Time Management
After a couple of years of folder teaching I realized jumping from kid to kid was ridiculous. I try and work with students in groups to provide meaningful instruction. If there is a large disparity between levels then the “high” kids are paired with the “lower” kids as peer tutors. Works as well as anything else I’ve tried.
Re: Time Management
The first thing to do when you get your teaching job is to make friends with the special ed teacher. We have loads of information and sharing it can make our jobs and yours easier. We also will likely have specific insight on the kids in your class and what works best for each one.
I’m somewhat confused by the phrase ‘mentally handicapped’. To me mentally handicapped is a phrase that suggests what is sometimes called mental retardation. LD students are neither mentally retarded nor ‘mentally handicapped’.
What kind of students will you working with? In any case, there’s no easy or pat answer to how to keep different groups of students on task. Teaching is a juggling act and you often have to keep several balls in the air at once. The best way to learn how to do that is on the job.
A trick I use is to keep boxes of ‘funsheets’ , braintwisters, crossword puzzles, connect the dots etc. at the front of the room. Children who finish early may go and get those sheets. They may also get out their free read books and read.