Helping Kids Help Themselves

This week we read all about strategies for independent learning. The chapter included four main sections: 1. Encouraging Student self-awareness, self-advocacy, and self-determination. 2. Teaching independent learning strategies in class. 3. How students learn to use strategies independently. 4. Examples of Successful learning strategies.

I appreciated that it taught not just what the strategies are, but how to use them. Teaching the strategies in a classroom is important because the student need to be able to learn for themselves. They should be able to learn many thing from a textbook without the help of a teacher. Teachers are an important resource, but they won’t always have a teacher in life. Someday they will have to learn on their own. 

No cutting Corners

This week we went back to a case study from a few weeks ago. We had previously made an IEP for Nathan, a boy who struggled with reading and comprehension as well as staying focused and not being distracted in class. We were given three different assignments to make accommodations for him. As we were writing out the accommodations they sounded pretty solid and like they had enough detail. But then I thought about it for a moment and how it would actually play out. If we did EXACTLY what we put on the paper, would he really learn? Would it really go smoothly? Would it take too much time? So, then we took a step back and re-evaluated the situation. We considered all the different aspects of the classroom and how we were going to make thing work for Nathan AND the rest of the whole class. We added a lot more detail to the instructions and felt good about the changes. We are confident that if we gave our list of accommodations to a teacher, it would really work in a classroom.

What this experience taught me is that we can’t cut corners. It doesn’t work in any type of lesson plan, and it surely doesn’t work when making accommodations for a student with special needs. There is no easy way out for a teacher, that is life and I need to realize/accept that. I think every teacher must feel a piece of the pure love of Christ to deal with what they deal with and keep going in their job. 

Sometimes you’re just thrown into cold water

This week was insane. I ended up having three times as much work to do as normal and I was completely overwhelmed. We also suddenly had an exam that we had not prepared for AT ALL! And to top it off, I got sick. REAL SICK. I ended up cancelling two different day trips and had to skip my usual Jr. High tutoring, which I LOVE! I slept a lot and worked little. By some miracle I still got everything done… God is real people. And miracles do happen!

For the exam, we had to write three different essays. One was what you would say in an IEP, another was how to teach about collaboration, and the last one was an outline for a special needs curriculum in the stake. These were all really good essays to write and our team came together perfectly! Nell and I ended up doing the bulk of the IEP “script.” Our role was a regular ed teacher who was asked to join the IEP meeting, her first IEP meeting. I realized that I could very well be that person in real life someday. I will someday have to attend my first IEP meeting and figure out what to say! This exam helped me to have a little glimpse of what it will be like. I will be thrown into cold water, and hopefully I can perform well. 

Case Study Fun

What I loved the most this week was the case study. It was really organized so I didn’t have to stress about just figuring out what was expected of me. I also liked that I did an assignment on my own, then together with my group. 
It was interesting to see what ideas we had that were the same and which ones were different. I loved thinking of how we could help Mark without sending him to a different classroom. We came up with some really great ideas as a group that I would feel confident suggesting in a real-life situation. This case study experience helped me to not be so nervous in the future when this is something I really have to deal with as a teacher