A Unique Look At My Classroom:

 

I have a unique role within my school and this in turn brings a unique classroom. I am a special education teacher who only is in my personal classroom for one hour out of the day. In the below paragraphs I am going to explain how the classrooms that I am in throughout the day run. 

 

Throughout this online portfolio, I bring up the importance of great communication when it comes to leadership. This is no different within my classroom(s). As mentioned above, I am a special education teacher for most of the day, and most of the day is spent team teaching in various general edcucation classrooms. It takes great communication to work effectively with these different teachers. We work together on grading, teaching, lesson planning, creating accomodations, and various other responsiblities that teachers share. This often means spending time together during common planning hours, before/after school, and lunch periods. Due to all of these responsibilities, I am in constant communication with several teachers in the building. While this means I am always on the go, it also means I get the chance to work with many great educators. 

 

These many different classrooms are run differently each day. This paragraph will give you a look at a couple of the different set-ups that we use. The first is with either myself or the general education teacher teaching the main lesson, while the other supports a smaller group. This group can be any student who is struggling, not just a student with special needs. We work with this small group of around five students right in the classroom, and on some occasions pull them to a seperate room all together. Another way we set up the room is to split the class in half. Each teacher can take a group and teach the lesson to a smaller group of students. In both of these scenarios we are trying to reduce the ratio of teacher to students. I believe this can minimize distractions while increasing the amount of work that can be completed. 

 

I mentioned there is one hour of the day that I am in my own classroom. This comes at the end of the day, and is my core support class for students on my caseload. During this time a small group of students comes to work on one of a few things: first they can use this time for almost individual help on classwork. The second thing this time is used for can be for assignments or tests to be read outloud. The third thing this classtime can be used for is to help the student through any specific skill work or remmediation that is needed. During this time each student has a specific work area in my room. I can present information to the entire group or move arond the room to help students individually. I also have one or two students from the high school come down and work with students during this time. This is nice for two seperate reasons: first it gives my students more one on one attention, and secondly often times my students begin to look up to these high school role models. 

 

In my educational philosophy, I mention how it is my belief that all students can and want to learn. It is the educator's job to inspire or motivate the student. I try to create a warm and nurturing environment in every classroom that I step in to. I want students to feel comfortable with me and anyone working with them. When this happens true education can take place. If you wanted to understand what my classroom looks like, you have to picture a room that will go to any length to make a student feel wanted and safe.

 

* Actual classroom pictures to be added soon. I have moved classrooms over the summer.