Chickens, Slinkys, and Yogurt

Monday
Today was mostly uneventful. In the morning, I observed a regular morning meeting -- something that I'll be teaching in a couple of days. It was nice to see my cooperating teacher in action. I also watched a couple more whole-group lessons. The kids were split into small groups of two or three and rotated between stations, learning about the importance of eating healthy and exercising. In one station, they played a SMARTBoard game; in the next one they played Bingo; and in the last they read a story. The kids really seemed to enjoy the lesson and there were no significant behavior problems.

I was also shown how to take a student to the bathroom and was explained the process: how much to help and what the student could do on his own. This was all completely new to me. I guess I never really put it together that I would be toileting this semester.

I also got the chance to take a look at a student's communication device. It was crazy! I had no idea how much is on those things. I'm constantly reminded at Elim about how blessed those kids are to have those devices because that allows them to communicate with their world when they would otherwise be unable to. It was interesting to flip through the screens to see what kinds of words were available to that student. I was amazed.

Tuesday

The rubber chickens :)

Today was a rough day for a couple of the students in my class. One student really dislikes exercise or any kind of movement. My teacher wanted her on a bike for adaptive PE and we all held our breath when that part of the day rolled around. While other kids were walking on treadmills, stretching out on mats, or scooting around on the floor picking up balls and chickens (yes -- chickens) and putting them in crates or baskets, that student was being strapped onto a bike. After just a few minutes she was relaxed and pedaling with few to no complaints. I was amazed! When she got off the bike, she was permitted a few minutes with her preferred ring toys and then her para and the behavior specialist began transitioning her into the next activity. She was not happy about that. She sat down and pushed away any balls put near her. After a few minutes of coaxing, her para grabbed one of the balls and shot it into a small basket not far away. The student's face lit up and she clapped and smiled. She was quickly given a ball and prompted to imitate her paraprofessional. She picked up one of the chickens, tossed it into the net and the two staff went crazy. It was really cool to watch this process of handling the child's refusal to comply and then rewarding her behavior when she listened and enjoyed the activity. The remainder of the activity was by no means easy as the staff needed to continue to coax her to participate by lining up the balls farther and farther away from her. She never stood up to retrieve another ball but rather scooted up and reached for the next one. What a process.

And, just when things started going 'smoothly' again, another student with known difficulty with transitions decided that he wanted nothing to do with one of the games played in class today. The lesson was on healthy living, eating, and exercise. When prompted to touch his toes, jump, or use the SMARTBoard, this student slowly shook his head indicating that he didn't want to have any part of the activity. This behavior isn't necessarily unusual for this student so I wasn't surprised by an means. However, he seemed to be in a particularly stubborn mood today. As the majority of the class were packing up their backpacks and leaving the classroom for the day, this child stood by his cubby and refused to move or do much of anything. The staff followed a routine plan for this student's behavior but it just seemed less effective today. After being 'lifted' into his stroller, he student finally made it onto the bus.

Wednesday
Today I was entrusted with the task of walking one of my students from the bus to the classroom. I have never seen so much yellow in front of a school before. Because kids come from all over to go to Elim, there are tons of buses, some of which only transport one or two kids. Regardless, though, finding a child's bus can be a bit of a struggle at Elim. But, with a little help from my cooperating teacher, I successfully found the correct student and walked her into class (of course, it helped that this particular bus was parked directly in front of Elim's door...).

I also got to lead the morning meeting today! After writing up my four page lesson plan the previous night, I cued the music and started with the feelings activity. Each of the students told their friends how they were feeling that morning and came up to the board to match the feeling picture to their name. After, each student informed their staff what they would be working for that day (the slinky being one of them -- no surprise). And I led the journal entry activity which prompted students to write a short letter to a friend from class. The students did a great job and the letters were pretty funny too. One student did not feel like sharing his letter to the class, but after some prompting, he finally obliged and then came up to the board to help me with the daily schedule. This allows students to know what they will be doing that day and provides them with a visual so they can connect it with the words and the activity. Overall, the lesson went pretty well. Of course, it was my first day in front of the class so some of the kids were a little wary about listening to me, but I think it was a solid first attempt.

Other highlights from today: taking a different student to the bathroom, recording data on a student's goals while my teacher worked with him, getting my goldfish grabbed at lunch and shoved into a student's mouth, observing a speech therapy session, taking a walk with a student, and helping a student one-on-one in an art lesson.

Today I really started feeling comfortable helping certain students. I feel like the students are getting used to me being in the classroom, and for the first time, I feel like I have a basic understanding of the classroom routine. I'm learning new ideas and quirks about each student, and I'm really starting to enjoy being in the classroom.

Thursday
Today I led the morning meeting again -- the students seemed to respond pretty well, as they did yesterday, which is really encouraging to me. The lesson went fine and I think I did a nice job of adding in activities when I had some extra time in the end. After the meeting, I co-taught a lesson on a current event story. The class read a story about basketball with us and then found the word 'play' in the text. Afterward, they were responsible for finding an action word and a thing in order to create a new name for the Chicago Hornets. They seemed to enjoy this and they even came up with some humorous responses.

My teacher's been doing a great job of scaffolding me into the teaching. She seems to add a little bit more responsibility and activity for me each day. For example, I now know how to take three students to the bathroom, I can successfully drop off two students after school, and I've taken walks with two different kids. I'm starting to feel much more comfortable interacting with and helping a few of the students in the room which is such a relief to me. However, there are still other students whom I seem to know little about still.

In the afternoon, we went to the literacy center and my teacher had me pair up the students with a staff member and assign each an activity. Unknowingly, I ended up reading a few adapted books with the student who does not have a para instead of rotating through the groups to see how I could help. Not a big deal, but something to keep in mind for the future. I guess I'm struggling with figuring out my specific place with so many paras in the room. I think I just need to keep watching how my teacher does it and I'll start picking up on it.

You live and learn, right?

Friday

I led the morning meeting again today. I'm still adjusting to the idea that kids are constantly leaving and entering the classroom. Despite the fact that my classroom consists of seven students, only three were present for my meeting because the other four were out for various therapies. Regardless, it went well enough. I'm starting to feel comfortable leading these little lessons; I even noticed today that I still had about ten minutes left of my allotted time so I added a few more mini activities into the lesson at the last second. I'm starting to figure out how to adjust my lesson depending on the time remaining at the end. This aligns nicely with the Planning for Instruction Illinois Professional Teaching Standard. Particularly, it states that competent teachers understand "when and how to adjust plans based on student response and other contingencies." It has been encouraging to notice this growth in myself through my teaching so far.

I also had the opportunity to observe one of my students in the midst of one of her behaviors. She can get pretty aggressive when she doesn't get her way. Today at lunch, one of the paras was instructed (as she is every day) to feed one particular student by mouth even though the child refuses to swallow. Her parents just want her to continue tasting foods and to remember what it feels like to eat. Anyway, today this student was not having the process. She pushed her blueberry yogurt container on the floor and tried to scratch her para's face. So, my teacher held her as she helped her retrieve the little snack and then as she continued to attempt to be aggressive with the staff in the room. It's amazing how strong that little girl is (or so I've heard). After a few minutes, she cooled down and the whole episode was over as soon as it started.

Other than that, the day was pretty ordinary -- or as ordinary as you can get in a special education classroom.

A few other highlights: playing wii bowling (the kids LOVED it), encouraging a student to throw fuzzy balls into the air at recess, and eating potbelly's for lunch -- it was one of the para's birthdays!