Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Middle School Week one

During my first week in the middle school placement, I found this to be completely opposite of an Elementary School. First, many students are placed for inclusion now, therefore most of my hours are spent in the general education setting. Second, the special education teacher helps all students in the general setting, not just the students in her case load. Finally, I found that switching from class to class and only covering mathematics made the day go much faster, and coming into contact with more students than I came into contact with in my elementary placement. I am interested to see how working in the general education setting will work, since most teachers look to the special education teacher as a helping hand. I am wondering how I can try to push for co-teaching in a different way then one teach one assist method. I am also excited to see how the resource room is different than the elementary resource room. From what I have already observed, the older students are much more independent but still need a lot of guidance in the fundamentals of mathematics.

I am excited to learn so much this semester and look forward to beginning teaching in a more hands-on approach!