Week 9

This was my last week of student teaching. I feel better that I have all of my video recording done as well as the video that I needed for my spotlight video. It was a bittersweet week for me because I am going to really miss all of the staff and the students, but at the same time I am ready for a change and excited about being in a general education classroom for the first time. I am excited to meet my new students and get a new perspective in student teaching. My cooperating teacher has done an amazing job at helping me along the way and teaching me so much. She gave me the opportunity to attend two IEP meetings as well as give part of the report for a meeting to give me some experience and allow me to learn how to talk to the parents as well as in the meeting. I am also so grateful for all of the staff in the classroom that I worked with. My biggest fear going into student teaching was not having staff that I would get along with as well as have TA's that would not be welcoming, but I could have never asked for a better classroom to be a part of. The biggest challenge this week was behaviors that we had to deal with in the classroom. I think this week I was most frustrated with the lack of behavior support that was in the classroom. According to the administration there was enough staff in the classroom looking at the number of children, but not based on need. This past week we have also had a new staff begin in the classroom which was also a challenge to try and deal with all of the behaviors as well as take time to teach this new TA all of the routines and interventions to follow in the classroom. Her first language is not English which also made it difficult to be able to communicate back and forth with each other.

      I have learned a lot from my cooperating teacher throughout my experience. My cooperating teacher has a lot of responsibility on her plate and this was the first time that I was able to see all of the work that takes being a special education teacher. I think I learned a lot about classroom management as well as how to work with TAs in the classroom. The teacher I worked with had a great relationship with all of the TAs and it was something that I admired about her most. This week I learned a lot about time management with all of the IEP writing and new goals that we had to make into data sheets to begin working on in the classroom. 

      I hope to learn more about how to write IEPs since I will have the opportunity to attend and IEP meeting as well as be able to run some of the second IEP meeting this past week. This coming week I will be in my new classroom and have to meet new students again and be able to begin forming that relationship with them. The standard this aligns with is: 

SL.K.1.b Continue a conversation through multiple exchanges. 

Week 7

     This week I feel really great about student teaching. I am getting ready to film with my focus student so I have spent this week making sure I have all my materials that I need. My cooperating teacher does a great job of helping me when I need it. She has also had a busy number of weeks since she was asked to take over all IEPs for the classroom next to ours. I changed my focus learner for my EDtpa so I am making sure that all of the activities that I have planned are going to be good for my focus learner. I have also been full in charge of the classroom for the last two weeks. I feel like the past couple of weeks has been going by so fast and it is hard to believe that I only have 9 more days left in the classroom.The teacher assistants are still doing such a great job with helping the kids as well as helping me out when I need it. It really makes a huge difference having a staff that helps and supports you. The biggest challenge this week was simply being short staffed in our classroom and having a lot of substitute staff in the classroom. We had some TA's out during the week and it was difficult having substitute TA's that had never worked with students in the intensive program. It was good to have some extra eyes and hands, but difficult to have to make sure the students were all where they were supposed to be as well as a substitute staff member. This past week it was brought to my attention that the intensive teacher in the classroom next door will no longer be coming back for the rest of the year and that it could be a possible job opportunity for me. It was nice to have administration and other staff members approach me about this opportunity. A situation that I encountered was dealing with behaviors again this week. We have had the same behavior issues with the same student for the past few weeks and we are still trying to find a way to help him. We are still working closely with the BCBA for some tips that may help in the classroom as well  as some techniques we can implement. She comes used to come in our classroom one day a week but is now covering a maternity leave for another BCBA and we not only see her for half a day once a week which is hard for us when we could use some additional support. 

      I am continuing to learn a lot from my cooperating teacher especially right now since we are preparing a lot of IEPs for some meetings we have coming up this week and next week. My cooperating teacher has been given the responsibility of handling two additional IEPs in the other special education classroom next door so she now has to test their students and come up with data for their classroom. I am doing my best at keeping our class in line and helping the TAs and much as possible to allow her to have time to test them. This week I learned how to create scheduling times for parents online for parent teacher conferences. The school has a new way for parents to sign up for conferences and so we spend some time after work setting up time slots and emailing this to all parents. 

      I hope to learn more about how to write IEPs since I will have the opportunity to attend and IEP meeting as well as be able to run some of the second IEP meeting before I leave. I am looking forward to seeing how IEP meetings run and seeing the role of the special education teacher in the meeting.  This coming week I will try and promote requesting for students. There are a lot of students  who have a hard time knowing how to request and instead it turns into a behavior. We are working on students showing us what they may need or want instead of getting upset. The standard this aligns with is: 

SL.K.1.b Continue a conversation through multiple exchanges.