Test prep in my 3rd-grade class has been extremely stressful. First of all, I've never taught "test prep" before, least of all to kids who have never taken "THE TEST" before. I'm convinced my co-teacher and I don't know what we're doing and if the children do poorly, it will be our fault for not adequately preparing them.
I allow my 1st- and 2nd-grade special education students to bring small toys to school. The toys help keep them out of trouble at lunch with necessary imaginative diversions that they don't get in school otherwise. They also lend a sense of security to the students, who know they have something genuinely their own in school with them.
What's inside the mystery envelope?
A few weeks ago, I was struck with some inspiration before the kids arrived one morning and decided to create a "mystery envelope" to add some intrigue to my elementary special education classroom. After its debut, I hung it near our calendar as a reminder that "you never know what's inside the mystery envelope!" and as a somewhat passive message that good things come to those who earn them.
A former student came to visit me one recent Friday morning. I was taken by surprise when he walked in my door. "Carlos" was a student who had a hard time sitting still in the beginning of last year. He often needed help with things that other students could do independently. Yet he was one of the students I'd miss whenever he was absent.
A number of my students, during mini lessons, are deeply engaged. Deeply engaged, that is, with various activities other than paying attention to my mini lesson. They are drawing on their folders. They are playing with their fingers, or with the person's hair in front of them.
In my first two years as a teacher, I worked with upper-grade general education classes. This year, I'm in a different world in two ways: I'm teaching primary grades and mine is a special education class.
So a year has come and gone and I'm now starting to feel like more of a veteran than a newbie. As always, I try to take time to reflect on the past and set goals for the future — what better time than just as a new year is beginning?
In my first year of teaching a self-contained special education class of 1st- and 2nd-graders, I've been facing my share of challenges. Donald, a bespectacled boy of 7, is one of them.
I spent the last two and a half years teaching a self-contained English-as-a-second-language kindergarten class. During that time, I slowly grew to be a confident, effective teacher.