One week of school is over and it has been an interesting week. I thought yall might like to hear about a special education issue from the other side.
My school is moving more and more toward team teaching and intermixing Special Education and regular ed students. I am teaching a team taught Algebra 1 class.
I have 14 special education students and 16 regular education students in the class. One of the special education students is an Aspergers student. He has a full time parapro that also comes to class each day.
So we have 30 students, a regular ed teacher, a Special Education teacher, a parapro, and a student teacher all in one classroom. Its a bit crowded.
I havent seen any IEPs but I am assuming the Special Education teacher is taking care of that. We have divided up the duties so I am planning and teaching the lessons while the Special Education teacher walks around the room keeping the students on task and answering questions. We dont differentiate between the Special Education students and the regular ed students so she helps everybody. The parapro sits in the back of the room and takes notes, which she runs off before the class is over so the students who have note-taking issues can have a copy. She also discretely checks on the Aspergers student several times during the class.
The Aspergers student is very high functioning ~ even plays on the school football team. The only thing I have noticed out of the ordinary was during the first quiz. My team teacher pointed out that his paper was still blank when most of the other students were finishing. I let the parapro know and she said he was probably reading the first question over and over. So she took the quiz back to the Aspergers room where the student completed it later in the day and brought it back to me the next morning. He made a 100 on the quiz and beamed when I told him what a good job he did.
I have received no training on Aspergers and got a one-paragraph description of what Aspergers is and what to expect in an Aspergers student. Luckily, thanks to the CD board, I didnt have much of a learning curve. In fact, the Aspergers teacher I later talked to was surprised at how much I knew about Aspergers. I told him that I happened to know some people who had children with an Aspergers diagnosis so I was fortunate that I had already learned quite a bit about it.
It amazes me that while a self-contained Special Education class in Georgia is limited to 10 students (by law), when it comes to a team taught class, the rules fly out the window. How am I supposed to meet the needs of 14 Special Education students at the same time I have to deal with 16 other kids? Thirty is a lot of students to begin with for a ninth grade algebra class, never mind half of the students having special needs.
So I will do my best and I am fortunate to be working with a wonderful Special Education teacher and parapro. The kids are great and I think it will be a rewarding year but have to admit to a little trepidation.
~Kathy
My school is moving more and more toward team teaching and intermixing Special Education and regular ed students. I am teaching a team taught Algebra 1 class.
I have 14 special education students and 16 regular education students in the class. One of the special education students is an Aspergers student. He has a full time parapro that also comes to class each day.
So we have 30 students, a regular ed teacher, a Special Education teacher, a parapro, and a student teacher all in one classroom. Its a bit crowded.
I havent seen any IEPs but I am assuming the Special Education teacher is taking care of that. We have divided up the duties so I am planning and teaching the lessons while the Special Education teacher walks around the room keeping the students on task and answering questions. We dont differentiate between the Special Education students and the regular ed students so she helps everybody. The parapro sits in the back of the room and takes notes, which she runs off before the class is over so the students who have note-taking issues can have a copy. She also discretely checks on the Aspergers student several times during the class.
The Aspergers student is very high functioning ~ even plays on the school football team. The only thing I have noticed out of the ordinary was during the first quiz. My team teacher pointed out that his paper was still blank when most of the other students were finishing. I let the parapro know and she said he was probably reading the first question over and over. So she took the quiz back to the Aspergers room where the student completed it later in the day and brought it back to me the next morning. He made a 100 on the quiz and beamed when I told him what a good job he did.
I have received no training on Aspergers and got a one-paragraph description of what Aspergers is and what to expect in an Aspergers student. Luckily, thanks to the CD board, I didnt have much of a learning curve. In fact, the Aspergers teacher I later talked to was surprised at how much I knew about Aspergers. I told him that I happened to know some people who had children with an Aspergers diagnosis so I was fortunate that I had already learned quite a bit about it.
It amazes me that while a self-contained Special Education class in Georgia is limited to 10 students (by law), when it comes to a team taught class, the rules fly out the window. How am I supposed to meet the needs of 14 Special Education students at the same time I have to deal with 16 other kids? Thirty is a lot of students to begin with for a ninth grade algebra class, never mind half of the students having special needs.
So I will do my best and I am fortunate to be working with a wonderful Special Education teacher and parapro. The kids are great and I think it will be a rewarding year but have to admit to a little trepidation.
~Kathy