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FINAL BLOG POST - OUR "DAILY TRIPLE" (DUE 12/1).
This week I would like you to use your imagination. You have just won the lottery and will leave your teaching post immediately to travel around the world. As you leave your keys you meet your replacement. You are asked to give this new teacher just ONE piece of advice. What would that be, and why? Enjoy your world expedition!

Blog Post - Week 7
This past week in my own teaching I felt a little disconnected which prompts my question to you, "What was the moment (or moments) when I felt most disconnected or disengaged as a teacher - the moment(s) I said to myself, I'm just going through the motions here?"

Fall Semester 2016 Blog Post - Week 6
For the past couple of weeks you have experienced asynchronous online learning (doing modules by yourself). Previously this semester you have experienced synchronous online learning (all together in the Collaborate room). Which do you think is more effective and why do you think that? Which do you like better, and why?

Fall Semester 2016 Blog Post - Week 5
This week we have what we call "open mic." You can write a post about anything related to your teaching that you would like responses from your classmates.

Fall Semester 2016 Blog Post - Week 4
Here is this week's question: "What was the event that most took me surprise this week - and event that shook me up, caught me off guard, gave me a jolt, or made me unexpectedly happy?"

Fall Semester 2016 Blog Post - Week 3
Please write a post about the following question, "In thinking about my past week teaching what is one thing I would do differently, and why?"

Fall Semester 2016 Blog Post - Week 2
Please write a post about the following question, " In thinking about my teaching activities this past week, of what do I feel most proud? Why?"

Fall Semester 2016 Blog Post - Week 1
Describe something you used in your program in the first weeks of school that you learned in the summer NTI program. How did it work? Did it get you off to a stronger start than last year?

Thursday, February 7, 2008

open mic

I have a paraprofessional to assist me. This year we were mandated to use cooperative learning. We break into groups, my paraprofessional teaches social skills and I teach Construction and we rotate the groups. I have a lead teacher who checks on the class. Five times in the last two weeks she's come to my class with no prior warning and removed my paraprofessional and taken him into another class she deemed to need more help leaving me with eleven students and having to change my lesson plans with no advanced warning. My students have responded well but the smallest change in routine is sometimes difficult for them not to mention me. Her explanation to me was that my class was running smoothly and some of the other classes were not and they needed more help.

I know my classmates at NTI all have more difficult situations than I do with more students, more classes and more responsibilities outside the classroom but my biggest concern is I've been told it is mandated by law that the teacher student ratio for Special ed. is one teacher per eight students. Plus it wears me out having to change lesson plans and monitor student activities without any prior planning and why am I punished because other teachers, who are more experienced than I am can't control their classrooms.

2 comments:

Jessie H said...

Hmmm... I think this is something to bring up with your principal. As you state, the law mandates that a low student:teacher ratio for special ed.

Victoria said...

I feel your pain having worked in several special ed classes. It is unfair and you should not be penalized for others adults lack of self-control. I would document each time this happens and inform my principal. Also, I would like the contact person at your school for the video openings that you mentioned. I would like to forward my resume to them.