Second Week at Tyler

I finished up my second full week at Tyler, and I have learned so much already. It is a great school, and all the teachers are wonderful. It is very evident that they care so much for the students, and it is just a great environment to be in.

Like I said before, I have first, second, and third graders in my class, and each grade is learning something different. Each day, the students go directly to their general education classes in the morning. Then they come to the instructional classroom about fifteen minutes after the bell rings. For the most part, we do math in the morning and language arts in the afternoon, but sometimes it gets pretty crazy. This is because the students are constantly in and out of the room because they go to lunch, recess, science/social studies, and special (P.E., music, art, computer lab, and library) with their general education class. Each grade level does all of these things at different times so it is rare if all three grade levels are in the room at the same time. Not to mention, they are also individually pulled out for OT, speech, and social work. And if that isn't crazy enough, the language arts groups are not separated by grade level, but by ability level. So there are three groups, but one group has a first grader, three second graders, and one third grader. It is nearly impossible to teach them all at the same time because they are rarely in the room all together. Needless to say, it is kind of a planning nightmare, but there is one aide in the classroom, and she helps tremendously.

Aside from the craziness of planning, the students are a blast! They all have such great personalities, and I am having so much fun with them. They are all so different, and my teacher has taught me so many strategies to use with them. I know we have learned about differentiation in just about every education class in college, but it doesn't mean much until you can apply it in the classroom. And that is what I'm learning to do. Since I have students with such different academic abilities, it is important that I differentiate my lessons to meet the needs of all of them.  According to the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards the competent teacher, "adapts the general curriculum and uses instructional strategies and materials according to characteristics of the learner" (6O). My cooperating teacher has been a special education teacher for a long time so she is pretty much an expert. I am learning so much from her, especially about differentiation.

I taught one math lesson this week, and I have also started planning math on my own. On Monday, I will begin to teach math to the students with the help of my cooperating teacher. I am really looking forward to this week! And I'm also looking forward to dressing up for Halloween at school! I haven't done that in so long. I'll make sure to post pictures :)