As a first year teacher, we may find ourselves working in a situation that offers many challenges. Many of these challenges put us into professional dilemmas and we find that we are doing things that are counter to what we have been taught are “best educational practices.” Following is what I believe to be a good example of such a perplexing situation:
Ms. Smith is a new teacher who has been assigned one of two 5th grade homeroom classes. Students in the other 5th grade homeroom are being taught by a long term sub. The long term sub will be in her assigned classroom until November. She is filling in for a teacher on maternity leave.
A few weeks before school opens, the administration decides that 6 students who had been in a self-contained special education classroom will now be mainstreamed. These 6 students, along with some new students, bring the fifth grade class enrollments up to 29 students in one homeroom and 28 in another. The principal decides to try a new teaching model for these two fifth grade classes. She adds a language arts specialist and a math specialist to assist the two fifth grade teachers in the classrooms, but in those subjects (math and language arts) only. In addition to the newly “mainstreamed “ students, Ms. Smith has several students with IEPs. These students require “pull out” instruction in math and language arts. With the specialists in these classes, the pull out schedule is no longer being followed.
Several parents of the students with IEPs are upset. Parents of more advanced students are complaining that their children are bored. Other parents are telling the principal that their children are complaining about the noise in the room as well as the behavior of many of the students. The principal insists that her model will work. Nevertheless, parents are complaining loudly and are criticizing Ms. Smith, the newly hired fifth grade teacher.
How would you tackle this situation? Is there any way that Ms. Smith can improve the situation and meet the needs of all her very diverse learners?
Unfortunately, I do not think professional dilemmas, such as the one Mary presented us with, are limited to first year teachers. All we can do is our best, in any given situation, and realize that some years will be more challenging than others. That being said, I do believe that one way a teacher can help himself is by “quantifying.” It is important to distinguish between “what we know” and “what we think we know” when discussing situations that we believe are detrimental to the development of our students. If we quantify results we can present administrators with more than just, “I don’t think this is working.” We can help ourselves – and our students – by discussing trends we see within disciplines - trends that are relevant to students - and make (future) decisions based on that. Of course, this solution is one that will take time, and we might have to suffer (along with our students) until change and improvement can be made, but quantifying results is a way to bring about change.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand how the principal can stop the students from taking part in the pull-out program if this is required in their IEPs. However, if this is the situation, I think the best solution would be to break the class into two groups. One teacher can work with the more advanced and the specialist can work with the students having trouble. The students can be mixed up for certain activities so that they don't quite catch on to the pattern of how they have been broken up. As for other subjects, they can be touched upon in language arts for different reading and writing assignments so that the specialist can still help out a bit. I think Ms. Smith will have to work on creating a system where students are not necessarily doing the same thing all the time, and if she's organized and on top of things, it will work.
ReplyDeleteThe administration may be setting this teacher up for failure. The challenges that Mary mentioned would be daunting I think for a teacher at any level. The best strategy is to be as organized and well planned out as possible. To borrow Lauren's idea, I would break the room into 3 groups, with Ms. Smith and the other two specialists to oversee each group. Ms. Smith would of course have to set the plans, agenda and pace of the lessons. Who knows, maybe if Ms. Smith can pull this off the administration will give her a resounding recommendation that will lead to a full time position. I do not envy Ms. Smith!
ReplyDeleteI agree that this may not be a first-year teacher only problem, but it is quite a challenge for a rookie educator. I think I would handle this by pairing the students off into groups. I would put the students who are excelling and "bored" with some of the students who are struggling. Then, throughout the lesson, if a teacher could not address a situation personally, the students can help each other out, because sometimes when a student is explaining to another student, the material can come off easier.
ReplyDeleteI agree with JohnM's statement. It would elevate the pressure and stress if she paired off the excelling and bored students with those that are struggling. It would entice and challenge the bored students. It would not only show them what they know, but give them a chance to play teacher themselves. This would also help the specialists in the class. It would give the them a little more time with each student in terms of breaking down information.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all of the various ideas that everyone has previously mentioned- working in small groups- allowing the students to have the opportunity to lead their small groups could be good for both the teacher and the student. If the teacher is having this great of a problem with the reactions of her parents, and the principal isn't listening I would mention it to the superintendent- or even a different principal to possibly get a different perspective or idea.
ReplyDeleteI think the situation being presented is extremely challenging. It reminds of a one-room school house paradigm in which many levels of ability are all in one place. I agree with the group consensus on employing small group work to further the lessons. I would try to plan a mini-lesson first that would introduce the topic/skill/activity with the entire group. Then I would like to break off into smaller groups, by skill level, to better differentiate the instruction. I would plan for stretch goals or more involved activities for the higher level students and plan to repeat the mini-lesson with the developing students.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I still think I too would be very overwhelmed in this situation as either a new teacher or a seasoned teacher. I agree with the comment that we will not always be able to avoid these types of situations and must do the best we can to mitigate the risks. I also whole heartedly concur with the idea of quantifying the impact of these unique dynamics on the learning environment as a whole. It will not be productive nor well received to merely complain with anecdotal information. The ability to back-up your experienes with real examples will hopefully be enough to bring the right attention to this issue with the school administration.
Along with what many others have said I think that small groups is a great way to deal with this situation. Small groups always help to ease the tension and make a classroom more productive in tight situations. I think though that this situation in general is extremely challenging for any teacher, whether it be a 15 year teacher or a newly hired teacher. Sometimes these types of situations are inevitable.
ReplyDeleteThough these are excellent attempts at solving a difficult problem, I think the approach I would find most useful would be to continue to work with the class as a whole, for the most part, but increase the amount of individual work being done in the classroom. In this way, it seems to me that the issue of difficulty level being complained about by the students could be remedied by presenting them with appropriate level challenges in their work. This
ReplyDeletealso allows the classroom to maintain a steady level of layered education as well as allowing for different levels of learning to take place in the lesson.
I would use groups for a situation like this. Or the "think pair share" method. Possibly pre set the groups or pairs where higher level students will be placed with the lower level students in order to assist the teachers while they are not currently instructing or helping that particular group.
ReplyDeleteBut the situation in itself is just the tip of the iceberg of a larger school wide problem of mainstreaming students who then ultimately bring down the rest of the class. And that needs addressing by the administration.