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In Reply to: RE: Art Dudley - Listening, Nov. 2014 posted by jamestavegia@gmail.com on November 15, 2014 at 13:09:36
I feel your pain - though I am not a math teacher, I saw this while teaching elementary school. Unfortunately in British Columbia we have a lot of elementary teachers who are, themselves, poor at maths. I graduated with a number of teachers who scraped by "Math for elementary educators" with just passing scores. If, however, they are fluent in French they will be almost guaranteed a job in elementary schools. This in spite of the fact that Math is taught everyday for 40-45 minutes while French has one or two 40 minute periods (usually one and usually handled by one teacher for the whole school). The teacher without French who is far more capable in math graduating top 3 in the subject will be in substitute (TTOC) land for 10-15 years.Teaching Grade 9 the questions was something like "how many groups of 6 go into 18?" None of them in the group could answer it.
In Hong Kong students in grade 6 take examinations. Based on those exams they will apply to various high schools. The best high schools are called Band 1 high schools and they select the best and brightest. This follows with Band 2 and Band 3 high schools. Similar in a sense to when you graduate high school in Canada or the US. You apply to various universities - the best ones take the top students etc.
A band 3 high school would basically consist of all the special needs students (special needs by academics not physical needs) and all the thugs and borderline if not outright criminals. HK can do this because the region is very small with schools everywhere. In the west there may not be a lot of options - 1-3 high schools in a community and transportation issues get in the way.
High Schools in the west look more like prisons with X-ray machines and pat downs to get in and school and many have school police officers. Hardly environments conducive to learning.
And class teachers usually wind up teaching to the lower-middle standard which does nothing for the top 1/4-1/6 of the class.
At first people say HK's system isn't politically correct but as you point out - in the west they end up taking remedial classes or in BC the kids will say "I'm in dummy math and dummy English." Once you start labeling yourself as a dummy then it is likely you will live up to(or down to) the label. Putting a special needs label on and now you have further excuse to not even try.
Back 40-50 years ago, as you note, there was more discipline in schools and from parents. There were not as many distractions (cell phones/facebook) and there was far more funding for the arts. Which as Mr. Holland noted when the school was cutting art and music but keeping reading, writing, arithmetic that "that's great but they will have nothing to read or write about."
40-50 years ago integration of special needs wasn't an issue and time and time again lessons have been obliterated by special needs students going out of control. 1 kid takes out an entire 40 minute math lesson. As a student teacher coming in once a week I saw it so often that I just shook my head - no wonder 1/3 of the students were well behind in math.
Lastly, home support. Not everyone has parents capable to help their children with the work. I was fortunate that my dad was one of those people who remembered 80% of everything he read and was one of those people who could solve math questions in his head 5 place timetables by 5 place timetables instantly kind of thing. 76589 x 78457 and BAM answer and division and fractions within 5 seconds. So he could explain the maths in multiple ways one on one. I'd come home from the first day of university telling him about a history course and he could basically cover the entire course material from his head. By the end of the course darn if he didn't cover the entire thing. Stuff he read 20 years prior.
In HK the best students I have are the ones with Tiger Moms or who have parents who speak fluent English. They have help.
In the west, many students don't have parents who can help them. Discipline in schools has been obliterated by putting kids on pedestals and worrying over their self-esteem but not recognizing that you first must have "reason" to have high self esteem. Giving you a ribbon for finishing 9th in a 9 person race or in BC not giving a student a zero on a test but instead giving them an "I" for incomplete and not failing students is hardly teaching life lessons.
In Hong Kong you can get 100% on all your exams in all your subjects but if you get ten behavior demerits over the course of the school year you will repeat the entire year. Being a good ethical and moral citizen is prized above all else. 3 Demerits for swearing at your teachers 3 demerits for fighting. 1 demerit for not doing homework. Can you imagine this in the west? by the end of the first month 1/2 the class would have to repeat the grade.
Edits: 11/16/14 11/16/14Follow Ups:
40-50 years ago integration of special needs wasn't an issue and time and time again lessons have been obliterated by special needs students going out of control. 1 kid takes out an entire 40 minute math lesson. As a student teacher coming in once a week I saw it so often that I just shook my head - no wonder 1/3 of the students were well behind in math.
RGA-40-50 years ago kids with special education need could easily be excluded from receiving a public school education; they could be ware housed in institutional settings or automatically sent to non public school settings.You seem to think that those were the good old days. Now that those kids have a right to a free appropriate public education, I infer that you would be most pleased to see them segregated in substantially separate classrooms; they could be mainstreamed only for physed, lunch, art and music. Is that your pedagogy? If it is, shame on you. The law, at least in this country, is that kids with special needs must be integrated into regular education classrooms based on their individual needs, strengths, weaknesses. Education modifications are likewise required via Individual Education Plans.
Problems arise when local budget slashes staffing so regular ed teachers are left without support in their classroom and have received little to no professional development in modifying their curriculum and instruction. Obviously, leaving any teacher in a classroom unprepared to implement multilevel small group with appropriately modified instruction (that doesn't mean work sheet after work sheet) in is just plain educational malpractice; the days of teacher centered large group instruction has most happily gone the way of the dinosaur.
I am sorry you have to teach kids with special education needs. It must be a real bitch.
Ding Ding Ding "Problems arise when local budget slashes staffing so regular ed teachers are left without support in their classroom and have received little to no professional development."Yes I am all for inclusion if it is actually funded properly. And I come from the school of Mr. Spock - the good of the many outweigh the good of the one or the few. In a class of 30 where one student is hitting the other student with a chair and screaming and banging his head into the window and he's bigger than teacher in size and weight and there is no Special Ed worker because the boy is a "High-Functioning" and already dislocated the shoulder of the regular full time special ed worker - then Houston - we have a problem! And we have not even started on the other 5 kids with special needs or the three who should have been diagnosed but were not because there are not enough psychologists or the parents don't want the stigma.
This is a reason the BC teachers were on strike for 3 solid months with no pay because the government would rather spend $500 million on a stadium roof for 8 CFL football games than put it into public education and special ed.
I'm all for the political correctness of integration but I also realize that when Canada had a separate school system for special needs - integration was trotted out MORE because they could save a whole pile of cash. Dump the kids into the regular classroom (increasing the size of the classrooms) fire 3/4 of all the expert special needs teaching staff and have largely untrained or under-trained classroom teachers take on the load. That time directly comes off every other kid in the class. It is unreasonable that one kid should take up 50% of the class time.
A teacher who uses sarcasm to get a laugh from students has to walk on eggshells because the Autistic boy takes everything literally and will flip out. Sure the teacher will accommodate and school admin will say it's good for regular students to get used to special needs people as they go into the working world and in life. But political correctness aside - the regular students are not exactly going to be hanging out with the HF autistic boy at parties nor will they likely be working together in the future business realm. The contact largely stops at the end of the school day and most certainly by the end of the school year.
The issue would be a non issue if it were properly funded. When 1 Special Ed worker is responsible to cover 4 classes and numerous students and largely NOT the behavioral students then it's a serious problem. So when I walk into a high school English class and 8 students out of 27 pass and English is their first language I scratch my head. Oh but waaaait. I then go teach at the elementary school they came from and see why. One of my first assignments was subbing a grade 4 classroom. Grade 4 is almost always held up as a teacher favorite grade - I also did my final 6 week practicum in a grade 4 classroom which had students cry because I was leaving.
So I was very excited. Of course I taught in a reasonably middle class area. Wow was I in for a lesson. Walk in and they hand me the special needs folder - watch out for these 4 I am told. Those 4 were actually dream boats - it was the 4 not in the book who needed a book that was the issue. "Good Morning I'm Mr....." - SCREEEEAM the little girl starts spinning around in her chair. Umm yeah not in the book. I walk over and another kid runs into the cloakroom "Where is Mr. such and such (their class teacher). And it pretty much went downhill for the rest of the day. I have never been so tired at 3:00pm in my life.
Is it me? The next time I passed by to watch 3 other subs pull their hair out. The regular class teacher? Oh wait - there were two teachers by midway through the school year. One in the morning and one in the afternoon. Send the kid to the special ed room when they were having problems? Oh wait - they're not special needs according to the paper work so nope regular class teacher's problem.
Don't get me wrong - I have a pretty big heart - I want every kid to do well - I want the thugs to change their ways and find something in school they can grab a hold of whether it is sports or at least one academic subject. It's why I went into the field. But it's like going to university and getting trained to be world class swimmer and then when you actually get to the event after all the training they tie two 8 ton boat anchors to your legs and say "swim."
The bottom line is that integration was decided upon by governments looking to save money. If it were funded, if there were resources then ideally yes. Short of those they should be separated for the good of the many. A teacher can't cover the day's math lesson if Billy has a fit and cracks Sally over the head with a chair every single day. It's not fair to the 29 other students or the Teacher who has to tell Sally's parents that it is wrong for them to say that Billy isn't allowed in the room because after all there is a law and laws are always right. And most of the politicians who say integration is grand - send their kids to private schools where there are no special needs integrated into the classroom. And I WONDER why that is? Yup the private school with 14 or fewer students with 1-2 teachers - no thugs, no academically weak students, no behavior needs. Funny how integration is great for Public Schools (ie poor people) but umm not so great when it's the rich kids. Political correctness? Politicians should be forced to put their kids in the Public School system - then tell me it is funded properly. Something tells me that if our premier had her kid in Public School that $500 million roof would be a big gaping hole and a strike never would have happened.
Edits: 11/17/14
RGA, Your post is all over the place. The one thing I can say is that you would not get 'tenure' - "Professional Status"- in Massachusetts. Your attitude towards students is 'zany'(and that is being kind) and lacks any grasp(or desire)to implement behavioral management techniques. Your semi rant about the student with autism and inclusion demonstrates that you appear to know little, if anything about Special Education and the concept of "inclusion"and Least Restrictive Environment. Where are you presently teaching? I do hope it is not in a public school.
Actually Sometimes I wish I had a mind like yours where everything is
Integration Good
Or
Integration Bad
And never consider any other aspects or implications. I so wish I didn't consider that various topics could actually be a gray area where one must consider idealism versus practicality.
Address a specific issue - I have training (not expertise) in special needs because it is a requirement to graduate as a teacher in BC.
Education systems around the world may have different lingo to mean the same things.
Incidentally, I turned down teaching positions in the U.S.
My view of Integration is shared by a great many. I have no issue with learning/physical needs. A kid is dyslexic - no problem - adaptations can be made. Kid is in a wheelchair - no problem adaptations can be made. Kid is autistic - not necessarily a problem - time out cards, red/yellow counters, determining the triggers, repetition of instructions, etc can be implemented.
I have issue with behavioral needs that affect the learning and safety of others that go WAY beyond the reasonableness of why integration was supposedly brought into existence. Regular students benefit from being empathetic to differences and special needs kids get to feel that they are not ostracized by society. Hey - no problem for me. I've had classes were up to 10/25 were special needs (designated or not).
Psychopaths on the other hand should be held in a different school. Special needs that SHOULD require an EXPERT Special Needs teacher should have said expert in the classroom at virtually all times. That is proper funding.
You seem to be fine with the whole class losing lessons continuously to cater to one individual - I am not. And the example I provided with the kid spazzing and taking out lessons - well the class teacher was from San Diego with a Masters Degree in Special Education (back when they allowed US teachers to work in Canada). Even this expert in special ed lost lesson after lesson with one kid.
Sorry but practicality has to come into play where you say "this kid can't handle it" and "he's a danger to himself and others" and you pull him out.
I teach in Hong Kong. They pull them out.
1. The Federal and state laws call for placement in the Least Restrictive Environment(LRE): How much time should the student spend in regular education and in what classes and under what conditions. The TEAM decision is driven by a determination of whether the student is reasonable expected to make adequate progress; to make educational gains commensurate with his/her overall learning ability.Such determination is made by the IEP team (another Federal and state requirement. Determining LRE is a complex team determination: it is not either/or, black or white.an essential element of the IEP educational(including) behavioral goals and objectives, with progress reports to be issued as often as those received by regular education student. This is a damned complex Team process. It is special education 101. It is understandable that the TEAM evaluation process is outside the scope of your knowledge and experience.
2. Your lack of knowledge about the Special Education process speaks to your overall ignorance about this SPED. Nice to know you have taken course(s) in Special Education.
3. No doubt different countries use different terminology ("lingo") to define and describe Special Education and Special Education disabilities and needs.
4. Obviously, a teacher can't allow one student to disrupt learning for an entire class. How disruptions of the kind you mention, including "spazzing out" is determined by the IEP team. Sweet Jesus, I have NEVER heard a teacher use the term "Spazzing out". Besides having no meaning in itself, it is demeaning to the student. You don't know that?
5. As for "Psychopaths"(another wonderful term you use) in the classroom. If a student is appropriately medicated, for example Respiradol, and can handle classroom work, then the regular classroom is the appropriate placement. If a student is actively psychotic or otherwise has severe behavioral and emotional needs, then, obviously the placement must be reviewed for appropriateness and whether it provides LRE for that child. If the placement is inappropriate - and that includes making further education modifications - then a new more restrictive placement is demanded and is determined by the students IEP Team. Again, this is Special Education 101. There is no reason that this consonant of the TEAM process should be known to you.
6. Integration (Inclusion) into the regular education classroom comes in many different 'flavors': there is not one inclusion model. Inclusion can be from one period a day to a whole day. Again, that is a TEAM decision. Just to name two: Team teaching: a Regular and Special Education teacher co- teach; having a classroom aide work with individual students or groups of students; having a 1:1 or 1:2 aide to work with Special Needs students.
7. 'Doing' Inclusion successfully is not cheap. Obviously, when school committees cut budgets, all kids suffer. The first thing to go (after materials and supplies) is staff. Having to run an inclusion program without adequate staffing is a recipe for failure - and that includes chaos in classrooms.
8. Of course, there is some overlap in teaching methodology for ESL and Special Needs students. By definition, ESL students are most assuredly not kids with educational disabilities From what you have written, you must be one hell of a teacher if you think that there is an identity relationship between the two groups.
9. Teachers live their classroom lives being 'practical. They struggle and do the best they can with class room groupings and the resources that they have available. It is not easy balancing the requirements of Federal and state laws with the everyday reality of teaching. No doubt you are aware of these issues in HK.
But it is points 6-8 that I am addressing. Yes we use IEPs which is all fine and dandy on paper. Points 6-8 is where the on paper theory flies out the window. As for the term "spaz" it means "losing physical or emotional control" and it applies to what is happening and that is the definition.
I would not say it to a student but it is what it is. The term psychopath - are you saying this is not politically correct - people ARE psychopaths - they DO exist and there is no cure. Abatement with drugs is well and good and psychopaths being honest people will definitely take their meds and would never lie about taking them. Psychopaths do not get empathy from drugs and have been deemed more likely to get others to do amoral things. Ie; in a school it is MORE likely that they will be able to manipulate otherwise good kids into doing bad things than good kids influencing the psychopath to be empathetic. Allowing them in school is beneficial then to exactly NOBODY except the school district's bottom line and perhaps to special ed proponents who can get paid a salary. And while they are working on normalizing psychopaths it's not there yet and the school should not be used as the laboratory.
You don't seem to be disagreeing with me in the least with point 7. Perhaps a reason why 50% of teachers leave the field within the first 3 years - which is also dreadfully expensive for governments.1:1 and 1:2 may be the team decision but when budgets are cut and it turns into 1:8 or 1:2 schools. It's a problem. It may be far less of a Problem in Boston than rural British Columbia so the issues I saw may not be nearly an issue for MA teachers...yet. I say yet because as you noted in point 7 it is "The first thing to go (after materials and supplies) is staff". Materials and supplies and subjects are gone.
When I was a student high schools had full shop, art, music, foods, and clothing design not to mention drama. The last HS I was at - the music room was converted into a weight room with rusting weights that looked unsafe. The teacher did run a small guitar lesson group with her own guitars that she bought. The same teacher ran drama and paid for everything.
It might surprise you to know that not all teachers go into teaching with the goal to be special needs teachers. I would say the majority of teachers in fact do not or did not. Hence why there is a separate field of teaching and masters and PhD programs for teachers who feel it is their strength and or passion. In Canada they use to run dedicated special needs schools with special needs experts who were as the word says EXPERT.The situation we have in Canada and points 6-8 you raised is that special needs kids who need experts are thrown into the regular class with teachers who are NOT EXPERTS in special needs and didn't have passion to be experts in special needs - if they did they would have a degree in special needs.
Their training is minimal if they have any training at all. And by training I mean a few university courses - which is hardly training. Oh sure give us a semester course on special needs which is more about covering the major needs you will come across in schools and what an IEP is and some of the major methods of accommodating them. Then maybe 10 years later after you've had to sub you will get a class and you probably forgot most of that course (which wasn't hands on) and teachers are not really ready for the reality of being required to be a special education expert. Hence reason number ___ 50% are quitting in 3 years.
And this is in Canada where we actually get training to be teachers and must be in practicums where at least 10 teachers/principals/etc evaluate us in order to graduate as teachers.
Some countries actually hire people with masters degrees in a given subject (say English) and allow them to be public school teachers without any practicum training in actual teaching. Got an MA good enough.
Point 8 to be clear - ESL is an area of need in the classroom. No they do not have disabilities as a special needs kid has but it is still a PRACTICAL need the child has wherein the student will require greater degree of accommodations from the teacher. If you have a grade 9 student reading at a grade 1 level or you have an FAS student reading at a grade 1 level - they are reading well below the grade requirement - hence overlap.
As I noted way back - the RICH don't deal with ANY of these issues. Just like the RICH don't have to send their kids to wars. It would seem to me that if integration is to work properly and you note it needs lots of money - then all of these kids should be in the private schools and integrated with wealthy family's kids no? Ask yourself why that is NOT happening? Why are they dumped into classes of 35+ and why the private schools get to refuse them.
People need to ask hard questions about what school is supposed to be about at its core. In Hong Kong - they stream students into three levels 1/2/3. The first level is for all students who will have a chance at university. Level 2 are for students who have an outside shot. Level 3 is for all the bad behavior kids who could negatively influence level 1-2 kids so they are stopped before they have a chance, for all low academic students who won't or can't cope with the material. These schools used to be workshop kind of schools for practical everyday work like welding or sewing - but HK is out of the industrial age - those jobs are no more.
So these weaker students are now forced to be learning the same material as level 1-2 students, which unfortunately is well beyond them and so level 3 students are more frustrated than ever when they fail every subject. HK has problems - Because of political correctness they say every student is equal and being equal means they all have to learn the same thing in order to have the same opportunity to go to university. The Non PC and CORRECT thing to do is say "right - Johnny has an IQ of 70 and is not going to be able to pass Grade 12 Calculus or write an English lit paper. So instead of forcing him to do those tests and get 0/100 on the exam it's time to give him an entirely different set of materials and open up future career avenues that will likely benefit him. He is not going to be a English professor at Yale and he is never going to be a doctor or engineer or teacher - so why educate train and fail him by pushing him and all the kids like him down that path?
Hong Kong (and England before) streamed the students (which is debatable I admit) but if you're going to do it you have to go all the way and say you're going to work in a restaurant, or stock boxes in a warehouse, and educate them on being the best they can be at those things. Special Needs Schools in Canada back in the day did just that. They were about teaching "life needs" - The fact that Johnny a HF autistic boy can pass math 10 with a B might be great and all but Johnny isn't going to be hired by any engineering firms to design a bridge.
Special needs in HK are "integrated" but really ONLY at level 3 schools. HK streams students by ability - but the US/Canada streams students by money. If you can afford it you can go to the private school where you will never have a severe emotion behaviour need in the classroom and if they're there they won't be for long. Public schools and only public schools take on the responsibility and possibly burden when there is no funding - and since politicians have their kids set-up in private schools of brainiacs with 15 kids or less and maybe 2 teachers and cutting edge state of the art computers and smart boards and iPads for all what do they care about the unwashed masses in the public system? Indeed, the worse all the kids in public schools do the better - less competition for their kids at the prestigious universities and law firms.
Edits: 11/21/14
Okay, one last time.
You may use the term "spazzing", your colleagues may use the term. It is just not used in public schools. I know what a 'seizure' looks like. I know what it looks like when a kid has a severe emotional episode or decompensation. Honestly, "spazzing" is a term without educational meaning.
The point I want to make regarding "psychopath or "psychotic is that if a kid has a severe emotional disability, using medical terminology or otherwise and can't function in regular education class or special education classrooms with appropriate modifications (such modifications that can reasonably be delivered), then the student requires a more restrictive environment,which may be an out of district placement, to be determined by the IEP team.I think we agree on that issue.
Let's go back for a moment: IEPS in the US are legal documents, at least; they are not merely "fine and dandy". You have not the slightest notion of the number of complaints that parents (not limited to wealthy communities) and/or advocates file with the school or with the state educational agency regarding non compliance with IEPs; and each complaint is investigated, etc. Parents and or advocates reconvene IEP teams to discuss educational issues (complaints). No doubt, Jim has spent incredible amounts of time attending meetings and listening to parent complaints. So the "fine and dandy" statement is just a throw-away phrase. I limit my observations to urban and suburban school districts. Obviously, I have not the slightest notion of what happens in British Columbia or Hong Kong.
Wealthy communities, generally determined by high property values, have their own sets of issues around serving kids with disabilities, and they too, are hit by public funding -both state and federal - issues. Remember, kids with the most severe educational needs do attend more restrictive settings at public expense, regardless of parent income. Private special needs schools are incredibly expensive, most costing close to $100k per year and far more for kids with the most severe educational handicaps, plus transportation costs. No matter what you think, only a slight percentage of kids, wealthy or not, attend private schools.
Nothing to argue/discuss re ESL (not a public school, K-12 term), rather Limited English Proficient, or English Language Learners. Unfortunately, the term 'bilingual' has been stripped away. Before the onslaught of the education reform laws, kids with limited english proficiency could ease into regular education content areas after receiving content area in instruction in their primary language (based on number of kids in the district--usually a minimum of twenty)and English. Now, kids with Limited English Proficiency receive some form of ESL, which is really insufficient if the purpose is to maximize the chance for academic success,
Re teacher training. If one attends a school of education and wants to secure a teaching license ( K-12), then one must take a couple of courses that include special education methodology, simply because all teachers will find themselves with kids who have IEPs in their class. Of course regular education teacher training does not provide or expect the student to become an expert in special education. That's plain silly. It you are going to become a content area teacher, though, some special education course work is required (see, above). If you get a Masters Degree in an academic subject and you want to teach in a k-12 school, you can't escape taking education courses (and special education work). Obviously when one takes a practicum or student teaches, one is going to have to learn to deal with all students in a classroom---not at the level of a sped teacher --that includes kids on IEPs.
The term "equal" in the US pertains to equal access, not equal instruction content, though, the Common Core implementation moves very much in that direction, regarding teaching requirements of content areas and what will be assessed on yearly standardized testing (a very crazy requirement).
As to PC or not PC, that is an old, old distinction. Keep it simple: all students should receive an appropriate education that is congruent with their learning needs, whether or not a student has a special education need. Obviously, there are 'best practices' and limitations imposed by budgets (that are impacted by community wealth). As to how education is delivered in HK or BC, I have not the slightest idea and make no statements regarding those areas.
Even though Jim T and I have different experiences in public schools, I grasp the issues that he faces as a teacher. I understand his frustrations with teaching and schools. Any teacher in a US school would understand Jim's perspective. Agreement is not part of the discussion.
RGA, you have your opinions and they are driven by your experiences.They are valid for you. You know little or nothing about special or regular education, including teacher training, or the real problems or issues that confront teachers in K-12 schools in the US. So, just let this claim fall by the wayside.
Finally,I hope your teaching experiences continue to provide you with the satisfactions that you seek.
Tremendously well said. Couldn't agree more.
In our high school we do have "resource classrooms for Math" that are stand alone classes for students who really struggle in a reg ed classroom. Unfortunately for many who come to our high school as 9th graders with a poorly written IEP, the students is put in a reg ed classroom for the main math class and then given a another period of support in which I assist. This is not a great first year placement.
Many of them have short and long term memory issues and the pace of the class is too fast for them even with 2 periods a day. There is little if any lesson differentiation from the lead teacher, unless I do it. But the real problem is that they come to us so deficient in basic skills that totally hinder the problem solving issues critical for high school level work. When you have been socially promoted from K-8 with minimal standards and no record of proficiency the students are on a course to fail.
There is also the issue that many teachers do not want them in their classes as it pulls down their passing and ultimately their graduation rate, so failing them will ultimately put them either in recycle mode to take the class over or I will strongly advocate for them to be moved to our "resource class" that is smaller in number, a slower pace, and where I give remedial basic skills help. They do not need calculus, but we all need basic math skills to live our lives. A poorly written IEP and parents who resist the Special Ed tag on their child do the child more harm than good.
My first three rules for my students is; What is in the best interest of the child". If you do that you will always do what is right, and that includes behavior modification when a child's lack of proper social skills hurts them in the classroom. Learning how to act in a group session is one many students have not learned at home, unfortunately.
I would love to get back to middle school or really in elementary school with a math concentration in 4th and 5th grade really impact reinforcement of basic skills with proficiency standards. Where there were tons of math openings 8 years ago, there are few if any today. Plus you now have all these new teachers gradating every June and no jobs as class sizes continue to grow and under-funding continuing from federal and state governments. The future is bleak. Plenty of regulations coming our way, but are nothing more than unfunded mandates. That is what government is good at.
And now you will have an influx of new ESL children with new immigrants, with no money or staff to teach them. Then you must decide how much general remediation it will take (years) to get them up to speed to join a reg ed classroom that is already over crowded and under staffed. This White House has never created an "Impact Statement" based on decisions they have made ever. Just like Nancy Pelosi said, "We just have to pass Obama-Care to see what is in it". Maybe you just could have read the bill before you passed it. That is awful governance on any level. They have even messed up the school lunch program so much many kids are back to bringing their lunch or their parents bring fast food at lunch time. 2 years ago I used to buy lunch at school a few times a week. Now, never.
When I served in the state legislature I had 3 tests for legislation: 1.) Who benefits; 2.) Who Pays; 3.) Who gets hurt, as most often someone benefits from other's pain. If you think that way you generally passed good legislation. If you only care if your side wins and you benefit, then we know your real agenda.
Jim Tavegia
Jim & RGASeems common sense has left the school system.
Edits: 12/08/14
Yup. High School is sooo hard for special needs kids: how do you balance appreopriate inclusion with substantially separate (and possibly appropriate) programs, in a time of Common Core Curriculum/Standardized testing and Annual Yearly Progress: the Education DeForm Movement. Professsional development funds go down the tubes and stupid, waste of money - everyone gets an ipad - dominates. With funding slashes, both sped and regular ed suffer. what the hell is supposed to be done in terms of meaningful education? in terms of limited english proficient learners, there is no more transitional bilingual education, only esl and immersion. my god!. of course, you are right, transitional IEP teams should have their heads examined re regular ed placements. if parents were educated, they would reject their kid's IEP; but parents have bought into common core fever, to their kids detriment. So you attempt to split your time between a resource room ( insufficient time) and a regular ed classroom that doesn't meet kids instructional/curriculum needs. you probably have too few sped staff attempting to work with too many kids and regular ed teachers. I remember this situation as an Educational Team
Leader and Administrator all too well....and it has gotten worse. Well state have bought into an education nightmare, and it affects all levels of schooling. Thank You Bill Gates and your ilk for selling fools gold. Finally, sometimes all one can do is to attempt to live by the dictum, "Do no harm. I feel for you, Jim, as you attempt to keep your nose above water.
The biggest issues I face in the classroom everyday do not come from students with I.E.P.s, but from reg ed students who fail to follow directions, will not put their cell phones away and when sent to the office are sent right back, who cannot stop talking while the lesson is being presented, who have no idea how to properly act in a group setting, and who have a lack of respect for the educational process.These are learned behaviors from their previous years in American public ed where they have all been "socially promoted" with little if any mastery of educational content from K-8. This social promotion stops at our high school and what they learn is that their previous accepted behavior does not work and they are not socially promoted in our school. Teachers still control the grade book. They can get away with acting out, go spend a day or 2 in in-school suspension and not disrupt my class, and then decide if they at the least want to become "invisible" and not disrupt others from their learning experience.
I am a part of an after school tutoring program at 2 of our middle schools where I selfishly am trying to better prepare some of them with basic skills work prior to them coming to my school. In one school the behavior of 6th and 7th graders is so awful there is little hope. The other school is night and day different where the kids appreciate my coming, work hard, listen to what I say, and we work together to make some progress. I only have to redirect once and they are back on task. The other school is like talking to the wall.
It is a sad day in public ed I'm afraid and I hope many others have a totally different experience. What we are learning about all too many "millenials" is that in their mind it is "all about them".
Jim Tavegia
Edits: 11/20/14
Much of what is stated is true, but i have no issues with teaching the special needs students and many that I do teach will receive reg ed diplomas, which is a good thing. Many of them work harder than some reg ed students. The issue is that you cannot come to high school with very poor basic skills, the inability to work simple problems in your head (thinking on your feet), and spend more time worrying about your next text message or tweet. There are kids who never put their cells phones away and are constantly trying to find a place to charge them. In my room all the wall outlets have their circuit breakers off as there is no charging in my classroom. Administrators do nothing about this issue which is really hurting ed in America.
If we don't start creating proficiency standards that are part of the End Of Course Mastery tests we will never improve our system. By 3rd & 4th grade you must be able to complete 100 addition, 100 subtraction, & 100multiplication problems in 8 minutes; 2's through 9's. They should each be their own test. At the end of 5th grade that same time must be under 5 minutes. Most competent adults can do it in 2.5 minutes. There can be no alteration to this standard if you want successful high school math students. This would be a tremendous help to middle school math teachers as their curriculum does not afford them the time to catch these shortcomings up. So on their master tests getting 50% right is passing. That is no standard to be proud of.
Eventually the Kiosk at fast food places will be turned around, customers will place their own orders and no cash exchanged hands, but will be dispensed by a machine that will take $1, $5, and $20's and spit out your change. We have too many people now in this country who can't give out proper coinage. More jobs will be lost.
I'm afraid we are too far down this slippery slope to fix it. Certainly not coming from Washington of in Common core.
Jim Tavegia
James I teach English in Hong Kong and have three special ed kids in my main class and there are several I'd rather have than some of my regular kids. Some special ed kids are far easier to teach. Why? Because they have less FEAR of speaking English - they don;t have the "shy trigger" of worrying about being perfect. So in fact these students are dream boats to teach because I can actually have a conversation with them. And when you've been here 4 years you really want to be able to have some conversations. Being essentially an ESL teacher the entire school for me is a special educational need. They are all low level students in English, but they are also generally poor in all their other subjects. We have a 17% mathematics passing rate. We may have 2-3 students out of 100 (equivalent grade 12) that will make the minimum to enter a university. And I am being optimistic. Out of those 2-3 it is more than likely they will fail something that will have them fall short. They will have a chance at an associate degree though.
In your case it seems to me that some of this seems to be because at certain points pendulums swung away from wrote learning and memorizing the times table. I know some hate the word "Times" but...
Cell Phones are a disaster. In Hong Kong (the land of cell phones) students come to school with their cell phone in a zip lock bag and hand it over to the main entry secretary. They have their name, class, number on the bag. You get it at the end of the day. No cell phones are allowed in class. PERIOD!
Sometimes they get caught. If so parents are contacted. Student gets 1 demerit. 10 demerits in the year they repeat the entire grade and all subjects. Students can get merits for good behavior but it takes 10 good merits to erase 1 demerit.
But the west continues to coddle kids ridiculously and so basically teachers get walked on, and there isn't thing one you can do about it. In England it was to the point where if a student physically assaulted you you were not allowed to defend yourself. If you did you would be fired. Don't worry - if it hasn't already started in the US it soon will.
No I'm not suggesting corporal punishment but High Schools often look more like prisons these days rather than safe and warm and inviting and fun educational centers. It's kinda hard to learn diddly when you're looking over your shoulder for the bully or seemingly these days much much worse than the bully.
Lastly, In Hong Kong we have the Octopus card. You can fill the card with money at any 7/11 or train station or various other shops. Put $100 on it. You then don;t need to carry cash. You can go to McDonalds and swipe the card, or Starbucks, or use it at vending machines, taxis, buses. It is entirely possible to walk around and never carry any cash. therefore no one has to give change. It's rather brilliant. You can also buy a watch that has the card built in so just swipe the wrist over the reader - beep - done. FAST. And it always tells you how much you have left on your card.
With a 17% passing rate in Math - well it's kind of a necessity. :-)
Thanks for sharing that info. It is very enlightening, and sad for sure. if kids ever needed a reason for a distraction surely our electronics has done that.
I'm 67 and still teach, but I think that I will see a cashless America before I kick. I'd be very surprised if I didn't. I never carry and cash anymore.
Jim Tavegia
Thanks for clarification. This forum is hardly the place to get into a real discussion over the Common Core, standardized testing, or what skills students should master by a particular grade. No doubt you are doing your damndest to teach your students. One thing is easy to agree on: this is a very tough time to be a teacher.
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