Transitions in Teaching, Lenten Reflection #12

Probably the most significant change that took place within the last year is that I changed schools, changed classrooms, changed students, and moved. So the past seven months or so have been spent getting to know an entirely new population of students: teaching years 1-3 were spent in an MD classroom with a variety of…

Math Sorting Game: Addition

I am happy to say that I did not make this task. One of the paraprofessionals who worked in my classroom did. All I had to contribute was a 'seal of approval' and a grateful heart that she put her skills to use and make something wonderful and useful for the students. This was not…

500 Words per Day: Laughter

I teach special education. That might be evident by the address of the blog; maybe not. Either way that is how I make a living. It's not an easy calling, nor is it always fun. It's daily challenging, but I am a trained professional so I take it all in stride. Many days there is…

500 Words Per Day: No Math, No Calculations, No Counting

There I was: at work, not so much enjoying my day. The day didn't start off too well. It didn't continue too well either. There is so much to do and so many distractions. People coming in and taking students off for therapy, phones ringing, school psychologist stopping in and handing me a stack of…

Thoughts on Education Reform, pt 3: True Education Reform Starts at Home

True education reform will take place when we all work together to make certain every single child is given the best, free and appropriate public education available. And that starts at home.

9 Tips for (new) Special Educators

There is not a day that goes by that I do not think about the work I do and how I do it. More than once I have heard from other staff, who have spent any time in my room, that all teachers ought to spend a day in my self-contained, multi-disability resource room. I…

Thoughts on Education Reform, Pt 2: Government Meddling in Education

What I think most educators want, at least it’s what I want, is for the government to get out of my classroom and let me teach. What I think would be great is if the government, the ones who control the money we send them, woud spend some of that money actually asking educators what WE think would be some necessary reforms for education. But I don’t think they will because they do not want to hear us tell them to get out of our way and let us teach.

Teacher Resources: We are Teachers

A quick post to alert readers to a new resource (new to me that is). The website is called We Are Teachers and from a quick look, there is a lot to enjoy. There is a brief registration one must follow in order to access all aspects of the website. It took me about 3 or…

Raising Awareness for People with an ASD

I saw these links in my Twitter feed today and thought they were important enough to repost links here. The first deals with suicide and isolation among people with Asperger's. When I googled the terms "suicide" and "asperger's", I was surprised at how frequently the subject seemed to be treated with confusion – why would a person…

Learning to Read Faces: A Sorting Task

Everyday, typically developing students and adults absorb and interpret thousands of pieces of data. Students in special education classes absorb these data too, but oftentimes have a great deal of difficulty interpreting their meaning. This, in turn, makes daily communication a chore for most students. Furthermore, not knowing how to interpret the data received often…

Thoughts on Education Reform, Pt 1: Athletics & Academics

All I’m saying is that maybe a switch of emphasis will help bring about the reform folks are looking for. Maybe it’s not reform of the same tired methods we need, as much as an utter revolution of ideas and emphasis?

Recycling Play-Doh Canisters: Ordering Sizes, Matching Colors, & Sequencing Tasks

So gather the Play-Doh containers, grab an empty shoe box, and sort through your box of random or leftover manipulatives and, Voila!, a sorting, ordering, sequencing task is born.

Learning Addition or Multiplication Playing Games

This is also a great way to help the children exert some gross motor skills, practice mental math, and learn about social cooperation during game play. That’s what I love about building games like this: so much can be accomplished during the course of one game. Good luck.

Recycle, Reuse: Country Time Lemonade Containers & Film Containers

I have a book called Tasks Galore and the task I will share in this post is, to be sure, a riff on a task found in that book. Credit where credit is due and all that. I have modified my taks and made it a little sturdier and, as always, I have used recycled materials…

Loving my Students

Special Education is, on the contrary, about helping the students to function in the real world as freely, as fluently, and as and as frequently as possible.