During my clinical hours for SPED 2100, I was graciously welcomed into Reedy Creek Elementary School to observe and gain valuable experience. The teacher that I observed with is Mrs. Polli Mays who is one of the EC general curriculum resource teachers at Reedy Creek. Throughout the day, I observed her co-teaching in 3rd and 5th grade classrooms as well as teaching kindergarten and then 1st grade in the resource room.
The special education classroom is separate from the school in a building behind the school. It is decorated like most classrooms with posters and letters on the wall. There are a lot of visual and very colorful stimuli located on the walls of the classroom. Music is used quite often in the classroom to help the children learn …show more content…
Mays and learned how she came to be a teacher and took away from the conversation many of the useful teaching strategies she had to share. Mrs. Mays is the EC general curriculum resource teacher who serves to identify EC students, assesses, transfers, and does intervention team referrals, and plans as well as develops IEPs. Her favorite part of the job is working with the kids and being able to see their academic progress. Though she enjoys her job, there are obviously challenges. Excessive paperwork takes up much of her time and trying to teach while dealing with a very disobedient child can be very hard. If she could change anything about special education, she would bring back the use of cross-categorical EC classrooms. This would allow for better use of time because the children wouldn’t need to be transferred back and forth. Also, the many transitions that currently occur while taking kids to and from the resource room can be hard for them to adjust to. However, she does seem some positive practices occurring in special education. In Mrs. Mays’ professional opinion, co-teaching can be very effective when the relationship between the EC teacher and the regular education teacher is a positive one. The EC teacher can help the child within the classroom as well as assisting the regular education teacher with activities concerning the entire class. The effectiveness of two teachers in the classroom can be great.
Through this experience, I’ve gain much useful knowledge and great respect for the profession of special education teachers. They do an immeasurable amount of work in the shared process of investing in the lives of so many children and their education. Without their very necessary help and expertise, the classroom would be a scary and insurmountable place for many
The special education classroom is separate from the school in a building behind the school. It is decorated like most classrooms with posters and letters on the wall. There are a lot of visual and very colorful stimuli located on the walls of the classroom. Music is used quite often in the classroom to help the children learn …show more content…
Mays and learned how she came to be a teacher and took away from the conversation many of the useful teaching strategies she had to share. Mrs. Mays is the EC general curriculum resource teacher who serves to identify EC students, assesses, transfers, and does intervention team referrals, and plans as well as develops IEPs. Her favorite part of the job is working with the kids and being able to see their academic progress. Though she enjoys her job, there are obviously challenges. Excessive paperwork takes up much of her time and trying to teach while dealing with a very disobedient child can be very hard. If she could change anything about special education, she would bring back the use of cross-categorical EC classrooms. This would allow for better use of time because the children wouldn’t need to be transferred back and forth. Also, the many transitions that currently occur while taking kids to and from the resource room can be hard for them to adjust to. However, she does seem some positive practices occurring in special education. In Mrs. Mays’ professional opinion, co-teaching can be very effective when the relationship between the EC teacher and the regular education teacher is a positive one. The EC teacher can help the child within the classroom as well as assisting the regular education teacher with activities concerning the entire class. The effectiveness of two teachers in the classroom can be great.
Through this experience, I’ve gain much useful knowledge and great respect for the profession of special education teachers. They do an immeasurable amount of work in the shared process of investing in the lives of so many children and their education. Without their very necessary help and expertise, the classroom would be a scary and insurmountable place for many