The Importance of Goal Setting

This past week, I learned SO much! I held my first IEP meeting on Tuesday, had a full day of professional development on Wednesday, and had four crucial meetings with my colleagues between Thursday and Friday. Holy Cow!

I'm going to mainly focus on the successes of those four crucial meetings with my colleagues for this post. I met with four of my general education co-teachers to strategize and set solid goals with deadlines. These were extremely beneficial and rewarding. I am already starting to feel greater successes within those classrooms.

Something about sitting down with a team member and laying everything out is extremely satisfying. It was so great having the opportunity to work on developing our dream environment to implement inclusion in. Each individual meeting had different things on the agenda.. however, the main focuses revolved around what we wanted to implement in that specific classroom, and what it would look like to implement said things. We also developed specific goals and deadlines in order to keep each other accountable and to push ourselves to move forward to create the best learning environment possible.

It was so exciting to end the week having a sound plan of implementation in 4 of my 7 inclusion-model classrooms. The plan is to tackle the other 3 classrooms this next week prior to leaving for fall break.

I feel like each of those meetings were crucial for the development of each professional relationship. Coming in with a game plan allowed for us to discuss some concerns that we had and almost forced us to problem solve and work through those concerns to develop clear and measurable goals.

I definitely feel that those were positive discussions and experiences and I encourage all of you to take the time to map out clear and measurable goals. Each meeting ended with us agreeing on one success we wanted for this upcoming week and how we were planning on achieving that success.

Do you have any ways that you work on goal setting with your team members or within your own classroom?

Math Groups

Inclusion.... it really CAN work stupendously. I want to 'brag' about a team member of mine that has been overwhelmingly welcoming to me and who has really been a peach to work with so far. I am learning so much from her and I am loving OUR successes this year. I firmly believe that we have had the successes because we have a clear goal and vision that drives every decision we make and every conversation we have:
we want all kids to grow and to feel success.
I love working with her and OUR kiddos are doing awesome.

On Tuesdays and Fridays, I am in her class with her for the entire 80 minute block with 7th grade. I have five students on IEPs in the class and there are roughly 30 kids in the class. On Tuesdays and Fridays, my Educational Assistant is also in there with us. We devote the majority of those blocks for small group centers/stations to help provide supports for all of the students. We typically have 4 groups and 4 tasks;
general education teacher group: guided practice or mini-lesson on current concept.
educational assistant group: math fluency.
my group: re-teach or extension depending on the specific groups needs.
Independent practice activity: typically an informal assessment so that we can collect data to see what they can do independently.

Things are going swimmingly and we are seeing an improvement with our kiddos engagement and enthusiasm for math class!

Changing Perspectives

I feel as though most people that I have recently talked to about inclusion have very strong opinions. Most of those opinions have been against inclusion. As a brand new educator that has seen a lot of successes through inclusion models, I have felt very disheartened.

I feel like there needs to be a change of perspective if we want to be successful. As educators, we signed up to be life-long learners; we should be seeking for new ways to reach our kiddos and to close gaps. I understand that change can be scary; it's unknown. We don't necessarily feel ready to jump in and try something new. We fear that we won't be servicing our kids the way we need to be. We may have a sense of pride about our degrees that we have earned and we may not want to work in someone else's classroom. 

I also think that we have this misconception that 'Model A' of Inclusion WILL WORK FOR ALL ENVIRONMENTS. Wrong-O. We must remember that inclusion itself looks differently in every classroom for every child depending on the needs of the students, the educational philosophies of all teachers involved, the conflicts of schedules, and the relationship of the inclusion team. 

We must learn to be flexible. We must be open to taking risks if we want to be successful and we must be aware that it's not going to work out perfectly on day one, week one, or even year one. It's a working progress. Inclusion is something that will constantly be changing and it is A LOT OF WORK. But, I am telling you from my experiences; it can be so worth it. I have students that were pulled out of science for Resource Services last year that are getting amazing grades in Science. I have students that are participating and engaging in general education classrooms and gaining confidence of their academic ABILITIES rather than their disabilities. Some days are hard... some days I have to step back and rethink my schedule/supports within the general education classroom. Some days I have to pull out or provide small group supports within the general education classroom.

But isn't that we have grown so accustomed to as SPED teachers?..; that things are always changing and that we are supposed to focus on the LEAST RESTRICTIVE ENVIRONMENT. I am so excited to continue learning about and implementing inclusion. What has your experience been with inclusion?

-Caroline

Take A Stand

This is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. A good friend of mine sent me the link to this video this morning. It gives me so much hope for the future of all kiddos. I think about how the little girl was finally accepted; but I think I become more emotional knowing that OTHER people are changing in order to accept her. She is still the beautiful young girl that she always was. She didn't have to change at all... but it took one little girl to take a stand and reach out.

I hope that my students are able to take a stand and reach out to whoever needs it. And when my students are the one that need someone to take a stand for them... well, I hope that they never lose faith of how incredibly AWESOME and BEAUTIFUL they are.

The parents of these two bundles of perfection were mentors to me while I was growing up. Annie and Vincent both have Down Syndrome. Their families are two of the most life-giving, loving, and supportive families I have ever met in my life. They just CARE. They have teamed together to let people know how beautiful their children are. Videos like Matty B's give me hope for these kiddos as they grow older.

I only wish that I could begin to let both of their mothers know how much they did for me when I was in high school. These two kiddos are so blessed to have born into an extremely amazing environment full of joy, love, and overflowing support. These are the parents that I look up to; the ones that have every reason to complain, but continue to find joy and who continue to die to oneself every day in order to do what is best for their children.

This morning, my heart is happy. These are the reasons I wanted to be a teacher.

A Case of the Mondays

Have you ever had a case of the Mondays? Let me tell you, my Monday was just a very frustrating day. A big part of it was my own attitude. It's hard to get through the rest of your day, when you are mentally done before lunch time. I think as a SPED teacher, the hardest part of our job can sometimes be when making sure all stakeholders are on the same page. I strongly believe that it is my number one job to advocate for my students. In my situation specifically, to advocate for my students in the general education placement. It can be extremely frustrating when you feel like you aren't able to advocate for your kiddos for whatever the reason may be.
I kept having to remind myself of why I decided to become a teacher:
I want to benefit the youth of today. academically AND emotionally AND socially.

No matter what happens... no matter how upset we are... no matter how many Mondays we have, we MUST remember why we became teachers. We must let that drive us always. We must let our students, their needs, and what we feel is best for them push us to uncomfortable environments. We are life-long learners which means that we will constantly seek out ways to grow. Uncomfortable environments push us to grow. Though it can be tough, and some days we may feel like the world is against us and our kiddos; but they aren't. Take a breath, and remember why you decided to be a teacher.
Anyone else have a case of the Mondays this week?

First on the Agenda... Kid President!!

I'm sure you've all seen this video; but it really is a great reminder for me of why I decided to teach and for me to understand truly what impact I can have on these kiddos.

What are your thoughts?

Inspired

Last week, I had the pleasure to attend a professional development session with some really awesome people. We had so many awesome conversations and goals for our future. As a first year teacher, I was truly inspired by all of the eagerness to learn expressed by everyone else there.
The table that I sat at encompassed 5 different people from the school district that had so many ideas and questions to discuss. So... I started thinking; how can we continue to share/grow/become more effective teachers together? I have so much I want to learn and I want this to be a group effort... And, now I created this website in hopes that we can create an environment for us to come together and share our wisdom with each other.
I am so excited to start this journey and to collaborate with other professionals working towards the same goal: success of all students.