This week was confusing for me but I did get a better
understanding of action research. I collaborated
with my mother on part 2 of this week’s assignment. She is a counselor at my school and is familiar
with the issues and areas of improvement on our campus. She took a research class when she got her
masters even though it was not for educational leadership. She was able to help get as better understand
of what it is and think of ideas that action research could improve my school
or classes. It was great to learn I have
such a great resource in my mom. As far
as what my action research project is going to be I’m stuck. My principal suggested something I should do because
my site supervisor never responds to my emails.
I like what my principal is suggested and feel I should go with that topic
because he took his time to out to guide me and give me feedback. On the other hand I have developed a great
passion for special education. I wanted
to look at how to improve our co-teach program or the effectiveness of how IEPs
on my campus are being implemented. My
school hasn’t made AYP in the past 3 years due to the special ed sub population. I’m going to do some research and see where
it leads me. Very confused but will see
the light soon!
From your post, I think you are figuring it out. I love that you work with your mom and are willing to listen and take her advice. I also think it is great that your principal suggested some ideas, but sometimes you need to go with your passion.
ReplyDeleteThank you Tammy. I'm feeling the same way. My son is in special education and he did horrible on STAAR. He had a wonderful co-teacher and teacher but that wasn't enough. Even with support at home. I followed my student IEPs to the T and they still did horrible. I feel like I failed them despite my efforts. I want to look further into serving our special education kids better and increasing their success.
ReplyDeleteSorry that you're feeling the frustration of wading through this course. I find that there are vertical alignment issues in the courses...but I think it's due to them using the same class structure over and again and it's hard to update all areas of information when something is changed. I had a great talk with my LFS, Dr. Perez, last night. She told me that the classes are so much better than they used to be, which made me feel better. Also, she said that Lamar is committed to sticking with graduates after they are done and in the field.
ReplyDeleteYou are right, your mom is a huge resource for you. Don't get your head down and lose sight of your goal. I think that it's tough in the summertime as we want to be off and it can be hard to focus on schoolwork. Your idea of the SPED are is great. Also, it will be a place of passion due to your son. I think this might be a great thing for you.
Hope you have a great weekend!
I'm glad to hear you are feeling better. Friends that have went through Lamar said that this class was the hardest to get through. I meet with my field supervisor next week. I value my principal's feedback but I believe if I follow my passion it will be more beneficial and I feel he will support it also. Thanks for your input! Have a great weekend also!
DeleteSarah,
ReplyDeleteIt sounds as if you are much better off and on your way compared to the first week. Don't fret we will get there. It's nice to have a mom that works for the district to bounce ideas off of. My mom also works for my district and it has been nice to be able to speak with her as well. You have to use all of your resources. I am sorry to hear about your site supervisor.. are you thinking about asking your principal to take over as your site supervisor or are you going to stick it out with the old one?
As far as a co-teach plan I am curious to see how it works in your district. We have co-teachers in my school as well but we can't stick to a true co-teach plan because we don't have enough special education allotment for that many co-teachers. Therefore, our co-teach classes are between 25-32 as opposed to being smaller. I don't truly know how effective these are due to the size. what are your thoughts?
Yes Sara I'm doing much better than week 1. I'm planning on asking my principal if he can be my site supervisor since he has been helping me and has experience with the Lamar program. The issue I face with my co-teacher is she has no classroom management and rambles about things. The students do not favor her. I have to go back many times to reteach. She also babies the special education students in the class and they either reject her help or they fall behind. Our co-teach classes or huge and have to many spec ed kids in them. I feel they are not being served well. Our district doesn't have a model each campus is different. I know something needs to change with our special education program because students are not being successful. I'm curious to compare the spec ed kids in co-teach classes to spec ed students in non co-teach classes.
DeleteImplementing a better model toward Inclusion was a topic that I was also interested in since I teach Special Education. A lot of teachers are hesitant to having a co-teacher in the class. However, it starts with a productive inclusion teacher. Maybe you could focus on professional development toward inclusion and general ed. teachers or how co-teaching practices influence standardized testing results. Great Topic!!!!
ReplyDeleteThat is a great idea. We have had some professional development but there is no trust, collaboration and shared vision. I think thee needs to be lots of work with our co-teach classes.
Deletelook at how to improve our co-teach program or the effectiveness of how IEPs on my campus are being implemented.
ReplyDeleteI think these are both great research topics. I have been a resource math teacher and an inclution co-techer hat have had success with students taking MTAKS.I found that to ensure students were progressing forward I needed to also be aware of my students area of disability to ensure that when I was planning I included strategies that met their needs. I also "slowed" down my instruction. With slowing down I mean less problems and more discussion about how to solve the math problems and how to break down problems so they are less intimidating. What type of co-teching exits at your school? Are you and the other teacher able to plan together so that you have the ability to build the trust? I usually start in the summer building a professional relationship with my co-teacher. We start by discussing our philosophy about students and their ability to learn. Find out each others passions related to teaching and so on. That way when school starts we are on the same page.