East Brainerd Intermediate: 4th-5th grade
March 31, 2014 9:00-12:00
I
worked with the exceptional education teacher and inclusion specialist at East
Brainerd Intermediate. I arrived shortly after school began and met with Mrs.
Trantham, the exceptional education teacher, for her planning period for the
first 30 minutes. She was very helpful and talked about their program there at
the school and special education in general. I had never heard of the Wilson
Reading System before, so she explained that to me. I got to look at a lot of
different resources used through Wilson such as letter tiles, magnetic boards,
speech tests, and progress assessments. A picture of the magnetic board is to
the left that Mrs. Trantham and most Hamilton County exceptional education
departments use. I was able to see that her philosophy of teaching is that she
wants to help all students whether they are in the exceptional education
department or not. Not all students who need additional help will have an IEP,
so she is willing to help whatever child comes into her classroom. She
challenges readers to do things appropriate to their ability, but she never
wants to only do what they are capable of. With a little extra help she pushes
them to exceed far beyond that student thought they could do and are very happy
about what they finished.
While I was talking with Mrs. Trantham, the other teacher, Mrs. Stiles, had a group of three students getting pull out help. She worked with them on their vocabulary and then after 30 minutes those students moved to work with Mrs. Trantham to read their social sciences textbook. Mrs. Stiles then got a group of six students and worked on RTI with them. A big lesson from watching her do RTI is that some students were fidgeting and seemed like they were not paying attention. However, that student has ADHD and cannot sit still for a long period of time. Even when he looked like he was not concentrating and playing with his hands he was able to answer every question, so it is important to realize what works for each individual student and not expect all students to sit still in their seat without moving.
The last two hours I was at East Brainerd from 10:00-12:00 I went with Mrs. Stiles to do inclusion. We went to three fourth grade classrooms and one fifth grade classroom. I could tell from the very beginning that her educational philosophy centered around making all students feel the same and not calling out any one student. The first classroom had one inclusion student that she stood by his desk and made sure he listened to the teacher. She also walked around the room a lot and helped other students if they asked a question to her. None of the students would know she was specifically there for that boy which I believe is great because it does not lower his self esteem.
While I was talking with Mrs. Trantham, the other teacher, Mrs. Stiles, had a group of three students getting pull out help. She worked with them on their vocabulary and then after 30 minutes those students moved to work with Mrs. Trantham to read their social sciences textbook. Mrs. Stiles then got a group of six students and worked on RTI with them. A big lesson from watching her do RTI is that some students were fidgeting and seemed like they were not paying attention. However, that student has ADHD and cannot sit still for a long period of time. Even when he looked like he was not concentrating and playing with his hands he was able to answer every question, so it is important to realize what works for each individual student and not expect all students to sit still in their seat without moving.
The last two hours I was at East Brainerd from 10:00-12:00 I went with Mrs. Stiles to do inclusion. We went to three fourth grade classrooms and one fifth grade classroom. I could tell from the very beginning that her educational philosophy centered around making all students feel the same and not calling out any one student. The first classroom had one inclusion student that she stood by his desk and made sure he listened to the teacher. She also walked around the room a lot and helped other students if they asked a question to her. None of the students would know she was specifically there for that boy which I believe is great because it does not lower his self esteem.
April 7, 2014 12:15-3:15
My second day at East Brainerd Intermediate was similar to the first in that I observed inclusion time and pull out time as well. Their schedule was somewhat changed because of a special speaker coming to talk to the 5th grade students, so the very first tip I learned that day was that as a teacher you have to be flexible because schedules can change that very day. I went with Mrs. Trantham to a fourth grade math classroom to watch her with a couple inclusion students. Since she was not originally supposed to help with this class she mainly walked around the classroom as they were reviewing for their upcoming TCAP testing. She inserted a couple comments to the entire class when the teacher asked a question. I noticed that her behavior management is based upon genuine relationships with the students; she is able to have fun with the students but when asked to be quiet they listen and give her respect. The class was reviewing changing decimals to fractions and both Mrs. Trantham and the classroom teacher hinged on the idea of “whatever your brain sees…do it!” This reflects the new Common Core standards in that there are multiple ways of solving a problem. Mrs. Trantham worked with a girl who simplified by 2 and then 2 again which was different from the girl beside her who simplified by 4. Both girls were correct, but this shows how some exceptional education students just need to break down tasks into smaller/simpler ways before arriving at the answer.
My last hour at the school was spent in the exceptional education classroom. Mrs. Stiles worked with 2 students to increase memory by saying a sentence and having the students repeat what she said. They then had to write out the sentence to increase reading fluency and intonation. One boy rushed through his work and she made him go back and do it again because he got most of the answers wrong because he just wanted to finish rather than do a good job. At first he did not want to do it, but she explained to him that it will help him learn better if he understands it completely. This taught me that you cannot be super relaxed with these students just because they have a disability but they are capable of doing excellent work and should be kept to what they are capable of achieving. Those two students then moved to Mrs. Trantham’s table to work on a science quiz on magnets. She used actual magnets as manipulatives to help them understand. The two boys got done five minutes early so as a treat they got to play with the magnets and loved getting to see what would attract and repel to them.
My second day at East Brainerd Intermediate was similar to the first in that I observed inclusion time and pull out time as well. Their schedule was somewhat changed because of a special speaker coming to talk to the 5th grade students, so the very first tip I learned that day was that as a teacher you have to be flexible because schedules can change that very day. I went with Mrs. Trantham to a fourth grade math classroom to watch her with a couple inclusion students. Since she was not originally supposed to help with this class she mainly walked around the classroom as they were reviewing for their upcoming TCAP testing. She inserted a couple comments to the entire class when the teacher asked a question. I noticed that her behavior management is based upon genuine relationships with the students; she is able to have fun with the students but when asked to be quiet they listen and give her respect. The class was reviewing changing decimals to fractions and both Mrs. Trantham and the classroom teacher hinged on the idea of “whatever your brain sees…do it!” This reflects the new Common Core standards in that there are multiple ways of solving a problem. Mrs. Trantham worked with a girl who simplified by 2 and then 2 again which was different from the girl beside her who simplified by 4. Both girls were correct, but this shows how some exceptional education students just need to break down tasks into smaller/simpler ways before arriving at the answer.
My last hour at the school was spent in the exceptional education classroom. Mrs. Stiles worked with 2 students to increase memory by saying a sentence and having the students repeat what she said. They then had to write out the sentence to increase reading fluency and intonation. One boy rushed through his work and she made him go back and do it again because he got most of the answers wrong because he just wanted to finish rather than do a good job. At first he did not want to do it, but she explained to him that it will help him learn better if he understands it completely. This taught me that you cannot be super relaxed with these students just because they have a disability but they are capable of doing excellent work and should be kept to what they are capable of achieving. Those two students then moved to Mrs. Trantham’s table to work on a science quiz on magnets. She used actual magnets as manipulatives to help them understand. The two boys got done five minutes early so as a treat they got to play with the magnets and loved getting to see what would attract and repel to them.