Is teaching a real profession?

Teaching is a field that needs more credibility. Some functions that help give credibility are licensure/certification processes, a code of ethics, and methods based on empirical/objective data.

The fields of medicine, law, social work, and business all benefitted from these functions. For teachers to be respected in our fields we need these functions as well. We've recently had some teachers (about 250, according to some news articles) terminated for various reasons. One of those reasons is that some teachers reportedly don't have proper certification.

I keep hearing about teachers who care about their students and are doing an effective job in the classroom, but have not passed Praxis.

Nurses who don't pass their exams don't get to be nurses anyway just because of their kindness. An engineer without a license would. Here's a quote from engineeringblog.com:

Long story short, your four-year degree might teach you what you need to work as an engineer, but until you pass these rather rigorous exams, no one is going to hire you for a good job. You might get some beginner-level jobs, which could help you build up experience, or an employer might even put you in an internship program that will lead to your getting the PE license on their dime, but until you get those essential pieces of paper, your career isn't going anywhere.

We teachers need to upgrade the way we think about our profession.

On a similar note:
I am currently researching the lack of a substantial code of ethics for the teaching profession. I will blog more on that later. However, I'll put in a little piece for now. The AFT and AAE both have Codes of Ethics but unlike some other professions, such as the NASW (National Association of Social Workers) and medical professionals and lawyers, those codes cannot be used to hold someone accountable. Also, teachers don't refer to their code of ethics (if they even know that it exists), and furthermore, teachers are not required to get regular yearly or biannual trainings on ethics like social worker, attorneys, and medical personnel are.

"Should we tell them we're offended?"

I teach at an academically-successful upper NW school which has all the supplies and support it needs. Every student’s situation is not perfect but generally the kids are well-behaved and able to be reasoned with.

Well, twice this year our students have had interactions with students from other schools, and the exposure has opened their eyes a little.

While visiting a far NE middle school, some of our sixth graders heard their sixth graders cursing. Our sixth graders asked one of our teachers, “Should we tell those other sixth grade students that we’re offended by the language they’re using?” The teacher’s response was, “I suggest you don’t.”

Then our band students visited an elementary school in one of the roughest neighborhoods in DC. One student reported (I wasn’t there) that the kids there were “sooo bad.” the listening students were so loud that the students could absolutely not hear what was being played, and the PE teacher kept blowing his whistle during the performance to quiet them. After the performance, some of the students from the home school began tossing the bass drum around!

This student’s parents had debriefed with him at home about this experience. They told him that many schools in the district were like that and that he was at a good school. I don’t know if they encouraged him to appreciate what he had, but I encouraged him to. I also told him that seeing other children play in a band may have been an inspiration for other kids at the home school, which is in the beginning stages of having its own band.

Once during a parent-teacher conference, I heard another set of parents stating how lucky their kids were to be in our school, considering the state of so many DCPS schools.

I say all that to say this: I think our schools should do more interchanges so people can be reminded that not everyone lives like we live. No matter which side of DC you live on (or MD or VA), not everyone lives like you. Exposure helps you see the opportunities, blessings, and perspectives of other parts of your nearby world. Furthermore, I hope this type of exposure, followed by discussions, will help us empathize more.

Move Over - Here Comes Inclusion, DCPS!

Tonight I attended a Chancellor's Forum held to discuss the state of SPED in DC. Inclusion was the focus of the program. I think the general attitude of central headquarters is the same as that expressed by Richard Nyankori specifically, when he said, "I won't force inclusion (on any one person) but I will force the issue (that children should not be segregated)." He also stated that the model of inclusion he was envisioning was one in which teachers trusted each other enough to share the responsibilities and where service providers enter the classroom and work with teachers and all needy students.

I will include more details about this meeting tomorrow, but now I am sleepy and in bed.

Teachers With Teaching Disabilities

This is from The Onion

WASHINGTON—A shocking report released by the U.S. Department of Education this week revealed that a growing number of the nation's educators struggle on a daily basis with some form of teaching disability.
The study, which surveyed 2,500 elementary and high school level instructors across the country, found that nearly one out of every five exhibited behaviors typically associated with a teaching impairment. Among them: trouble paying attention in school, lack of interest or motivation during class, and severe emotional issues.
"For teaching-disabled and at-risk educators, just coming to school every day is a challenge," said Dr. Robert Hughes, a behavioral psychologist and lead author of the study. "Even simple tasks, like remaining alert and engaged during lessons, can be a struggle. Unfortunately, unless we take immediate action, these under-performers will only continue to fall further behind."
"Our teachers are in trouble," Hughes continued. "Some can't even teach at a basic sixth-grade level."
As noted in the report, hundreds of schools have already begun setting up special classrooms in which the teaching- disabled can receive the extra attention they require, teach at their own unique pace, and be paired up with patient students who can help to keep them on track.
According to school administrators, new programs like these encourage marginalized and disenfranchised teachers by rewarding them for showing up to school prepared and taking an active part in classroom discussions. Many also have counselors on hand to intervene when an instructor grows frustrated or throws a tantrum and storms out of the room.
In the new "Teachers First!" program at Wesley Academy in Chicago, educators who were once labeled "lost causes" and left to flounder in the system for years on end are now diagnosed with specific teaching disorders, given extra time to grade difficult assignments, and, in the case of particularly troubled teachers, moved back a grade.
"We're much more sensitive now to the factors that influence their behavior: abusive home lives, drug and alcohol problems, or often, the fact that they never should have been put in regular classrooms to begin with," Wesley principal Donald Zicree said. "A lot of these poor men and women have been told they can't teach for so long that many start to believe it after a while."
"Rather than punishing our teachers or kicking them out, we give them a gold star every time they do something right," Zicree continued. "If they write the correct answer to a math problem on the board, they get a gold star. If they volunteer to read aloud during English class, they get a gold star. You'd be amazed what a little positive reinforcement can do. Some of our teachers† have even stopped drinking in their cars during lunch."
According to Zicree, school officials aren't the only ones excited by the difference the new programs are making. Many educators have also responded favorably, realizing that they no longer have to act out or create disruptions in order to get the attention they so desperately crave.
For a few, like Michael Sturges, a 10th-grade history teacher at Wagar High School in Council Grove, KS, being put in a special classroom has reawakened a love for teaching he hasn't felt in years.
"Now that I know I have a teaching disability I don't beat myself up so much when I have a bad day or can't grasp the material we're working with," said Sturges, 38, who has pinned a number of perfectly graded assignments up on his wall. "I used to think teaching and stuff was pretty lame, but now—I dunno—I guess it's all right. If anything, being in school now might help me to get a decent job when I'm older."
Added Sturges, "You know, something that pays more than $24,000 a year."

Next year's classroom

As much as I like to study and promote the idea of inclusion for mild to moderately impaired SPED students, I will be in a self-contained classroom next year. I will work with emotionally disturbed children, of course with the goal of helping them improve till they can be in an inclusive environment once again.

Reasons Teachers Stay in DCPS

There was a discussion on the DC Teacher Chic blog about whether or not teachers should come to work for DCPS.

One poster who was anonymouse, responded with, "Others stay for a variety of reasons including a short commute, inertia, a great school community where you have your niche, can't pass Praxis to work in the counties, too close to retirement to give up on it, or because it's your home and your life and your calling."

I think that sentence sums up all the reasons I can think of for why teachers stay. Oh, maybe there's one more. I think some teachers don't have marketable up-to-date skills to make it in another school system. Especially when people keep complaining about the lack of quality PD. My advice to any teacher is the same advice others have given to me. Stay five years then leave. Otherwise, you will lose your skills and grow stagnant here in DC. Of course, if like me you stay five years and decide you enjoy the job despite its troubles and woes, then stay and keep making a difference.

And take charge of your own PD.

African American Teachers Absent from Wilson Training

DCPS is training groups of teachers in the Wilson Reading Program. Wilson is a research-based program that has proven its effectiveness for years. I was thrilled to make it into the first cohort to be trained.

One aspect of training disturbed me, though. Most teachers in DCPS are African-American (I'll try to find out the percentage). Yet, half of the teachers learning to use this highly effective reading program where white. At least two more were other non-Black races. Where are the Black teachers? Were they not interested? Did their special education coordinators not tell them about the training?

Granted, my coordinator (who is White) did not tell me about the training - I found out from a (White) friend. One White lady said a teacher in her school has the Wilson materials and has been to a training but does not use Wilson or any other effective remedial reading program.

Furthermore, five of the trainees (15% of the participants) were from the DC Teaching Fellows program. While I support the program (I'm a Fellow, myself), it is true that people who teach through alternative certification are less likely to remain in the school system.

What's going? Maybe they think Wilson is just a fad or just another program that DC is trying this year, just to be tossed aside next year.

What happens in a pull-out classroom?

This is my coworker's first year teaching in DCPS. Before working in DCPS, she worked in an inclusion setting at a suburban school. She asked me this week, "What happens in a pull-out classroom?"

I could only tell her my past observations. In the pull-out setting, kids are not given intense, goal-directed instruction. They are given worksheets on whatever level they are functioning on without a plan for seeing definite progress as soon as possible. They also use manipulatives and games in those classrooms. Unfortunately, manipulatives and games without a systematic, goal-directed plan are not research-based and validated interventions. In other words, the activities become busy work.

Special education in DCPS may keep kids from getting further behind (to a degree), but doesn' t push them to the next level or attempt to narrow the gap between them and their peers, which is particularly sad in the case of learning disabled kids who have average intelligence and so much more potential than what many of their teachers are willing to grow out of them.

The other thing I see happening in special ed classrooms is that kids get way too much down time. These kids need rigor just like all of the other kids in the school! I've seen too many SPED kids engaged in large amounts of undirected time, especially on the computer. Last summer, I assisted in a class of students with mental retardation for four weeks. The lead teacher allowed them to spend 2 of the 3 hours they had for summer school each day at recess or doing "free choice." One student told me at least three times that she really wanted to learn how to read, and she had moderate mental retardation so she probably could have learned how to read. However, reading instruction was not planned unless I initiated it.

I gave one student direct, intensive instruction on how to write the letter A (a letter in her name). In five years of schooling she had not learned this, but last summer she learned this skill in one week with direct, intensive instruction. I also taught another student how to track lines of print from left to right. I'm not a miracle-worker, but I was amazed at what direct, intensive instruction can do - even for students with mental retardation.

Our DCPS pull-out programs, however, don't have this rigor - in my experience.

Speech Therapists and Inclusion - ASHA's position

Here is a powerpoint presentation about inclusion for Speech Language Pathologists. It includes ASHA's official position regarding inclusion, and you can view it here to find out what that position is. If you're an SLP, please way in on how or why inclusion/pull-out is better for your students.

Will Obama Help Rhee?

President Obama has set aside $54 billion to be invested in education. "His reform agenda, say some experts, resembles that of D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee. That may give Rhee a boost at the negotiating table." - nbcwashingtonnews.com

Here's the radio spot.

My Inclusive Classroom

I have started a new blog called "My Inclusive Classroom" that will focus on teaching strategies. I want this blog, Inclusion in the Classroom, to focus on the topic of inclusion in general and educating children in DCPS. The new blog can be found at this link: "My Inclusive Classroom."

Being Poor Can Keep You From Learning

This is an exciting story in the Washington Post. Research shows that children who grow up in poverty have serious problems remembering information.

Guess what. Remembering information is crucial to academic success. So, there is research proving that many of our DC children may be failing in school because of the poverty they live in.

Read the story here.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/05/AR2009040501719.html?nav=hcmodule

Multiple service providers in the classroom

Someone asked a few weeks ago, what can be done if there are 3 different service providers in the room trying to work on the same student at one time?

First, the inclusion model is meant to benefit all children, not just SPED kids. Service providers may try broadening their views on how they can assist in the class. For example, I saw one occupational therapist go into a first grade classroom and pull aside a group of children to work on fine motor skills during choice time. Only one of the children in the group was a SPED kid.

If there are multiple service providers in the room at one time, that signifies a scheduling conflict. The service providers and teacher(s) should meet to determine when each service provider will be most beneficial in the classroom. Maybe the occupational therapist can be most helpful during writing time, and maybe the social worker needs to come in during transitions or group discussions. The child may have problems that manifest themselves throughout the day (as in the case of many ED children), but the service provider should look for a good starting point.

Some people don't believe children should ever be taken from class for any reason. I don't subscribe to that view. I believe children CAN still be taken out for individual or small group therapy AT TIMES. However, many times or most of the time children can be served in the regular classroom, and that's what inclusion aims to make happen.

What is DCTF about?

DC Teaching Fellows is an alternative certification program. That means if you did not get a degree in education BEFORE you began teaching, you can study for one while you teach.

There are major differences between DCTF and Teach for America. DCTF seeks people who are interested in a career as teachers, while TFA looks for people who want to make a difference for two years. DCTF requires participants to attend classes and earn a masters in education from a designated university in DC. TFA does not require participants to earn a degree.

I am writing this blog because I myself am a DC Teaching Fellow, and when I researched the program I searched online to see what people's experiences were. There were only a few websites that had information that I thought was really useful.

I don't always write about day to day teaching life, because, I didn't want this blog to be just a journal of my experiences. I wanted it to be a reliable source people can come to for ideas about how to include special needs students (especially learning disabled students) in the classroom more.

So, from time to time you'll see a post about DCTF and some of the ideas that it trains its teachers in. Right now, the month is April, so if you applied to the program in January and were accepted, congratulations! I'll try to add posts that can help prepare you for the intense, but eye-opening summer program ahead of you.

NPR's segment on New Teachers

This morning on NPR was a segment about new teachers in alternative certification programs in DC. They highlighted two first-year teachers at Shaw-Garnet-Patterson. One is having a great year, and the other admitted not having classroom control. He even calls parents during the lesson at times, which he knows is a big no-no. The segment stated that Rhee does not have a lot of patience, so the second teacher does not have a lot of time to get it together.

The segment ended by saying that older teachers are necessary to help younger teachers develop.

There was one part of the segment that needs to be clarified. The effective first-year teacher that they highlighted teaches 6th grade and all of her students tested proficient in reading so far this year. That statement was misleading. Because the segment focused on her, those outside the field of eduation might automatically think the students learned to read because of this teacher. However, if 6th GRADERS are proficient in reading, they've had several years of good teaching. They didn't just learn how to read because of this first-year teacher.

One Teacher's Measure of Inclusion "Appropriateness"

Thank you, Melodie, for letter me use this article which you posted on the website "Teachers Helping Teachers."

FULL INCLUSION MAINSTREAMING
GRADES 1-12

Today's popular catch phrase for special education students is "full inclusion." What no one seems to address is that some students are ready to attend regular education classes and some students need more individual attention to prepare them for entry, or reentry to the regular program.

"Full inclusion" assumes that with minimal assistance, a special education student will be successful in a regular classroom. This is true for SOME students, but certainly not all!
When thinking about moving a student back to the regular program, many issues must be considered when determining the most appropriate placement:

Is the student on grade level, or near grade level, for everything? If so, and the student's behavior is appropriate, full inclusion could be the best answer.

Is the student on grade level for one or two subjects? If so, mainstreaming for only those subjects would be most appropriate, is the student's behavior is not an issue.

Is the student below grade level but able to help much younger children? If so, allowing the student to be a peer tutor will not only raise his/her self-esteem, it will also reinforce the basics for the student.

Is the child so far below grade level that he/she can not tutor, however, the student's behavior is good? If this is the case, this student can be mainstreamed for recess/nutrition, lunch, art, music and PE.

Is the student's behavior such a problem that it is extremely disruptive to others? If so, then this student may not be ready to mainstream, or may need to "earn" mainstream situations in his/her favorite area.

Whatever you choose to do with your students, be sure that you choose whatever is appropriate for each individual--DO NOT simply choose a system because it is the current "thing" to do! The 1970's law, PL-91-142 has a statement about "least restrictive environment as appropriate to the student." We must remember this when making decisions to help our students.

MELODIE BITTER
LORNE STREET SCHOOL
LOS ANGELES, CA

Inclusion Horror Stories

I got the idea for this post from another blog, The Washington Teacher. This area is for people to share specific times when inclusion did not work for the child, the teachers, or the parents. Maybe eventually the administration will get a hold of these stories and use them to shape DCPS' policy on inclusion - which appears to still be evolving.

Inclusion Success Stories

This spot is for people who have stories of inclusion that worked for the child, the teacher, and the parent. These can be one day incidents or they can describe a whole school year. Maybe others will get some ideas that will bring them success as well.

Introduce Behaviorally-Challenged Children to the Faculty

At one of my schools, the Special Education coordinator gave an interesting presentation. She showed pictures of the children in our school who had behavioral challenges, some in SPED and some not. She explained what we all needed to do to help them while at recess and lunch.

For example, one child must always be allowed to come to the office when he asks because he finds it helpful to talk to the principal when he has problems at recess. When adults attempt to stop him from going to the office (because maybe they think he shouldn‘t be in the school building during recess), he gets agitated and may become combative. We were being instructed in how to take a proactive approach to supporting his behavior, even given suggestions on wording to use to help defuse a flustered child (You're really upset. Why don't we... Let's ...This would be a good time to get a drink of water (or walk over here were you can be alone and think.) You're really trying hard to keep it together.)

The coordinator introduced each child to the staff so we could know the child by name and face and be sensitive to the child’s needs. Though a few questions were asked, no one asked about the children’s backgrounds or for any other personal information. Because there was a mixture of SPED and non-SPED kids in this presentation, children's privacy was not breached. We all simply needed to know what the child’s behaviors and triggers were, what our responses should be, and which adults in the school were the closest to the child (in case we needed assistance in handling the child). The presentation of the 6 children took about 15 minutes.

Pull-out is not the only answer.

Some teachers in DC schools complain that inclusion is not working because there are not enough SPED teachers in a school, and you can't be in two places at once.

I know there's a dearth of training and information in DCPS about how inclusion should theoretically work. Also, I don't doubt that many schools don't have enough teachers. Nonetheless, inclusion requires more than just having more SPED teachers. I was in a school that tried to do inclusion, and appeared to me to have plenty of SPED teachers - who all had no clue about what the inclusion model looked like.

They tried, though. They went into classrooms and pulled SPED kids to a back table and tried to teach them there. They seemed to think inclusion meant "just do what you normally do, only do it around the GEN ED kids." Their intentions were sincere.

At several schools and in many IEP meetings I heard general ed and special ed teachers say, "What he needs is more one-on-one and small group instruction." That suggestion seemed to be the main intervention used in East of the Park schools that I worked in. Yet, many kids didn't progress even when placed in smaller settings.

I'm learning that there's more to educating a child with disabilities than separation from the rest of the class. Educators should focus on what STRATEGIES teachers will use. At one school that I worked in, a 4th grade boy could not read the word "the" and his SPED teacher had no success teaching him. When he reached 5th grade and got a new SPED teacher, he read around the 2nd grade level by the end of the year. Same pull-out setting, only the 5th grade teacher had STRATEGIES for teaching reading.

Today I felt success.

All week I've been helping four fourth graders complete social studies reports just like the rest of the class. Today, children were placed into groups, given tri-folding boards, and allowed to put their groups reports into an attractive display. The SPED kids blended right in.

All week long, I helped in several ways. BR has a motor disability and struggles to write, so I typed his report on his word processor, then wrote out his notes on a notecard (for when he has to orally present his findings).

Two of the students had trouble organizing their research, so I showed them how to draw a graphic organizer on their papers and organize their research. Then we took the graphic organizers and placed the thoughts into complete sentences and paragraphs.

JO organized his research on his own and created good paragraphs, but needed help with creating topic sentences. We practiced "recycling the question" and listing related words that we might want to use in a good topic sentence.

We had Open House at our school today, so groups of parents came by the room while children were working like excited little busy bees on their board projects. The parents had no clue that I was the special education teacher and they had no clue that there were 4 special needs children in the class - children with Aspergers, writing impairments, dyslexia, ADHD, and learning disabilities.

I hope through this blog that I can help you discover strategies to use in your own classroom to include children with special needs successfully.