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.