Wow, I can’t believe how far I have come already in student teaching. This week was very different from any other week so far at Carl Sandburg. I taught a full day on Monday and I was able to start a new unit on Life cycles for my science classes. My teacher brought us in fertilized eggs to take care of. I have never seen our students so excited. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the school had Plan test and the ACT testing. Since our students take the IAA, our students did not have to come to school on Wednesday. On Tuesday we met in the “Little Theater” and put on a movie for the students. While they were watching the movie, I would pull them out to test them on what they wanted to do with their futures. It was a test on what interests them. Also during this time, I was able to complete an IEP on my own, on the program Easy IEP. My teacher then looked over it and I will be presenting it on May 4th.
On Wednesday, all the special education teachers met at Andrew high school to discuss the curriculum for the next school year. I was able to see this process for Science, between my cooperating teacher, a teacher from Stagg and the last from Andrew. This group completes the district for the special education teachers that teach a science class. They pulled up a layout and made sure that all of their objectives lined up with the state standards. I was able to be their scribe on the computer and to take part in this process.
On Thursday we took a Field Trip to the “Children’s Farm,” in Orland Park. We took this field trip to see the plant and animal life cycle in process. When we got there, we were given a hay ride and then we warmed up by the camp fire and ate s'mores. After that we were taken around the farm to look at plants in the farm’s gardens and to see the animals. The students were able to go into the barn and touch and feed a variety of animals. They were able to see chicks, ducklings and baby rabbits. It was great being in the outdoors with my students and to interact with them, other than in the classroom.
Next week is my last week of full time teaching. On Wednesday, I will be going into Elim to observe a classroom and to see if I want to take the offer of teaching there. It will only be part time but I think it will be a great step to my future as a special educator.
Sounds like you had an interesting week.
ReplyDeleteI’ll be interested to know how your IEP presentation will go this week.
It was wonderful that you could go to the special education teachers meeting at Andrew High School to discuss the curriculum for the next school year. I hope you learned a lot from this valuable experience.
I hope your observation at Elim goes well.
Have a great week.
Prof. Meyer