New Coteacher

In the upcoming school year I will be teaching my first inclusion class. My special education coteacher and I will be teaching a 5th grade language arts class. I am excited about the class, but also alittle nervous. I read some of the comments about special education teachers feeling like paraprofessionals. I value my coteachers experience and want her to share equally in the class. This will be her first experience as well, so I guess we have alot learn.

Significant Posting from this Blogging Experience

There is a lot of good information on the blog for coteachers and inclusion teachers. I want to thanks mkalbury for her post. The post was short and the message was simple, but I appreciate her positive attitude about inclusion. It seems some educators are scared of inclusion, some don't believe in it and others dread it. I think that we have to be confident in ourselves, go out on a limb and give it a try. Anything new starts with the right attitude.

Five Co-Teaching Models

• Complementary Teaching
• Station Teaching
• Parallel Teaching
• Alternative Teaching
• Shared Teaching

See the link below for descriptions and comparisons of the five models. Great Resource!

http://ed-web3.educ.msu.edu/CEPSE/ungrad/SpecEdIntern/SpEdWeb/Co-Teaching_Models-W.pdf

Co Teaching

Insights About Myself Given This Blogging Experience

I am very new to blogging. I have occasionally stumbled across someone's blog, but have not been a member of a blog nor have I contributed to a blog. Yet here I am creating my own blog. Despite my lack of experience in the blogging world, I am very passionate about teaching and blogging is a awesome tool for educators in so many ways. I have to commend blogger.com for making this an easy task. Once you get past the initial set up, the site is very user friendly.

Applications of Blogs to My Practice

As a special education teacher, I am very much affected by the "inclusion movement". Like it or not, our students are moving into inclusion classrooms and we are expected to go with them. Our regular education colleagues are looking to us to know how to make inclusion work. Parents are nervous about their children being successful in this setting. There are a lot of issues related to inclusion that need to be discussed and worked out. Communication between teachers, parents and administrators will be an essential component to successful inclusion experiences. Blogging is a great way to share our ideas, opinions and experiences.

I am a science inclusion teacher. So far, this class has worked really well for us. I believe that all students can succeed in inclusion if the environment is conducive to the diverse needs of all students.

I am a special education teacher at an elementary school. This year was my first experience with inclusion - in a language arts classroom. I believe that most of the special education students in the class have benefited from this experience. However, I do have a personal issue with my inclusion experience. Honestly, I have felt like an over qualified paraprofessional. My role has been to assist the teacher in her role of teaching and running the classroom. The students and parents do not view me as a creditable educator. The students are benefiting from the class, so maybe I am being selfish. I miss having my own classroom.

I will get the discussion going. Is my school ready for full inclusion? I don't think so. I don't think all of our teachers are on board. I recently heard a general education teacher state that if she wanted to teach special education students, then she would have gotten a certification in Sped. She has a good point.
I don't think that our students are ready for inclusion. I teach mostly sixth graders at a middle school. These students have recently transitioned from elementary schools, where inclusion is not a major part of their experience. I worry that the transition to a newer, larger school and the transition to full inclusion will be too much for our students. I would like to see our resource students phased into inclusion classes in the younger grades.
What is your inclusion experience? This is my third year of co-teaching one math class a day. The rest of my day is spent teaching resource.
What do you see as the main benefit to inclusion? I began co-teaching at the same time that the new math standards were "rolling out". I have been fortunate to work with an experienced math teacher, making it much easier to understand and teach the new standards. I have been able to take what I have learned into my resource classes. Both groups of students are being exposed to the general education curriculum.
What do you see as the main disadvantage to inclusion? We are forcing some students into inclusion who are just not ready for it. The students are not used to the faster pace, and increased work. The result is discipline problems. Classroom managment has been a major concern in my inclusion class.

Questions

Here are some questions to get our discussion going....

• Is your school ready for full inclusion?





• What is your inclusion experience?





• What do you see as the main benefit to inclusion?





• What do you see as the main disadvantage to inclusion?