Jul 20 2007
seeking more commentary
I am in the continued process of planning for the new school year. I am reviewing high school schedules and writing a proposal to support instruction and decrease student discipline. Is there anyone out there who has incorporated schedules in pure regular ed and special ed, self-contained to reflect common times for instruction, integrated instruction of both student populations and the co-teaching model? How is this being done in your school? What have been the reactions of staff?
For special education programs incorporating both a self-contained model and one integrated with general education, what supports have teachers needed? What management plans are teachers using in their classrooms? My office dilemma right now is that students have no recourse when in turmoil besides the counselors who might not always be available hence students walk to the offfice seeking me. If I am in that’s great, if not my secretaries become quasi counselors/time-out folks. I need a solution to office staff frustion, teacher dilemmas and program inefficieny. Hence my blog and the proposal I am working on.
6 responses so far
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as a special education teacher (1:8:1), i feel that we need more support with the general education area of our program. i have 2 students who leave the self-contained setting to attend general education classes, my classroom aide accompanies them. that leaves me in the room, alone with the rest of my class. that delineates the 1:8:1 aspect of the program. there nneds to be more support from administration as far as this issue is concerned.
thank you,
michelle bradley
We are in the same boat. Our team is in the infancy stage of setting up teaming.
Deb: Where are you located? We are now 8 weeks into the semester, where are you in terms of teaming? This is what Hewes came up with - reflective high school schedules ie. when the Special Ed. high school teacher is teaching Eng. 9 the Gen Ed. (Alt. Ed) teacher teache is also teaching Eng. 9. The counselors have tried to mirror this schedule as much as possible for all content areas. The beauty of this is that we have now laid the groundwork for th co-teaching/integrated teaching model at the High School level.
Michelle: You raise an important dilemma that warrants conversation. Is it appropriate for you two students to be integrated into gen ed classes without support from you their special ed. teacher? You are definately going to get support from the administration on this issue. Your supervisor and I will definately be talking and then we shall present a plan to our director and component school districts. This is where you need to know that our program at CLCS is so closely conjoined to our Center based special ed program at the Hewes Center. Keep challenging us to do right by kids and instruction.
Una: I attended your presentation on Conference Day. I thoroughly appreciated your thoughts on the general state of special education goals and responsibilities within our agency. The prospect of certain issues certainly needs more careful scrutiny.
I work in a secondary “teaming” special education environment. We are struggling and learning to meet our established goals. This includes revising the things that need revising and strengthening the aspects that work. Our strength is the dedication we have and the freedom to deliver instructional responsibilities per our team effort. Our NYS Standards make it very clear what we have to accomplish.
You are welcome to visit our program in East Aurora and discuss what works and what we can do better.
I wouldn’t say we are in our “infancy”. We are in our “process” of educating.
Dan: I am most intrigued by what you call “teaming” within special education at East Aurora. I would enjoy the opportunity to visit the program and explore together with you and your team what works for students.
You folks in the North have a distinct advantage over us Southerners, because you have been running Secondary Special Ed. programs longer than we have. In the process, this BOCES - ERIE 2 was able to provide Co-Sers and run programs catered to the needs of a high school special Ed. population. This together with the fact that your CSE chairs in the component schools recognize the advantages of raising the bar for high school students has translated into much success for our programs up North. In the South, Hewes Center, we are only three years into our Regents and local Diploma High School Special Ed. program. In the Central region, the Special Ed. high school 1:6:1 class is administered I understand under the auspices of Alternative Education. The faculty and I are charting new ground because prior to three years ago, we had no high school program in Special Ed and as existed then and now, the bulk of our students are registered in the Alt. Ed. High School. It helps that we have only one Supervisor!.
I am anxious to pursue more ideas with you in terms of your organization at East Aurora. How many classes? Students? Level of integration if any? Any co-teaching? etc.
Keep Blogging!