Week 3: Lessons

As we begin teaching more and more lessons in the classroom, I am beginning to get a little more comfortable. At first, the class could seem a little overwhelming. From day one we learned that there was a child with hearing loss, a child with vision loss, a child that will not speak, and a child with Down syndrome in our class. I have learned that it does not have to be so overwhelming when you can easily accommodate for all of these children. There are simple things like placement in the room or assignment changes that can help students to feel more comfortable or be successful in the class.

I learned this from not only the actions of my mentor teacher, but also the students in the class. They do not see any of the kids in the class as having disabilities, they are just other kids. No one questions the microphone, or if we need to pause to fix a hearing aide. No one asks why one student is allowed to sit on the ground if he cannot see the board. The students have come to accept the fact that one student may not always participate or use her words. And having a paraprofessional in the room with their best buddy is a fun thing for them. I love the innocence in children, and wonder where it went in adults. They all love each other and do not judge each other in any way, shape, or form. This was one of the key things I found in effective differentiation. Yes, there can be accommodations for learning styles and needs, but when “students learn to respect and support one another as learners” (Tomlinson & Imbea) that is when true differentiation is successful to me.

When it comes to lesson planning, it can be kind of hard as a pre-intern in a classroom. It is not our class so we do not know the plans ahead of time. We have been learning how to appropriately plan for situations like this and how to plan lessons our teacher asks us to teach. It can be tricky to do a “review” lesson when you did not ever see the introduction lesson and do not truly know what to go off of. After something like that happened, or we forgot a few things we were supposed to do in a lesson, we learned we needed to take more notes and have better communication with our mentor teacher about the lesson we were to teach to help it run smoothly. Things are starting to slowly fall in place and I know it is all part of the learning experience.