Essay Questions
Essay Questions
1. Within the classroom over the past 12 years of my experience, I have experienced numerous challenges due to the fact that I have worked with students with disabilities from age birth to sixth grade. Teaching within itself can be met head-on with challenges but when throwing the added factor that many of the students with whom I have worked with have had some sort of physical, mental or emotional disability, one instructional challenge I have faced is teaching a child who was not only disabled but could barely speak Spanish, which was used primarily in the child’s home, to learn English orally, written, and in reading.
The child was eight years old and could only write her own name in English and even then, the letters were often transposed or backwards. She knew very few letters in the alphabet and could only count to 20 and some of that was in Spanish. I know very little Spanish but I took what I knew and while it took a lot of time, I was able to teach her not only the entire alphabet but also how to count to 50 in English. I used various tactics but most of the methodology used for teaching was flashcards, an alphabet or number song that was in Spanish and then the same tune in English, the use of blocks, using play-dough to have the child make letters, and even had her use her hands to make the shape of the letters. The child was soon able to sing along and she could make the letters with her hands. I also used some exposure tactics in which we would watch a video strictly in English after we had been working on it for so long. It was when she was able to speak a complete sentence in English that I knew that she had achieved it. We then took it a step further and were able to write her name and eventually a few short sentences. Considering her age and how far a long she was in education, I knew that those few short sentences in English along with the factor of her learning disability was a tremendous success.
Her mother, who had dropped out of high school, said she could not read or write much English very well but she could speak it pretty well. I eventually helped the mother learn to read English better so that she would be able to teach her own daughter by reading to her. With her mother, I went the extra mile outside of the time in the classroom and I sat with her and we used simple books which had corresponding videos or CDs which would read aloud the book so she could follow along. Within a couple of weeks, she was able to completely read a short book to her daughter and this encourage the mother to continue working with her daughter at home. This is a success because I helped encourage learning at home and it is important the parent became involved and together, they strengthened their English skills.
2. Dear Assistant Principal:
I acknowledge that there are unclear behavioral expectations within my classroom in regards to your observation. I have written down some of these strategies which I will post in my classroom and I plan to continue to relay these expectations to my students of how they will behave in my classroom. The expectations I plan to have in this classroom is that I have acknowledged that some of these students may not want to be learners within the classroom and it is imperative that I relay to the students what I expect for them to get out of the class and determine the best way to get them to participate actively within the classroom.
While I have received information from other instructors that three students in particular are difficult in other classes with their behavior, I want to bring to their attention that they will not disrupt the classroom and I also will have a specific seating arrangement. I will be placing the students, who it has been brought to my attention are often problematic, in the front two rows in the classroom but away from each other where I can keep a closer eye on them. I also plan to have a one-on-one meeting with each student to see what it is that they expect to learn from the class, try to gain an understanding of how those three students in particular best learn, and if needed, I will pull in the parent(s) who I plan to meet with in regards to the students’ behavior. I believe that readjusting the behaviors of these three students will help to contribute to the success of other members in the classroom and I will have less disruptions when I have their attention. The other students I have in the classroom each have their moments and I do not want it to appear as though I have only singled these three students out. I will ensure that each student understands what is expected of them and then I will even listen to them to see what their expectations are.
It is my goal to encourage excitement in learning by reaching every student and continuing to reiterate it to them by ensuring that each stays on task. However, I want to hear their thoughts and at least keep note of them so I understand that I am listening to what it is they want to learn or achieve. Together, we will focus on these aspects and when needed, I will have parents sign off on their homework to prove that it has been done. I need the parents to side with me in helping to reiterate that education is important too so my strategies extend beyond the immediate classroom. Thank you for bringing these issues to my attention.
3. As a teacher at the New York City School of Excellence, it is evident that not only does the child not value education, but it is not valued in the classroom either. This needs to be brought to the attention of the administration that the absenteeism is so high in my classroom so that common procedure can be followed. I will continue on according to my planned progress within the classroom. I will revert back to some of the academic advancement that the students should already know and a way for me to assess some of their strengths and weaknesses might be to give them random fun quizzes where they will be rewarded for their correct answers and also positively reinforced. I want to know what areas the students are struggling in and before we can ever move forward with my lesson plans, I need to evaluate where they are behind.
Depending on who their teacher was the school year before, it may take some conference planning to discuss the downfalls that prior teachers had so that I can adjust my learning styles to help to accommodate for these students who are behind. It is imperative by the end of the school year to reach the curriculum goals as set forth by the state of New York for grade level expectations. I will do my best to go backward and work on a stronger foundation of what they should already know. Unfortunately, the absenteeism is something that I cannot control but it is something the administration can handle as based on policy. I would like to positively encourage the students to finish their assignments but they are missing out on so much classroom time. It is likely that meetings with parents are necessary in order to follow up on the reasoning behind the absentee rates of their children being so high. I will work around the hours of the school and set aside time before and after school to make myself available. Depending on what I learn through some information gathering and meetings with parents, I may have to change up my style of teaching in order to clearly meet the goals that we have for the school year.
