Week 6 Reading

I really enjoyed the readings for this week because the topics that were discussed were very interesting. I first want to talk about the Maples article Opening Quality Lines of Communication: Seeing My Students through the Eyes of Their Parents. I thought this was a great idea because as a perspective teacher I always wondered the best and most affective way to connect with parents. I like this letter idea because parents are able to share details with the teacher that they may not feel comfortable doing in person or in front of the child. By learning this information about the child you have an insight about the child’s likes, dislikes, behaviors, and academic strengths or struggles. As a teacher this is valuable information to have and as seen in the article can impact discussions and student’s learning. In my school district the kindergarten teachers go around to each of their student’s houses to welcome them to kindergarten and see what their home life is like. I think this is a good strategy, but may be threatening to some families who feel that the teacher is coming into their home to judge them. If you tried something like the letter then the parents can share valuable information in a non-threatening setting. In the article this strategy was implemented in an eighth grad classroom, but I think it could work in special and general education classrooms of all grades and is a great way to get parents involved.

The next article that caught my interest was the Carlisle article, How Can I Help Children with Learning Disabilities? I liked reading this article because I am special education learning disability major. Many of the points from this article are best practice, but are not seen put in to action in schools. I have volunteered in several resource rooms and I was surprised to see the lack of communication between the special education teacher and general education teacher. The general education teacher does not know the IEP accommodations and goals that the student is working towards. If the general education did know the goals they lacked the training in how to achieve these goals. It always concerned me that the general education teachers in Michigan States teacher preparation program do not have to take a course about how to teach special education students because the article said that one in twenty students has a learning disability and 50% of these students spend a majority of the day in the general education classroom. When I become a teacher my goal is to collaborate with general education teachers so they know each students IEP goals and accommodations and the best way to teach each individual student.

The last point I want to make was a quote I noticed in the Maples article. The teacher said that from receiving letters from the parents she realized she had a huge responsibility. She wrote the following, “We don’t teach students we teach human beings…children…someone’s “treasure” or “blessing.” We are entrusted on a daily basis to provide them the best possible education we can and to see them as they really are – not who we think they are or what the stereotype tells us.” I liked this quote because it reminded me to give each student a chance and not to judge them based on stereotypes or what other teachers say about them. I hope that when I am a teacher I can take what I have learned in these articles and apply them to my classroom.