I have just completed my 9th year of “teaching”… if you can even count it. When it comes to the world of education, special education is a whole different animal, but the transition was rather smooth with the help of several of my colleagues at Dale Junior High. I would equate the position as maybe 10% teaching, 40% being an aide in a classroom, and 50% the writing of and execution of individualized education plans for students with special needs. And so, in the grand scheme of things, this year was really a break from teaching for me. I can see how the position would be more stressful to other people, but I was able to do things with ease and efficiency.
The hard part of course going from general education to special education is going from the “main character” of a classroom to a sidekick. Though Ms. Schultz doesn’t necessarily run the classroom or execute lesson plans in the same manner I would, it was a decent co-teaching arrangement – although I would label it aiding rather than “co-teaching”, far from the district’s intended purpose. My “co-teacher” had a firm grasp of classroom management and she allowed me to implement a Pokemon points system and still write notes, Pokemon cards, and letters to all the students. I was still able to build connections with students (mostly by finding out all their romantic entanglements and making fun of them about it). In a few instances I didn’t necessarily agree with how certain situations were handled, but I had to stay on the same page as my co-teacher to ensure a harmonious working relationship. Student perception is everything to me, which is why it bothered me quite a bit that students saw me more as an aide than a co-teacher. My classroom management remained strong enough that I was able to still hold the kids accountable despite this perception.
In my SDC classes, or self-contained classes, I had 6 and 5 students total, which made me continue with the mindset that I wasn’t doing much real teaching overall. It felt more like small group tutoring, and I feel I didn’t invest much in creating the best lesson plans for those students. [This is of course due to the SAI model, which stated that I’m “technically” supposed to implement the same lesson plans as my co-teacher with fidelity in the self-contained classroom]. If I’m still in the same position next year, I’m going to do my best to create better lessons, and possibly teach more in the general education classroom on designated days.
The 23-24′ school year also granted me more free time, which allowed me to continue various activities outside of the classroom. I continued Builder’s Club, even taking the students on a trip to Foster Love in Brea, where they packaged over 500 skateboards for foster kids. I hope to get funding for more field trips in the future, because this is the true vision of Builder’s Club I had, rather than a club that just does activities on campus after school. I continued as head of the Civic Engagement team, where the Dale Senate was able to propose ideas like Fun Fridays and create various Public School Announcements (like the one below):
I continued leading the Five Star Program, the PBIS supported program to give students prizes on campus. My new roles included of course running the school website, the marquee, and of course becoming head of the Awards and Celebrations team, which ended up being a pretty monumental task planning the end of the year Awards Celebration. But it was with a decent team overall, so I can’t complain.
Finally, as I was simultaneously teaching, I began the Lead Program, which is a district embedded administrative credential program. This spring semester purely centered around equity and equity-informed practices, which will hopefully guide my future actions as a teacher. Though I don’t picture myself doing administration ever, I would like to have the option in my back pocket if I ever end up pursuing it.
As the year comes to an end, I am grateful to all the fellow teachers who have supported me all throughout the years. And though the future remains uncertain what position I’ll ultimately be in next year, I know I’ll remain with AUHSD at least until the LEAD program ends. Here’s hoping I’ll be back in history sooner rather than later, and back to teaching a new set of students that I can call truly my own.
