Teachers- Advice Wanted

[Eeyores Butterfly]

I was hoping to get advice from the DIS teachers in preparation for my new job.

Background: I will be a first year teacher in an Elementary Life Skills room. The current teacher has been with this classroom since it was formed. The students in this room do not change teachers every year like neurotypical children. They are used to having the same teacher and para year after year. The current teacher and para are both leaving this year. There is a possibility of having a second para next year, in that case it may be the para that was added at the end of the year, but that is not confirmed as of right now.

Certain things will obviously remains the same- reading and math curriculum, the schoolwide behavior plan, etc. other thing swill definitely be changing such as when they go to specials because we will have a much wider age range next year. (Currently it's mostly upper el, but I will have all grades next year).

The teacher is not going to tell the students she and the para are leaving until the last day, so I do not know how much they will know/comprehend when I start in the fall. I have observed and talked to the current teacher so I am familiar with their current routines (to an extent anyway).

My question is how to make the transition as smooth as possible for the students. Obviously I will be a new teacher with new routines which will take some adjusting to, especially since both the teacher and para will be new next year. I just want to make it as easy as I can for the current students.

 

[schmitty]

Youre just going to have to keep reminding them you are the teacher. They will test your authority but do not back down. They may call for the previous teacher but thats when you remind them you are the new teacher. You could go in and volunteer for the remainder of the year so they know who you are and stuff. It is pretty much like getting a new student from another school but instead it will be an entire class. Stay firm with your punishment and you will do fine.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

Youre just going to have to keep reminding them you are the teacher. They will test your authority but do not back down. They may call for the previous teacher but thats when you remind them you are the new teacher. You could go in and volunteer for the remainder of the year so they know who you are and stuff. It is pretty much like getting a new student from another school but instead it will be an entire class. Stay firm with your punishment and you will do fine.

Thanks. Volunteering the rest of the year is not an option as I do not move to the area until next month. I have observed twice so the kids have seen my face, but they do not know I will be teaching at the school next year as the teacher is keeping it under wraps that she is leaving until the last day.

 

[NHdisneylover]

My teaching experience doesn't really help you as I had a very different type of classroom to what you will have, but here are a few ideas anyway (not really knowing what level of child you will be working with to know if it will help at all):

Can you mail out a letter to the students right after school gets out reminding them that you have observed their class before (so they realize/remember that you are not a complete stranger--basically say somehitng like "I loved observing this class so much that I decided I wanted to teach it") and telling them how excited you are to be their teacher next year. Try to include a photo (maybe copied as part of the letter in a "newletter" style) so they really recall who you are?

Maybe you can also follow up with another letter a week or two before school starts. If you know any of the routines you will have then (maybe you'll have the specials schedule by then) you can include information about that--some kids really need to know what to expect and such a letter may help them prepare (or help their parents prepare them) for these changes.

When my kids were in school their kindergarten and first grade teachers wrote letters like this and even for neurotypical kids it realy helped eases anxiety and establish a routine more quickly. They liked knowing ahead of time what the teacher would look like, I was able to adjust our home schedule so they were used to eating lunch at the ridiculously early school time of 10:45, etc.

Other than that, I think the best thing you can do is to realize that it will be tough for the kids at first and that this is not a reflection on you. Remember that the change is the issue and work with them to make it go as smoothly as possible (and stay flexible to the extent that all good teachers must) but know that you have had lots of training and some very good experience up to this point and you are bright and loving so do not let difficulty with the transition on the part of your students lead you to second guess yourself or change things around. Figure out what will work for the class with you as a teacher and go in with a plan and stick to it even on the rough days. Eventually the consistency will make the days go mostly smoothly. I think these kids are lucky to have you--you clearly care very much.

 

[DeluxePrincess]

Just don't cave in if the class complains that you do things differently from the previous teacher. When I taught, the worst year I had was the year I was transferred in the middle of the school year to replace a teacher that had to quit due to her DH's sudden move to another State for a new job. The kids would let me know how things were done and I figured it would be less stressful for all if I just fell in line with the old teacher's ways. Wrong! I was slowly losing control of the class. Be confident in the routines you have set and most importantly... BE CONSISTENT!!

 

[shellybaxter]

Teachers are really leaders in their classroom. A good leader - except in times of crisis - tries not to make big changes right off the bat. They observe, talk, listen and then slowly change routines, procedures, ect. I would suggest you take the same kind of approach

 

[Cindy B]

Some routines would be good to keep-- such as using a similar "reward" system or behavior mod system.

However a letter home would be a great step. A letter to the parents and another one for the students if needed would be great. Include a picture of yourself-- at least for the kids.

 

[stm61]

we don't have rooms with that label in SC. Is it an EMD or TMD room? I have a self-contained EMD room this year, they had a sub in place until I was hired the end of Sept. Before the sub the district had mainstreamed every child in the district, EMD, ED, didn't matter. Once they realized it didn't work, they pulled them out and self-contained them with subs until they could hire teachers. I kept the same routine the sub had for a few weeks, then made my own when her's didn't work for me. The same assistant the sub had stayed with me. Part of my problem is the kids don't understand teacher vrs. asst. We're all teachers in their eyes, and I didn't want to undermine her authority by spelling it out to them. They try to play us off against each other and run to her to complain how mean I am. Luckily she usually doesn't fall for it. Next year I'll have the same class, minus 4 who are moving to the middle school, and I'll set my own program up the first week and stick to it.

 

[MM27]

The only advice I can offer is do not let the paras have more control than you. It's probably a good thing for you that the para is leaving too, because this way the kids won't rely on them instead of you. We've had some paras in my school that, especially with new teachers, try to control and run the show.

Good luck to you though, and welcome to the wonderful world of teaching.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

I'm assuming EMD is educably mentally disabled (sometimes called EMH around here.) The technical name for my room is Behavioral and Social Skills (as in adaptive behaviors and social skills) so it would be what some schools refer to as EMH. We just tend to call those life skills around here because the focus is less on the "academics" and more on the adaptive skills that they need since these students need to be explicitly taught this stuff. (As a frame of reference, none of my students take the state test, they take what is referred to as the alternate exam which are tasks based on their individual IEP goals).

Like I said, at the moment is mostly 3rd grade and up, but a new first grader and second grader came in in the middle of the year, and at this point I will have two kindergartners next year as well. They currently go to specials with the third graders, but obviously that will change next year when we add the kindergartners to thie mix (it just won't be appropriate to send the class as a group anymore) so that is going to be a huge change in their schedule. Unfortunately with the change of classroom dynamic it's going to be impossible to keep the same routine initially, there are going to have be major changes because until now most of the kids were on about the same level and age this will not be true next year.

The school uses BIST which is school wide so that will definitely remain the same since it is district wide. Reading and math curriculum will stay the same and I really like the morning meeting that she has set up with them so I am going to keep that.

I do like the idea of writing letters. It's too late for this year (school is already out), but I will try to send one before the first day of school. I also like hte idea of including a picture- I would never have thought of that!

My biggest fear is that they will not be fully prepared for the change in teacher and para. I completely understand why she waited until the last day to make the announcement, but my fear is that they hear it once and then leave for the summer so they won't have had a chance to fully process what has happened or to ask questions.

 

[stm61]

yup, I've got what you call EMH. Your class is pretty much the same as mine, except you're in a more, um, realistic district. I was informed that all my students would be on grade level by the end of the school year (by the principal!) and that she wouldn't hear any excuses! After I picked myself up off the floor and stopped laughing, I emailed my special services supervisor and said I needed her assistance, I'd been absent the day they taught miracle working in grad school lol. My kids are in desperate need of life skills, out of 12 kids (2-6th gr), 1 could tell time and identify coins and their values. Instead, I was forced to use regular ed curriculum, but I used a VERY liberal definition of "adapt as necessary" lol. I started with 8 kids, all 4-6th gr, ended with 12, with 1 in 2nd, 2 in 3rd. I'm starting next year with 2 in 4th, 4 in 5th, 1 in 6th. THe pre-k teacher keeps the younger ones until they turn 6, then they're all mine district wide. I also had to redo the related arts schedule; the sub had them all going with the 6th grade classes. I kept the 4 6th graders on that schedule, put the 2nd grader wtih the 1st gr, and divided the rest of them up between the 3 4th gr regular ed classes. I'll try to do the same next year, but have issues fitting in all my math and ELA time around the regular ed related arts schedules. I'm looking forward to next year, it WILL be much easier because we're getting a new principal and I'm doing my own curriculum as much as I can. I exempted next year's class from state testing, and I'll be aggravating the district office all summer until they come up with a solution to the end-of-quarter testing the new superintendent inflected upon the district. It's 20% of their grade and they made my kids take the regular ed tests! Needless to say, every child failed every class with that grade added in. Good luck with your new class!

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

Wow, it sounds like you had a really tough time. I'm lucky because my principal really seems to stand behind the classroom and understand what my kids are and aren't capable of.

The teacher kept mentioning how they are only included in specials but that could change if I want it to. In the two districts I was just with (pre internship and internship) even life skills students were included in their grade level classrooms for science and social studies. I have to admit, that does sound tempting, but I'm going to hold off even considering it until I have a good grasp of my students. (It would have ot wait until their IEP updates anyway).