Life Skills 101

October 21, 2011

Life Skills 101

A.       The activity that was done today was for Life Skills.  The teacher decided on teaching the students about shopping.  In my opinion this is necessary but keep in mind that if students don’t have fine motor skills what modifications can be made for this student.  The lesson was a good one but a slow one so the focus was often lost.  He is trying his best it’s obvious but there is a lot of work needed to include everyone in the classroom. 

In most of the classes that have been taken by ESE majors we learn how to teach to everyone.  General education students get a field packet that’s supposed to include techniques and explanations of teaching to all students.  Honestly, ask yourself how often” did you look through the field packet if it wasn’t necessary to an assignment that you were working on already”?

I feel like these children are going to have a hard time in real life if they do not have a good support system outside of the school.  Watching the students do the assignment was both encouraging and depressing in one.

This is an example of the worksheet:

Name of the object	What kind of store do you buy it from?	How much do you pay for it?	Name a Store
Pencil	Store	.25	Wal-Mart
Chair	Store/Corner	5.00	Furniture Store
Banana	Grocery Store	1.00	Publix

 

Most of the students had problems writing on the sheet and really had problems understanding the questions.  It is important to start out with control of the lesson or nothing will be accomplished and then to include the students not just talk over them. 

In both periods the students were agitated and intimidated by the questions.  He had to keep adjusting the questions so that the students would understand.  Please note: some of the students did not know how to make a sign for “cents or dollars”.

I am trying to stay in a positive state of mind.  When he takes one on one time with each student even though its time consuming they understand it.  I also noticed when he does he phrases the questions differently.  Why not do this overall?

B.      In this activity I gave up and just let him do it. I showed the students where to write their answers.  I was just depressed during this entire lesson.  I apologize for this but, today almost made me give up. 

C.      On pg. 543 of the Snell book  is similar of the lesson the teacher taught today.  The difference is the plan in the book is more mapped out and concise.  This lesson taught observational and incidental but in an off-hand way.  The students learned from this lesson because they looked on each other’s paper.  I wish it was possible to encourage students who want to teach and help them learn that