The man is going to drive me crazy…

October 28, 2011

A.       I am so aggravated.  It is obvious that the teacher is trying new strategies.  The students understand concepts better because he is taking his time and starting to include the whole class higher and lower functioning.  He did the number world book again and this time I did not have the students go further we extended the lesson on another sheet of paper.  The teacher  was not that happy but he didn’t say anything. 

The thing that bothers me is that the students do the “Number World” curriculum and some calendar math.  He also has programs for the computers that he uses such as “Building Blocks and Zac’s World.”  The thing about the computer games is that the kids can memorize the pages and because no one is monitoring them they can do what they want. 

Would it be too hard to keep them in their seats and rotate computer usage between the lower and higher functioning students?  I have noticed that the higher functioning students usually go to the computer for their math skills and the lower functioning students go to puzzles or to magnet board. 

B.      Once again I have learned to be quiet and stay in my place.  This is the place of a UNF paraprofessional, so I did what anyone of your students would have done.  Several of the students understood the concept of finding patterns in numbers and also number placement such ones, tens and hundreds but they could not go further in the book because the teacher said so. 

The students wanted more examples so I got a piece of notebook and gave them more examples.  Some of the students stayed in their seats instead of going to choice time to see if they could figure out my questions. 

C.      In Chapter 13 of the Snell book “Teaching Academic Skills” is discussed.  I have wondered how the teacher decides which standards to teach.  Do they teach Access Points or Sunshine State Standards?  I wanted to ask the teacher but he is a closed book and probably won’t tell me anyway.  The teacher is teaching number world’s which incorporates different math skills all on the same page.  It is usually in sequence but for a special needs child it might be confusing.  The students can skip count but don’t know how to multiply.  The chart on pg 513 is a visual of how the student should be developing math skills.  But these kids like most are all over this page.  How do you know where to start to begin instruction for students?