Parentella

This year, I have a good number students in the Resource Specialist Program (AKA special education kids) in my classes. I’ve had a few now and then in the past, but this year I have about a dozen. One of our school’s Resource teachers said he’d be in my classroom two full periods (I work at a middle school) of the day, and that an assistant would be there for others. OK, I thought, this would be interesting. I’m not used to having other adults in my classroom.

To my delight, this has been a fantastic experience. I’ve learned a few very interesting things thus far:

Resource teachers are a great (you guessed it!) resource. It’s not like having two teachers in the classroom–it is having two teachers. Watching the resource specalists work with my RSP students brought about two epiphanies: first: I was not well trained about dealing with RSP students, and second: rarely (I can’t even remember one) is there a professional development day with this as the topic. Oh, the things I could have done in the past if only I’d known.

I was surprised to hear the RSP teacher tell me what a relief it was for him to feel “wanted” in a classroom. I was shocked. He told me that most teachers consider RSP teachers a nuisance. I’m betting that some teachers simply don’t want to be watched, some feel inadequate about their abilities and fear being “told on,” and others feel like they know it all and don’t need the help. I don’t believe anybody knows it all, and in today’s climate of budget cuts and other blows to education, I’ll take whatever resources I can get.

This is the fifth week of school at my campus, and I must say, I’ve learned more in the last five weeks than I have in the last five years. Perhaps some teachers have valid reasons for online pharmacy not wanting others in their classrooms, but I cherish and am grateful for it. And most importantly, my students are better off from it.

image credit: http://www.visualphotos.com/photo/2×4525054/two_teachers_talking_to_each_other_in_classroom_bld006530.jpg

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Mr. Franklin has been teaching for the Los Angeles Unified School District for eleven years. He has won District and County Teacher of the Year awards, as well as the prestigious Bank of America Community Hero award. Before teaching, he spent five years at Learning Forum, which runs summer camps

world-wide that increase student academic potential.

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1. Communicating With Teachers: An Underutilized Parent Tool
2. End of Year Gift Ideas for Teachers
3. 3 Ways for Teachers to Get Organized Financially
4. Best Ways to Broach Difficult Topics with Teachers and Parents
5. The First Week of School for Teachers

Tags: mainstreaming special ed kids, Resource Specialist Program, resource teachers, RSP, special education

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 26th, 2010 at 12:01 am and is filed under Steve Franklin. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.