Scheduling

[Stepy67]

This is my first year teaching and I am having total trouble with scheduling ELL. I thought I had worked everything out but none of the teachers are happy with it (this is only at 2 of the schools at which I teach).

The problem is in the fact that I am only available to these students from 8am-11am. However, all of these students are in reading during this time (except for 30 minutes at the beginning and 30 mins at the end). The reading is supposed to be 2 hours of non-interrupted reading. Me taking the students out for ELL is considered interruptive. Another reason for their angst it that they would like really a double dose of intensive class for the students: the reading time and ELL time.

However, I have obligations to my other 5 schools and cannot switch my schedule around.

This is really frustrating me because it is already 2 weeks in to the school year, and I have only met with one class once!

Any suggestions? Or is there anyone in a similar situation?

[Sally Olsen]

I used to be in this position of coming into the school and taking children out of the classroom for special training. It depended a great deal on the teacher how this was received but I learned to go to all coffee breaks and lunch breaks in the school I was in at the time, joined the bowling teams and supported special days at the school by volunteering. The more I got to know the teachers, the better I was accepted and the easier it became to do what I was asssigned to do. I also talked a great deal to these teachers to sell them on the withdrawl program and its benefits. Not all children benefit of course but many of them like the fact that they are getting special attention. I made sure my programs were extremely supportive so that they wanted to come to see me and felt it was the best class of the day. Just having someone interested in them and believing in them was enough sometimes to motivate them to do better. I also talked about how to get along with the homeroom teacher and what they wanted and why and often the students had never considered their disruptive behaviour from the teacher's point of view even if it was just that they didn't know how to do something and took the teacher's time to explain again. We worked out ways for them to cope - getting peer tutors, smiling at the teachers, asking personal questions of the teacher when they came in the classroom to show interest and practical learning techniques. We worked out a system of them knowing when to leave the classroom so I didn't have to knock on the door and disrupt the class - that varied from setting the timers on their watches to having the "classroom teacher - always some student who wants to be teacher" give them a nudge. I trained them to get up quickly and quietly and to go back into the classroom the same so they caused the least amount of fuss. Try to find the positives of the teacher's teaching as well so they are not threatened by this situation if that is the case and build on the team spirit of teaching the child together and be sure to mention to the teacher's superiors how great you think they are and how supportive they are of the program.

[Senorita Daniels]

Sally- I liked your ideas about going to the coffee breaks and being involved in the school like any other teacher, but it sounds like Stepy67 doesn't have that luxery, if she's at seven schools every week. Would it be possible to have an ESL reading group for even one day a week for these kids? Then they wouldn't be going in and out of the room in the middle of class. they would have a full two hours in a reading class and getting the extra help they need. Or would the teachers want more than two hours of help a day and the district is too cheep to hire someone for more than two hours?

[Sally Olsen]

I was in 14 schools in one week so I think it is possible to spend time. Sometimes students are away so you can go into the staffroom and talk with the teachers who have spare periods, etc. Volunteer for something after school in one school a semester - something you would be doing if you had a full-time position in the school. Pick the schools you like the most, of course. I really think the whole value of the program is that the child is seen as getting help from an "expert". This takes the pressure off the teacher who is coping with these children with special needs. The teachers take the pressure off the students because they know the "expert" is coming to help them and that usually solves half the problem. Knowing that they have someone on their side who understands is another boost for the students. Find out their needs and do as much as you can to help them or get them more help. There are volunteers out in the community who can come in and read with them. There are retired teachers who will tutor them after school. Most of these students just need classroom information - what the teacher wants and how to give it to her. It is amazing how quickly they catch on if they are young and sometimes after only a year, they can cope in the regular classrooms. I guess that is why I favour this solution because I have seen students become good students in a very short time, dealing with normal curriculum. I have also seen students who were put in separate remedial programs come out of them with limited skills and very little self-confidence. I would look at the job as school-skills coach - how to find out how to learn and who will help you.