Week+11+Experience


 * Nov. 8th, 2010 - Nov. 12th, 2010**

With each week that passes, I am feeling more at home in Mandy's classroom. I absolutely can not wait for the privilege of becoming a full-fledged teacher so that I can have students and a classroom of my very own.

One of my most favorite parts of my Internship experience so far has been taking part in the professional development in which Mandy and the other teachers are involved. Working together in groups called "Professional Learning Communities" or PLCs, us ESE department teachers meet once every week or so to discuss recent developments in teaching techniques, discoveries we've made related to the new curricular materials we're implementing, notes taken during PTA or other meetings we've attended...basically whatever we think is relevant to our little world of teaching at the moment!

The great thing is that these meetings have a real team-building kind of atmosphere. I love that I've been able to contribute ideas, ask questions, and voice my opinions about matters that are important to teaching right now - and I'm taken seriously even though I'm not yet a practicing teacher in the true sense of the words. I also like that I've been told that I bring a fresh perspective to the group, because the rest of the group has been teaching for upwards of five years at the least!

Of all the realizations that the PLC meetings have afforded me, one of the funniest is that even after all their years in the classroom, all four teachers admitted that one of their biggest struggles is effectively communicating with general education teachers, administration, and most importantly with parents of their students. After sharing personal examples, we talked about how we've each attempted to bridge the communication gap in the past and the level of success we thought those various methods yielded. Then, to my delight, it was unanimously decided upon that we should make this the topic of our next book study - learning skills and strategies for effective communication with parents, faculty, and staff of children with disabilities. After a brief search on Barnes & Noble.com, we were able to locate several promising books that Mr. Knoebel, our Principal, will look into for purchase. Super exciting!!!

While having all that fun during the PLC meetings, another thing to dawn on me was that teachers do so much more than just teaching. That might seem like an odd statement to make, but considering the topics we've covered and the purposes for which the meetings are held - we are some multi-tasking super heros over here! We're talking about department fund-raisers, school assemblies, conferencing with faculty and staff, meetings with parents, and the list just keeps going!!! thought to the amount of coordinated effort that goes into weaving the fabric of our school and classroom communities. Without taking to discuss, plan, and organize, our students would have no Fall festivals, book fairs, skating rink nights, or any of the other fun stuff that teachers might dream up.

My last note for the week is how sweet it was to see my students learning about freedom and patriotism this Veterans' Day. I was happy to see the school call a special assembly in honor of this holiday. It was worth taking time out of our busy schedules to pay tribute to the men and women who would lay down their lives for our great country!

   