Thursday, June 9, 2011
Motivation
The word motivation is really the one-word reason that I am now working on my reading certification. I teach Special Education English Lit. classes at Cass High School. I have grown increasingly frustrated with not being able to help my students ENOUGH. I can teach them the literary concepts. I can help them write better essays. I can build strong, supportive relationships with them and give them a safe haven to spend an hour each day. What I have not been able to do is teach them to become better readers. By the time they enter the 9th grade, if their reading skills are weak, most of them have given up. The most difficult part of my job is trying to convince them that improving their reading skills is worthwhile. They don't see any enjoyment in reading, it is just a waste of time in their opinion. Most of the time, their parents don't think it's all that important either. It is sad to me that they are missing out on something that is a vital part of life. To be honest, it is also scary. Teachers are increasingly held accountable for their students test scores. If my students shut down on a test and "Christmas tree" the answers, or if they simply lack the reading skills to comprehend the passages, that reflects on me. It doesn't matter that I am supposed to be an English teacher or that I have followed all the Special Education rules to a tee--the test scores make it look like I have failed them, and I feel like I have failed them. My sincere hope is that I can build my arsenal of teaching tools with this endorsement. I want to help my students become better readers and become more confident learners.
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The week before the TEST always left me headachy and sick. Finally one night I realized that what mattered was that I had done my best to teach my students. I still feel they didn't Christmas Tree it was because I asked them not to. Our mutual trust often made my scores look better than they should have, given the abilities of the students. One thing that helped was the establishment (informal) of a support team of teachers and the creation of a safety zone for the students in the school. The spec ed teacher, reading specialist, resource teacher, and slp worked to help the students complete major assignments as a group. Ie, they might start in spec ed, continue in reading, attend a regular class or two, go to speech and keep working, and finish the day in resource. If there was trouble in a class, they went directly to one of us, not the office. It happened that my room was across from the bathrooms, so they used those to keep out of trouble and on schedule. One teacher took responsibility for each student's locker organazition. I served coffee and the paper every am before school. It wasa the team approach that worked. We liked it and so did the kids.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we could try this at Cass? I think Jessica would be inclined to agree. She already has a rapport with some of these students---it's just so frustrating especially when students are not identified as having special needs. I am hopeful that we can start by getting reading levels of students.
ReplyDeleteIt is great if you can work in an environment where all teachers work together to help the students become better readers. At Woodland Middle School, we now have two teachers who support our reading efforts. One teacher will test our students who have low lexile levels. If she can diagnose a specific problem that she can address, the student will be taken out of my reading class and placed into her remedial class. If the student does not qualify for the remedial class, my assistant principal will try to place this student in an extra connections class called Read 180. The young teacher in that class truly motivates our struggling students with this innovative computer program.
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