It’s a tough time of year to feel good as a special education teacher. I always look with envy at the classrooms of math and science teachers who know what they’re doing for the next 6 months. Me, all I know is what’s been written in the student’s ed plans. I beat myself up for not having a teaching plan beyond the obligatory introductory lessons about classroom community, and principals frown when they look in my planner and see no lesson plans beyond week 1, but what else can I do? My job is to meet the students where they are, to teach them the next thing they need to know. I have no curriculum, save the mandate to get each one of my students ready for the real world. How do I know when they’re prepared? Preparedness is different things for different kids: for some, it’s being prepared for college; for some, it’s knowing how to balance a checkbook; for others, it’s being able to follow 3-step oral directions. And there’s bound to be one of each of those kinds of students in my classroom at one time; it’s an extremely lucky special ed teacher who has a class with like abilities. Try to imagine a math teacher who has to teach the concepts of multi-digit multiplication, fractions and algebra at the same time, and you get a picture of my curriculum.
So what do I do? I assess the kids’ abilities, and find some middle ground to start with: a theme of some sort to focus their attention. I give them each one of them specific skills to focus on, and I try to stay away from the front of the classroom: it’s their show, not mine.
Maybe I’ll figure out what I’m doing next week.
