Meet Jaden M.

Room 206 is full of character and personality. Over the course of this year I will probably spend at least a few entries focusing just on one student at a time. Today, I’d like to talk about Jaden M. Jaden is the kind of kid who confuses most teachers. He can be very kind, considerate and gentle at times. I’ve noticed this past week that he has taken one of the shy and quiet kids, Shamin, under his wing (often offering his snack to him when Shamin doesn’t have one and helping him hang up his back pack in the closet when he can’t reach his rung). Yet at other times Jaden can be incredibly difficult. He often turns small problems into big ones, refuses to do the independent work he is supposed to do and occasionally resorts to giving me a defiant glare that says “I’m not going to do anything you say, so what are you going to do about it?” This week, however, I think I may have found something I can use to connect with him: Pokemon.

Jaden is absolutely obsessed with Pokemon. Everything he draws, writes, reads and talks to me about has to do with Pikachus, Bubasoars and Squirtles. His favorite Pokemon is Charizard, but he also seems to like Snorlax quite a bit. This past week, while Jaden was waiting for his father to come pick him up after school, he asked me, “Mr. Miller, what’s your favorite Pokemon?” Now I have to admit that when I was younger, I, along with millions of other little kids, jumped on the Pokemon bandwagon. I played the video games and collected the cards for a few months of my elementary school days, but that was over ten years ago. (Side note: isn’t it crazy that Pokemon is still around and popular years later). I can barely remember anything about the game.

Digging deep down into my memory, I said, “Hmm...I think my favorite Pokemon is Jigglypuff.” For a split second, I was scared that I had chosen a Teletubby instead of a Pokemon. But I was soon relieved when a huge smile spread across his face. He was elated that I liked Jigglypuff—it was in his top 10 most favorite Pokemon. The next day after school, Jaden presented me with a large drawing. Amid the clutter of the stick-figures and dialogue boxes I could make out a tall figure that was labeled Mr. Miller and another round figure labeled Jigglypuff. Even though, I had no idea what was going in the scene, I acted very excited and thanked Jaden for the present and told him that I was really happy that we was sharing his Pokemon stories with me. I think that simple acknowledgement and indication that I was interested and excited in something that he is really passionate about has helped me to connect better with Jaden. He seems happier during my mini-lessons and has even volunteered in class. I think the key with Jaden is to continue to show interest in things that he likes. And with that, I think it might be time to whip out the gameboy and do some comic book reading so I’m prepared for Monday.   

The C in CTT

At Voice Charter School, my 3^rd grade class is the only class that is taught using the Collaborative Team Teaching (CTT) model. When Mr. Headley, the principal at our school, notified me the weekend before the first day of school that I would be co-teaching with another first year teacher, I really didn’t know what to expect. I was originally going to be the special education intervention teacher for the entire 3^rd grade, splitting my time in both classrooms using push in/pull out strategies. With this new appointment I was to be the designated special education teacher in a single classroom—spending all my time with my 30 students. A third of these students have special needs and a high number have had to repeat a grade.

 

CTT classrooms are often created to strengthen the educational experience of students and provide a lower student to teacher ratio. This is particular true when there is a high quantity of students with special needs. In my classroom, certain students have IEPs that require them to be in a CTT classroom to receive certain services. This can be due to academic needs or behavioral needs. With two teachers, in the classroom the students definitely have more instruction and more help. Nonetheless, collaboration is really key and it can be challenging at times.

My co-teacher is a really great guy and has a hard-working but fun person to be around. We have somewhat different philosophies on teaching but have so far been able to communicate pretty effectively and compromise when needed. As with any relationship, however, we still have a lot to learn from one-another and a long way to go before we reach a point where we are maximizing our effectiveness. This was something our school principal mentioned in a recent meeting and something we have made a conscious effort to improve. 

  

I think one of the most important things the two of us have to figure out right now is how to manage the other adults who frequent our classroom throughout the day. On any given day we usually have an additional 3 adults come in. One of our students, Sarobi, has a para-professional who is with the student the whole day. We also have an assistant who is with us for much of the day. In addition, every so often we have another assistant who comes in to provide additional support. Because it is so early in the year, and we are focusing so much of our time on the students that we haven’t had much time to think about the adults who are there to support our students. I think that with some brainstorming and planning we will be able to collaborate and better use the team we have around us to help our students reach their goals.