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Welcome to Teachers At Risk
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Children's Mental Health Ontario
International Edubloggers Directory
The Learning Disabilities Association of Canada
Aug
21
I’d almost finished teaching the lesson when she blurted out, “Miss, are you going to be a real teacher next year?” That stopped me in my tracks! Am I going to be a real teacher next year? What was she talking about? I am a real teacher. I’m a Learning Strategies teacher. I’m a Student Success teacher. I’m her teacher. What was she talking about? I wasn’t sure what she meant. I told her that I was a real teacher. Now she was puzzled and said, “You know, a real teacher like a math or English teacher”. I thought about what she had said for a moment, and then her statement made sense. Of course!
I’m a Learning Strategies teacher. I’m a Student Success teacher. What kind of subject is learning strategies or student success? Often kids don’t even know that there’s such a thing as a Learning Strategies course, until they’re sitting in front of me. They know about math, English, history, geography, science- but Learning Strategies. What is that? Well, it’s about learning styles, about multiples intelligences, about characteristics of successful people, about metacognitive reading strategies, about self advocacy skills, about dealing with difficult people as well as other things more traditional things like study skills, writing tests and organizing notebooks. It’s about a lot of things.
More or less, a learning strategies class is a class that supports students who have difficulty with certain aspects of learning. Usually, but not always, these students have been identified as having a learning disability of some sort and have an Individual Education Plan, or I.E.P. that outlines their strengths, needs and the accommodations teachers need to make so that the students can be as successful as possible. The students in the learning strategies class have average or above average intelligence but find school a struggle because of the way their brain is wired. (Mel Levine in his book A Mind at a Time explains this extremely well.)
One of my responsibilities is to create the Individual Education Plan using my expertise as a Special Education Specialist and the feedback I get from the students themselves, their parents, teachers and other interested parties. After creating the I.E.P., I share it with the student, the student’s parents and the student’s teachers. Then, I monitor the student’s progress throughout the semester by getting feedback from the students and their teachers hoping to nip any problems in the bud. At the end of the semester, I complete an I.E.P. Progress Report that is sent home to parents or guardians.
I’d like to think that with all the support learning disabled students are entitled to, they would do well in school. I’d like to think that, but remember I used to be naive. I’m not naive anymore-well maybe a bit too optimistic. Like I tell my students: students are human beings first and students secondly; teachers are human beings first and teachers secondly- me included. Some students buy into the program; some don’t. Some teachers buy into the program; some don’t. What can I say? I just keep being a real teacher and hope for the best.
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2 Responses to “Miss, Are you Going to Be a Real Teacher Next Year?”
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I think that’s a wonderful program. Over here in Singapore, only the top schools are teaching accelerated learning strategies like mindmapping and memory techniques. The paradox is that these are the best students in the country who don’t need these skills!
I’m a firm believer in the multiple intelligences theory, unfortunately the school systems only reward a few of these intelligences. I’m quite happy to hear that there are programs out there that teach learning and success strategies to the kids that need them more.
I pleased to say that my school board, the Peel Board of Education, is asking its teacher to embed these learning strategies in all subjects, in all grades. The Board has devoted a lot of time and resources to professional development. It’s very exciting to work in such an environment.