Evolution of the co-teaching relationship!

Welcome 2009-2010 school year!! However, it is the beginning of November and I am just beginning to post to my blog. Sorry about the late updates but school has really kept me quite busy this year.
I will admit that co-teaching in the 3rd grade this year was approached with a lot of anxiety. Let's face it...change is hard and often not welcome. Now, that we have gotten into a routine, I am much more optimistic about my ability in my role as a co-teacher in the 3rd grade classroom.
The teacher and I have now begun getting to know each other and feel more comfortable with our role as co-teachers. I am excited about how we are sharing ideas for the classroom and how we are sharing opinions about how we are presenting lessons, setting up the classroom and just listening to each others ideas. I realize this is an evolving process that may change from one day to another but it does morph into it's own entity. We are in this process and it is pretty cool to see the results. My hearing impaired students love being in the class and do not like to be pulled out of the regular education class. They are learning a lot in the general curriculum class , have made friends, and are totally accepted the same as any child in the the classroom.
Accepting diversity...it's wonderful to experience!!!!!
Next up...PHOTOS..stay tuned!

School time???

School begins next week and I am anticipating a very busy and very different year. I will be co-teaching in the 3rd grade. I have never had 3rd graders before and I think I will be learning a lot of new signs this year. I am excited that the D/HH program at Key has met several times this summer and have developed some great strategies to better teach our students in regular ed. and in pull out classes. This too will be quiet exciting as we embark on our new adventure...a "vocabulary" adventure so to speak. It's all about teaching as much vocabulary as possible and continue to work on phonics skills as well as everything else. I feel like I have so much to teach with so little time. I am hoping that one of our new strategies will also produces good results in order to get the parents more involved in their children's education. All of this will be a challenged and it may take a while for all of us to implement these changes smoothly...never effortlessly. What a wonderful group of co-workers..I am lucky to work with them to agree to all take time to meet. Off to a new year we go!

Wonderings and Wanderings

It is officially July. My mind is beginning to wander to the possibilities of the next school year. I have a lot to think about as I have taken on the position of lead special ed. teacher. Totally scared to death about this as it seems to be more of a pain and to take away from valuable teaching time. I have decided I am going to have control of my life and if this is not for me then I will drop it. Sorry for those that may not like this but I didn't opt for this position ...in other words..I didn't want this. The important stuff is the teaching and that will come first and that is that. I have more to say about that area later. Happy July 4th everyone!!

Interpreters change

School is out but not without a sad note. The school system is moving our signing techs and interpreters around and I will be working next year for the first time ever, without my friend, soul mate, and co-worker. We have been together for 15 years and this is going to be a difficult change for all of us. To those that work with my friend next year, you are very lucky but I will miss her more than words can say. We don't know the plans that are our futures hold and we can only go on faith that there is a reason. This entry is dedicated to Mrs. Ramey. I will miss you!!!!

Schools out!!

School is out but that doesn't mean I will stop blogging. After a brief rest, I am sure I will be back on the internet looking at web sites. I have a lot of sites marked in my favs and on our wiki that I will have the time to become more familiar with. I am excited about how our hearing impaired department has started our own book study this year and how we are working together to ensure we are all working together. We have lots of cohesiveness when it comes to teaching such things as academic vocabulary and functional vocabulary, phonics and language arts.
Also, I have to say how proud I am of all the students this year. They have worked sooo hard and I think they all learned a lot this year! I think we all earned a well deserved break!! Happy summer, happy blogging and enjoy!

Deaf and Hearing- Music of the heart!

We celebrate the end of the year with some fun. Lots of pizza, chips and drinks to eat and then..we dance for joy!! Doesn't matter if you hear the music physically....you can hear it with your heart! We all danced together and had a great time...we are all unique and we are all equal today!

Awards Day at Key Elementary

Finally, after a year of hard work and play, the students are standing proud as Life Long Learners! I felt a little like the Mama bird watching her babies learn to fly...it's time to fly alone..they just needed a little nudge! I watch the students, both hearing and deaf, proudly accept their awards and realize this is what co-teachers do when it works! To have both teachers become part of all of these students education is what co-teaching is about. Mrs. Denham knows the hearing impaired students almost as well as I do and I know her students as well. As the year progressed, the hearing students learn a lot of signs. Often they use them even when not talking with the one of the hearing impaired students...cool huh??? This is just part of my emotional end of the year separation anxiety felt by the mother bird in the co-teaching nest of learning!

Memories of First Grade

Today we listened to a story about memories. We discussed what we think memories are and then we made a class list of things that we remembered about first grade. We shared our memories and then we each picked our favorite memory to draw a picture about. Tomorrow we will write about our memory. We will have some reflection time on what some of us wrote. It may be the last week of school but we still have time for writing.

Writing Using Schema

Writing

For writing on Thursday, my students just couldn't seem to muster up a topic. Yes, we have worked on writing all year and we are tired. What could be motivation for writing today???Reflecting on schema and what they knew, it hit me! One of my students lost her first front tooth. (She is now known as snag). What better schema so off to writing , drawing pics, labeling we go! They are all on different levels so writing for each child is different so I got out all of my writing hats and switched as needed from writing a story to only drawing a picture and labeling. They all made connections and had fun with Snag during writing time as well.

Co-teachers exhale

Co-teaching...ya gotta love it!!! Lori and I had a wonderful year..I believe that our students have, if nothing else, grown in maturity and learned to accept the diversity of children that are unique and that they grow friendships with these students that remain for years to come. I believe that we as a class (or family of sorts) celebrate small victories and cheer on those that strive for simple successes. Let give a big Hurrah!! for a great year!

Sliding into the last week of school

We made it..we are sliding into the last week of school!!! I don't know who is ready for school to end more...the kids or the teachers. We have a full week coming up and then Friday is the last day of school for the 2008-2009 school year. I think it has been a great year....but let's all get some much needed rest during the summer.

Field Day

Today was field day at Key. We had a great time...I am exhausted. The rain held off and it was overcast, which was good because it was MUGGY!!!! Kids played lots of games and ate lots of candy and all in all it was a good day at Key.

Downhill

OK...I am counting down the days to the end of school. We are on the downhill slide and things will come furious and fast. Let's hang on for the ride and celebrate at the end.

Nature Walk

I went on an adventure to Oxbow Meadows on a nature walk. We saw lots of nature...mostly in the form of plants upclose with some far off birds and turtles.. Lovely day for sunning on a log...the turtles..not me!

Welcome

Welcome to my blog! I hope this will become a useful tool for sharing our daily adventures in the world of

co-teaching with my elementary deaf/hard of hearing students and regular education students.