I’m usually a special education teacher in a public high school – and I am the district vision teacher (TVI) as well. Being a generic special education teacher, the administrators have the freedom to move me around as best meets their needs. Thus, I’ve been an English teacher and an Earth Science teacher in the past 2 years.
I need to find a way to connect with my students. They’re teenagers… I’m ancient in their eyes. They don’t “want” to learn English… and could care less about appropriate punctuation in a written paragraph. Why should they? can’t ya c that email lingo is the best 4 u? However, NLCB and high stakes testing require that they achieve a predetermined set of skills and knowledge. Tying these opposites together is our challenge.
I like to use movies as motivators, and take it from there. They get to see the movie, and we deal with comprehension and written expression by doing some of the activities that are available on this website. We participate in trivia contests… match photos… write a movie review, do a character study, write a poem… etc. Kids love movies. They think they’re “getting out of doing work” but if you play your cards right, they learn before they realize that it’s educational.
One of the highlights of my English year was our unit on the play, The Miracle Worker. They balked verbally when I told them that we HAD to read a play. Nevertheless, we read/acted this play, act by act. I showed them the movie, act by act…. and I watched their amazed faces during the 8-minute “dining room table scene” when they realized how much communication was happening without a word being spoken. In fact, they watched (their request) that scene 3 times.
We did other activities that I found on this website. They researched sign language and braille (of course!). They “interviewed” classmates for the position as Helen’s teacher. They ate a snack (food is a wonderful motivator in any classroom!) without sight.
You can find vocabulary activities, thematic units, links to famous actors/actresses (another favorite activity… writing to a favorite actor/actress and asking for a signed photo), trivia, reviews, etc. Even if you can’t use it all, it’s a wonderful jumping off place for your own creativity in designing experiences that are educationally relevant for your students.
7 responses so far ↓
1
Vivian Seki
// Aug 31, 2005 at 8:02 pm
Hello Sheila,
I’ve heard about you through Susan Fisher, a long time friend and colleague. She said that if I ran into you, to say hi on her behalf. And by the way, hi on my behalf. I used to work with Susan at Hadley. I was the braille transcribing and technology guru there for 12 years before I ran back to Texas to try my hand at coordinating the Braille Textbook Transcriber program.
I’ve been a fan of IMDB for a long time. But I had not visited the site for a while. I always considered it a great reference, but I never looked at it as an educational tool. I was amazed to see how much information and educational tools are there now.
I think your review was informative and accurate. I would have liked specific links to some of your favorite parts within the site: activities, games, trivia, etc. Thanks for posting it.
Vivian
2
Administrator
// Sep 1, 2005 at 3:13 am
Vivian – thank you for a wonderful suggestion!
I did the play The Miracle Worker with my 10th grade SPED (self-contained) English students. Here are some of the specific links I used:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056241/quotes for some really neat quotes from the movie.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056241/photogallery for photos… I had them write captions!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056241/keywordsI used the plot keywords as vocabulary words, and also to discuss the meaning of plot (as opposed to summary)
I enjoy *not* having to reinvent the wheel.
Susan has been a delightful friend and colleague. In fact, she is probably dealing with half of my Nemeth students in her abacus course.
I’ve been following the Northwest Vista College program with much pride… congratulations to all of you for your efforts in making this a viable career.
3
Administrator
// Sep 1, 2005 at 3:14 am
oops… forgot the space… use this link for keywords.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056241/keywords
4
Ann Sebald
// Sep 1, 2005 at 2:34 pm
Sheila, before I comment on your websites, I have to ask you what your opinion is regarding Highly Qualified teachers? In seeing that your administrator has moved you around and asked you to fill the shoes of both an English Teacher as well as an Earth Science teacher, do you feel that you are “highly qualified” for each of these roles? (I don’t want to sound accusatory – just very curious!)
5
Ann Sebald
// Sep 1, 2005 at 2:36 pm
Sheila, it seems that you have captured the art of teaching. A teacher can take any medium and turn it into a teachable moment(s), if they know what they are doing. This is something that cannot be tested!! Way to go!
6
Administrator
// Sep 2, 2005 at 3:32 am
Oops… I inadvertently responded to Ann via the email message and see that it didn’t get up to my blog… so let me cut and paste it below.
Hi, Ann – that’s a really interesting question! I think that the term
“highly qualified teacher” is a definition contrived to serve a paperwork
purpose. It’s for accountability purposes, and not necessarily tied in to
outcomes. This is one of my gripes with my school district… and by the
way, THIS year, in addition to teaching the district’s low vision kids, I’m
teaching one section of ASL, and THEN… the rest of my day will be 1st and
2nd grade resource room. I’ll be as happy as I make up my mind to be, but
mind you – I’ve been a high school teacher for 34 years. Ah, I can do
anything I need to do for one year. But… am I highly qualified? well… it
depends on how you are defining this term. According to NYS, I have the
allmighty piece of paper that says I can teach special education to children
in grades k-12. I’ve never done gr. 1/2 before… but I’ve got a positive
attitude, I love kids, I love a challenge, I have developed, over the years,
a personal and professional network of support, I love to learn, I’m a good
listener, and I’m willing to try. When I don’t know the answer to something,
I sure do know where to turn to find it. Someplace along the line, pedagogy
and theory have to find a happy meeting ground.
Yeah, I think I’m going to jump in and say that I am highly qualified…
just not yet experienced (with grades 1/2). My heart tells me I’m a teacher.
Most of the time, my head agrees.
Sheila
7
Administrator
// Sep 2, 2005 at 3:34 am
Okay… cutting and pasting response to Anne’s #5…
Some days – and some things – work better than others. Some have been
downright inspiring, and some… well, I should have stayed under the
covers.
I love what I am doing… even when I mess up, I learn something new. There
are many ways to enable and empower students to be successful. Once they
taste success… they want to eat more. If I can get them to buy in…
nothing can stop us.
One of my most memorable units was the time we tapped maple trees on the
school property. We had to drill the holes, make the spiles (tubes from
sumac), gather the sap… get the volume… mass… calculate the density…
then boil it to a 1:6 ratio to render maple syrup… and then make pancakes
and have a pancake breakfast. I’ve lost much in the quick translation, but
we had a fabulous 2 weeks, and were the envy of the school.
I’ve got many such memories… it’s been a great run.