Third Entry-Consultation
Posted on February 13, 2008
After reading about consultation this week I have been really looking at my role as a special educator and/or consulting teacher in my school. If I am truly supposed to be delivering direct services to my students and consulting with teachers, how am I defined? I enjoy doing both; this is my job. As you can tell I am really frustrated as are the teachers I work with. I feel that there is not enough time in the day to really do both. The teachers who need my assistance in problem solving in their classroom find it nearly impossible to touch base with me because I am either delivering direct instruction or trying to de-escalate a student or meeting with teams. As Kampwirth said in our reading that the downfall of a resource/consulting teacher program model is "excessive caseloads, insufficient time to plan, and role confusion"(pg50). I am really loving this course right now because it is really making me reflect on my teaching philosophy. I maybe frustrated but I still know why I am in this profession-the kids. It makes me want to initiate a conversation with my colleagues on looking at how services are delivered in the classroom.
Comments
Rebecca,
Our special ed team has been having some of the same discussions- Are we primarily service providers or consulting teachers? I think that the more inclusive we are, the more the two roles can mesh. I think the answer lies somewhere in the strategy of co-teaching. But, I personally need more training with co-teaching, and the barrier of time to plan continues to be a problem.
Posted by: Erin at February 15, 2008 9:58 AM
I can empathize completely with feeling frustrated around pull-out and push in, collaboration, and everything else we need to do. I never feel that I do my job WELL, and for a perfectionist--this is VERy frustrating! :). How do your teachers express their frustration? Are they a part of the discussion in how services are delivered? What do the teachers 'prefer'?
Posted by: Cortney at February 16, 2008 10:47 AM
Tomorrow morning the special ed department at my school is meeting to discuss changes for next year. Some things stay the same, others change. Hopefully we just get better. The problem is that we have not had a voice in the changes. It will be interesting to see how well received they are.
Posted by: Nancy at February 17, 2008 8:39 PM
I, too, feel your same frustrations. Our caseloads are just too big to do everything well and I am not comfortable prioritizing as my sped director told me to do. Every child is important. Every team is important.
Posted by: Sara Airoldi at March 5, 2008 1:34 PM