Will This Be On The Test?

In the last two years as a special education teacher, it seems that my classroom is simply meant for testing and data collection.  Since most my students have disabilities in reading, written expression, and math reasoning, I am required to determine their present levels of academic achievement at the beginning of the school year and to do weekly testing to show progress throughout the school year.   This is an understandable request, but sometimes it seems impossible to accomplish any teaching!  I do not feel like a teacher at all these days. My students are included for all subjects except math and therefore, my time with them is often spent trying to help them complete assignments, projects, and play catch up on what they cannot keep up with in the regular education environment.  I am all for high expectations and I believe that the students need to be immersed in an environment that is full of higher level concepts, but I feel like I never have a moment to even get to know my students as individuals and to help them become individuals.  I feel like my job is to make sure they pass their classes, not to help them learn strategies to become self-advocates, self-assessors, self-moderators.   I also happen to teach junior high students in their first year in the high school building. They need guidance, nurturing, and understanding as they go through a huge transition into young adulthood. I am no longer able to take on those issues.  I want them to feel successful in school and to keep them interested in coming to school despite the fact they have a disability and do not feel they fit in.  How is the data going to do that for me?

Change, I mean. It is not physically painful, only frustrating at times. So, here is my question? Why do you think some people resist change so strongly? As educators, we had to change at some point. We all went to college and learned new things on a daily basis. So, now as teacher, what is the big deal?

Many of us would like to go out and get a new car (when we can afford it) with more features than our last one. My first car didn’t even have a radio. I graduated to a cassette player/radio, then a 5 CD changer, and now I even have satellite radio. We learn how to use new gadgets for ourselves, why can’t we learn to use new gadgets and technology for our classrooms?

My point it, technology is advancing so fast and our students with their ever changing brains are keeping up, why can’t we?  I really am a strong believer that in order to reach someone we need to “walk a mile in their shoes”.  David Warlick wrote in his blog, “students won’t learn something because we tell them to. ” They learn because they want to.

My goal is to learn more about technology in the classroom so that I can show others what the possibilities are.  I started blogging with my learning support students last year and was the first in my district to do so.  This year,  I now have the whole grade blogging for language arts class. I will be helping another high school teacher set up her blog and there are a couple grades in the elementary now blogging.  There are many teachers in my building that are still resistant despite my efforts and suggestions. 

My hope is that I can use this site to gain feedback, suggestions, and perhaps a little encouragement in order to learn more about technology in the classroom. I will share what I learn and perhaps others will share with me.