Field Experience:

Mary Jane Finnigan – Rancho Pico Junior High School – 7^th grade Life Science – Special Day Class (SC1 – Resource)

Introduction:

This past school year, I have been teaching seventh grade science at Rancho Pico Junior High as a long term substitute for a teacher who went on maternity leave at the beginning of September. The team that I am teaching on is a general education team that has resource students. This means that we have a number of students who have Individual Education Plans (IEPs) that we have to address. Mary Jane Finnigan is the resource teacher who is assigned to work with our team and is the case manager for those students with IEPs. She also teaches science as well as several “learning strategies” classes that allow students to stay caught up on all their work.

Mary Jane has a visiting period in which she comes and sees what we are doing in all of the general education classes. This allows her to help students during learning strategies. She spends almost her entire visiting period with me since we teach the same subject and she has also been extremely helpful in providing assistance for lesson plans, as well as classroom management. She has been my biggest supporter and champion this year and helped me through a few difficult situations. I thought that it would be interesting to observe her for a change and interview her regarding needs of students since we had broached the subject quite a few times this year but never really had the opportunity to talk about it in length.

Interview:

1. How important is it for students to have their basic needs met in order to be successful in school? Why do you think so?
   • Mary Jane’s immediate answer to this question was “Is there a 10?” She said that if there was a scale of 1-10 on how important needs being met is, it would definitely be a ten out of ten. She said that their needs being met were especially important for students in special education because if their needs were not met then the student can easily be distracted and not able to focus on learning or the purpose of school. If they do not get sleep or eat then they are truly unable to function or focus on what needs to be done at school.
2. Which needs are most important to have satisfied so students can thrive in school? Why?
   • Students need to feel comfortable in school. They should not have to be nervous about their experience. Especially students who have Learning Disabilities. Those students already can feel like they are behind and if they are uncomfortable in their learning environment then they will not be successful academically. Students at the junior high age are starting to observe the differences between themselves and other students and if they are feeling different or seeing how much harder school is for them than others, this will prevent them from being able to focus on their academics. Making sure that they are feeling comfortable and safe can make this easier for them.
3. Who is responsible for ensuring that students have their needs met? Why do you think so?
   • For the most part, parents are responsible for a student’s basic needs. That is mostly because the parent knows the child best and has the most opportunities to provide for them.
   • This however does not mean that teachers cannot help. Sometimes if there is a student who does not have money for a field trip then we will provide that for them so that they can participate. Another example of providing at school would be setting up referrals for students to have their vision checked and then offering them inexpensive and sometimes free options for obtaining glasses. Also, there is a box of clothes that are kept in the classroom that Mary Jane will sometimes offer a student to look through if it seems they may be in need of something. Lastly, at our school we have an advisory period every day where it is basically treated as home room. There have been times when our advisory classes have adopted a family for the holidays and provided gifts and other essentials for that family who may be going through a difficult time.
4. What is one thing a teacher might do for a student who has physiological or safety needs? Why would this be useful?
   • Always having the type of relationship with the students where they know that you can have an open conversation about anything that they are going through. Letting the kids know that they can come to you with anything. This means that you have to build that trust with the students from the start. This is useful because then the students will be willing to come to you when it is a serious situation or a need arises. With special education it is really like a big team of people all working together to make sure that the resources are there for the students when they need it.
5. Ensuring safety needs are met and making sure students are ready to learn involves classroom management. What are three things you do to manage your classroom?
   • Mary Jane’s joking response to this was to “instill fear.” After laughing about it together she talked about how a lot of teachers think that that is the best way to handle a classroom. While it can work for some, it is not necessarily always the most beneficial for a lot of students. She talked about how students would be more likely to trust you if they respected you and did not just fear you. Earning respect can be more rewarding than just having a huge group of kids who fear you.
   • She said to gain the students’ trust. Build a relationship with them. This might mean that you listen to their stories that they want to tell you about their video games. She talked about how she has a few boys that will be super excited about something that happened in their game and she will say things like, “Oh what happened?” This shows them that you care, even if you really do not have any idea what they are truly talking about. She said she makes it clear to the kids that she is not their friend but that she does want a real relationship with them.
   • Most importantly she said that from the beginning of the year, make clear lines of what is acceptable. Set the standard of behavior from the beginning and do not budge. But she also said you have to “choose what you’re going to ‘die on the hill with.’” This means that you have to decide what is truly important to you and what you are willing to spend your time on ensuring that the kids follow through on. She also said that setting clear lines from the beginning gives you the ability or opportunity to control what is happening in your classroom. This is especially important when working with children who have special needs.
6. How do you decide what rules and routines to employ?
   • Every school year is different and the students you have are going to react to different things in various ways. So, organization is key. Have your students understand where everything is in the classroom and they will not feel lost or confused about that aspect of their learning experience.
   • Set routines. Tell the kids how you are going to run the classroom. Whether that means starting every day with a warm up and then wrapping up the day with an exit ticket. Make those things known from the beginning. Having that structure will make the rest of everything fall together more easily.
   • Mary Jane says that she also has found it very useful to give the students a little briefing at the beginning of each class. I have actually started incorporating this into my daily routines at school since we talked about it back in the fall. She says she finds that the students are able to stay on task better if they have a feeling for how the day is going to pan out. Give them a brief explanation of what they can expect for the day and then you can take one thing at a time. This will mean that the students are not ready to pack up and go before it is time because they will know that they have other things to do. It also lets them be aware that there is an end in sight when they know what to expect out of their day.
7. Do these fit for students who have a behavior intervention plan? How do you assess progress? What do you do for students from different cultures?
   • Even more so than other students, kids who have a tendency to act our need the structure and the organization. If you have too much then they may get bored and rebel against that. You have to have a balance.
   • As far as cultures, Mary Jane is from Spain and actually plans on retiring back there one day. She says she loves to share stories of her culture and hear the stories of the other students’ cultures as well. Especially since we have a very diverse population to begin with. She says that talking about their food differences is always fun. She said it is important to always stay positive when talking about different cultures and foods. Do not talk about how gross some of their traditions may be. Always discuss how neat it is. This makes the student feel like you really care.
8. How do you organize your classroom / educational environment to support classroom management?
   • There is always clear placement for all the supplies. These things are also clearly labeled for the kids to know where they are. Mary Jane has all her drawers and cabinets labeled with each class and what they need. This means that the students always know where their supplies for class are. She also has baskets at the front of the classroom labeled for homework, classroom work, etc. so that the kids know where all their papers go.
   • Her board in her classroom has a grid with clearly labeled directions or plans for the day with expectations for homework, etc.
9. With classroom management in mind, what advice would you give me regarding how to establish good classroom management in my first class?
   • With big classes, be sure to always be scanning. Looking around and noticing who is paying attention, who is falling asleep, who looks lost. Then address these issues as they come.
   • Constantly ask yourself “What’s working?” This will allow you to be willing to make changes when you realize that there may be things that are not working. A willingness to be flexible will ensure that every year your students are being reached because you will have different students each year.
   • Make your classroom your own. Just because one thing works for another teacher does not mean that it will work for you. You know what is important to you more than anyone else and you cannot let another teacher tell you that you have to do it a specific way. (Obviously within reason)
10. How do you incorporate UDL in your classroom?
    • Teaching in all modalities.
    • Cut things or rearrange the order of material from the curriculum for the special education classes. Make sure that the material will make sense for my specific students.
    • Constantly highlighting things with the students. If we do something important in class, let them know its importance and make them aware of the fact that we will come back to it.

Reflection and Summary:

Some of the things that Mary Jane and I talked about during this interview had been things that we had previously discussed. One of my most prominent needs this year has been working on my classroom management. She has been there with me through this whole journey and I have always found her tips to be extremely on point and useful for me. Since the teacher that I have been working for this year has been gone for so long, I have definitely had to step up and make this classroom my own. The teacher wanted to make sure that the classroom was really run the way that she personally had it set up. However, being there for six months, Mary Jane and I started to notice that some of her practices work for her because of her difference in personality. This was not necessarily possible for me to help the kids achieve their highest potential while also trying to run my room like another teacher. I remember Mary Jane saying to me over and over to “make it my own. Take ownership of my classroom.” This has been so helpful for me this year and really boosted my confidence. She has always encouraged my ideas that I have and told me that if I feel like something will work then try it. Then if it does not work, change it back. We actually did this in my classroom by changing up my desks a few time. Giving the students different ways and opportunities to work together allowed me to see how they learn best. Some of the ideas work. Some of them did not work. During this interview, hearing Mary Jane remind me to ask myself “What’s working?” gave me the confidence to decide to change it up again and try a different way. She encouraged me that it took her a few years of teaching to really feel like she had a handle on classroom management and it was reassuring that it was something that came with practice.

As I am spending more time in the classroom, I am seeing that there are several different kinds of teachers. There are teachers who come to school to do a job and get a pay check. However, there are other teachers who work to inspire their kids and make a difference, no matter how small, in their lives. Talking with Mary Jane, it was clear to me that she and I are both very similar in our heart and desire for the students. It was encouraging to see that there are other teachers out there who see the needs that these students have and know that we are not just expecting them to learn something and move on. Talking with her definitely encouraged me to keep this spirit in mind and not to let the politics of the job or even drama with other teachers get in the way of what I am really setting out to do.