Week Twelve

Week 12:

I officially started teaching this week! While not every lesson went as smoothly as hoped I was so pleased with the way it turned out. It has been quite the transition from fifth grade to transition. In fifth grade my lesson were fast paced, dynamic, and filled with “Why?” questions. In transition, my lessons are simple yet so important, slow paced, and filled with straight forward, “What?” questions. My transitioning adults are taught life skills, daily living skills, vocational skills, and social skills. The lessons, while still being academic, are geared to teach the students skills appropriate for transition.

My teacher and I taught a cooking lesson to the students. We made chocolate croissants. The students practiced making an easy snack individually. Teaching the students to make chocolate croissants is teaching them daily living skills. It’s a basic skill that the students can use in their daily lives. After making the croissants, students completed a comprehension check. This lesson partnered daily living with basic reading and comprehension. Teaching transition is all about preparing our students for life outside of school while still teaching them academic skills.

Illinois Professional Teaching Standard 2 says, “The competent teacher has in-depth understanding of content area knowledge that includes central concepts, methods of inquiry, structures of the disciplines, and content area literacy. The teacher creates meaningful learning experiences for each student based upon interactions among content area and pedagogical knowledge, and evidence-based practice.” Performance indicator 2N states that the competent teacher, “facilitates learning experiences that make connections to other content areas and to life experiences.” The most important thing that a Special Education Transition teacher needs to have is a knowledge of how to connect content area and academic content to daily living, social, and vocational skills. In my lesson planning, I have become better and better at making content appropriate for transitioning adults. For example, I taught a consumer math lesson about counting bills and buying items. The activity in the lesson was called, “What’s in my wallet?” Students were given a price for an item and had to count the amount of money in their wallet to determine if they had enough money to buy the item. This lesson used the basic skill of counting money and comparing quantities partnered with the life skill of purchasing items.

I begin full time teaching Monday! This coming week is jammed packed with valuable life skills and appropriate academic content. I am so excited to continue my growth and learning in Transition.

Classroom Confidential

Teaching requires teachers that are lifelong learners. Teaching is a profession that is constantly changing and evolving. Teachers need to be lifelong learners that are willing to change and evolve with its profession. There are dozens of reasons for a teacher to be a lifelong learner. Teachers touch so many generations during their time as a teacher. As we touch different generations we need to have the necessary skills and resources to teach each generation. Technology is always expanding. Teachers need to understand the technology students are interacting with daily to best connect with their students. Professional Development helps teachers stay current with practices and tools that they can utilize in their classrooms.