Resource Room grades 3 - 5

[New Teacher needs help]

I will be starting a new job in a couple of weeks - - running a resource room. This is my first teaching job. Does any one have any hints or tips for starting the new year.

Thanks

[Jenny]

Get your room ready and start planning right away. Also prepare a lot of filler activities, in case you get a high learner in with a bunch of low learners.

You will also have to go out of your way to make friends with all of the kids teachers ASAP. They will be your biggest savior and worst enemy. That's the breaks with resource. Try to include them in your planning. Some will like it and work hard with you, others won't take any time at all with you.

Much Luck!

Jen

[millie]

Thank you Jenny for the advice. The school I am going to has a great reputation, but it is hard starting as the new guy. I am a friendly person anyway - - but now I know that I need to be extra nice.

If you have any other tips for starting out - - please share.

Millie

[joy]

Hi Millie,

I am a new teacher too, and have been teaching seven days. I teach 5th grade. You have probably started school by now, but so far I have learned that at first you MUST teach rules and procedures, or you will not be able to teach anything else. I was surprised with 5th graders that we had to practice procedures such as pencil sharpening, going to the restroom, lining up, etc.

Also have your lesson plans well thought out. Trying to do anything with a room full of kids is a disaster if your plan is not carefully constructed and every step of it taken care of.

Good luck.

[Unregistered]

Hello,

This will be my 4th year teaching, and when I first started, I found that "The First Days of School" by Harry Wong was a great help. There is a fantastic section in there about rules and procedures that is a must read for any new teacher.

Good luck with your new career!

[Unregistered]

Millie -
I have been a special ed. resource teacher for 6 years now. I've found many things that have worked and many things that don't work. My favorites:
1. Emphasize to your students that you and their classroom teacher work VERY closely and discuss the students you share daily (even if you don't). Mine know the moment something happens I will find out and then we discuss what they could do differently or what they did right.
2. I've found sending a "Student Profile" sheet for the parents or guardian to fill out helps me "see" what the parents see at home. They answer questions like student strengths, areas of concerns, supports their child needs, names and ages of siblings, and their long-term and short-term dreams for their child. I include questions from summer break as well as phone numbers for reminders, IEP meetings, etc. It's very informative and helps me out immensly!
3. Don't forget to enjoy your students everyday and try to walk a mile in their shoes.
Good luck!
Carrie

[Unregistered]

I will be starting a new job in a couple of weeks - - running a resource room. This is my first teaching job. Does any one have any hints or tips for starting the new year.

Thanks

One good piece advice I could give to a new teacher is to INCREASE YOUR VITAMINS!!!! Mucho vitamin C......herbal teas rich with antioxidants....Routine exercise will also help to keep you balanced with the workload and stresses that may come your way....Laugh a lot!!!!!
Good Luck to you!!!

Peace and Love,
Nancy

[L. A. Snider]

See this newsletter for great ideas for 3-5 grades.
http://familyeducationnetwork.rsc01.net/servlet/website/ResponseForm?MLE.40.26_.3dkHKLl_W-Y_VTTX-TC-TZEsHlgpKLkFrlKLDhkn

[Jenna]

Read up on the latest in behavior plans.

[Unregistered]

Thanks to everyone - - my Resource Room is running smoothly. My only dilemma now is handling the paper work. We have been in school one month and my paper piles are growing - - HELP !!

[Unregistered]

here is a tip 4 U.. Get a better job!! you should of worked harder in highschool..

[Unregistered]

here is a tip 4 U.. Get a better job!! you should of worked harder in highschool..


WHERE WERE YOU RAISED? In a barn, your ruddness is not needed!

[Unregistered]

Hi I have been teaching for 25 years now and each year brings new challenges. No two years have ever been the same. Each year there has always been at least one student that could push my buttons. Keep prevailing. Use the strategies you have been taught for dealing with the behavior. I like the book mentioned earlier in another persons e-mail. It's organizational information is quite good. However being that rigid can drive some students bonkers. Remember as a teacher you cannot please everyone all of the time. Try to vary your approaches after you have given them a chance to work. When I started out in Special Education Resource Room teachers basically did their own thing with the students.The IEP dictated what would be worked on. Now we are totally included in the classroom. Our agenda is to modify what the regular ed teacher comes up with. Allot of the time we are functioning as aides. I sometimes can find a reg. ed. teacher that understands the concept of co-teaching. These are the individuals that get what inclusion is all about. At that point in time I actually get to plan lessons and activities for all the students in the class, handicapped and non-handicapped. In these classes the students dont even realize that I am a "special education" teacher. I am just the other teacher. This is the Ideal situation. I dont know what your school system promotes but in the long run LD student do best in an inclusion setting. The cognitively impaired that are included have varrying results.
Getting paperwork done is not easy. I usually spend the greater proportion of Sept and Oct working late and on weekends. Once we get to Nov things settle down and the work load eases up. It has been this way for me for a long time. Teachers have had less and less freedom to determine what they teach in the curriculum each year. We now are told exactly what to cover. There is teaching to the Standards of Learning Testing that all students must pass in order to graduate. I have very mixed feeling about the long term benefits of educating children this way. Well I have glossed over many things but hopefully this will give you an idea of how one veteran has survived.