Resource (2-6): Miss. Flores
This past weekend I was able to meet with Marlene Flores, an awesome teacher I taught with last year and went to high school with, the following is our interview at Starbucks:
1. What do you teach and why did you choose to teach that subject?
I teach 2nd through 6th grade resource currently. It would be K-6 but we currently don’t have any kindergarteners or 1st graders at the moment. I chose to teach special education because I was a peer assisted learning mentor in high school for the SDC classroom. I then started subbing and and I felt a lot of compassion towards the special education students. I also love helping the students that need it the most.
2. What is a favorite lesson you have right now and why?
Right now in my ELA group I am using SIPPS for my students that focuses a lot on phonemic awareness, rightwards, spelling sounds, and reading with those words and sounds. There is also a guided spelling test where I have the words posted behind me as visual cues. We may be working on something that is below their grade level but it offers a lot of age appropriate items that helps them feel confident about what they are working on. For example,The 2nd grader has a big picture and text. While the 6th graders have a book that looks thicker, smaller print, and smaller pictures.
For math, I also use a lot of manipulative that has been giving them a high success rate on their work and tests.
3. Is there anything you do to accommodate students when teaching this lesson?
When working on the SIPPS, since it is direct instruction, it can get boring at times. So I make it into a game for them and create deeper level knowledge thinking. I will also have them earn stars which they get really excited about. It also depends on the students level on how I introduce the ELA items. For example, my higher group I have them read it themselves and then we read it together and with my lower group I read it to them and then we read it together.
Whenever I see a student is struggling I make an accommodation for them in any way they may need it. I will also supplement other materials and work, like having them write a sentence using a sight word.
4. How often do you teach this lesson?
With SIPSS I do 2 groups a day for 20 minutes. Every group is seen at least three times a week.
5. Any advice for new teachers?
I think the biggest thing is to be organized and maintain your room as clean as possible because it allows your lessons and work to flow better for you and your students. For example, everything is labeled so that any student can find the item. I also have visuals if they aren’t able to read yet.
This is a good way to help your students know the expectations. In my first year I realized that the students would leave without cleaning up and I would be spending after school hours cleaning up after them. After having a conversation with them they now know what is expected of them like cleaning trash up off the floor, wiping down tables, and putting materials away. Another plus is that they are able to work on executive functioning skills that they will need later on in life.
One last thing is to find a person to be your go-to when it comes to asking questions. At first I didn’t want people to think less of me or that I was unable to do my job because I had a question but you need to ask a lot of questions to learn the expectations of the school. Don’t be afraid to ask questions!
A huge thanks to Miss. Flores for meeting with me to discuss her classroom!
Happy Teaching :)