Expectations and Reality.
Life is quite a complicated phenomenon. And twice as much if you are an elementary school teacher in Israel.
I do not mean to complain but let me explain my circumstance.
Although my school has a Special Ed class almost in every grade, there are a lot of children who would easily fall into the category but for some reasons they ended up in a regular class. The reasons are various: after talking to homeroom teachers and the school counselor they started taking shape in my head. There are some kids who were diagnosed but their parents begged the principal to keep them in regular classes. There are kids who haven't been diagnosed yet, which probably suggests their parents couldn't care less. There are kids who are on the spectrum but, as the counselor puts it, the school prefers to have them blended in and give them the feeling of being accepted and educated as all the other kids are. An approach full of humanity and consideration at first glance; however, since the child is in the regular class it automatically means regular curriculum, enormous groups, either zero or very few assistants and, here comes the drum roll, parents' expectations.
But as well as life, school resources unfortunately do not meet these expectations whatsoever; and now in spite of being a very new teacher here I have already faced and had to handle these situations in two aspects: as a class teacher and as a personal tutor.
From what I see, even if there is a Reading Recovery group at a school with kids who lag way behind, the school tries to push them to catch up with the regular class material. Reading comprehension texts and unseens are read to them out loud but in many cases they keep working with the same textbook as the regular class does. On the surface, it looks as though they get some help and it enables them to catch up with the rest of the group but deep down we all know it does NOT. Most of these kids are non-readers and they need a special programme. And what I realised is unless the English teacher (a very modest one like myself) does not initiate the change, it will remain as it is.
My attempts to change the whole idea of teaching grade 4 were successful, of course with me ending up with the weak group but I made it very clear that I just can't use the book offered as the 'curriculum book'. My aim is to teach the kids to read, which is a very challenging one bearing in mind the group is as big as 16 with zero assistance, and give them some basic vocabulary.
As a personal tutor to a boy of the same age from a different school I was asked to teach him to read - he was a non-reader and had zero English although he had been going to the Reading Recovery Group for a couple of years by then. And when I asked what book they were using in this small group they said it was the same book as the regular class, which is ridiculous and unprofessional.
And however scared and frustrated I feel when I receive parents' threats on the phone (I had one the other day), I can see why they are complaining and there is a lot to be said and done about it.
Life is quite a complicated phenomenon. And twice as much if you are an elementary school teacher in Israel.
I do not mean to complain but let me explain my circumstance.
Although my school has a Special Ed class almost in every grade, there are a lot of children who would easily fall into the category but for some reasons they ended up in a regular class. The reasons are various: after talking to homeroom teachers and the school counselor they started taking shape in my head. There are some kids who were diagnosed but their parents begged the principal to keep them in regular classes. There are kids who haven't been diagnosed yet, which probably suggests their parents couldn't care less. There are kids who are on the spectrum but, as the counselor puts it, the school prefers to have them blended in and give them the feeling of being accepted and educated as all the other kids are. An approach full of humanity and consideration at first glance; however, since the child is in the regular class it automatically means regular curriculum, enormous groups, either zero or very few assistants and, here comes the drum roll, parents' expectations.
But as well as life, school resources unfortunately do not meet these expectations whatsoever; and now in spite of being a very new teacher here I have already faced and had to handle these situations in two aspects: as a class teacher and as a personal tutor.
From what I see, even if there is a Reading Recovery group at a school with kids who lag way behind, the school tries to push them to catch up with the regular class material. Reading comprehension texts and unseens are read to them out loud but in many cases they keep working with the same textbook as the regular class does. On the surface, it looks as though they get some help and it enables them to catch up with the rest of the group but deep down we all know it does NOT. Most of these kids are non-readers and they need a special programme. And what I realised is unless the English teacher (a very modest one like myself) does not initiate the change, it will remain as it is.
My attempts to change the whole idea of teaching grade 4 were successful, of course with me ending up with the weak group but I made it very clear that I just can't use the book offered as the 'curriculum book'. My aim is to teach the kids to read, which is a very challenging one bearing in mind the group is as big as 16 with zero assistance, and give them some basic vocabulary.
As a personal tutor to a boy of the same age from a different school I was asked to teach him to read - he was a non-reader and had zero English although he had been going to the Reading Recovery Group for a couple of years by then. And when I asked what book they were using in this small group they said it was the same book as the regular class, which is ridiculous and unprofessional.
And however scared and frustrated I feel when I receive parents' threats on the phone (I had one the other day), I can see why they are complaining and there is a lot to be said and done about it.
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