Teaching in an Inclusive Classroom

Teaching in an Inclusive Classroom

The following are annotations to a video called "New Teacher Survival Guide: ADHD in the Classroom."

3:32 - The advice that Ms. Milazza gave to Mr. McKinstry regarding setting clear expectations was great. That goes along with everything we have been learning in this module, and I think it is something very important for any teacher, not just a special education teacher, to keep in mind. Additionally, Mr. McKinstry should be sure to incorporate this advice not just into his giving of directions, but also into his behavior expectations of his students. If students do not know what is expected of them, how can they perform to the best of their ability given the parameters of the assignment or the expectations for behavior?

4:47 - Using visual aids and checklists to help with transitions is another good tip for Mr. McKinstry. Checklists are helpful because they make it really easy to keep track of what still needs to be done. Students with ADHD would likely find these especially helpful because it would allow them to check in on their progress multiple times, even if they forget what they were supposed to do next. If they get distracted, students can come back to the checklist to see what they are missing. I think the best way to use a checklist with this group of students would be to have something permanent on their desks. I say this mostly because Mr. McKinstry is already struggling with transitions, and I think that adding the handing out of checklists to the transition period would actually make things more difficult for him rather than make things easier. Maybe he could attach laminated checklists to the students’ desks and provide dry erase markers (perhaps attached to each desk with velcro?) so that students can check off their transition tasks each day and Mr. McKinstry can erase their checklists each afternoon. This would cut down on paper waste and would serve as a way to make sure students already had their checklists to minimize transition time used to hand out materials. Something else that might help this class with transition is the trick of holding up a certain number of fingers based on what they need that we discussed earlier in this module. That will cut down on individual transition time and will allow students to stay on task instead of having to interrupt everyone’s learning to ask to use the bathroom.

5:45 - I like the idea of using a timer, but I do not necessarily think that one needs to use the kind of timer that Ms. Milazza showed to Mr. McKinstry. I think any kind of timer would work, but this particular kind would work well with students who have a bit of a competitive streak and want to, as Ms. Milazza said, beat the clock. While I think this strategy works well to keep up this pace of the classroom, I am not sure how well it would work to keep students on task (unless, of course, they were to more competitive type I just mentioned). I think that this strategy could be useful, but only when used in conjunction with strategies that help keep easily distracted students on task. Maybe even breaking time intervals down into smaller bits would help. If students have five minutes to complete a writing assignment, maybe set the timer to 2.5 minutes. When the timer goes off, students would know that they are halfway there. If they had been off task at all during the first half, they would really feel the pressure to stay on task during the second half of the activity.

6:05 - Something that is difficult is finding the right amount of pressure to put on students. I think this is especially difficult because an amount of pressure that might motivate one student might be far too much pressure for another. This is something that each teacher would have to feel out with his or her individual class, but I think that, overall, a timer on its own is a reasonable amount of pressure. Of course, when I think back to my school days, I remember timed math tests, and I hated those. I always felt too pressured, and I did not like having to rush through. I think that timers should be used more as a class pace-setting tool than as a way to amp up comprehension speed. Timed tests, especially ones that are meant to be difficult because of how little time you are given, always seemed silly to me. Students should be given adequate time to complete their work rather than be pressured by a clock for no reason other than to test how fast they can complete problems.

6:57 - Before Ms. Milazza gives her feedback, I just want to say that I think Mr. McKinstry handled the disruption of the student entering late during the Do Now very nicely. He had her sit at the back of the classroom as not to disrupt others’ learning, and he spoke calmly and collectedly with the student. When she got frustrated, he pointed out how great the work she had already done was, and he reminded her that this is something she can do. I am curious to see if Ms. Milazza had any suggestions for him.

7:08 - I was right! I’m glad to see that I was able to pick up on how well he handled that. Ms. Milazza seemed really impressed with him, and I felt the same way.

7:35 - It sounds like Mr. McKinstry works really hard to develop positive relationships with his students. This is something we have talked a lot about, and I think he does a good job with it. He really seems to care about his students as people, and he treats them with respect by trying to understand where they are coming from. Earlier in the video, he even was able to use a little bit of humor when a student complained that his classmate would not stop talking. He joked that the classmate never stops talking, which lightened the mood a little. He then was able to redirect the talking student back to his work. It seems like Mr. McKinstry works hard to get to know his students, and this is definitely something I would like to do in my classroom. The relationship between teacher and student is so important, and the best way to build a strong relationship is to really work to get to know each student individually, both as students and as individuals with interests outside of the classroom.

8:07 - I love this idea of giving the student the autonomy to express what strategies work best for them. Having a discussion with the student about what works best is a great way to teach students metacognition and self awareness, and it helps the teacher find ways to help students that he or she may not have thought of without the insight of the student. This strategy might not work as well with younger students, but by the time students are in middle school, they are ready to start reflecting on their own learning. This is definitely something I hope to use in my classroom.

8:40 - Now that they have interacted with each other for a bit, I wanted to touch on the relationship between Mr. McKinstry and Ms. Milazza. While I think the conversation was definitely beneficial for Mr. McKinstry, I feel like there interactions were really formal. If I were in Mr. McKinstry’s shoes, I might feel a little hesitant in such a formal setting. When I have a mentor in the classroom, I hope that we will have a stronger relationship that we can cultivate over the course of the school year. Of course, Ms. Milazza was only there for a short period of time, but I think that Mr. McKinstry could benefit from having a mentor that is around more often so that, if he struggles one day, he can do to the mentor and ask what he could have done differently. All of that being said, both teachers were very professional, and I think the mentoring was beneficial. She gave some great suggestions, and he really took what she said to heart. The fact that both of them were so open so quickly is great. I just think that a more long term mentoring approach would ultimately be more beneficial, maybe even used in conjunction with the brief mentoring of Ms. Milazza.

9:30 - I like the timer that Mr. McKinstry chose to use. I know that might seem like a small detail, but I think that a digital timer helps students grasp exactly how much time they have left. It also seems more age appropriate than the timer that Ms. Milazza suggested, which I think would have worked best with elementary schoolers. I would like to try using a digital timer with my middle school students (rather than an egg timer or something similar that we saw used in another video) because it gives them that extra visual of how much time they have left.

10:24 - That is a great point to end on. No matter what struggles the students are having, with the right support, students can overcome their struggles and be successful. Mr. McKinstry’s approach to teaching these students is fantastic, and it was only made better by the advice that Ms. Milazza gave him. He really seemed to appreciate her help, and it makes me think that my idea of having a more permanent mentor for Mr. McKinstry is something he would really like and benefit from. He is so receptive to feedback, and that is something that is so important as a teacher, no matter how long you have been teaching.

11:00 - Overall, the strategies that Mr. McKinstry used offer a wide variety ways to help students stay on task. I definitely want to incorporate most of these strategies into my own classroom, despite this being a video specific to ADHD. I think that the strategies would work well for students who do not have ADHD as well. In addition to these strategies, I want to make sure that I incorporate the hand signals one that we saw in an earlier video because I think that would really help with individual transitions. I really enjoyed this video and found it quite relevant to my teaching because I too will be working with middle school students. It can be hard sometimes to find good tools and strategies to use with middle schoolers because elementary strategies make them feel talked down to, but they are, for the most part, not ready for strategies that work well with high school students. This video did a great job illustrating strategies that are specific to middle school but that could also be adapted and used for other grade levels.