Hedrick Middle School 4/19/2012

Teaching Special Ed Resource today. Small class sizes with classified help. I was astonished at how smart many of the students were. They cognitive abilities were not very far off from what regular ed classes were doing. Granted the small class sizes and extra help must be a leading cause for as to why that is. A group of students towards the end of the day were extremely interested in dinosaurs and dragons. They were so into it I was quiet and watched thier imaaginations soar. I was very pleased that they were so into something. Dragons and dinosaurs might not be math and science, but at least the students are motivated and excited about something. If a math teacher was to create a word problem with dragons in it that would definitely captivate thier interest. If a science teacher could talk about environments and ecosystems that dragons might have lived in, you know they would learn about those key terms and concepts. Have the student write a story about dragons. Whatever the students interest, the teacher can mix the content in. If I was working more with those students that is what I would do and I think many of the teachers have caught on around here. A great day and one behavioral issue. I had a student push another student during passing period becuase the student who got pushed touched the other students stuff. I don't think anyone was seriously hurt, It was not a great sight to see. I was informed later that day, the student who did the pushing was suspended for one thing or another. Tomorrow at Hedrick again and teaching science. Respatory systems are very important to know about when looking at living beings. --Mr. Belzberg