Dynamic Discord

Distinct Disconnect

Disturbing distraction

Deleterious dissemination 

One of the most prominent things that became clear to me throughout the school year and then even more at Summer school was the serious disconnect of communication about the kids between the teachers at different schools and the families with the teachers. It was an endless on and off frustration because you are trying hard to determine how the student learns best and how to communicate with them (especially if they are non-verbal) most effectively (verbal, written, pictures, gestures); and no one can just tell you. But I found out they can. They just don't share the information. It was weeks before the last school sent over the box with all the student's folders, and while there were some helpful written notes, what would have been great is if there had been a conversation with the last teachers. And the parents too. 

All this could be written down, but should be very clear and explanatory, in one place (folder, notebook, etc.) and always precede the student's arrival in the classroom. There was so much the lead teacher had no clue about and spent so much time trying to figure out when (I found out later) it could have been easily explained by information that the last school and the family had through experience they already had. We spent so long wondering: maybe it's because of this or maybe this...and while it was a learning experience for us, it was detrimental to the student who was even more frustrated with us not already knowing.

They hire lead teachers who have a lot of schooling and are relatively experienced, but tend to be pretty young, and then several support staff who act in the role of teacher, but are titled instructional assistants, and could have undergrad degrees, like me, or not, but are deemed qualified by personality, character and past work experience. I definitely believe that there is not enough (none really) training for these positions. I assumed (incorrectly) that my classroom teacher would spend a lot of time working with me to help me learn on the job how to best work with the special needs students. I thought (also incorrectly) that we would have weekly, if not daily, meetings to discuss how things were going and cover questions and talk about what to address as far as lesson plans and behavior modification ideas.

I want to be a great teacher, and I expected to learn a lot working in a school full time. So to say I was disenchanted and disappointed would be an understatement. When I was finally transferred to a different classroom after Spring break, I was so much more impressed with the communication level between the teacher and the support staff, I was wondering why it was so much better. But looking over my notes from the year, I just determined that my first teacher was a very strong passive aggressive personality and the other teacher was not. That can make a big difference in how you get along with people and especially how you choose to communicate with them.

But the students in the classroom suffer when the information needed to work with them more successfully is not shared between staff, teachers, schools, and families. And that's the biggest disappointment.