Rosebud Indian Reservation May 2013: Getting into the schools!

So the last two days have been eventful. The growing pains are strong, emotions are fluctuating, and my mind is racing. I hope you have enjoyed the blog so far as it has served as a way to gather my thoughts from day to day. I've decided to split this post up into 2 sections. The first part I’ll just lay down the facts of my placement and time here, while the second portion will be my personal thoughts to everything that has happened. Enjoy! ---Oh and leave comments below if you choose!

The Facts of My Placement:

So on Wednesday I met my field placement teacher. I am located at North Elementary School part of Todd County Schools. The school is K-3^rd —and 4^th-5^th is located at South Elementary. Here on the reservation/in Todd County Schools they don’t call it Special Education, they call it Exceptional Education. It was a change they made several years ago because they felt Special Education had become too strong of a label—one that went with them where every the student went.

The Exceptional Education Room I’m in serves as a resource room and a self-contained room. There are a group of students with severe downs syndrome while 60+ third grade students rotate in daily with a wide range of learning disabilities in Math and English. The classroom is a portable trailer filled with 5 staff members—all teachers and paraprofessionals. And add me to the mix and it is a packed classroom filled with adventures.

My Reactions & Experiences

My first full day at North Elementary left me raddled, torn, excited, high on life, shaken up, and so many other emotions that I didn't expect. I arrived at 8:30 to the school and jumped right into introduction with all the staff in my Exceptional Ed room. I spent most of my day with 3 students who are severely impaired. This is my first time in a resource room-type placement and students with severely impaired, so I am ready to learn a lot. We went on a field trip to the middle school to see their play production A Glass Slipper. I was amazed at how well all the students behaved during the 2 hour show. Once we got back to school I spent time with another student working on his behavior strategies, teaching him how to sit still with his hands on his knees and feet on the ground (after a prompt is given). A lot of what I saw with the severely impaired students was difficult. It’s a new experience for me working with this population. It was difficult seeing these kids go through what they do day in and day out. While eating lunch it was a lot to process, I almost broke down. The spirit of these kids is incredible. They smile when their happy, laugh when things are funny, and cry when their sad—the same as every child anywhere. It just takes so much more work to do the most basic of things.

The latter part of the day was incredible. I helped run two groups through their Reading Mastery program. During one of the groups I talked with a young girl. We finished the activity early and we just chatted up a storm—it is amazing how much kids will say. We started talking and she told me how she’s nervous for 4^th grade because it’s a new school and she heard they have big expectations for them. It was precious. I then asked her what it takes to be a good teacher, and I received the best advice I've ever gotten to date—all I need to do is bring cookies. That’s it, all my worries of teaching have been solved! I need to bring cookies…sounds like I need to brush up on my cooking skills more than my teaching skills.

The kids are bright, I’m surrounded by hardworking educators, and the culture is rich. I've been stretched a lot this first day and I pray that it’s been done to leave me with room to learn. Hope you enjoyed my post!

Blessings from the Res.