Open House Week~Meet the Teacher Monday

Teaching Blog Addict is hosting an Open House this week!   I have already started reading some of my favorite bloggers Open House posts.  I love getting to know the person behind the blog!

So, yes, this will make the second post today, but it is well worth it! :)

Monday's task is to Meet the Teacher! My name is Kim.  I am a special education teacher from Kentucky and this will be my eighth year teaching.  I have 10 students on my caseload this year in grades 3-5.  The students I teach this year (and in the past) have various disabilities, including Specific Learning Disabilities, Autism, Mild Mental Disabilities, Deaf/Blind, Physical Disabilities, Other Health Impaired (ADD/ADHD), and Emotional Behavior Disorders.  I teach pretty much every type of child that walks through our doors!  I love the challenge of special education (most days...I mean let's be real here...some days suck).  However, I do love finding the "just right" strategy or teaching method to help my students be successful.  Teaching students with so many different abilities makes my exciting and definitely NOT boring!!   Some of my teaching occurs in the regular education classroom and I do some pull-out/resource throughout the day.  This year my schedule is CrAzY!!!  I am always on the go!!  I am responsible for collaborating with my regular education colleagues to modify and adapt their plans to meet the needs of my students.  If you walked into one of our classes you would see us doing a variety of collaborative models.  Our hope is for an on-looker to not be able to pick out the "special kids."  We treat everyone with fairness and respect.  You know...all kids are really special anyway and each lesson planned could be tweaked and modified 30 different ways for each student in a classroom.   As far as resource classes go, I teach small groups in my room for reading, math, and writing.  I focus on their IEP goals and use research based programs to help them meet their goals.  Some grade levels I can mix together (when the master schedule allows), but other times I will only have one grade level at a time.  I also teach social skills groups.  This year I am doing more of a check-in/check-out system with my students identified as EBD, but in the past I have had 30 minute social skills instruction.  I implemented these groups when I have students with ASD or EBD students that need extra support with behavior and social skills.   I hope this gives you a little more insight into the day in the life of....me!  I look forward to sharing more with you this week!!
Kim