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Let me see if I can reply..if so I will.
On 11/16/13, what do I do? wrote:
> I teach high school special ed. Occasionally I am asked to
>
> cover another special ed. teacher's class during my prep
>
> when he has an IEP meeting. Both times I have covered his
>
> class, once he was showing "Life of Pi". There was no
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> assignment with the movie, and it was the second day hewas
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> showing it. (It is a pullout Language Arts class.) They
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> had not read the novel that goes with the movie.
>
>
>
> About 2 weeks later, I was asked to cover the same class,
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> and the movie "Tommy" was being shown (rock drama from the
>
> 70's). The students were told by the teacher to write down
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> examples of "symbolism" in the film. However none of the
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> students were doing this just watching the movie. I wasn't
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> able to figure out the symbolism because it was the 2ndday
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> of the movie and I hadn't seen the beginning.
>
>
>
> Ok fast forward to yesterday, about 2 weeks after that. I
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> popped into his room during the last 10 minutes to get a
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> paper from a student I needed signed. I heard through the
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> door and saw shades drawn that yet another movie was being
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> shown. I walked in and saw it was a 1970's James Bond
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> movie. I had a bit of conversation, the teacher told me it
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> was one of his favorite movies.
>
>
>
> I am not seeing how these special education students are
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> gaining valuable skills in reading and writing from these
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> several days of Hollywood movies. It seems like he's just
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> showing movies. I have almost all of the same students in
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> my classroom for Math and I spend lots of time developing
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> lesson plans. I really want these kids to progress in
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> their skills in Math. I also teach special education
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> Health class, and am also working my butt off for that
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> class to make sure they gain the valuable knowledge needed
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> to lead a healthy life.
>
>
>
> So..these kids are coming to my room, asking me why I don't
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> show movies like this other Sp. Ed. teacher does. I have
>
> shown some educational health movies. I guess I'm feeling
>
> I really care about these students' learning and this
>
> teacher is just skating by showing movies all the time,
> not really teaching. These kids need to improve their
> skills in reading and writing desperately, that is the sad
> thing.
>
>
>
> Is there a way to talk to administration about this to
>
> address this without being identified as the one who
> turned him in? I would like to support him because I really
> want these students to meet their IEP goals. I'm not seeing
> how watching "Tommy" and "James Bond 007" is going to help
> them learn to read and write.
>
>
>
> I know some are thinking "This is none of your business,
> stay out of it" but it is my business because many students
> in Sp. Ed. classes tend to be unmotivated. So they are
> thinking from this teacher that special ed. classes are
> just a joke where the teacher just shows movies all the
> time. They are coming to my classes with this same type of
> attitude, that the class just isn't important and they
> won't be held accountable for learning because it's just a
> resource room class. This teacher is just making a joke
> out of the special education program.
>
>
>
> What do I do?
>
>
>
>
>

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