How to Handle a Million Things At Once, or, the Life of a Normal Teacher --Clifton

This past week I was in the middle of planning a lesson when my CT says, "Stop whatever it is that you are doing and get these done." He drops a pile of papers marked confidential on the desk in front of me. Progress reports for all our students with IEPs. Immediately I start second-guessing myself. Does this student have preferential seating? Have they been using it? Or whether or not one student took tests in small groups. A large part of my nervousness is from this being a new task. But I also realize that I was not as familiar with these students' needs as I thought I was.

Later last week as our class draws to a close, and I tell a student that he needs to "pick up the pace," because he needs to turn work in. As I start to move on, the student says something that makes me turn around: "What do you mean?" I don't know what to think but answer him anyway. "You need to work faster because class ends in five minutes and you need to turn that in." As I walk away he says in a joking sounding voice, "Figures of speech won't get you anywhere with me." I remember that this student has Asperger's Disorder and so has trouble understanding figurative language.

I might not always understand when a student is telling me how they need me to teach them. This is not a straightforward task. It's hard to tell what a particular student needs. It is difficult to teach each student in the class the way they learn best. I have been trying to provide students with a variety of different tasks so that they can take advantage of their strengths. No one expects us to be experts yet, but it is frustrating to be constantly confronted with my own shortcomings as a teacher. I'm ready for spring break. The break will give me extra time to think about how I can accomplish everything that I need to in my next unit.