Full Day Observation

This past Tuesday I attended Arts High School in Newark for my full day observation. I was initially excited to attend and get some questions answered, and my anticipations paid off. I observed a special needs class that assisted grades 9-12. When I had received my assigned co-op teacher and class I was surprised to find that Arts High even had a special needs class. Based on the difficult application process, I had assumed that students were not only extremely talented but also brilliant straight A, AP class taking students. Well, you know what they say happens when you assume. The fact of the matter is that these students, as many other students, are very talented and may be brilliant as well, but may also struggle in one or two areas. The special needs class focuses mainly on English and Math, and only has about 4-8 students in each class. To be completely honest, I couldn’t tell a difference between the special needs students and average students from other schools that I have observed. In each class there was a mixture of students from different grades, but they each worked on materials from either Math or English and what they were struggling in. What was most interesting to me was how the teacher was so involved with each student. If anyone asked her a question she would in turn ask them a question, raise another issue that was related, or ask them to look up what they were questioning.

The students also all helped each other, and through this sharing and helping with each other they seemed to be learning more. I was overall amazed at how advanced these students seemed, especially considering the fact that they were in a special needs class. It was encouraging to see a teacher who was so involved with her students, and cared so much about their welfare. She mentioned that her door was always open, and she rarely took a lunch break. I emailed her yesterday to thank her for the opportunity to observe her class, and this is part of what she replied with, “I am who I am and I just think that incorporating care and love for the kids is just as important as the teaching give the love, you can get the respect, but always with discipline and dignity-we don't make millions, but we can affect many lives.”