Dealing with Special Needs in my Future Classroom

After discussing the Special Needs Topic with Ms. Ricardo, (sites teacher) I learned that to be able to manage the special needs of students and the "gifted and talented" kind of students, I have to know what kind of needs I'm going to have to deal with. 

Before starting the school year, I would have to come up with different plans, obviously after having more knowledge of different kind of special needs. My plan would include separating the students based on how advanced or behind they are. 

In my current classroom, the students differ so much from eachother based on the skills they have learned. We have about 3-5 students that are advanced in building/writing words, and we have 3-6 students that don't even know how to spell their names. There is also the average students, the students that are on track and are learning the right things at the right time. From the beginning of the year, the goal would be to get all of the students at least to the average level.

Anyways, I believe that based on what me and Ms. Ricardo discussed, I would obviously separate the students depending on what level they are in. For the students that need a lot of help, or the students that are behind, I would not only offer more time and help to them but I would also communicate with the parents and ask for help. An important factor for children to learn is practicing their skills at home. I would ask the parents to spend at least 30 minutes studying with their children and ENCOURAGE them to do better! Its important for children to know that their education MATTERS!

To the students that are advanced or "gifted and talented," I would give them the choice of what to do next. I wouldn't want them to get bored working on lessons that they already know. For example, I would encourage them to help their classmates, but I will give them options. They can help or maybe have more centers time, or play with technology, or even read a book! At the pre-k age, students LOVE playing, which is how they learn social wise. Giving them extra time for playing is a great way to not bore them!

Creativity 📚

Creativity. Creativity is what one has that is unique from the rest of the people. Creativity is a big part of education. Education is made to develop creativity. I believe that when a child is edcucated, it's like giving them resources to develop their own creativity.

An educator that I met in my TAFE trip named Dave Burgess, also a keynote speaker talked to us about this topic. I remember him saying that his coworkers felt disencouraged because they thought they weren't as creative as him. He also stated that he didn't have his creative mind because he was born with it. He told us that he WORKED HARD to be be creative. 

That is what we do with students in school. We encourage them to see different things, find things they're interested in. When the students find what they are interested in, they will find the passion for it. Once they have become passionate, I believe they will create and work with creativity. They will become people that work hard for whatever they become passionate about. 

My point is that although creativity is something someone has or can do that is unique, it isn't natural, you work hard for it, that's why teachers help students.