Teacher in training failing placement

Shoebox1926

Hi I hope someone can help as im at my wits end and losing sleep over this, I have constant anxiety and dont know what else I can do. Im a trainee teacher on a general teacher training course, my undergrad is in visual arts. Im in art teaching in a placement with special needs teenagers, 16 - 18. My class consists of very mixed abilities - Some of them I genuinely question why theyre in the centre as I cant see anything that would suggest theyre special needs, others have sever down syndrome and can hardly communicate - draw like babies, very low ability and dont understand everything. Im enjoying my placement but in my last teaching practice visit my lecturer was not impressed. I did a basic collage making class and introduced artists such as Matisse to base their work off but my teacher said the class wasnt educational and that I wasnt meeting the students needs and that I need to come up with a class plan that is suitable for intellectually disabled students. He basically told me the visit was a write off and to do another one. The only special needs we've covered on the course was dyslexia and autism but this was a class on understanding how autism effects young children (we're not teaching kids) and no information on how to work with or teach special needs learners. My teacher said he'd help me put together a lesson plan for special needs learners but never did.
Ive been observing art classes in this placement and another placement and there isnt any 'learning' happening in the way he expects there to be. Classes are self directed, students are given a theme/project brief and they work independently while the teacher support students individually on their art process - my lecturer doesn't feel this is appropriate and basically told me that I may not graduate. Im panicking - I spent every penny I have on this course and cant afford to fail. What can I do??

So bring it back to the basic curriculum objectives. I do not know what stage your pupils are at (I know you said age but I mean educationally/cognitively). A sample objective for primary level SEN would be that they learn through mixing red and yellow orange can be made that’s how basic a lesson can be and key language would be ‘mix’ and the three colours. That is a very simple example but the children would have learned one example of colour mixing and the resulting colour as well as the relevant language. There can be no doubt what the lesson objective was if this was in your plans. Take this example and apply it to your current group. Good luck.

youngblood

First of all relax, the fact that your anxious to do well in your next placement is sign of your determination to teach & prepare well.
You inspector said he wasn't happy and wants to see an improvement in your next observation.
You seem unclear in what's expected, here you need to email your inspector for guidance. Outline your worries as you've listed above and ask for clear practical (this is key) instruction on what you want the inspector to see on your next visit, what key elements do they wish to observe? See what their response is and go from there as every inspector has different objectives they deem most important.
In general for your lesson make sure
1. Your learning objective is clear to the students (What do you want them to learn? Is this objective on the board, will you have differentiated objectives?)
2. How will you achieve this? How will you meet the needs of all the students in your class ability wise- What differentiation will you need to use?)
3. How will you know when you/your students have achieved the learning objective (What will they do to show this? Practical task)
4. How will you assess this? Teacher observation, completion of task, learning log/review, discussion

Shoebox1926

Deleted User wrote: »

So bring it back to the basic curriculum objectives. I do not know what stage your pupils are at (I know you said age but I mean educationally/cognitively). A sample objective for primary level SEN would be that they learn through mixing red and yellow orange can be made that’s how basic a lesson can be and key language would be ‘mix’ and the three colours. That is a very simple example but the children would have learned one example of colour mixing and the resulting colour as well as the relevant language. There can be no doubt what the lesson objective was if this was in your plans. Take this example and apply it to your current group. Good luck.

Thank you Julie, I have this planned for my next visit but have been putting it off out of fear tbh. I was also going to include complementary colours and colour wheel for advanced students.

This was really helpful, I have more visits after this one and will research Primary SEN.

Shoebox1926

youngblood wrote: »

First of all relax, the fact that your anxious to do well in your next placement is sign of your determination to teach & prepare well.
You inspector said he wasn't happy and wants to see an improvement in your next observation.
You seem unclear in what's expected, here you need to email your inspector for guidance. Outline your worries as you've listed above and ask for clear practical (this is key) instruction on what you want the inspector to see on your next visit, what key elements do they wish to observe? See what their response is and go from there as every inspector has different objectives they deem most important.
In general for your lesson make sure
1. Your learning objective is clear to the students (What do you want them to learn? Is this objective on the board, will you have differentiated objectives?)
2. How will you achieve this? How will you meet the needs of all the students in your class ability wise- What differentiation will you need to use?)
3. How will you know when you/your students have achieved the learning objective (What will they do to show this? Practical task)
4. How will you assess this? Teacher observation, completion of task, learning log/review, discussion

Thank you so much, this is exactly what I need. Ive tried asking him but his attitude is basically that I should just know myself. Thanks this was helpful and something to keep in mind when writing my lesson plan

mtoutlemonde

Shoebox1926 wrote: »

Thank you so much, this is exactly what I need. Ive tried asking him but his attitude is basically that I should just know myself. Thanks this was helpful and something to keep in mind when writing my lesson plan

He doesn't seem to be acting professionally and that's not on - you're a student and he is there to assess but to more importantly to guide you into being a successful teacher. See how the next visit goes and if he acts the same - organise a meeting with head of TP. You're paying enough for the course and should be treated respectfully not with someone trying to knock your confidence. He should also be aware of the students you are dealing with and take this into account. It will probably happen that no two of that class will have the same needs. Also, the principal (or whoever runs your school/centre) could speak to him about your progress. Don't let him get you down. Best of luck with your next visits.

evolving_doors

mtoutlemonde wrote: »

He doesn't seem to be acting professionally and that's not on - you're a student and he is there to assess but to more importantly to guide you into being a successful teacher. See how the next visit goes and if he acts the same - organise a meeting with head of TP. You're paying enough for the course and should be treated respectfully not with someone trying to knock your confidence. He should also be aware of the students you are dealing with and take this into account. It will probably happen that no two of that class will have the same needs. Also, the principal (or whoever runs your school/centre) could speak to him about your progress. Don't let him get you down. Best of luck with your next visits.

Maybe carefully ask for guidance by email. Also if there is an appeal by yourself it should fall back on the supervisors observation sheet. Read this carefully and see if you'd agree with it. If I remember correctly most colleges have to moderate their supervisors so if you alert your concerns they might send out a second opinion, your supervisor will only think it's for moderation proposes.
If he said the first one is a write off then maybe it's not too bad as you'll get a second go at the first visit! Unless he's telling you that a write off means you've failed the first visit? Get back on to the college anyway and ask what the position is.
Whatever you do for the next visit, just do everything different! With a rejig of the lesson plan.
Any chance you could reach out to other students under that supervisor?
There might be a few Facebook forums for special needs art teachers (primary special schools!). I think there's one called Special Education Teachers Support Ireland, use the same phrases that your supervisor mentioned and it might strike a note with someone there maybe!
Any chance you could get someone from the school to observe you teaching, they might be able to doorstep the supervisor when he arrives and put in a word for you, while they're at the reception or in the staff room during the debriefing. I've done this for PMEs when supervisors visited , it's customery in our school to touch base with a supervisor and means a lot to the student.
If your supervisor said they would explain what they mean but never do then I would imagine that it would support a challenge. Try another soft email to your supervisor and ask for clarification, this will show that none was provided and also you'll have a record of interaction. Use college email addresses as the supervisors personal email mightnt be allowed to view by the college. If he never checks it send a text by phone that you've sent him an email just to get things cleared up ad you're concerned etc.

Redser87

Great advice above - would you also consider objectives such as identifying and using warm and cold colours? Or incorporating fabric and fibre into a work in progress (good opportunities for developing fine motor skills). You could also look at pinterest for ideas from special schools - St. Augustine's NS has an excellent page and you could also look up the CRC, St Michael's house etc for ideas you could adapt with your students.

Postgrad10

Have a look for SEN art related activities on TES.co.uk if you haven't already. And do put in a complaint if your inspector isn't giving you concrete feedback. That's their job.

evolving_doors

I'd second the TES advice, their subject forums are pretty large. It takes a little bit of time to register and navigate through the site.

CraftySue

Have a look at https://www.sess.ie/resources/curricular-material for guidelines for teaching Visual Art to students with SEN at primary and post primary level.

cmegzc

Hi,

Sorry to hear you are so stressed. Differentiation appears to be your main area of concern. You say you wonder why some of your students appear to be in your class, have you asked for access to their SEN folders? Every school should have files/info on children with SEN. just because you don’t “see” the SEN doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Most of these SEN plans will have suggestions on what works for the student/varied methodologies for you to take/try. No one approach will work for every child with downs/autism etc as these needs are on a spectrum. You need to try and get to know each individual student and find what works for them. Now I don’t know how big the groups are or how often you have them so this might not be possible if you have 20 students twice a week but if it is possible that will show in your visits. I would also recommend if you are on Facebook to join the group ‘special education teachers Ireland supporting each other’ there are amazing people on that group and both primary and secondary teachers who will offer any help they can. There very well could be fellow art teachers who can give you subject specific advice.

Good luck and take care of your mental health. Nothing is more important than that, stress and anxiety over the money you have spent and failing are valid worries to have but please don’t let them overrun your mind. Turn to someone who can talk to to help relieve the pressure.

All the best. Xx