Another Success Story (October Blog)

In my previous blog, I talked about a huge success story. In addition, I briefly discussed another success story. This success story is with my fifth period Inclusion class. To begin, this is Pre-Algebra. Nineteen of the 28 kids are inclusion students. Those who are not inclusion students are behavior problems. I had tried everything with them. Nothing seemed to work. They wouldn't do homework, and they simply didn't care about school. They were simply out of control.

Finally, I decided that the madness had to stop. So, I got with the inclusion teacher that is in my room during that period. I knew that something had to be done. So, together, we figured out a plan. We divided the room into two teams. Each of the teams were pretty equal, according to ability range. They instantly began to compete against each other. At random times, I check to see if they brought their books to class. In addition, I check to see if everyone did their homework. If everyone has their book or homework, their team gets 10 points. Overall, this is going extremely well. When they compete against each other, they begin to tell their classmates to do their work and bring their books to class. Things are going extremely well with them.

In addition, we managed to secure another room. The inclusion teacher takes one team to another room about twice a week and I keep the other team in my room. It is much easier for us to work with half the class. We trade up teams each time. That way, the teams are getting both of us as instructors. After I teach a lesson, we often break them up into teams. Things go a lot smoother this way. In addition, they seem to be learning a lot more material. I consider this a huge success!