*The authors suggest: “The model in which itinerant or visiting teachers consult with the regular classroom teacher and provide individual or small group tutoring or pre-learning activities is becoming prevalent, but frequently there is no time for consultation among the itinerant teachers, general education teachers, and other providers of student services, creating potential impediments to student progress” (p. 169). What is your opinion on the increasingly popular practice of itinerant services for students who are DHH?
Right now at my placement my teacher is an itinerant teacher. She directly sees eight students. She indirectly and consults with about 60 students. This means that she may go and check their equipment if there is a problem. She checks their grades to make sure they are succeeding in their classes. She may go to their IEP meeting. Within the eight students she sees directly there are ages from kindergarten to 7th grade. Her instruction has to vary greatly within this age range. She also pulls some of these students out, but with most of them she pushes in and she goes into the classroom to help teach them. Last semester my practicum teacher was also itinerant. I can see how this method can be well liked by the school district. This one teacher is serving many different students, at different levels, and at different schools. Like the book says it does require a lot of coordination between the teachers and the staff. After being at my placement I can see how this can be very difficult to do. I know most of the teachers have some kind of meeting, club, extracurricular, or something to do after school. My school starts at 7:15, so it would be difficult for the teachers to meet before hand. Then, teachers have to do their staffing meeting and so much more. I think it is a great idea to get the regular education teacher to be involved with students who are deaf or hard of hearing. However, I think that it can be difficult to find the time to help regular education teachers with teaching strategies for students who are deaf or hard of hearing. I do think that if there is open communication between the teachers via email or phone that it can help with this consultation time. I think that being an itinerant would be a really fun job to have because you would be getting to see so many different students within the day. I can also see the benefit to have a full inclusion classroom or a classroom where pulled out of their regular classes. Again, I think that as the deaf educator we have to do what is going to be best for the student and that student's learning needs.
Wow! That is so many students! I cannot imagine having that kind of caseload. I think the 8 students she serves directly would be a lot already, but adding 60 to it is so much! I know what you mean that she doesn't work with them directly, but even just to monitor their grades and IEPs would be a lot of work.
ReplyDeleteHow far does your teacher travel to see the students that she serves. I know for our itinerant she travels over a pretty large area, so I wasn't sure if yours was a large area as well or if the traveling was more compact. It is really interesting to see another view of itinerant teachers since we have been so limited on this information. Thanks for sharing your experience!
My teacher travels within the city. However, there are several elementary, middle, and junior high schools. She also serves a few smaller districts as well.
ReplyDeleteMegan,
ReplyDeleteCould you share with us more about the "push-in" model? For example, how did your cooperative teacher keep in contact with the classroom teachers to make sure that she knew what to cover in each class? Thanks!