My Time with Mrs.

Tucker

As I entered the classroom I had been assigned to I had a lot of ideas of what it would be

like. Mrs. Tucker teaches ELAR to special needs students at the elementary in Lone Oak. I had

mentally prepared myself for months. She has 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students that she has most

of the day then she has intervention students that come at different times during the day that

consist of 2nd-5th grade. She also had an absolutely amazing teacher's aide in the class, Mrs.

Bollinger, who I got to observe as well. The ideas I had were a little different from reality.

There is always a morning assignment on the board ready to go and it usually consist of a

spelling lesson. Although they do this every day routine, the morning can still be a confusing

time for a lot of kids. Mrs. Tucker very calmly and collectively handled each child on their own

level. A few kids came in sat down and were anxious to get started right away. Then a few kids

needed a little direction, while one child in particular just sat there staring at the board. Mrs.

Tucker had been pulled from the classroom for some ARD business in the library across the hall

for a few minutes. Mrs. Bollinger had her focus on a student working on a packet she had to get

finished. I felt very drawn to the child that was just sitting there staring at the board. I couldn't

help myself. They were working on word scrambles where the task is to make words out of the

jumbled letters on the board. He was not trying to get out of work or even asking for help. As I

watched I could tell he was really trying hard and really struggling to piece a word together. I

walked up and came down to his level. I introduced myself and asked if I could help. I said lets

pick one consonant to start with sense most words start with consonants and then we'll go from

there. I gave him very little instruction, but what little instruction I gave him sent him in the right

direction and every time I came back to check on him he had come up with new words. I told
him what a great job he had done and came up with words I didn't even see. You could see the

confidence on this child's face when he completed the assignment.

Mrs. Tucker then has a reading corner where she joins the students to read a chapter

book. She stops and asks questions frequently to see if the kids can guess what is going to

happen next. I see how this method keeps their attention and at the same time you are checking

to see if they comprehend the material. Students then would work on their own chapter books

and take AR tests.

There were never more than eight students in the SPED classroom as they need a lot of

individual attention. The classroom next to us was Mrs. Medders and she teaches math to SPED

students. During breaks she would come into Mrs. Tucker's and they would discuss the students,

where they were at, where they need to be, what might work for that particular student. They

were very bonded over the students and you can tell are a great deal of help to one another, like a

team. They let all of their students know they are "Rockstars" and high fives are a constant.

Every time a student would complete an assignment and let her know they were done, she would

say "see hard work pays off." She really shows the students how to see their potential. She used

things the students were passionate about to encourage them in their work. She taught me a lot in

a short amount of time and I am so grateful for the experience that I had. She made me want to

be a special needs teacher even more than I did when I first started my journey. Really big hearts

grow really big minds, and hers was enormous.