Several students from the Blue Class are pulled out of Reading/Language Arts during first period for reading services provided by the reading specialist. Often, they come back with less than half an hour left in class and absolutely no idea about what they are supposed to be doing. Generally, my mentor teacher gives them what everybody else is working on expects them to catch up. Occasionally, she gives them extra time to work but that is not guaranteed. We decided that today, I would take them aside and work in a small group to get them up to speed. I was very excited about this because it was something that I had been hoping to do since the first day of school. Unfortunately, the "reading group table" was completely covered with posters and papers and a bunch of random stuff - pretty typical for this rather unorganized classroom. Instead, we commandeered Table 3 to work.
This was an absolute disaster. Not only did I have more students than I had desks and chairs, but I felt as though I couldn't even talk to them because my mentor teacher was lecturing the rest of the class so loudly. If I tried to speak, either they couldn't hear me over her, or I was yelling to compete with her. Next time, we need to communicate better about how and where I can work with these students so that they are getting the instruction that they need and deserve. I am also making it my personal mission to clear off the reading table so that it can be used for its actual purpose.
