What are Special Educational Needs (SEN)

SEN...stands for Special Educational Needs...but what is meant by that?

If you have a class full of children, are they not all special? Do they not all have a need? Of course they do. But maybe we could base most of their needs on the styles of learning...for example, whether they are Kinesthetic, Visual, Audial and so on...

We could look at Howard Gardener's multiple intelligences list and take some idea from there...We could take the test or get the children to take it in some form of lesson to find out..

The Multiple Intelligences;

1)Bodily-Kinesthetic

2)Interpersonal

3)Verbal - Linguistic

4)Logical - Mathematical

5)Naturalistic

6)Intrapersonal

7)Spatial

8)Musical

But would that be enough to take into account when teaching in the classroom?

The reason I ask this question is due to over four weeks of work with an SEN class. They are a split level class which made the task even harder. Some of them are Year 1and the others are Year 2, which makes them between five and seven years old. The class consists of a wide variety of children...but we must not forget that they are all children!

I was anxious at the beginnng, on the first day I met the class..I am a supply teacher at the moment and so come face to face with many different ages, classes, learning styles, motivations, family problems, lifestyles and many more differences...but this class worried me, yet at the same time, inspired me.

It was a challenge and I like to take on challenges. Some of them can't write one word, others can but don't want to and some of them are so busy running out of the classroom that they're not even participating!

These children were definitley what could be defined as SEN children...after spending a day with them, where the current teacher seemed to wonder when I was going to bolt out of the door, the school asked me if I would like to work with them for a few weeks, as their teacher was having to cover for another class which had SAT exams(UK) coming up and their teacher was off sick...

I took it up right away...in their little faces I saw children who wanted to learn and really needed to in order to achieve their targets to go back into their mainstream class and had been disrupted.

I went home in two minds; half of me was thinking 'Oh God, what have I done?'; and the other half was patting me on the back for the acceptance of the challenge. I was going to teach them something even if it killed me! (Literally!!)

After just over a week I had to research and prepare, I went into the class with my usual manner...but knew I would have to change some of that if I were to succeed with them...I got background information from the extremely helpful staff and started my first day...

Over time, I managed to hold down some discipline..I got them to make their own rules for the classroom and we devised a chart system for the 'right' and 'wrong' behaviour.

It worked from the day we did it. They decided that if a student ran out of class, therefore disrupting their lessons as the TA had to run after them, they would have to attend lunchtime detentions. No sooner had we agreed when one of them ran out in the next lesson!

But he then happily trotted off to five minutes detention at lunchtime...and over the next few weeks, never did it again! Success one!

They had a break by the name of active play; it was the last break of the day for the KS1 students.

KS1 means Keystage One and is the system used in the UK, part of the National Curriculum. This Keystage is for students in Years One and Two, of ages from 5 to 7.

We decided that active play was not a right, it was a privilege! And as all teachers will know...take away their breaks to drive them crazy!

So if they had too many crosses on the chart and not enough ticks to cancel out the crosses, they had to stay in that break and do some work...they soon caught on and by the end of the first week, they were all out in active play! Success two!

Of course these are discipline matters that can be used and should be used in every classroom all over the world. If there is no system and no discipline, there can be no education.

We all abide by rules and laws, and if they learn to abide by some at this young age, maybe there's more of a chance they will do the same when they are older. All of this boils down to classroom management...without it, a teacher is doomed not to teach!

After helping them to follow the rules, learn how to line up (that's another blog!), how to listen and so on...basically how to behave in a classroom, playground and lay the basics for how to behave in society..we then got on to the big stuff..actual learning!

Now here is where I have to specify a few SEN in the class...ADHD and Dyslexia seemed to be the main ones but there were many more undiagnosed problems which needed to be dealt with one-on-one..hence the original formation of this class.

They needed small group learning integrated with class learning. They needed to be broken down into groups for some subjects and needed individual time for others. They also needed to feel they were part of a class, as well as an individual.

So, the learning process was a slow one and of course, miracles do happen, however I had limited time with them and so tried to get what I could and give what I could. I pushed them foward and they sometimes grew tired, but it was more constructive than play.

Play became a reward for those who completed their work. So, the harder they tried to finish it, the earlier they could go and play, and the dispatch of children whose progress was faster, left me and the TA more time to deal with those who needed one-on-one.

It was hard work for everyone involved but I feel deeply that I got somewhere with them. Children who didn't want to come to class started to get in line in the morning without hassle, they also stopped running out the room resulting in no detentions on that matter.

There are many more things that I need to talk about on this subject but for now I'm going to close, leaving you with the first thought...DISCIPLINE COMES FIRST

Please Teacher..Can I have some more?

Teacher...What's in a word? This is one word that can mean many things..If you look it up in the dictionary you get;

Noun: teacher teechu(r)
A person whose occupation is teaching
- instructor

A personified abstraction that teaches
"books were his teachers"; "experience is a demanding teacher"

But is that enough? Does that word define what we really do, who we really are and moreover how important we are?

Everyone needs a teacher...Even if we are teachers now, we still need to see someone else do the job..get ideas..watch how they work...maybe see their plans..we need an example...

I have a fine example...A teacher who in my eyes does what most teachers cannot..He was my lecturer at university and his name is Ismail Hakkı Erten...

He was someone who kept us on our toes, made us feel important but never spoiled us, talked in a manner that made us fear yet respect him..

When you ask kids what they want to be when they are grown up..you always hear the usual 'Hero' jobs... "I want to be a fireman...a policeman...a soldier"...and so on...

Do you ever hear a child say they want to be a teacher? Probably not. But if you ask me what I want to be when I'm older..I would tell you I want to be just like my teacher...