Dear Dr. Christy,
I am not sure if you remember me or not but I was one of the lucky students who took your class in the M.A.T program at CCU. My name is Adalia Ellis. I am now living in Abu Dhabi where I am teaching second grade English, Math and Science. It has been a LEARNING experience to say the least. I have 60 students, two classes of 30. And in one class I have a student who is completely blind and she is exceptionally bright.
I am writing to you to ask your help. I am wondering if you would be willing to give me input on how to differentiate learning for such large classes, with some students who don't know the alphabet and others who are reading. I have the students in learning groups by abilities and then we do centers twice a week and the students are in mixed ability levels. The problem that arises is that my students who are high performing finish tasks very quickly while the low performers are more dependent on me to give them personalized instruction. To add to this, my student who is blind is extremely smart and is capable to working independently, but I need to "show" her what to do guiding her as she reads braille and types with her brailler. This takes time so I have my students all at different levels needing different levels of instruction and one on one interaction.
I am certain that I have at least 6 students who are severely learning disabled. They don't do well in Arabic or English classes. There are no special ed classes available to focus on the learning disabled. I am in a school situation where there are very little resources and support.
Despite all of this, I love my students and the ways I have been forced to grow as a teacher. This has been the most challenging situation so far. I truly feel that I have learned to be a teacher as a result of this experience.
I hope you are doing well and the school year has been wonderful so far. Thank you in advance for your help.
Sincerely,
Adalia Ellis
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