The Classroom

Ms. Allen's class was a special middle school language arts class for students with disabilities. The ten students assigned to the class had a range of disabilities that would strain most teachers' management practices. One student had impaired vision and required special seating and specially prepared assignments. Another student had Asperger Syndrome (often described as high functioning autism), others had a variety of learning and behavioral problems that included noncompliance, defiance, and aggression. Students ranged in age from 12 to 15. Some students ignored each other while others traded insults and, occasionally, worse. All students were performing well below grade level in reading and written language. When I observed Ms. Allen's classroom, she was focusing primarily on written language skills while reviewing grammar and relating specific elements of grammar to the students' written work.

When I first observed in Ms. Allen's class, I took my place in a corner of the class before the fourth period students entered the room. Four classroom rules that the students had helped to generate were posted prominently at the front of the class:

• Raise your hand to be recognized
• Listen to the person speaking
• Come to class prepared, and
• Do your best work

Seats were arranged in pairs or groups so that all students could see the board and a "word wall" that the class had established along one side.

Student Behavior

The bell rang and Ms. Allen stepped into the doorway to check assignment books as third period students left and to greet the fourth period students as they arrived. Students entered the room noisily, roamed around collecting work materials, and complaining that they could not find books or homework. Some chatted with Ms. Allen for a few moments as they entered or talked to peers. Some asked for locker or hall passes which Ms. Allen denied.

During this time, Ms. Allen exhorted her students to find their work folders, sit down, and begin the warm up exercise she had placed on the board. She reminded students of the class rules, closed the door when all the students had entered the room, and encouraged students to finish the warm up exercise so they could begin class. Students continued to talk among themselves even raising their voices from time to time to call to a peer across the room. Two students followed directions to begin work. Five or six were sporadically engaged in their academic work and the others made no attempt to rewrite and correct the sentences she had assigned as a warm-up. Two students traded threats and others contributed to the argument. Class continued in this fashion with constant reminders to pay attention, raise hands, and so on.

Students' Academic Skills

It was quickly apparent to me that the students had only rudimentary understanding of the instructional content. Ms. Allen's "review" of adjectives mystified the students as did the complicated lesson on verb tenses she presented. The materials that had been adopted by the school were clearly too advanced and too complicated for these students to use successfully. In other words, there was a mismatch between the students' present levels of functioning and the instructional materials. Most of the students responded by carrying on with their own activities.