The M&R teacher has to visit the classroom frequently to maintain contact with the student and monitor the program. This may cause difficulty, as some teachers are not comfortable having visitors in their classrooms on a regular basis.
I make sure that anytime I go into classrooms I tell the teachers why I’m there. I talk to them about the students and the programs and I’m very careful not to say anything about what goes on in their classroom to anyone else. You have to be discreet about it.
The M&R teachers emphasized the need to listen to teachers, especially to their ideas about possible strategies to use in the classroom. M&R teachers can help them select what they think is the most appropriate strategie but it is the teacher who must use it in the classroom:
I ask them what they think would work best. How do they think they can do it? I get them to talk about it and frequently they will make more of a commitment to the idea.
I’ll be honest; I don’t often give them an answer, because I don’t have the answers. I just listen to them and talk, and maybe offer a few suggestions about things I did when I was in the classroom or things that I’ve heard about. I might refer them to somebody else, but I don’t necessarily give them an answer myself.
I ask them, “What have you tried? Do you have any ideas of something else that you haven’t tried, that you’ve been thinking about that might work?” And instead of me saying, “Try this”, we come up with a list together of two or three strategies. I let the teacher choose one of them to try. Often they’ll some back and say, “Look, I tried this particular one and I think it’s going to work.” So, in my view, you can’t shove it down their throats.
