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Older students copied sentences off the board and filled in blanks with spelling words. They also practiced writing their names and addresses, a more practical skill, and finished pages in reading workbooks.
Kids are in and out of the room at intervals during the day, getting special help from the speech therapist, the learning disabilities specialist or the reading lab instructor. This gives Coffey the flexibility to concentrate on one child at a time while two or three others left in the class work on individual assignments with a minimum of supervision.
Generous Praise
She showers her students with positive encouragement. “Good Josh. That’s wonderful reading ... I like the way you're putting the endings on your words,” she praised one youngster during a reading lesson. *'"**! like the way you wrote that. That’s very nice,” she complimented another as she looked over a spelling page.
The kids also applaud each other in a spirit of cooperation that’s rarely found in the regular classroom. There’s competition and a squabble every now and then but on the whole, the way Coffey’s charges get along is enough to turn a mother faced with "normal” sibling rivalry green with envy.
Like all good teachers, Coffey takes advantage of everyday occurances for impromptu lessons in manners and problem solving.
“I don’t have any paper,” John announced as he prepared to start his assignment.
"Well, what are you going to do?” Coffey asked.
“Buy some,” he replied.
“No, the school store is closed. What are you going to do right now?”
“Borrow some,” John tried again, fidgeting in his desk as he glanced around the room with a wide smile.
“Who are you going to borrow it from? You have to ask someone nicely. You
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