As I’m sure you’ve gathered by now, my name is Steve Kinney. I am currently employed by the New York City Department of Education. I work as a special education teacher in a middle school on the Upper West Side. I teach seventh grade literacy and social studies in the inclusion model. I also teach sixth and eighth grade science. My night time endeavors are limited to being a graduate student at Hunter College, the City University of New York.
I am a special education teacher who works in a collaborative team teaching setting, also known as the inclusion model. For those of you who might be unfamiliar with educational jargon, please allow me to clarify. Rather than being exiled to a self-contained classroom, special education students are included in the traditional class environment.
As you might expect, students who receive special education services often struggle in the mainstream classroom: this struggle is usually what led to them being nominated for special education services to begin with. That’s where I come in. I work alongside the general education teacher to make sure that students with learning disabilities are provided with the support necessary to allow them to succeed.
This is a lot easier said than done. Simply placing two people in the same room isn’t the answer. Two heads aren’t better than one unless they’re approaching things in different ways. A cornerstone of my job is differentiating instruction in the general education curriculum to meet the needs of students with disabilities. In order to do this with an level of accuracy, I have to have an in-depth knowledge of each student as a learner. In order to achieve that end, I collect and analyze data on each student and use the results to inform my planning and the execution of lessons.
I also integrate elements from my previous position working for the Rutgers University Office of Information Technology. It is my goal as a teacher to incorporate technology into the curriculum in ways that truly enhance their value - not just “technology for technolology’s sake.” I explore the potential use of blogs, content management systems, databases, social networking, and web resources in the contemporary classroom.
In my past life, I was a sociology major at Rutgers University. I completed an honors thesis entitled “The Social Construction of Natural Disasters: The Case of Hurricane Katrina.” During my time as an undergraduate student, I worked for the Rutgers University Campus Computing Facilities as well as Apple Computers, Inc.
I am always seeking new ways to integrate my three areas of interest: sociology, education, and technology. I created this website to share some of the material I’ve been working on and hopefully receive feedback. Please visit my portfolio, educational manifesto, and my résumé for more information.
Check out my Squidoo lens.
