Decision-making Power

With the end of the school year almost upon me comes the Placement Decisions. This is an important time in the life of a resource room teacher; I need to ask myself "In whose classroom will each of my little ones succeed next year?" I can't just flippantly assign them any ol' teacher, you see, it is an important decision that may potentially help to determine academic progress. I have to consider the strengths and weaknesses of each student AND each teacher.

It's easy to reflect on the qualities of each of my students. It gets stickier when I have to reflect on teacher qualities. It almost feels judgmental... "No, not her, she doesn't follow through", "No, she's too inconsistent, he needs someone who is firm and strict", "No, she's overly negative", "No, he can't differentiate", "No, she's not warm and sensitive enough", "No, she shouts confidential information in the hallways", "No, she can't seem to work with other professionals". I'm not sure how to go about this process without being hypercritical of each teacher on our staff!

As I go down my list, it's working out where I'm happy where they will be placed.... But I do seem to be stuck with a handful of kids to place within the same grade level in which there is not a single teacher who I feel is capable of teaching these kids well. I may have to resort to pulling names out of a hat!