Observe this week how your cooperating teacher effectively (or ineffectively) teaches the students with special needs in the classroom. Reflect upon the following questions as you post your blog entry.
What modifications or adoptions are made wtihin the course content or curriculum to meet the needs of the individual learner? How does the teacher utilize large group, small group, and/or individualized instruction to meet the learning needs of students? How are student interests and student choice incorporated in to the students' learning opportunities?
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There are two students in my classroom with IEPs, one student is legally blind and the other is at a kindergarten reading level (they are in third grade). The student who is blind has text books in braille and has a paraprofessional in the classroom all day working with her. She has a braille typewriter at her desk so she can type the answers to her tests or assignments if she is read the questions. She is very bright so there are not many other modifications for her. The other student has a different set of books that are at a lower reading level and she is tested with a different teacher outside of the classroom. The other students in the classroom are very helpful when it comes to working in groups, they help these 2 students very much and include them in everything.
ReplyDeleteIn my high school PE class there is one special needs student that has had organ problems and has had multiple surgeries which makes it hard for him to participate in class and he also has down syndrome. The teacher and even the students do a great job of involving him with the rest of the class. Every class that I have seen does a great job of that and there hasn't been any discrimination against him as far as I have seen.
ReplyDeleteKelly M, That is really cool to hear how well that classroom is willing and able to work with each other to make it a really good learning environment. It sounds like you are going to be able to take a lot from your observation that you will be able to use in your future teaching.
My teacher had students that had IEP's. One student had a lot of problems in math. My cooperating teacher and the student's IEP teacher met with the students parents and the principle and decided that the student gets to use a calculator on the hard math they did in class. There was another child in that could be a good student but she would get in a very bad mood almost everyday. This bad mood was bad enough that she would not do a single thing the teacher told her to do. I found out that this individual has done this every year and the teachers never know what to do with her. What my cooperating teacher did for this student was something no other teacher did. She talked to the parents and came up with a chart and a reward at home for this child. It actually ended up work really well!
ReplyDeleteAt my high school classes there is one students who is a special needs student. He is a very friendly kid and does participate in class and all the other students do get him involved and treat him normal. One day he actually went up and taught the class.Yes, it was funny, but its not like anyone was making fun of him. He was having fun doing it.
ReplyDeleteRyan Gross,
I think its good that other kids in the class get those special needs kids involved and treat them good.
Ryan,
ReplyDeleteI think that the fact students help the other student stay involved helps so much! It is one thing for the teacher to try to make things like that better for the student, but for the all the students to help the other student participate I think make the student with the disability feel very good and want to be more involved!
At my high school PE classes the students that are disabled manly walk around the track and are still involved yet secluded. When the students are doing activities such as football or softball, the special needs students are throwing the ball, playing catch.
ReplyDeleteI am observing a physical education class and there are actually very few students with special needs in the classes. But for the few that are in there my teacher really helps them out with things they are struggling with. There is also an IEP teacher that goes along with them to help out. For the physical part the students play with the others unless they are having too much trouble, and if they are my teacher modifies the game to allow them to continue playing. The students really help out a lot and they have fun helping the other students, but it also doesn't take away from their learning time because they play the game how it was originally started.
ReplyDeleteAna...
ReplyDeleteThe disabled students at my high school also usually prefer to walk around the track and/or play the game in a modified way to where they can still be involved with the other students.
When I first observed at the school, my teacher took me on a tour. The elementary building is actually two schools connected together, 4 classrooms of each grade K-5 per side. My teacher informed me that their school had the emotionally disturbed children, the other side for autistic. Besides these special needs, the 2nd graders I am observing are split into reading levels and then each reading level is sent to a teacher for reading and reading level tests. Also, in order to accommodate for the few who are not even close to where they need to be in reading, there are Grandmother room-helpers that work with small groups of children who need to "catch-up" to the 2nd grade level for reading. Also, the grandmothers work with what my teacher calls "Intervention First Graders, and some Kindergartners" who are not reading at their grade levels and, especially the first graders, need to make a smooth transition to the reading level of second grade. As far as other classes, the 2nd grade also groups into 4 levels for math. The other subjects are covered by their "home" teacher, or original class. I think the grouping both helps and may hurt a little. I think it helps because the teacher is able to work with a certain level of students for reading and math without losing some who do not quite understand, or by losing some who do not find the reading challenging enough. I think it may hurt because the lower level readers may not notice that they are lower level and do not feel like they need to try any harder.
ReplyDeleteEmily J... I am glad to hear that the students and teacher are willing to help out the special needs student. I do not get to observe any special needs children because they are all grouped into their own special classes. But, I think it is good to hear not only by making small modifications, and the students helping, can lead to a successful experience for the special needs student.
ReplyDeleteEmily J...
ReplyDeleteI am glad to hear that you have observed that even those with special needs are easily helped out by the teacher and their peers. Even though my class that I am observing does not have any special needs children, I like to hear that by making slight modifications and having other students help, it can be a successful experience for the special needs kids.
The teacher that I am observing does not have any students that require aid with special needs. However, I have been in classes that had special needs students in it and the teachers have always been very good with taking that into consideration. My teachers were able to organize activities so that even if these students were unable to participate fully, they were not left out.
ReplyDeleteKelly M.
ReplyDeleteI just want to say that I think the fact that the teacher is able to adapt that well with some pretty intense obsticals is very amazing. I admire the desire to want all students to learn that this teacher must have to be able to be so willing to put in more work than other teachers without students with special needs.
I have been in a few classes with special need students. The teacher usually always handles that particular student very well and includes them in everything in class. The student usually has a paraprofessional that also sits with them in class and helps them with any needs. These students usually work with the para teacher more than the other, but it is nice to see that both teachers are helping out the student and letting them participate in class
ReplyDeleteKimberly,
ReplyDeleteIt is nice to see the teacher organize activities to allow all students to be able to participate. It is probably a little more work for the teacher to do this but it benefits the teacher and the student for getting to participate.
The classroom I am observing right now does not have any kids with special needs in it, but I went all the way through elementary school with a kid that had special needs in my class. We had a teacher that was always with him, along with our regular teacher, and she also became part of our class. He was always included into our activities even though he could not participate.Every one of our teachers was very understanding and helpful with him.
ReplyDeleteKimberly and Ryne,
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is nice to see that all the students get to participate, even if it is harder for them. Also that teachers want to work extra hard to help certain kids in their classes.
In the classroom there are two students with speech impediments, two who have a little trouble learning or understanding, and an autistic boy. The teacher has split all these kids up they are with ones who are smart and others who are average. The smarter ones tend to help the ones who dont understand. The teacher also walks around and asks all of them if they understand is very good about explaining things well and answering questions. The autistic student sits in a desk by theirself and it has walls around it so he can focus better and hes not as distracted or can copy. The teacher also helps him out a lot in making sure he understands and stays on topic and does his work. For teaching kindergarten i feel that this teacher really does reach out and teaches on many levels to each of the students, she tries to also challenge the gifted ones, and helps the slower ones, who don't understand but she also makes them work hard before helping them.
ReplyDeleteHeather M,
ReplyDeleteYour school sounds very interesting in how they have so many different types of students there and how they accomodate to them. I feel that in some ways how the school you go to is set up is really good for the students by putting the ones who read at higher levels with students like them but i also feel that they are losing the feeling of growing up in a diverse classroom. I really do like that the "grandmothers" help the transition from the grade levels and really help the students out, I feel like that will better them and help them in the future.
I have not noticed my teacher making any special accommodations for any kids, however I have not noticed any special needs students in my class. There are a few students that I suspect may have a learning disability. The teacher seems to not worry about it and said that if she thought anything was serious she would notify the principal.
ReplyDeleteRyne,
ReplyDeleteThat is very lucky that your school provides someone to help each student. It would be great if every school could do that.
Ryne,
ReplyDeleteThat is very lucky that your school provides someone to help each student. Not every school is able to do that and the teacher is left to take care of the child on their own. It would be great if every school could provide someone to help every special needs s
for the most part, students with true dissabilites are not in the same class rooms. For the students who have small learning disabilities, they are placed in a collaborative classroom. The "Collab" class consists of two teachers to help out with these students.
ReplyDeleteAna, i was reading yours. And i beleive that that is a great way to handle students that can't perform at the same level as others. Let them be involved in their own way
ReplyDeleteI have adaptive PE, and for some reason, there are more teachers than students. in total, there are 4 students and 5 teachers, or an adult who wants to be a teacher of some sort. I believe that this seems like a waste of time, but at the same time, it gives the students someone different for how they feel that day. this one student, when she is happy she would talk and walk with everyone, but if she is having a bad day, she would go to just one teacher.
ReplyDeletewill,
For the students that have that smaller learning disabalities, they are not treated any differently. I believe this helps them grow.
I have not really seen my teacher make any modifications for the one special needs children I have seen in her class. The only girl I have seen is in her health class, and my teacher will talk to her and the little girl will hug my teacher and what not but thats about the only interaction that I have seen between the two of them. The class was doing presentations but I never saw this little girl go. So from my observations she really does not do anything to modify her class or personally assist her i think she just leaves that up to her aid
ReplyDeleteAndy
ReplyDeleteI never heard of a class being that small but i think that could be a good idea for the students to be able to connect with a different teacher. Students feel more comfortable and happy when they think there is someone who truly cares and gives them the time of day. This is especially good for students with special needs because they almost always need someone there with them anyway.
The PE teacher I am observing is very good involving all the students in her class, even though I haven’t noticed that many kids with special needs. There is one girl though, that is somehow disabled, she hates PE and she’s really stubborn too, but the teacher is trying real hard to get her involved. Sometimes she succeeds, sometimes not. However, I think it is really professional that the teaches’s not giving up on her.
ReplyDeleteKim Jordon, I really like how your teacher is involved with the kids. It most be challenging, but very rewarding in the end for her/him.
ReplyDeleteThere is one student in the class that I am observing who has special needs. At the time that I am there, the kids are usually doing writing rotations. Insead of rotating with everyone else, the student sits down with a special needs teacher for one on one time. I think this helps because rotating with the rest of the group can get very distracting at times.
ReplyDeleteJamie, I think it's interesting how the teacher came up with a plan with the parents to help the student. It shows that the teacher really cares about the student and wants him or her to suceed in the future.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteIn my class he goes over the lift we are doing and then if there are any questions after that him or I help them individually with the lift. The student’s choices are incorporated by if the student chooses not to work out and just sit they can write a paper on health and nutrition for the same amount of points I see a lot of girls in the weight lifting class chose this option instead of lifting. My class I’m observing doesn’t have any students with special needs but some days we play games with the freshman P.E. class and that has a few special needs students. The way we help them is just let them play the game for fun they have a helper with them incase anything happened and they help the special needs kid with the rules and telling them what they need to do
ReplyDeleteEileen some teachers don’t need to modify anything because the special needs student is just in the class to be around other kids and there IEP for health is fulfilled in a different one on one environment. Most health and P.E. class don’t need to make any special arrangement except if it’s a class just for special needs kids.
ReplyDeleteIn my host classroom special measures are taken to meet individual needs of students. If a student in the classroom is a special education student and needs special attention a teacher's aid is placed in the classroom and helps the student by taking notes for them. The teacher's aid goes over each class with the student in order to help the student retain the info.
ReplyDelete