4/22/2009
So today is our last day at the high school, very sad. This was a great experience for me. I learned a lot of information and gained knowledge. I have also gained a lot of courage in teaching the high school kids. The most memorable thing that I will take from this experience is how I’ve become much more comfortable teaching to a group of kids rather than working one one one. This was my first time working with a group of children who are all classified with a disability . It was very interesting to see how I was going to plan my lesson and make modifications. I was very nervous that I would not be able to do a lesson and have the students understand what I wanted them too, but my lessons went very well and the students understood. This made me feel an accomplishment and success. After this semester I have gained a lot of confidence and knowledge on working with students with disabilities.
Add a comment April 22, 2009
4/15/2009
On Monday I was working with the students in the inclusion class. The inclusion teacher was absent so they had a sub. This was a very interesting situation for me because the sub had no clue what to do because there were no lesson plans or anything for her. The kids were reviewing for a test and needed to complete the reviews at the end of the chapter. The general education teacher told me to just take the students to the library to work on it. Since the sub did not have any lesson plans or any clue on what to do I basically took over. This was great for me because I felt really comfortable working with the students on my own and having them complete the review. I feel like I handled the situation well and actually had the students working and staying on task. I do not understand though how they can just put any regular sub into an inclusion class to work with special need children. I think that there should be some requirements that the sub needs to work with the children. I say this because when I was working with the students one of them does not like for their stuff to be touched and the sub kept touching her papers and turning pages. I was worried that the student was going to have a break down if the sub kept “invading” the students space but it never happened. Over all I’m glad that I got to take over for the day because it showed me that I can handle the situation and keep the kids doing their work.
Add a comment April 15, 2009
4/8/2009
This week I worked in the inclusion classroom with three autistic students that I regularly work with. To me I think it is very important for the inclusion teacher and the regular education teacher work well together. I have not seen them work together at all. I always thought that the whole point of having the special education students in the regular education classroom is to get them to socialize and be aroud regular students. Last time they had to create their own planet. Since the regular education teacher was not there the inclusion teacher decided to take the special education students to the library. She brought 2 regular education students with them just so they could be around them. The whole time while doing their projects they did not iteract at all. The regular education students worked together and the special education students did. I think that sometimes they need to be combined and work with each other. There was no communication between the regular ed. students and the special ed. This made me a little irritated and I wanted to say something but I kept it in. Hopefully when I am working with students in an inclusion class I will obtain a good relationship with the regular education teacher and have the special education students work with the regular education students as well. I think it is very important for the special education students to learn that skill.
Add a comment April 8, 2009
4/1/2009
This week on Monday I did my video teach. I was extremely nervous about it because I had never taught a room with all autistic students. In my elementary block I was in an inclusion class so there were a lot more options. I taught them a lesson on why it is important to make goals. I thought that it went well. There are definitely things I need to work on and become more comfortable with. It was a great experience for me though because it taught me a lot about what I need to work on and how kids are going to interpret your lesson. I am really enjoying being in the classroom. The kids are very well behaved. So far through out the semester I have seen myself grow to a better understanding of what it takes to teach this population.
Add a comment April 1, 2009
3/11/2009
Describe: On Monday I went to my cooperating teacher with the scores rooms. Since the teacher was not there the aides and student teacher helped out. At the beginning of each class the students are required to write in their journals. The teacher post a question up on the board and then they copy it down in their journal and write a few sentences explaining their response. After they finish we go over the question and answer it as a class. Then they put up their journals and get ready for the next lesson. After the journal warm up we then did taboo. We did this for the remaining of the period.
Analyze: Being in the scores room with autistic kids is so much fun. Doing the warm up journal is a great way to get the students engaged in the beginning and ready for the lesson. Usually the journal entry question relates to the lesson that is being taught for the period. By having a good transition from the warm up to the lesson is very important when working with these children. Since the teacher was not there after doing the journal entry we played taboo. By playing this game it can help students out with their creative thinking and social skills.
Reflection: In the future instead of playing a game when the teacher is not there I might think of a lesson on the top of my head and suggest it to the aides and teacher assistant. I think that the game was a good idea because it does help the creative mind come into use and it is a very good way to be social with other people, but I would not do it for the entire period. I would use the game as a reward for good behavior. I really like the idea of having the journal as a warmup which transitions into the lesson for the day. The kids know what to do and when to start the journal entry.
Add a comment March 12, 2009
2/25/2009
D: On Monday I was in a sped classroom with only autistics children. It was very fun and interesting to see how these children interact with each other and to the activity that the teacher was teaching. The teacher has an activity about being social and interacting and carrying on a conversation with others. The teacher had an activity to where the students would have cheat sheet and write down 5 of their interest, draw a picture of what they did during the weekend, and write down one question that they would ask. After doing this she made them go to a different table that they were not sitting at and talk to someone about what they wrote and ask the other person the same questions. The students went around to 4 different students and gathered this information.
A: The reason why the teacher did this activity was because she was observing a classroom that some of her kids are in and noticed that some on of the students did not have very good social skills and might have not known how to start a conversation. During the activity even though the students have a cheat sheet of their interests and picture and question she stated that she did not want the kids to just state their interest but to explain and try to carry on a conversation with the other students. By doing this the students have to remember what they wrote down and learn the concept of coming up with conversation at the top of your head.
R: When working with special need kids I will keep this activity in mind because it is difficult for some of the children to be social and try to start a conversation. I noticed that some of the kids are very good at keeping a conversation going but there were also other kids that had a very difficult time and kept referring back to the bullets. I think that this is a very good activity because it is a great lesson for kids to learn.
Add a comment February 25, 2009
2/11/2009
Description: On Monday we went out for the first time with our cooperating teachers. Since I am doing Special Education I am going to different rooms and seeing which one I liked the best. My first room that I was in was a resource room. I have never been able to observe a resource room before.
Analysis: When observing the room I walked around and looked at what the students were doing. These students were capable of doing their own work so they did not need much help.
Reflection: While observing the classroom I noticed a couple things. During the warm up the teacher just told them students what to do and then gave them 15 minutes to complete the warm up. During the 15 minutes the teacher just sat at her desk and payed no attention to the students at all. Some of the students just sat there and did not do anything. This was very irritating to me because I think that in a classroom like that the students need to be payed more attention to so they stay on task. I really wanted to go up to the students who were just sitting there talking and ask them to try and at least write down a couple sentences. Also since it was a resource room there were not that many students, so I would think that the teacher would be more attentive. There was one student who was in a wheel chair and had a computer screen attatched to it. The student was not capable of writing for I am assuming that the student slowly makes remarks on her computer and her aid figures out what she is trying to say and writes it down for her. After observing this type of classroom it makes me want to stay in there so I can help monitor the students and work with them so they actually get stuff done instead of just sitting around.
Add a comment February 11, 2009
Post #1. trying it out.
just figuring out how to work this blog thing
Add a comment January 28, 2009
Hello world!
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1 comment January 28, 2009
