Once we had learned about the Learning Map Model (LMM) we were able to apply these ideas in a practice lesson plan as a group. We were able to refer back to our previous case study in the last class in order to have a frame of reference for our instruction.

This is the plan that my group wrote:

Literacy Learning Plan

Introduction

The purpose of this assignment is to create a Learning Plan for Mr. Jones’ class compiled of a variety of different learners. The students are to learn a standard for an English Language Arts assignment in the 5th grade level.

Learner

The majority levels of the class is made up of lower to middle academic levels. 46% of his class is composed of hispanic descent, 38% of Anglos; which further explains the majority of his learners. The student body consists of English Learners, Socially and Emotionally disturbed students which could have resulted in trauma, and Physically disabled students. The main students are:

Ray: Accident resulting in hearing loss, memory loss, older than the rest, English Learner, and visual learner.

Marta: English Learner, recently moved to the U.S from Mexico, high visual learner, dances ballet folklorico.

Dillon: Is the typical student, asks questions when he is uncertain, scored equally as a visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learner.

Bill: Extremely bright and has great grades, mother teaches math at a local college, scored high on both visual and kinesthetic learner, and only a few marks down as auditory learner.

Gina: Scored high as being a visual and kinesthetic learner, emotionally traumatized from being sexually abused by mother’s boyfriend.

Rukhsana: Refugee from another country, traumatized from experience, artist, high visual and auditory learner.

Steven: Has Cerebral Palsy, confined to electric wheelchair, has an IEP, has a paraprofessional, scored high as a visual and auditory learner, too intelligent to be in a special ed. Class.

Focus Student #1

Ray:

• Sit in the front of class
• Provide auditory support
• Work with him one on one
• Support with understanding English
• Provide many diagrams

Focus Student #2

Marta:

• Needs a paraprofessional for translation
• Needs to be paired with a bilingual student
• Visual representation needs to be provided since she is a visual learner

Focus Student #3

Steven:

• Requires more social interaction with peers
• Meet IEP goals
• Keep pairing Steven up with classmates until there is a bond made that can grow beyond the classroom

Teacher

With the information given, it is my responsibility to create a highly visual classroom with many diagrams and visual representation. My expectations of my student’s work has to be realistic based on the objectives I set forth for each student. It is highly important that my class works collaboratively in most lessons since many of my students require to work in pairs or groups. To prepare for my lesson I will have a sample assignment generated from a previously read book to create expectations of the assignment. The sample assignment will be viewed on an overhead projector previous to the lesson starting.

Materials:

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen.

Paper

Pencil

ELA Notebook

Computer for Google Translator

Overhead Projector

Sample Chapter Summary

Target

Standards: This lesson plan follows the Common Core English Language Arts Standards for the fifth grade.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.1 – This standard is the expectation that students will have the ability to quote from the text and draw inferences when explaining the meaning behind the story.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.3 – This Common Core standard states that students will be able to compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events within a specific literary work. They will also be able to give specific details from the text (Common Core State Standard Initiative, 2019). .

Goal: Students should be able to summarize their reading as well as describe the characters involved in the book Hatchet by Gary Paulsen.

Objective:

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Lower Order of Thinking Skills: Remember, Understand, Apply

Higher Order of Thinking Skills: Analyze, Evaluate, and Create.

The students’ objective with this lesson is to be able to list the characters in the story and define their relationships with each other (Remember). Once the student know who the characters are, they should be able to describe Brian and the pilot, the two main characters in the story (Understand). Through discussion as a class, students should be able to verbally illustrate how Brian’s previous experience will allow him to survive in the situation that he finds himself, in the context of the book (Apply). During this lesson, students will be able to achieve these objectives involved in the lower order of thinking skills that are described in Bloom’s Taxonomy. Students will begin to examine their understanding of the story by summarizing what they have read of the book during the lesson. This will allow them to begin accessing the High Order of Thinking Skills in the Analyze stage of Bloom’s Taxonomy (National University, 2017).

Outcome:

Given the goal and standards for this lesson, the expected outcome of this lesson is for students to be able to understand the story as it is being read aloud, summarize events of the story by writing individual summaries, and comparing the characters in the story as individuals and with the other students around them in the class.

Focus Student #1:

For Ray, the outcome for this lesson would be that he would be able to create a visual representation of the characters that are being discussed in the book. Due to the fact that he is a visual learner, this will be the easiest way for him to summarize the story. This will allow him to compare these characters, as well as give an explanation of the meaning of the story. This will meet both learning objectives for this lesson.

Focus Student #2:

For Marta, her learning objective would be that she would be able to understand the story as the class is reading the story out loud. She will have access to a computer for Google translation as the story is being read. Her objective is to be able to look up any of the words that she is having difficulty understanding within the context of the story. This will allow her to be able to summarize the story and compare characters that are mentioned while the story is being read aloud.

Focus Student #3:

For Steven, due to his IEP goal of more positive interactions with his peers, his outcome for this lesson is being able to participate in the class discussion of the characters. This includes pairing up with a partner in order to interact socially while engaging in the story about the characters and events taking place within the story.

Assessment

For this lesson, there is no formal or summative assessment. However, Mr. Jones will be using formative assessments throughout the lesson to ensure that the students are able to successfully access the curriculum. This formative assessment includes observing and monitoring how the students are doing with comprehension the material. He will also check in with the students to assess whether they are understanding the story that they are reading and make adjustments to his lesson to accomodate any misunderstandings from his students. This is especially important for the students who have difficulty with language comprehension (Ferguson, 2011).

Students will self-assess at the end of the lesson when they summarize the story that was read in class. This summarization will allow them to check their own understanding of the story that was read together. As the students continue to read the book in the future, they will be able to look back and add to their summary and be able to determine whether or not they understood what was taking place in the book.

Due to the interactive nature of the instruction, students, as well as the teacher, will be able to assess their behavioral and social skills as they converse with partners and discuss the story as a class. This discussion with other students will help them to evaluate whether they are understanding and interpreting the story in a similar manner to their fellow classmates. This interaction will also provide opportunities for students to check for understanding if they have difficulty with any specific passages of the reading.

Instruction

Introduction (15 minutes)

Students are to work on a 10 minute morning worksheet. Correct, go over the answers, and answer any relevant questions students may have.

Lesson 1 (15 minutes)

Students are to describe the character, Brian and the pilot, of the book Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. This should be done as partners, and then as a class.

Lesson 2 (30 minutes)

As a class, students are to popcorn read the next two chapters. Students will write a summary for each of the two chapters that were read. One summary per chapter.

Conclusion (5 minutes)

Students will share their summaries with two neighbors and the teacher, if called on.

Management

When the bell rings for class, students will line up outside the door to the classroom with hand behind their backs and mouths shut. Students are to move their magnet to the right spot, school lunch or sack lunch. Students will sit in their seat to work on 10 minute morning worksheet. During this time, students will sharpen pencils and put backpacks away by rows. The teacher and class is to correct the worksheet. Students will get out there “Hatchet” books and ELA notebooks. Students should have the descriptions, and summaries in their ELA notebooks. Students will take time to talk and share with each other.

During my design class, we learned how to create lesson plans. Sometimes it seems like it would be an intuitive thing but there are important elements that should be addressed in every lesson plan. In this class, we had an assignment that required us to take a look at three sample lesson plans and determine if they contained the proper elements.

The elements we were looking for were the learners, the teacher, the target, assessments, instruction, and management. Each of these factors should be addressed in a lesson plan. In order for us to be able to plan our own lessons, it was important to recognize these elements in others first. This Assignment shows my analysis of the three lessons.

 

Throughout the Learners and Learning II course, we had a group project that we worked on together. In this project, we were given a theoretical class with a teacher and students to analyze. Each week we were given more information regarding that classroom and students. In our final week of the course, we compiled a case study that tied up all the details of our case. Here is the final project that we completed together:

ITL606 Week Four Collaboration_ Group G

In this course we spoke a lot about Learning Environments and Classroom Management. I found this to be exceptionally helpful because this is the area I have struggled the most this past year. So, one of our assignments was to write a theoretical letter to the parents of our future students that discussed these things. Here is my letter:

Dear Parents,

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Sarah Shirey and I will be your child’s 7^th grade Life Science teacher this year. I have had a passion for science since I was a child and I hope to instill that same passion in each and every one of your kids. Our curriculum is called the “Next Generation Science Standards – Life Science for All.” It is really geared towards ensuring that all students find something to love about science and are able to find at least one thing that sticks with them for a lifetime. Seventh grade is such a fun year because this is when your students begin to learn about life in all forms, including the human body. Kids at this age love learning about themselves and hopefully some of what they learn will be useful for years to come.

Before I continue with some rules and expectations for my classroom, I want to give you a brief description of how different classrooms can be run and give you an idea of how I plan to manage my classroom this school year. I think making my style of teaching clear to parents up front allows for you to know what to expect as the school year progresses and questions may arise.

Styles of Classroom Management

In the practice of teaching, it is simultaneously an art and a science. Teachers can often times have many skills that will help them as they express or show their individual talent in the classroom. At the same time teaching can be a science or discipline based on theoretical practices (National University, 2018). In keeping these things in mind, maintaining a balanced environment can help a teacher maintain their classroom in the way that they desire. Keeping these things in mind, there are several different styles to classroom management.

The first style is a Behavioral approach to teaching. This style focuses on making expectations clear up front and reinforcing those behaviors. This practice includes redirecting any behavior that does not fit with the expectations (Huitt, 1996). The Cognitive approach is another way of looking at classroom management. In this approach, the teacher is more likely to employ counseling approaches to the classroom. This means they will be counting on the student to be able to use their reasoning skills to determine if their behavior is appropriate or not. The Cognitive theory says that the way that a person thinks will determine how they feel or behave (Raines, Pronti, & Taylor, 1996). Another approach to classroom management is the Humanist approach. This approach places the expectations of success on the learner. Part of that expectation is to be responsible for their own learning and take responsibility for their actions (Firdaus & Mariyat, 2017).

Lastly, the Social Psychology approach to teaching is my preferred method of classroom maintenance. Social strategies help students to have a better experience in school, promotes a supportive environment, and ensures that students feel safe and empowered in the classroom (Arhin & Laryea, 2018). This type of approach to teaching has been shown to improve the school’s overall environment and provide more opportunities for students to learn. Using this approach in my classroom means that there will be a lot of Cooperative Learning taking place. This means that students will be working together in small groups or teams to help each other out and improve their understanding of the material that is being presented to them. Working together has been shown to improve academic success, maintain behaviors, increase self-confidence and motivation, as well as encouraging students to actually like school and their classmates more (Balkcom, 1992). Hopefully as we work together this year to learn, you will see these positive behaviors in your child in regards to their academic success. I really want to encourage students to love school and enjoy learning. I do not want it to be an experience that they dread. I feel like if we are working together we can make this a positive experience this year. I will be working to build one on one relationships with your students and ensure that any necessary modifications are made for students with Individual Education Plans or other specific needs.

Rules and Expectations:

When teaching, there are a variety of topics that tend to come up about rules or expectations that I have for my students. I have gone ahead and created a chart below that addresses some of these frequently addressed issues. Hopefully this will provide some clarification for you and your student so that they will have a better idea of what is expected of them in my classroom this school year.

Active Listening: Talking guidelines for the classroom	The students will hear me address “Fundamental Skills” throughout the school year. One of the first Skills they will hear me mention will be the concept of “Active Listening.” Any time students hear me say “we are actively listening now,” they will understand that this means that all talking needs to stop and steps will need to be taken to follow instructions that I am giving. “Active” implies that steps will need to be taken following a briefing from the teacher and students quickly learn that listening during these times will provide them with important information on things that need to be followed through on.
Transitions: Classroom behavior expectations & “Invitations to Talk”	One of the many things that I find happens in a classroom is that the teacher will mention that we are moving on to a new topic and all the students will automatically start chatting and talking with their friends while they are transitioning. This makes it very difficult for the teacher because they are constantly having to regain the attention of all the students. In my classroom, when transitions happen, I would like for the students to quietly proceed to the next activity without starting up conversations with everyone around them. This will prevent me from having to continually interrupt and regain their attention. I always tell my kids that there will be times in which I will give them an “Invitation to Talk.” More often than not, that invitation is not extended during transitions, but will be given to them when the appropriate time comes around. Each class period, I try to extend at least one “Invitation to Talk” at a particular time, depending on the lesson for the day.
Materials: What you need and what I provide	Every student needs to have a Science binder in order to keep their materials for the school year organized. I will expect them to have notebook paper so that they can take notes when needed. A lot of note taking will be on the Chromebooks. However, I do believe that taking notes on pen and paper is an important skill and we do practice that occasionally. Each student should also have a spiral notebook inside this binder for warm ups that we will be doing throughout the year. I will provide any other necessary materials for each student and will notify ahead of time if that changes.
Bathroom Breaks	I do allow bathroom breaks to be taken when a child asks, however, I do caution each student to use their time wisely and try not to miss out on important things in class because their needs were not taken care of during breaks that are given throughout the day like brunch or lunch.
Inside Voices: Noise levels during group work	Science can be a very collaborative subject and we will be doing group work on a regular basis. During these times, it is important to remember that there are other classrooms around us. Inside voices will be used so that individual groups will not be distracted as well as other classes being disturbed.
Food, Drinks, and Gum	Food is not allowed in class as it can be a distraction from learning. We are also learning in a lab so it is important to keep the lab clean for necessary times. The only drink that is allowed is water. Gum is also not permitted at our school and should never be chewed in the classroom. If a student is seen chewing gum they will be asked to immediately throw it away. If this happens more than once, the issue will need to be addressed in a more serious manner.
My Space: My desk and supplies	My desk takes up a large portion of the front of the classroom. As much as possible I would love for students to try and remain in front of my desk. It can get really crowded in the small space behind the desk. Also, any supplies a student may need are provided on the resource lab desk. If a student needs something that is not found there, they can let me know and we can track down any missing items.
Following Instructions	Another one of my “Fundamental Skills” the kids will hear addressed is “Reading Directions & Following Instructions.” There are many times a student will ask for clarification on an assignment. I am always accepting of questions for clarification. However, I always emphasize with my students that they need to ensure that they read the instructions first. It seems as though this can be a skill that gets forgotten as we get older. So, making sure that instructions are read is a good foundation for any project. You’d be surprised how often questions can be answered once the directions are thoroughly read.
Office Hours: When am I available for questions	I like to have an open door policy. This means that any time throughout the day my door is open to students. So, if there are any questions about assignments, students are welcome in my room at any point. If there are other concerns even some life stress, they are always welcome to come speak with me.
Absences	When a student is absent, I always stress that it is their responsibility to make sure they catch up on what they missed. With so many students, it can be difficult to remember who missed which days. There is a planner on the “Absent” folder counter that contains the lesson that occurred each day. So, students are welcome to check this planner and see what they missed while they were gone. They can come to me and get any assignments that we did while they were gone.
Missing Assignments	I have a folder that is labeled “Late Work.” If a student has an assignment marked as missing, they can turn it in to the “Late Work” folder to be graded. There will be a 20% loss for any work turned in late. Throughout the quarter, there will be deadlines for groups of assignments. Once these dates pass, any assignment missing will then receive no credit.
Respect for Others	It may be an ambiguous word, but respect is important in any classroom. I will spend some time with the students at the beginning of the year discussing what respect means to me and how I expect it to be represented in my classroom. This means that everyone in my room will be treated fairly, equally, and as you would want to be treated. We mention the “Golden Rule” and talk about how we would want to be treated. I then speak with the students about how they would like to be treated themselves. I make it clear that any harassment, bullying or intolerant behaviors will not be acceptable in my room. If I see it taking place, I will be speaking with the individual student. If it occurs again, the student and I will meet with the counselor to address the behavior.
Health: Medications, other needs, or disabilities	If there are any health concerns I need to be aware of, the child can feel free to address those things with me as needed (Especially if they are necessary for my understanding of their IEP). Most health information is saved through the nurse’s office and available through my Infinite Campus. However, if you feel like there are any immediate concerns for me, you can send me an email with any of your concerns.

 

Thank you so much for taking this journey in science with me this year. I look forward to the opportunities that you child will have for exploring and learning about life!

Warm Regards,

Sarah Shirey

Field Experience:

Mary Jane Finnigan – Rancho Pico Junior High School – 7^th grade Life Science – Special Day Class (SC1 – Resource)

Introduction:

This past school year, I have been teaching seventh grade science at Rancho Pico Junior High as a long term substitute for a teacher who went on maternity leave at the beginning of September. The team that I am teaching on is a general education team that has resource students. This means that we have a number of students who have Individual Education Plans (IEPs) that we have to address. Mary Jane Finnigan is the resource teacher who is assigned to work with our team and is the case manager for those students with IEPs. She also teaches science as well as several “learning strategies” classes that allow students to stay caught up on all their work.

Mary Jane has a visiting period in which she comes and sees what we are doing in all of the general education classes. This allows her to help students during learning strategies. She spends almost her entire visiting period with me since we teach the same subject and she has also been extremely helpful in providing assistance for lesson plans, as well as classroom management. She has been my biggest supporter and champion this year and helped me through a few difficult situations. I thought that it would be interesting to observe her for a change and interview her regarding needs of students since we had broached the subject quite a few times this year but never really had the opportunity to talk about it in length.

Interview:

1. How important is it for students to have their basic needs met in order to be successful in school? Why do you think so?
   • Mary Jane’s immediate answer to this question was “Is there a 10?” She said that if there was a scale of 1-10 on how important needs being met is, it would definitely be a ten out of ten. She said that their needs being met were especially important for students in special education because if their needs were not met then the student can easily be distracted and not able to focus on learning or the purpose of school. If they do not get sleep or eat then they are truly unable to function or focus on what needs to be done at school.
2. Which needs are most important to have satisfied so students can thrive in school? Why?
   • Students need to feel comfortable in school. They should not have to be nervous about their experience. Especially students who have Learning Disabilities. Those students already can feel like they are behind and if they are uncomfortable in their learning environment then they will not be successful academically. Students at the junior high age are starting to observe the differences between themselves and other students and if they are feeling different or seeing how much harder school is for them than others, this will prevent them from being able to focus on their academics. Making sure that they are feeling comfortable and safe can make this easier for them.
3. Who is responsible for ensuring that students have their needs met? Why do you think so?
   • For the most part, parents are responsible for a student’s basic needs. That is mostly because the parent knows the child best and has the most opportunities to provide for them.
   • This however does not mean that teachers cannot help. Sometimes if there is a student who does not have money for a field trip then we will provide that for them so that they can participate. Another example of providing at school would be setting up referrals for students to have their vision checked and then offering them inexpensive and sometimes free options for obtaining glasses. Also, there is a box of clothes that are kept in the classroom that Mary Jane will sometimes offer a student to look through if it seems they may be in need of something. Lastly, at our school we have an advisory period every day where it is basically treated as home room. There have been times when our advisory classes have adopted a family for the holidays and provided gifts and other essentials for that family who may be going through a difficult time.
4. What is one thing a teacher might do for a student who has physiological or safety needs? Why would this be useful?
   • Always having the type of relationship with the students where they know that you can have an open conversation about anything that they are going through. Letting the kids know that they can come to you with anything. This means that you have to build that trust with the students from the start. This is useful because then the students will be willing to come to you when it is a serious situation or a need arises. With special education it is really like a big team of people all working together to make sure that the resources are there for the students when they need it.
5. Ensuring safety needs are met and making sure students are ready to learn involves classroom management. What are three things you do to manage your classroom?
   • Mary Jane’s joking response to this was to “instill fear.” After laughing about it together she talked about how a lot of teachers think that that is the best way to handle a classroom. While it can work for some, it is not necessarily always the most beneficial for a lot of students. She talked about how students would be more likely to trust you if they respected you and did not just fear you. Earning respect can be more rewarding than just having a huge group of kids who fear you.
   • She said to gain the students’ trust. Build a relationship with them. This might mean that you listen to their stories that they want to tell you about their video games. She talked about how she has a few boys that will be super excited about something that happened in their game and she will say things like, “Oh what happened?” This shows them that you care, even if you really do not have any idea what they are truly talking about. She said she makes it clear to the kids that she is not their friend but that she does want a real relationship with them.
   • Most importantly she said that from the beginning of the year, make clear lines of what is acceptable. Set the standard of behavior from the beginning and do not budge. But she also said you have to “choose what you’re going to ‘die on the hill with.’” This means that you have to decide what is truly important to you and what you are willing to spend your time on ensuring that the kids follow through on. She also said that setting clear lines from the beginning gives you the ability or opportunity to control what is happening in your classroom. This is especially important when working with children who have special needs.
6. How do you decide what rules and routines to employ?
   • Every school year is different and the students you have are going to react to different things in various ways. So, organization is key. Have your students understand where everything is in the classroom and they will not feel lost or confused about that aspect of their learning experience.
   • Set routines. Tell the kids how you are going to run the classroom. Whether that means starting every day with a warm up and then wrapping up the day with an exit ticket. Make those things known from the beginning. Having that structure will make the rest of everything fall together more easily.
   • Mary Jane says that she also has found it very useful to give the students a little briefing at the beginning of each class. I have actually started incorporating this into my daily routines at school since we talked about it back in the fall. She says she finds that the students are able to stay on task better if they have a feeling for how the day is going to pan out. Give them a brief explanation of what they can expect for the day and then you can take one thing at a time. This will mean that the students are not ready to pack up and go before it is time because they will know that they have other things to do. It also lets them be aware that there is an end in sight when they know what to expect out of their day.
7. Do these fit for students who have a behavior intervention plan? How do you assess progress? What do you do for students from different cultures?
   • Even more so than other students, kids who have a tendency to act our need the structure and the organization. If you have too much then they may get bored and rebel against that. You have to have a balance.
   • As far as cultures, Mary Jane is from Spain and actually plans on retiring back there one day. She says she loves to share stories of her culture and hear the stories of the other students’ cultures as well. Especially since we have a very diverse population to begin with. She says that talking about their food differences is always fun. She said it is important to always stay positive when talking about different cultures and foods. Do not talk about how gross some of their traditions may be. Always discuss how neat it is. This makes the student feel like you really care.
8. How do you organize your classroom / educational environment to support classroom management?
   • There is always clear placement for all the supplies. These things are also clearly labeled for the kids to know where they are. Mary Jane has all her drawers and cabinets labeled with each class and what they need. This means that the students always know where their supplies for class are. She also has baskets at the front of the classroom labeled for homework, classroom work, etc. so that the kids know where all their papers go.
   • Her board in her classroom has a grid with clearly labeled directions or plans for the day with expectations for homework, etc.
9. With classroom management in mind, what advice would you give me regarding how to establish good classroom management in my first class?
   • With big classes, be sure to always be scanning. Looking around and noticing who is paying attention, who is falling asleep, who looks lost. Then address these issues as they come.
   • Constantly ask yourself “What’s working?” This will allow you to be willing to make changes when you realize that there may be things that are not working. A willingness to be flexible will ensure that every year your students are being reached because you will have different students each year.
   • Make your classroom your own. Just because one thing works for another teacher does not mean that it will work for you. You know what is important to you more than anyone else and you cannot let another teacher tell you that you have to do it a specific way. (Obviously within reason)
10. How do you incorporate UDL in your classroom?
    • Teaching in all modalities.
    • Cut things or rearrange the order of material from the curriculum for the special education classes. Make sure that the material will make sense for my specific students.
    • Constantly highlighting things with the students. If we do something important in class, let them know its importance and make them aware of the fact that we will come back to it.

Reflection and Summary:

Some of the things that Mary Jane and I talked about during this interview had been things that we had previously discussed. One of my most prominent needs this year has been working on my classroom management. She has been there with me through this whole journey and I have always found her tips to be extremely on point and useful for me. Since the teacher that I have been working for this year has been gone for so long, I have definitely had to step up and make this classroom my own. The teacher wanted to make sure that the classroom was really run the way that she personally had it set up. However, being there for six months, Mary Jane and I started to notice that some of her practices work for her because of her difference in personality. This was not necessarily possible for me to help the kids achieve their highest potential while also trying to run my room like another teacher. I remember Mary Jane saying to me over and over to “make it my own. Take ownership of my classroom.” This has been so helpful for me this year and really boosted my confidence. She has always encouraged my ideas that I have and told me that if I feel like something will work then try it. Then if it does not work, change it back. We actually did this in my classroom by changing up my desks a few time. Giving the students different ways and opportunities to work together allowed me to see how they learn best. Some of the ideas work. Some of them did not work. During this interview, hearing Mary Jane remind me to ask myself “What’s working?” gave me the confidence to decide to change it up again and try a different way. She encouraged me that it took her a few years of teaching to really feel like she had a handle on classroom management and it was reassuring that it was something that came with practice.

As I am spending more time in the classroom, I am seeing that there are several different kinds of teachers. There are teachers who come to school to do a job and get a pay check. However, there are other teachers who work to inspire their kids and make a difference, no matter how small, in their lives. Talking with Mary Jane, it was clear to me that she and I are both very similar in our heart and desire for the students. It was encouraging to see that there are other teachers out there who see the needs that these students have and know that we are not just expecting them to learn something and move on. Talking with her definitely encouraged me to keep this spirit in mind and not to let the politics of the job or even drama with other teachers get in the way of what I am really setting out to do.

Using this Module we analyzed how students students improve in their academic achievement over time. Here is my summary of the module:

Iris RTI Module 1:

An Introduction to Monitoring Academic Achievement in the Classroom

Challenge

In this module, Ms. Begay is a first year teacher who is teaching fourth grade. She has three students whom she is concerned with whether or not they are making the progress they should be. She decided to meet with her mentor teacher to ask her advice on the situation. This meeting’s purpose was to help her best determine what steps needed to be taken in order to ensure the proper accommodations for those students were in place.

Initial Thoughts

It is crucial that teachers have all the information necessary to completely understand where their students are in their understanding. According to Slavin (2018), “it is the school’s responsibility to find ways to meet each child’s needs in the general education classroom to the greatest extent possible.” Understanding that it is her responsibility to ensure that her students are having their needs met, Ms. Begay is trying to make sure that she is doing everything she can to monitor her students’ struggles. She even talks about how she goes out of her way to modify the lessons as well as individually following up with each child to gage their understanding of the material.

It sounds as though Ms. Begay does not have all the necessary information that she needs in order to fully understand how her students learn best. Two of her students have cumulative folders from previous years that she has been able to see past test scores. However, it would be helpful for her to have all the information for her third student, who just recently transferred to her school. If she were able to know if he had an Individual Education Plan (IEP) from another school, she would be able to see the accommodations that were given to him previously. It would be a guide for her to understand what to expect from him in her classroom.

It is important for Ms. Begay to be aware of her students’ progress because she needs to understand whether or not the measures that she is implementing in her classroom are helpful for her students who are facing difficulties with the material. Monitoring the progress of students is definitely the number one way that a teacher can determine whether or not the child is able to fully access the curriculum as it is being presented to them. If a teacher is unable to unwilling to track student progress, time can be spent teaching in ways that are not helpful for the student and can be an opportunity for backwards progress. Any of the previously learned material could become inaccessible if time is spent on unhelpful practices.

Ms. Begay can implement measures to assess her students’ progress throughout the year rather than just waiting for a big evaluation after months of potentially unsuccessful material being used in the classroom. She can implement informal and formal measures for continually assessing where her students are needing improvement or even showing progress. Setting goals for each child (no matter how inconsequential) can be ways of seeing whether or not changes are occurring. A simple goal for progress in each subject they are struggling with can be a great way for her to be able to notice these changes throughout the year.

Assessment

Progress Monitoring vs. Year-End Assessments

There are several ways to assess student learning. When a lot of people think about assessments they think of year-end testing. This is a summative assessment that is administered to measure student learning outcomes at the end of the school year. However, a lot of teachers find that progress monitoring is more beneficial for teachers to see where students need work on a regular basis. One benefit of progress monitoring is the ability to create graphs showing the student’s progress. These graphs can be used during Individual Education Plan (IEP) meetings. Students and parents are able to visually see the differences in their learning. Another benefit is the ability to track student goals for students who are struggling. This ability allows teachers to evaluate their instructional time and adjust things as needed. A third benefit for progress monitoring is being able to share data with special education teachers who are collaborating with general education teachers. This allows teachers to individualize their lessons for students who may be struggling.

Mastery Measurement and CBM

Mastery Measurement is a form of progress monitoring that assesses a student’s skills in a sequence. Each Skill a student is working to grasp is broken down and assessed one at a time. There is a plan for the sequence of lessons to be taught. In order to move on to the next sequence, students must meet certain criteria to show they are ready to move on to the next skill.

Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM), on the other hand, is when skills can be taught in any logical order. Growth in all the skills is tracked over the time of the entire year, not one at a time like Mastery Measurement. Another difference is that through CBM, student success is based on individual goals rather than a pre-set group of criterion. Each time a test is administered a teacher is able to check for retention of the previously taught skill. A benefit of CBM as an alternative to Mastery Measurement is the ability to monitor the maintenance of skills as well. Teachers are able to see if their students are retaining the information that they have learned throughout the year.

CBM and At-Risk Students

There are several ways in which CBM can help students who are at risk. Often, students who struggle will find themselves getting frustrated and wanting to give up on school. However, through CBM, students are able to visually see their progress. In some ways this allows the student to take more responsibility for their work. It helps students to understand that they are responsible for their own learning.

CBMs help teachers identify the skills that at-risk students are struggling with. This enables the teacher to create lessons that are more applicable to the student’s particular needs. This allows the educator to compare how effective their instructional strategies are. Another way that CBMs help at-risk students is by giving teachers the opportunity to simply identify those at-risk students to begin with. This helps teachers narrow down students who may need to receive special education services. That, additionally, allows teachers to track IEP goals.

Six Steps to CBM

There are six steps to Curriculum-Based Measurement:

1. Creating or selecting appropriate tests – These tests can be referred to as probes. These probes would evaluate skills taught throughout the year.
2. Administering and scoring the probes to the students – These probes occur at regular intervals either weekly or monthly, for example.
3. Graphing the scores – Creating a visual for the teacher, students, and possibly even parents to understand the progress throughout the year so that progress can be communicated. Teachers can also make quicker decisions regarding instruction by glancing at their progress.
4. Setting Goals – Taking a look at the previous scores and deciding what goals the student would like to meet by the time they are assessed again.
5. Making instructional decisions – Deicing what needs to change about the curriculum in order to meet the goals that were set.
6. Communicating the progress – Allowing the student or parents to see what progress has been made so they better understand the reasoning behind the goals that have been set.

CBM: Teaching Basic Multiplication

When testing math skills, teachers can provide students with a test that has, for example, twenty-five questions that could be selected systematically from the entire year’s curriculum. These questions could be dealing with concepts that will be taught over the course of the year. The teachers are able to administer this test and then evaluate how much the student knows. Creating a graph at the beginning of the year enables the student to see progress from the beginning of the year. They are then able to set goals. For example, if you were teaching multiplication and the student knew their two times tables then their goal could be to learn their three times table, etc. Once these goals were set, the teacher could make adjustments in instruction necessary to meet those goals. Lastly the teacher could communicate that progress to the student or other parties that needed to be aware of that student’s progress.

Field Experience:

Ashley Albrecht – Rancho Pico Junior High School – 7^th grade Life Science – Special Day Class (SC7) High Functioning Autism

Introduction:

For my observations this month, I have spent my time working with Miss Ashley Albrecht. I personally am currently working at Rancho Pico Junior High School (RP) as a long term substitute for the majority of this school year due to the teacher being out on maternity and disability leave. RP operates on a rotating block schedule format. This means that every day we have three periods that are each ninety minutes. Every teacher teaches five periods and has one period for their preparation time (prep period). Each team has a teacher who teaches math, science, English, and history. The team that I am currently teaching on is the resource team. This means that we have mostly general education students but also teach the students who have some learning disabilities, anxiety, hearing impairments, autism, and other health impairments. Each team averages about one hundred and sixty students and our resource team consists of about thirty of those students having an individual education plan (IEP). My prep period is my second period. This means that every other day I have an available block to grade papers, lesson plan, have official team meetings, and do observations needed for my own school. Every third day our team meets in an official capacity to discuss the needs of our students with the school counselor as well as the assistant principle. Not only do we have resource students but we also have other students in need whom we are setting up meetings and IEPs for them as well. This has given me ample opportunities to have hands on experience as a teacher to see how situations for needy students are handled. It has also given me plenty of chances to communicate with people in an official capacity at the school and I am very grateful for this chance.

My collaboration with other teachers is very different compared to most at RP. Because I teach some students with exceptionalities as well as general education students, I collaborate with general education teachers as well as special education teachers. Ashley Albrecht is one of the other seventh grade teachers that I collaborate with. I met her several years ago when she and my mom were in graduate school together and it has been great working with her on a professional level. She teaches a Special Day Class for High Functioning Autism. Given that I have several students who also have autism, I have been using a lot of the same materials as Ashley and simply modifying it for my general education students. Over the last two years I have been Ashley’s main substitute teacher. I have not been able to sub for her this year due to the full time status of my current position. Therefore, I am fairly familiar with the layout and overall expectations in her classroom. This field experience was a neat opportunity for me though because I was able to see Ashley teaching for the first time.

Interacting With the Students:

This year our district has adapted the “capturing kid’s hearts” philosophy. This philosophy includes greeting students at the door and asking them about positive things that have been going on in their lives. I definitely saw this reflected in Ashley’s classroom. She was always full of words of encouragement, praise, and affirmation for her students. This way of speaking with her students really sets the tone for the atmosphere in her classroom to be a safe place for these students. It was really neat to see her asking them to share good things on several occasions. Once, I was in her room during the first period after the weekend and she followed through with some of the things she knew were going on in her students’ lives. Another time, she asked about how their lunch had been and was greatly encouraged by the social interactions that were taking place.

Ashley spoke with me about how important social interactions are in her classroom. Most have her students have been specifically placed in her room due to their inability to interact successfully in social situations. Therefore, she encouraged lots of instances of reading out loud, facilitating open discussions, as well as group work. With her desks being arranged in groups, it is easy for her to have her students move to group settings even though she has such a small class to begin with. Because of how uncomfortable some of her students can be with talking in class or answering questions, Ashley was always encouraging them and using clarification statements to ensure that she and the other students understood the answers that they were giving. This helped her students to feel more confident in their answers. According to Slaven (2018), “the main focus [for children with autism] should be on teaching these children social skills that might be taken for granted in other children.” This is definitely something that Ashley strives to achieve in her classroom with her students.

When some students would be finished up with a project and start to become restless, Ashley was very good at asking them questions to deepen their understanding of what they were working on. This helped to keep the students engaged and I felt like it was an example of her putting to use some UDL practices. There were a few projects that she had to inform aides of the students that they could modify the project for the child they were working with according to what they felt like that child was capable of accomplishing. There was one activity where they were doing certain physical activities to modify their heartbeats. This was a little overwhelming for some of the students and Ashley allowed them to move into the room attached so that they were not stressed out about the situation.

There were a few times when I noticed Ashley cutting off a specific child when they were trying to derail and distract the rest of the class from the topic at hand. I spoke with Ashley about the situation because it seemed so different from the way that she speaks to the rest of her students. She explained to me how this year has been a bit of a challenge for her because she is a very kind person who is always positive. However, for the first time this year, she has a student who can be fairly defiant. We talked about how this has made her leave her comfort zone a little but she has noticed improvements in that child’s behavior since she has been cracking down on that behavior. We discussed how sometimes as a pretty even tempered and caring person, it can be difficult to have to bluntly speak to a child like that. However, it can certainly be necessary to grow that backbone as a teacher. I have seen several instances of this being necessary in my own classroom and it was useful to have this discussion with her. We commiserated about classroom management being one of the most difficult, yet important aspects of teaching.

The Use of Technology:

In American Education (2018), Spring discusses the importance of the use of technology in today’s classrooms.  He addresses the fact that with the ever growing use of technology, it is important to create lifelong learners who are going to be workers that can engage in “continual training to meet the changing technological requirements of the workplace.” Because of this ever changing and growing need, it is important for teachers to adapt and be willing to use technology in its many forms in the classroom.

I definitely observed many different ways in which Ashley used technology in her classroom. She uses the Google classroom as the central hub for everything she has the students engage in. I use the Google classroom as well but it was very interesting to see how she has modified some of the specific uses to fit the needs of her classroom. Her use of warmup questions and follow up questions was a great way to have the students quickly answer so that she could assess how well they were grasping the material. She also had the students create a project using Google slides presentations. This was a great social opportunity because each student had to give a brief representation of their project in front of the whole class. Other tools that Ashley used included “prezi” for creating a study guide, websites with important information she had the students read aloud, videos, and even Kahoot! which is a game site you can have your students review for a quiz. Her students were constantly engaged because of the variety of methods she used.

The Interview:

Q#1: What is your current position and what grade levels do you teach?

A:  I teach 7^th grade Special Day Program designed for High Functioning Autism. This means that we are encouraging lots of social growth throughout the year to help integrate these students into mainstream environments. My class designation is SC7.

Q#2: What student information system do you work with? Give an example of some kind of data that you would collect.

A: The data system that we use in the Hart district is called SEIS. It helps me collect data in various formats. An example of something I collect, and probably the most important thing, is the Positive Behavior Support Point-Level System that I use in order to encourage participation of the students and motivate them to do their best.

Q#3: What kind of assessments are used in the process of early screening and identification of students who may need special education services?

A: There are many measures for identifying students in need. Some identification assessments include: classroom observations from the school psychologist to see how the student is interacting in their classroom environment, Fidelity surveys being submitted by teachers, students, and parents, as well as complete academic testing called the Woodcock Johnson. All of these tests combined and analyzed help us to determine which students are unable to completely grasp the curriculum and might need that additional support.

Q#4: What are the most important legal mandates a general education teacher should be aware of regarding services for students who have special needs?

A: The most important legal mandate for general education teachers is being aware of the student’s IEP. Assuring that the accommodations, according to that IEP, are being followed for each individual student. The IEP is a legal document that is binding for the school and it is the teacher’s responsibility to ensure that the every specification and amendment is being followed. This will ensure that each child’s individual needs are being met.

This is definitely something that I have had to be aware of this year working on the resource team. I have had to make a few adjustments and grade changes based on specific allowances for IEPs.

Q#5: What advice would you give to new teachers, specifically as a special education teacher speaking with a general education teacher? For example, what should a teacher be aware of regarding services and medications?

A: General Education teachers should always be aware of what medication students are taking. This can be found on the Present Levels page of the IEP. Potential conflict can arise when a student forgets to take his or her medication. Some of the problems can include refusing to do work, hyper or hypo behaviors, anger outbursts, etc. A teacher should always be willing to contact parents or the school psychologist if they feel like the behaviors they are observing in class are related to the child’s medication. However, it is important to remember that educators should never suggest medication (or changes with that) since we are, for obvious reasons, not medical doctors nor psychiatrists. It can be tempting sometimes when you observe something that stands out to you as possible needing to be changed.

I honestly had never really given too much thought to paying attention to the medications that some of my students are on. It is definitely something I will now be more aware of.

Q#6: What is your experience implementing UDL in your teaching practices and during collaboration with other teachers?

A: My goal is to implement as many UDL practices as I can at all times. In order to truly reach all students, this should be the main goal of all teachers, regardless of special education, since it is a fact that all students do learn differently. Honestly, UDL practices come pretty naturally a lot of the times without having to specifically design a lesson with that goal in mind. Collaboration amongst educators is so beneficial in order to get new ideas and have common practices so our students feel confident in their learning regardless of the environment.

Q#7: As I was reading Slavin (2018) chapter twelve which talked about students with exceptionalities, I made sure to pay special attention to the section regarding students with autism. Knowing that I was going to be in a classroom of students who were all diagnosed with autism, I wanted to ask about what the experience has been like working specifically with students who have that diagnoses. Also, the textbook mentioned Asperger syndrome saying that “children with Asperger syndrome may be able to function in society and be successful in school, but they have significant problems with social interactions.” Based on my previous knowledge of Asperger syndrome which was an area of concentration in college for me, I asked Ashley if she ever hears Asperger syndrome being used as a diagnoses anymore. How common is it for a student to still be considered to have that label, because a few years back (2013), I know it was taken out of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM)?

A: Ashley’s response was that Asperger syndrome is still commonly mentioned despite the ever changing labels that are thrown around. She has had a few students over the years who have an Asperger diagnoses. She says it is pretty obvious though that Autism Spectrum Disorder is, for lack of a better word, a spectrum. The severity of ASD’s impact on her students is so varying every year.

Q#8: How do you handle a situation where you feel as though a child is in the wrong placement and should either be mainstreamed or moved to a moderate to severe program?

A: Sometimes it can be really difficult when you have a student whom you feel is in the wrong placement. There are certainly modifications that you have to make when you have a student who does not really belong in your class. Unfortunately it can be really difficult to have them moved because of the number of legal mandates and such. My best advice is to take copious notes. Any situation that occurs that could be considered out of the norm needs to be documented. That way when a trianual comes up, you can present the evidence of what has been happening in your classroom. Then, as a group, you and the other professionals involved can decide if this placement is the best for the child. Sometimes it can work and the child will be moved, but often times the parents can still insist on what they think is best for the student.

Parent involvement is crucial to running a successful classroom. According to Slavin (2018), studies have “shown that parents who involve themselves in their children’s education have higher-achieving children than other parents.” As a teacher, it is important to create an environment that encourages parent involvement.

For this assignment, I created flyers that I would hypothetically give to my parents.

The first is a poster of general information about how the parent can stay up to date about what is going on in the classroom:

The second poster was a hypothetical event that parents could attend in order to have more involvement in their students life. I want to provide a classroom where kids are truly thrilled about science!:

In my Learners and Learning class, we discussed the importance of how our own lives and personal experiences will influence who we are in the classroom.