Best Practices in a Learning Skills and Algebra Classroom
Part A: Utilized Best Practices
Since the beginning of the student teaching experience, multiple first-hand examples of best practices being utilized in the classroom in the area of instruction, assessment, and management have been demonstrated. These practices have led to growth in the students’ learning. Best practices are those classroom practices that focus on the student, are based on experience, and look at learning as holistic (Zemelman, 2005). They are based on a balanced combination of quantitative and qualitative data (Spalding, 2009).
Kokomo High School uses a system for keeping records of students’ grades, absences, tardies, and any medical needs or alerts. The system is used by the resource room/learning skills teacher to let her know what the students are missing or need to work on for different classes. It also shows teachers when progress is being made. This type of information can be very useful in situations needing numerical data to back up or refute a certain intervention being used. Research based interventions are considered best practices according to Spalding (2009).
The classroom is set up in a co-teaching style between three teachers, two paraprofessional teachers, and one student teacher. Co-teaching is a positive style of implementing instruction because of the mixture of general education teachers and special education teachers (Baker & Scanlon, 2012). According to Baker & Scanlon (2012) inclusive classrooms are beneficial to all students, both with and without special needs. There are many different models of co-teaching, but according to Baker & Scanlon (2012) one of the most common is coteaching. Coteaching involves special needs educa...
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...is monitored on the IEP when following up on whether or not the student met their transition goals.
A prospective obstacle to come up is that the survey and interview are both verbal and one-on-one, which requires both time and attention from the educator. This could be solved in the utilization of the co-teaching model, where general educators and special educators collaborate.
Another prospective obstacle is that there are many students who do not know what their own interests are due to lack of exposure and/or enthusiasm. A way to get the student to open up more about their inner passions and interests is to ask guiding questions. For example, if a student answers “reading” and cannot think of any other interests, the teacher could ask what kind of things they like to read about. Also, ask the student what they are good or what do they like to do
School leaders and faculty are responsible to ensure engaging, rigorous, and coherent curricula in all subjects, accessible for a variety of learners and aligned to Common Core Learning Standards and/or content standards. As a special education program for severely disabled students including all these requirements in curriculum that is differentiated for the array of needs in the school isn’t easy. In response to the suggestions made by Ms. Joseph the principal decided that the best way to address it while still attending to the needs of the school would be to created an inquiry team that will research the findings in order to help with the decision making.
The IEP team may include the student, their parents, a regular teacher, a special education provider and other representatives, such as a social worker or relative child care provider. These meets are required to be held within 30 days of the student’s acceptance into the special education program. Every IEP has the two main goals of setting reasonable learning goals and establishing academic services that the school will provide. The IEP should state which state and district-wide assessments that the student will or will not participate in and why.
Schools are beginning to adapt more to the variety of students needs in the classroom. Co-teaching is one of the methods schools and teachers are using to reach more students. It got originally noticed in 1960s but didn’t become popular and supported till 1990s (Villa). Co-teaching is when the general education teacher is working along side another professional. They could be a special education teacher, ESL teacher, a reading specialist, or any other professional that could assist in creating a coordinated curriculum for a diverse classroom. Both the general education teacher and the other professional will plan the coordinated curriculum and instructions that will be used in the general education classroom (Vaughn pg. 79).
An IEP, Individualized Education Plan, is the entire plan for an individual student that is going to have any special education services. The plan includes details like short-term and long-term goals, levels of achievement, transition services, assessments, and steps in order to achieve the specific goals that have been determined. The importance of an IEP for a student with a disability is that they are individualized based upon the student’s needs, based upon the work and meeting between parents, educators, skills trainers and more. It is crucial and federally required that that an IEP be reviewed in a metting annually i...
An educator that is concerned with collaboration, according to the PBDR, is one who “always participates as expected,” and “seeks to build collaboration with other professionals” (PBDR). The CEC Special Education Professional Practice Standards echoes this concern in standards 3.0 Professional Development and 4.0 Professional Colleagues. Both deal with a special educator’s willingness to collaborate with either “professional colleagues from other disciplines” (CEC-SEPPS 4.1), “colleagues from other agencies (CEC-SEPS 4.3),” or with “general and special education professional colleagues” (CEC-SEPPS 4.4). The CEC-SEPPS extends collaboration activities to participation “in systematic supervised field experiences for candidates in preparation programs” (CEC-SEPPS 3.5) and “as mentors to other special educators” (CEC- SEPPS 3.6) as well. The inherent message be...
Educators can have strong feelings on the subject because having special needs students in a regular classroom can have a large impact on the classroom community. Those who believe in inclusive classrooms realize that, to be successful, it requires allot of classroom management and differentiated instruction, but feel the benefits are worth the work involved. Those who do not believe in inclusion feel that it leads to “l...
Collaboration in the world of education has become an increasingly popular method of addressing a variety of school issues, such as curriculum design, behavioral plans, professional development and management of resources. One of the areas in which collaboration is becoming more popular is co-teaching in special education, where special education teachers and general education teachers share the planning and instruction responsibilities for inclusion classrooms (Friend & Cook, 2010). As academic standards for the education of students with disabilities are held to the same standards as their typical peers due to the No Child Left Behind Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the co-teaching model has been increasingly implemented to meet those needs. Most research has shown co-teaching to be effective in the inclusion classroom, though there are a few studies which have refuted its significance and identified reasons for problems in implementing a successful co-teaching program.
Osceola School District administration team is starting to implement a new plan to support the classroom instruction. The district administrators are focusing mainly in the subgroups of special education (ESE) and English language learners (ELL). In my work-site, the human resources allocated to both of those programs are usually disconnected of the regular education or content classroom. There is no communication between the regular teacher and the special education specialist. Part of the district superintendent plan is to provide the specialists with professional development in content, for them to support the regular class instruction. Additionally, the specialist must provide support as “team teaching” in the mainstream clas...
In order for inclusion to be implemented properly it is important that teachers, parents, and administrators to know the definition of inclusion. An inclusion program means that the student spends all or most of their school time in the general education classroom rather than a self-contained classroom. However, the students will still receive the support and interventions they would have received in a self-contained classroom. There are different types of inclusive classrooms where different types of teaching occur. There is co-teaching where there is both a general education teacher and a special education teacher that co teach. Both will work with students that have an individualized education plan (IEP) and the student will receive more support. In addition, an inclusive classroom can have a general education teacher but has the special education teacher as a resource or aid, which qualifies as a collaborative model of inclusion.
For a special education student to be successful and reach their true potential, it takes a collaborative effort between both the special education and general education teacher. Both teachers need to have an understanding of each student’s disability and unique academic needs. Both teachers play vital roles in participating as part of the IEP team, providing professional input, and best practices to develop the student’s IEP, which will provide all stakeholders in the child’s education the accommodations and modifications for the special needs child to be successful in the
I will collaborate with the support staff in the building, families and plan daily activities to bring the vision of inclusion to my classrooms vision of success. I’ll lead small groups that are comprised of Special needs and general education students working to improve specific needs. When planning classroom duties all students will be assigned different jobs at the beginning of the week. Each student will be Special Student of the day at some point throughout the year. When Support Staff comes in the room to work with those in special education, they will pull general education students with prior approval in the group so that the special education student isn’t singled out. Every student in my r room will be included in sharing family activities with the class and take on the responsibility of line
IEP stands for Individualized Education Program. An IEP is a written document required for each child who is eligible to receive special education services. It is provided to a student who has been determined first to have a disability, and second, to need special education services because of that disability. An IEP is very important and should never be overlooked by anyone. The purpose of an IEP is to make sure that only students whose educational performance is affected by a disability receive special services. An individual program plan is designed to make sure that students get the kind of educational experience that they deserve; an experience that results in success. The end goals for students who are on an IEP are to be involved in
Through exploring multiple learning theories and reflecting on my own teaching beliefs, I have developed my own theory of learning. As I developed my theory, I wanted to consider what it takes to be a highly effective teacher. An effective teacher must have mastery of instructional strategies, classroom management, classroom curriculum design, and use assessments as feedback (Laureate Education, 2010a). By using a variety of instructional strategies, teacher’s can meet the learning styles of all the students in the classroom. Effective classroom management can lead to students feeling safe and more willing to take risks. When a student feels comfortable to take risk, then learning will increase and the students’ confidence will grow. Classroom management also creates order in the environment, which will allow effective learning to occur. By understanding curriculum, the teacher can target skills and causes learning to take place. Teachers need to deliberately plan lessons around standards and specific goals based on curriculum and the school’s mission (Marzano, 2010). Assessments need to be use to guide instruction and used as a “method for improvement and mastery,” (Marzano, 2010). While determining my own theory of learning, I believe that I need to consider what effective teachers demonstrate in the classroom.
As a teacher it is important if not crucial to create a safe learning environment for students, especially students with disabilities. Most schools implement many services that are available in order to support students with mild-extreme disabilities without excluding them from the other students. The ‘least restrictive environment’ (educational psychology for learning and teaching) is an environment that is close to what students without disabilities learn in. However, depending on the severity of the disability, after school classes or sessions may be required. Depending on the primary school year level, some students may not even be aware that their fellow peer has a disability if the student has not been singled out as being disabled. To engage behavioural or disabled students in learning a good strategy is to accompany the main teacher with a teacher aide. In a class of 25 or so students, one teacher is not able to get around to each student individually. One-on-one interaction with student and teacher is highly beneficial with certain students. So, by having a teacher aide in the classroom the main teacher can work with the students who are able to work more independently
Now that I have seen three different classrooms as part of my practicum observations, I still believe that there are several acceptable approaches and no universally correct teaching methods. However, my thinking has changed because I have seen that everything done ...