Week
6 Journal: Reflection
Tamara
Stotler
ESE
697: Characteristics of Students with Mild & Moderate
Disabilities
& Evidence-based Strategies
Julie
Treadwell
October
12, 2014
Week
6 Journal: Reflection
Everyone
is different and it takes all kinds of people to make up our large world. I am
going to school to become a special education teacher and I am coming closer to
my goal. Currently, I am enrolled in my masters of education program at Ashford
University online and I only have one more class left after my current class to
complete the master’s program. I chose special education as my specialization,
because my son Demitri, who is 11, has autism and ADHD. It is because of him
that I feel that I can become a special education teacher not only to help
students learn and find the joy of learning, but also help parents and those
who interact with students with disabilities in the school setting. As I stated
before, everyone is different and it takes all kinds of people to make our
world go round. If I can help students’ find the love of learning (regardless
of their readiness or abilities) then my job is complete. Rita Pierson said it
best “Every child deserves a champion, an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection, and insists that they become the best that they
can possibly be” (Pierson, 2013, para. 28). This statement is so
true. I believe all children; all my future students deserve a champion. A
person that will fight for them, that will stand up for them, and that will
push them to do their best. Special education students need this push as well.
Sometimes, I have noticed that students who are labeled special or with a disability
are not pushed or challenged enough to do their very best. They are just
expected to do what is necessary, to gain the minimum skills needed to move on,
and to just pass them along to the next person. I hope this is not the case for
all the special education areas, school, or teachers, but unfortunately I have
seen this in the different areas that we have lived. At the time, I thought it
was normal, but since we have moved I realized that it is not normal. As I
mentioned my son Demitri is autistic and in his new school they are applying
Demitri to do his best and they are challenging him to excel regardless of his
disabilities. I hope to do this as well for my students. I hope to get to know
them as individuals, understand their strengths, weaknesses, likes and dislikes
and use that understanding to help them succeed in and out of the classroom.
With
this understanding I believe these last weeks have given me a higher
understanding of different teaching strategies and tools to help my students
(with and without disabilities) succeed in my classroom. Using the universal
design for learning (UDL) and differentiated instruction (DI) I will be able to
customize the curriculum and lesson plans to suit the needs of all my students.
I will be able to accommodate and modify the lesson to suit the needs of any
student who enters my classroom on an IEP and help them gain the skills
required and set for by the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Using the
required readings, assignments, articles, and web pages I was able to research
and investigate the different teaching/learning strategies that will allow me
to differentiate in my classroom. Using the cognitive strategy instruction
(CSI) will allow me to integrate ideas for behavioral, social, and cognitive learning
theories into the classroom with the understanding that it will allow me to
help my students build self-regulation, verbalization, modeling, and reflective
thinking (Vaughn & Bos, 2012). Using a strategy like this in the classroom
will help students build the skills needed as they grow older. The readings
have bettered my view on the importance of understanding that every student is
different and that all students can learn if given the proper support required
to reach the goals of success.
The
three areas in which I will continue to gain and expand on my growth
professionally is: (1) continuing my research on understanding the multiple
opportunities for research-based instruction, (2) learn more about the
differences of disabilities (mild, moderate, severe, emotional, intellectual,
behavioral, etc.), and (3) continue my understanding of the laws in place to
help support people with disabilities (school, work, home, and the community). I
hope to continue my education and gain further knowledge on research-based
instructional strategies and how they can individually relate to my students.
I
will take the current information that I have learned and apply it to my future
classroom(s) and lesson plans that I hope to create. Including all of my
students and giving them the opportunity to be challenged without being
overwhelmed and building on the ideas of success and pride in a work completed.
Children are looking for praise, correction; we are all looking for praise from
others and ourselves. A way to do that is by building self-confidence and skills
such as social, personal, and problem solving skills that will help prepare us
for life as we continue to grow older.
I
hope to be my student’s champion and let them know that I am there for them,
but also I will expect them to challenge themselves and reward them when they
reach their goals. Together we shall walk in a journey of education and at the
end they will succeed and when there are obstacles we shall find a way to
overcome them.
References
Pierson,
R. F. (2013). Every kid needs a champion
[Video-Transcript]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/rita_pierson_every_kid_needs_a_champion/transcript?language=en.
Vaughn, S. & Bos, C. (2012). Strategies
for teaching students with learning and behavior problems (8th
ed.). Boston: Pearson.
No comments:
Post a Comment