Research Updates 1 & 2

For my research I was instructed to find out the differences between Mild to Moderate and Moderate to Severe licensure in special education. So far this had proven difficult because of the lack of information Im finding. The actual terminology is different from state to state and program to program. So far from my research, I have concluded that most educators are multicategorical. This means that the special educator has been trained and licensed to work with mild, moderate, and severe students. According to U. S. Department of Education, over ninety percent of the special education degrees granted each year are multicategorical (U. S. Department of Education, 2003). While researching, I found a chart published by the Center for Disability Services listing the specific disabilities and how the symptoms change through mild, moderate, and severe.

Here is the link for the chart:

http://www.ocfs.state.ny.us/ohrd/swec/materials/developmentaldisabilities/Handout-Continuum%20of%20Disabilities%201.pdf

Wrap Up

The day before my final service learning at DEA, I had the privilege to observe a third grade class of gifted students at another school in the Salt Lake Valley. The differences between the children and their level of education was astonishing. The children at DEA were in sixth and seventh grade and had problem areas in reading and math. The third graders, all had higher reading levels and could perform more complicated math problems than the children at DEA. I found it very interesting and beneficial to have experienced both ends of the Special Education spectrum. If I were to work at the elementary level, I would like to seek certification in gifted special education.

Now that I have finished my service leaning at DEA, I have decided to seek a secondary education licenses through the MAT program. Although I really enjoyed working with younger students, I found that I have more to offer to high school students. If it works out, I hope to receive a special education license in the MAT program as well. I learned a great deal from working with the kids and special education teachers. Through my observations I have started to develop my own methods of teaching to implement in the class room. I hope to work with these students in the future but at a higher level in their academic carrier.

Day 3

Today was my third day working at the Duel Immersion Academy in Salt Lake City. Unlike the first two days, I found today to be very enjoyable. To start, I was placed with a new group of students with a different teacher. This teacher was much more welcoming and eager to put me to work. All of the students followed directions and there was no disruptions of any kind. Overall there was just a different relationship between the students and teacher that positively contributed to their learning environment.

Also, today was the first day I worked with students on something other than math. We were split into two groups and I was in charge of helping the students with a reading assignment. After getting through the book each student was supposed to write a small paragraph about what they had just read. This assignment took no time at all and none of my students had any issues. After this was finished most of the students went back to class. However, one girl needed help with math and I was told to assist her. She had some trouble but I gave her a few tips and she worked everything out.

I learned a lot from my experience today. I found that I really enjoyed working with students in language arts. I also realized just how important it is to develop a working relationship with students. My first two days I noticed the relationship between the students and SPED teacher was very poor. The students were disruptive and did not respect the teacher's authority, they walked all over her and she had little control over them. Today, the teacher I worked with actually had a working relationship. The children did not speak over her, they listened and seemed to actually enjoy talking with her. I realized if the student teacher relationship is positive, all classroom activities will go smoothly.

Day 2

So today was my second day of service learning and I am somewhat disappointed.
When I first arrived I was discovered the Special Education classroom empty.
After finding the students in their English class I set about helping them with their poetry assignment.

They were working on finding poetic devices in popular songs. This was easy and I moved from group to group explaining some of the terms and helping them locate examples. After about ten minutes of rotating through groups, it was time for the students to head to math class.
Once they got to class, they worked on a new chapter of math while I sat observing for the next 50 minutes. By then of the period I was annoyed that I had sat there for that long, doing nothing.
The students themselves were unruly and a few had to changes seats. One student had his mother called for being inappropriate. The class period seemed to be full of interruptions and students wandering from desk to desk.
There was some level of authority but it seemed to me that the students had no respect for it. When asked to settle down they talked back and ignored their instructor. Both teachers in the room had difficultly keeping 14 students under control.

I guess this was a learning experience because I learned how differently I would handle classroom disruptions. Also, ff I had a college student coming to work in my class, I would have them go around and help students instead of having them sit there. Hopefully next week will be better.

Day 1

My first day of service learning was a huge success! I had a great time getting a tour of the school and an overview of each program. The students and staff were all welcoming and happy to have me there. On specific assignments the students I worked with are pulled out of their general math class and placed in Special Education to get extra help.

Today during their pull out session, the instructor had me go around to each table and assist the students with their math assignments. This proved to be a difficult task because of the differences between how the students were taught to solve a particular problem and how I would go about solving the problem. Currently I am taking a College Algebra class and the steps they needed help with (basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of fractions) I usually work out in my head or skip because of my past instruction. However they needed to write out these specific steps that I have learned to skip since my freshmen year of high school. After a few minutes I finally worked it out and it began to come back to me. Other than that today went very smoothly.

On multiple occasions the students became unruly. Each time the teacher had to count down from three to keep them in line. However they still kept talking amongst themselves and finally calmed down when the instructor threatened them with detention. I felt as though she was not firm enough with her first attempts to keep them quiet. She was quiet herself and did not seem very authoritative.By using a loud and firm voice, instruction will be taken as a command not a question. If I was put in the situation, I would make sure that my authority is well established so the students understand that they need to pay attention and keep quiet while working on individual assignments.

Today was a great leaning experience and I am already excited to go back next week!

Service Learning Prequel

Tomorrow I start my service learning at the Duel Immersion Academy in Salt Lake City. I have really been looking forward to this because I get to begin developing my teaching skills by observing the classroom and participating in activities. Im hoping to learn a lot from the instructor and the instructor's methods. Im nervous to start because this is the first time I have ever worked with this age group. During my service leraning I hope to see a number of classroom situations that most general educators deal with on a day to day basis. This would be very beneficial in creating and implementing my own teaching strategies.

State Requirements

In order to become a special educator one must me the following state requirements:

1.) Complete at least a bachelor's degree and a teacher-training program. Some state may require a master's degree.

2.) Turn in an application for a background check and fingerprinting.

3.) Obtain a state teaching certification and a highly qualified status by passing the Praxis exam and receiving a state license.