Week in the Field

I have still not heard whether or not the student that I previously talked about has been placed in special education. In the field, I find myself helping him a lot on his work. Part of it is because I know he needs the help as he is usually the farthest behind on his work. Another reason is because whenever we start a new activity or assignment, he immediately comes over to ask me for help. He definitely needs extra help in many areas of his learning to help him improve. He does not get much out of whole class instruction. Motivation is also still an issue with him as even when I help him he seems very disinterested in what he is learning. I plan on continuing to help him with his work, but also to try and find ways to get him more into what he is doing so he can begin to improve.

Waiting...

Also, I am waiting to hear on whether or not one of the students in the classroom has been placed into special education yet. He was tested on Monday...

Al Capone Does My Shirts

The past few days I read the children's book Al Capone Does My Shirts for me TE 448 class, the second level of a children's literature class. This book was very interesting as it dealt with the main character, Moose, and his sister Natalie, who in today's world would be diagnosed with autism. However, the book was set in the 1930's, so there was no diagnosis for her at the time. Her mother treated her as if she could be "cured," and did not accept her for who she really was as an individual. She had some remarkable talents, mainly in math as she could do multiplication problems in her head very easily, counted extremely fast, and had a great memory when it came to numbers. However, her mom wanted her to be a normal part of society and would stop at nothing until she got her into a school that could help her. Only in the end does Moose help her realize that she needs to do what is best for Natalie as her own individual, and to stop trying to make her into something that she is not.
I bring this up because special education is something that I feel very strongly about, especially in the school systems. In my second grade classroom at Bingham Elementary, over half of the students are below level, some needing special services. However, I wonder if the faculty is fully taking advantage of their strengths. They are always trying to teach these children things such as reading, math, etc, which is of course understandable as it is essential for the development. I wonder, though, if there is a better way to reach out to these kids in order to peak their interest in the material, maybe somehow relate the information to their backgrounds, or just in any way that could help them become more motivated in what they are learning. It could be as simple as finding the right children's book for some of the students. The teacher in the classroom has too many kids to really make an effort at this, and does an excellent job teaching his students in the first place. But his objective is to get them up to level by the time the year is over, which just makes me wonder if there is an easier way to get this done...

The past week...

This past week in the field I witnessed a few interesting things in my 2nd grade classroom. First of all, I noticed one of the students has two hearing aids that he wears only some of the time, which of course is a form of assistive technology. Whenever he is questioned about them by other students, though, he tells them that he is listening is to music and does whatever he can to play if off as if it's nothing at all. I talked to him about it just a little bit, being careful not to question him too much about it so that he would not be uncomfortable. This kind of shows me the environment in the school as a whole, especially because it is an inner city school.



I also talked to the teacher about one of his students being tested for special education on this coming Monday. He mentioned about how much he struggles, mainly in reading and writing. I have noticed this as well as I have helped him numerous times catch up when the class is doing a whole class writing lesson. He focuses extremely hard on the spelling and mechanics of everything that he does not comprehend much about what he is writing. I have not had the opportunity to work with him individually yet, but I hope to do so just to see how he works with someone directly helping him. According to the teacher, he will almost definitely be placed into special eduction once he has taken the placement tests.

Special Education Room

The past Thursday in the field I was able to spend some time in the special education classroom that some of the students in my field classroom go to to work on reading skills. When I was in there, the students mainly partner up with a teacher, parapro, or helper and read with them. I spent about 30 minutes reading with one of the students in my field classroom. It was my first time in a while being in a special education classroom in an elementary school because I usually am in a high school setting because that is what I want to teach. The fact that they only read during this time was a little disappointing to me, I thought more would be taking place to help them. However, I was only there for a short period, so maybe different things take place throughout the day. Also, the kids who were in the classroom needed extra help on reading in order to improve, so it made sense that they were working on these skills.

The Opening Entry

This blog is going to be used to keep track of what I see in the field, mainly related to special needs students and the assistive technology that I hope to see in the field. Because I am a special education major, I am in a CEP class that will be dealing with many of these issues, so I will be talking about what is discussed in that class as well as it will be relevent to what I see in the field. I also want to learn much more about assistive technology and how it is used in the schools, it is something that interests me very much because of the immense possibilities that are out there. Finally, watching how the students with special needs, as well as those who greatly struggle, work in the classroom is going to help me greatly when I become a teacher. Writing about this in my blog will help me keep track of all that I witness and learn.

I have been in my field placement two times so far, and so far the main thing that I have realized is that there are many struggling students. Out of the 28 students in the 2nd grade classroom, 17 are at a kindergarden level overall. A few of those students are going to be tested for special needs later on in the year. I have not seen any assistive technology in the school so far as I have not been there very long. However, I do know that there is a special education room that I plan to spend some time in later on during the semester, so I will be able to see how that classroom operates. In general, there are many struggling students in the school, some being special needs, so I will have many opportunities to see how the classroom is instructed to help these children succeed.

Overall, there is much more for me to see and learn, as I hope this semester of field placement turns out to be a successful one.