Weekly reflection #3

This was another successful week. It wasn’t as much fun because for the majority of the week the students were doing testing. However, I still had fun and learned a great deal.

I learned a lot about IEP’s this week. Mrs. Black and I discussed one that took place the previous week, and reviewed the file. An IEP is a legal document that is mandated by NH state standards and federal standards. All people involved with the child at the school meet with the parents, and the student’s strengths and weaknesses in academic places are reviewed. I sat in on a second one this week, and it was nice to sit on another after reviewing the process with Mrs. Black. I really enjoyed the meetings because I was able to learn more about the children.

We also did a lot of spelling this week. The usual students had their lists of spelling words. Mrs. Black would read down the list as they would write the word they heard. If they didn’t get the word right, they had 2 more times to re-write it. We also did spelling words in group. Mrs. Black taught me about how she teaches the kids to write letters. She compares it to a house. If the letter is uppercase it should extend up into the roof, the body should stay in the house, and if it’s a letter like a j, it goes down into the basement.

I also helped out with the testing. A student would tell me what they wanted to say, and I would write exactly what they had told me. This way, the test readers would be able to read what they wrote. Sometimes it was difficult because I wanted to help out the children who were struggling, but all I could do was read and re-read the questions.

In addition, I was able to sit in some regular classrooms. I enjoyed it because I helped out some students trying to figure out how to do an activity. However, I wasn’t able to see any of the kids who meet with Mrs. Black in the regular classroom setting, which I was hoping to do.

This week didn’t have many surprises. It was pretty calm because of the testing, but was very hectic on Thursday with four IEP’s in one day. I enjoyed my last week very much, and will definitely be back to KRES to visit.

Daily blog #14

I am depressed because today is my last day, and I don’t want to leave. I came in today and helped Mrs. Black scribe for the science section of the New England Common Assessment Program. I was allowed to read and re-read the questions, but couldn’t explain them. Then I’d write exactly what the children told me to write. Then, Mrs. Black gave me gifts! All of the children that I have worked with wrote me a card, and Mrs. Black stacked them up and tied a ribbon around them. The cards were the cutest and most amazing things ever. I will bring them to my presentation. Now we are about to go into an IEP meeting for one of the kindergarten students, who has trouble with motor skills.
The IEP meeting went well. It was the same procedure as before. The mother was nice, and seemed very eager to help her son out as much as possible. It was interesting to sit in on.

Stay posted for my weekly reflection!

Daily blog #13

Today I had a meeting with my project mentor, Jennifer Fletcher. It was very productive. First she showed me some information that she had gotten at a special education information session. It was interesting because it was about the law, and things that I didn't know about how the legal system plays into special education. Then we reviewed what I had done so far. We talked about my blogs, and how Mrs. Black and I realized that the smartest way to prepare for the review committee would be to print out the blogs and highlight key points relating to my goals. Then we reviewed the schedule for the upcoming week, and talked about how I should approach my student evaluation. Jen basically just checked up on me, and made sure I was on track. I owe credit to Jen because she is the one who gave me the idea to shadow Mrs. Black. Tomorrow is my last day at the school. :(

Daily blog #12

I came to school at 8:30 a.m. today, and arrived during testing. The students were taking the New England Common Assessment Program. With this one, Mrs. Black was allowed to read it to the students, and also scribe for them if needed. It’s funny because the music room is right above, and during the testing they are practicing and play taps or the star spangled banner. It is really distracting.
Later in the day I went to a regular classroom. It was a second grade classroom. There were different sections set up with different teachers. They did different math activities, a few of the students worked on the computers, and other had worksheets. There was also a baseball card game. Students needed to find specific facts on the baseball card, and then add up some of the information.
After that I came back to the class room, and more testing was taking place. There was a picture, and then a list of words. You need to match the word with the picture. However, with this one, Mrs. Black wasn’t allowed to help at all, not even to read.
Then, Mrs. Black and I reviewed the IEP process. An IEP stands for an individual education plan, and it’s a legal document mandated by NH state standards as well as federal standards. The parents of the student need to be part of the team. In the specific IEP I talked about previously, the mother is a strong advocate for her daughter. During the IEP meeting, the students’ strengths and weaknesses in all present levels in all academic domains are reviewed. This particular student has trouble with speech and language, motor schools, academics, and there’s also a medical piece. At the meet was: the nurse, speech and language pathologist, occupational therapist, educator, parents, classroom teacher, principle, special education coordinator, and physical therapist.
Following this, we met with another student. He was working on writing; he had drawn a picture of an airplane and written a caption, but needed to write and draw more. He had just begun to learn how to place letters and their sounds together to make a word. Although he knows all the sounds of the alphabet, he needs to learn how to place the sounds together to make specific words.
I had a fun day, and I'm so sad that Thursday will be my last day. I have already reviewed some of my work with Mrs. Black, and she has shared her thoughts and sponsor evaluation with me. We have also reviewed the specific things I've seen in students so far.

Daily blog #11

Today I came in at 8:30. Mrs. Black had just finished giving an autistic child a standardized test. He had gotten all the questions right, so Mrs. Black brought another teacher in to show that she was not helping him in any way. Then we did writing and keeping letters in the kitchen. Mrs. Black makes an analogy of a house. The normal letters should be in the kitchen, and then the capitals should extend up to the attic, and the bottoms of letters like y go down to the basement.
Then we had group, and worked on the vowel team, oi. We reviewed what everyone did over the weekend, and wrote the words on the board. Then Mrs. Black reviewed the spelling list, and asked the children to spell the words.
After, I observed a 2nd grade classroom. I sat in on a writing class. Before the lesson began she wrote on the board what she should see and hear from the students. Eyes on the speaker, feet on the floor, desks closed, and voices off unless you are the speaker, use an inside voice, and say nice comments. They reviewed the spelling and writing rules, such as indentation, capitalization, and punctuation. Then the students were given a writing prompt. The teachers were not allowed to help them with it, and everyone in the same grade received the same one. It is used to determine the child’s progress.
Then, two second graders came in and Mrs. Black reviewed their spelling list that had words like now, yellow, and cow. Lastly, a kindergartener comes in who always has his snack time with Mrs. Black. He lacks visual perceptive skills. It is hard for him to drink out of a cup without spilling. There’s something called motor memory and something called motor planning that is used to form letters and numbers. She used the analogy of playing tennis because when I play tennis I don’t have to think very hard before hitting it back because it is just natural instinct. My brain knows how to react. However, with this student, it is different, and he has to think before he does anything. In order to write a letter he would put his hand around Mrs. Black’s, and that would help the motor memory.
Today I spent more time in the regular class room, and this week I will be spending even more time.

Weekly reflection #2

This week I learned a lot, and much more about the process of meetings and documentation for a student with special needs. Mrs. Black showed me a file of one of her students so I could have a better sense of his background, and development over the years. In the first week I did a lot of observing, but this past week Mrs. Black had me actually interacting with the kids more. I read to the children, and helped Mrs. Black during her classes by demonstrating proper behavior. However, I also had the chance to lead the group meeting. It was a lot of fun because I watch Mrs. Black lead it every day, and it was nice to have a chance to exercise my observations, and see if I could handle the responsibility. I was happy to see that I could do it, and that the children liked the game I had made. Later, Mrs. Black asked me if I wanted to work one on one with the autistic child who she works with in the minimal distraction room. Although a bit nervous I was willing and excited to take on the challenge. While in the room, I used some of the techniques I had observed Mrs. Black using. If he didn’t answer a question I would re-ask it or pose the question differently. I really appreciate that Mrs. Black has trusted me, and given me great opportunities and chances. She understands the whole concept of the project, and is supporting me to get the most out of these couple of weeks. I love working with Mrs. Black because I want to fully experience everything that goes into being a special education teacher, and she has helped me so much. The other day Mrs. Black invited me to sit in on an IEP meeting. It was definitely the most interesting meeting I have ever sat in on. I know the student that they were meeting about, which made it even more intriguing. I have benefited by becoming more knowledgeable through first hand learning.

Going into this senior project, I thought it would just be interesting and fun to do for the three weeks I have. I had no idea I would love what I am doing so much, and that I want to do something like this as a career. Working with Mrs. Black has given me an incredibly unexpected inspiration to follow her path, and do some type of work in the special needs area. Even seeing the children’s learning or special needs improve over this short period of time makes me feel so good, and doing this for my life seems like one of the most rewarding things. Mrs. Black seems to get such pleasure out of helping people every day. I have never heard her complain, about driving extremely far to work, having to stay late for a meeting, or not being able to eat lunch.

Another pro is that I have been learning a lot from Mrs. Black about the alphabet. I am learning phonics, and more things that I never learned. While she teaches the children, I am also learning. I will benefit from this week by my increased knowledge and hands on experience. In addition, as each day passes I feel more comfortable at the school, which is always a benefit. Next week I will be sitting in normal classrooms, and observing students. I will be primarily observing how the children in the special needs program interact in the regular classroom setting. I am so excited for this week, but wish I had more time.

Daily blog #10

Today was a relaxing day because I didn't need to go into the school. However, Mrs. Black and I had talked about an organized sheet that could be used to take notes, and to write down observations. She had printed one out, but it wasn't extremely effective for the types of notes I take. We decided that I would use the format to create something a bit more useful for the types of notes I take during the day. I used a table and created columns. They consisted of: the date, time, activity, and observations. This will help me keep my notes organized throughout the day, which will be helpful because usually my notes go sideways up the page. This is probably why Mrs. Black suggested this be one of my projects.

Daily blog #9

Today I came into school at 8:30, and began by helping two kindergarteners with the alphabet and spelling. Then I read to about a boy and girl who’s dog has a spell placed on it. They need to run into the woods, and find a bunch of things in order to reverse the spell. I went back and sat with Mrs. Black for a bit while she was working with her second graders. One of the boys was acting very different and silly. He is usually on ADD medication, and it seemed as though he might have been off of them today.
Then we had Group, and started with one student sharing a book about Star Wars. Then we played the game I had made. Once again it was a big hit. We changed the way to play it. This time, I went around the table and asked each student to read one of the vocabulary words. Once they all had the word cards, I went around and showed them a picture card, and who ever had the word and could read it, got the match. While Mrs. Black usually runs group, she started today, but asked me to take over. Although I was a bit nervous I just repeated some of the things I have observed Mrs. Black doing. I’d make sure that everyone was looking at the card, and give each person a turn. At the end of group, Mrs. Black asked one of the autistic children to spell the word block on a white board. He first drew a happy spider, and then wrote block. Since there is an intern leaving, Mrs. Black asked the little boy to write the word love. When he hears this, he automatically draws a heart on the board.
Later, I worked with the autistic child who needs to work in the minimal distraction room. Mrs. Black asked me if I wanted to give it a shot working with him alone, so I did. At first I was really nervous, and wasn’t sure if I would be able to do it. He is a student who often says that he doesn’t want to work with Mrs. Black, and doesn’t want to do anything. However, he worked extremely cooperatively with me, and I got him to do his workbook pages, and to read. We read a book from Basil Readers, which are books that reuse the same words repeatedly, and also follow patterns of sight words.
After lunch there was an IEP meeting for one of the students in group. I will write more about it next week after I talk about it more with Mrs. Black. It was an extremely interesting meeting, and I want to review what happened, and gain a better knowledge of what was being discussed, and the process.

Daily blog #8

Today was one of my day's off, so I didn't really do anything. I began reading a book that Mrs. Black lent to me written by a woman who had struggled with autism, and decided to work with gorillas. Then I had my tennis match. Relaxing day so I don't have much to write about. I will have more to tell tomorrow.

Daily blog #7

Today I came in at the end of Mrs. Black working with a kindergartener. He was practicing the alphabet, the letters and the sounds they make. Then, three second graders came in, and we practiced spelling and reading. As Mrs. Black read the spelling list, the student would write the word on their paper. I would write the word on a little white board, and the boys would check their spelling with mine, and correct theirs if it was incorrect.
group, we practiced spelling words, words that end in ock. Mrs. Black read the words on the list, and the children spelled them. Then, we played the game that I had made. I lined up the picture cards on the table, and the children took turns drawing from the word pile, and finding the match. I found the game to be successful, and it seemed that the students enjoyed it.
After group we went to the minimal distraction room, and worked with a student. At some points he wasn’t following the directions or not using kinds words, but Mrs. Black reminded him of the pretzels he’d receive at the end as a prize, and he listened better.
Lastly I worked with an autistic child. We played games online that had to do with matching. On the same site, we read stories, and clicked on the objects in the stories in order to make them move. We also read one of his Dora the Explorer books.
Before I left, I quickly sat and listened to one of the children in Group read a short story to me.

Week 2- Daily blog #5

Today I arrived to the school a little bit early, and joined Mrs. Black in something called a “transitional meeting.” The meeting took place to discuss a child in the district pre-school program, and how she will transition into the elementary school. In order for the meeting to take place, there needs to be an educator, speech and language pathologist, occupational therapist, and 2 coordinators. Both full teams meet, and usually the parents come as well. In this specific case, the student has troubles with sensory details.
Then we had group, with an extra person. He is very good at reading and reads at a 3rd grade level, but doesn’t follow activities. He performs activities at a lower level, but is working on habits and following directions. One of his major modes of communication is through drawings. He tends to stick to the same images of the same realm, more specifically under the sea, and doesn’t like change. While working with him one on one I found that he did his work book pages very well. However, at one point he stumbled across a word where he needed to match it with a picture, but couldn’t identify the picture. Instead, he changed the word to match with a picture.
Next, we went into the minimal distraction room, and worked with the same student we work with every day. We played games on an online website. Next, he read a short story. Lastly, he played with letter boxes. There are plastic containers, and each one has a letter assigned to it. For instance, if the box is the letter M, inside the cover it has a list of words, such as: mug, mop, moose, magnifier, magnet, and motorcycle. Mrs. Black and I would take turns asking him questions about the different letter boxes. For instance, I asked, “What would you use to drink out of? Please put that object on the table,” and he would place the mug on the table.
Today was very fun, and tomorrow we will be using the cards that I made for group. I am excited to see how the game turns out, and if it will be successful. If so, I can use that game to create more games that are more interesting, and help the children to learn.

Weekly reflection

This week I learned a lot while shadowing Mrs. Black in the Kearsarge Elementary School’s special needs classroom. I learned a lot ranging from gaining knowledge on what autism is, to learning how to work with the children. As soon as I arrived to the school I jumped right into taking part in activities with the children. Mrs. Black worked patiently with me, and thoroughly explained everything she did. If I ever had a question she would always answer it to the best of her ability, or research the answer somewhere.
All of my goals were accomplished in some way. My first goal was to improve my ability to work with a range of people from the teachers to the children. As I predicted in my proposal, this was accomplished by direct service through working with students in the special needs classroom. My second goal was to be able to help people who are struggling, and need the help. In my proposal I had activities on how to reach my goals, and I followed them out very thoroughly and productively. I reached this goal by being an active observer and listener, and by using strategies that the classroom teachers and specialists use on a daily basis. In addition, I was able to read a child’s record in order to obtain a better understanding of their background and special need. The third goal I made for myself was to form a better understanding of different learning styles. I successfully completed all of my suggested activities for this goal. I shadowed a professional working with a diverse population of students, reviewed literature to gain a better understanding of learning styles, and directly worked with students to engage them in the learning process.
I am enjoying my project very much so far. I have been just observing how Mrs. Black works with her students, interacting and working with the children, and researching more about various learning differences, more specifically Aspergers. Mrs. Black has asked me to do activities such as working with children who’s learning specialist’s did not come in, and also activities like reading to children, or taking over one of her classes. I believe she asked me to do these certain activities so that I could use the observations I had made to actually test them out. She encourages and looks forward to my increasing knowledge. Mrs. Black helps me reach my goals by giving me activities to enhance my understanding of different learning styles, while at the same time explaining the way everything works.
I don’t know what activities are in store for this upcoming week, but I know that as each day goes on, my knowledge will continue to increase. I will continue to do research, interact with the children, and continue to observe Mrs. Black. I am truly enjoying my time at Kearsarge, and feel inspired to continue this type of work in the future.

Daily blog #5

Today I didn’t go into the school, but I worked on a project for the kids instead. Mrs. Black and I decided that I would create a game to help the students learn their new spelling words. We decided that I would create a set of flash cards with just one word on each. Then I would create another set of cards with a picture for each word on a card. The game would involve the students matching the picture with the corresponding vocabulary word. I spent the day writing out the words on the cards, and then locating pictures on the internet. I then printed out the pictures, and pasted them on the back of index cards.
On Monday we will use the game in Group. We will lay out the pictures on the table, and put the pile of just words face down. Then, one at a time the students will choose a card from the face down pile and match it with one of the picture cards. This will help with the visual learning aspect, while helping to teach taking turns.

Daily blog #4

Today I came into school at 8:30 a.m. and sat for the end of a session with Ms. Black and two kindergarten students. She was working with them on copying shapes. They have trouble with visual perceptual skills, which is where the brain is able to take mental pictures, but how they perceive the image is different. After the two students left, three more came in, and did the same exercise. The difference between the kindergarteners and second graders was very large, and the second graders drew faces with the shapes and are able to take it a step further. After, I read a short story with two girls.
Then we had group, and worked on spelling and rhyming. We went over the 5 students’ spelling list, and reviewed the vowel pair oa. Next they played a rhyming game, which is a circle with pictures around it. A student chooses an object and puts it in the spot with the object that rhymes the object chosen.
I left group to work with another student because his teacher was absent today. The student has language and articulation problems with oral motor mechanism. I worked with him first on reading, and we read a book about a frog. Then we read through lists of words. Lastly, we played a few games of bingo.
I then observed while Mrs. Black worked with a student with autism. It was hard to get started at first because the student was having trouble focusing and not wanting to do work. He has something called disregulation, which is when it is hard for someone to be calm and relaxed. Instead, there is much turmoil in the brain. For instance, this student perseverated over earwax. Perseveration is when one is fixed on something and can’t shift to something else. During the session, the student became physically exhausted because he was emotionally in turmoil. If you are regulated rather than disregulated, everything is fine and balanced. Once Mrs. Black started doing the exercises, he began to focus and cooperate more. Mrs. Black often writes messages for him on the top of his papers instead of saying them. In his workbook he worked on word endings, -ful, -ing, -est, -en, and –ness.
Before I left we reviewed and wrote an IEP, and it's basically a review and description of the students learning strengths and weaknesses. It is reviewed with everyone working with the child including his/her parents. Mrs. Black showed me how the system worked on the computer, and explained to me the purpose, and how to use the specific website.

Daily blog #3

Today was different than my usual schedule. I didn’t go to the school today, but rather began reading through a book lent to me by Mrs. Black. The title is Asperger’s…What Does It Mean To Me? written by Catherine Faherty. Mrs. Black bookmarked the pages for me that talked about specific cases that I have already seen.
I read about what autism is and why people have autism. I also read about how most children with autism like routines and familiarity and prefer to not have change. I learned that a schedule can often help children with autism. In addition, I read that many children with autism find the need for success, and unwilling to make mistakes. When they make mistakes they don’t really learn from them and it is difficult to see the connection between making a mistake, almost succeeding, and achieving.
From the book I also learned about children with autism often experience the five senses differently than children without. In the book there are a series of worksheets and questions asking children with autism about their senses including hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, and seeing.
Lastly I read about autistic children and their artistic talents. For someone with autism, art can be physically pleasurable because of the motor or sensory aspects of the activity. It can also be intellectually pleasurable because of the patterns, rhythm and harmony
The book mentioned several ways to work with autistic children's strengths and weaknesses in order to help him or her out. This will be helpful while working with Mrs. Black in her classes. I also have a greater understanding of autism, so I can better observe the way Mrs. Black work with autistic children.

Daily blog #2

Today was the second day shadowing Mrs. Black, and again I started at 8:30. We first started with three second graders, and worked on a spelling pre-test and the sounds of the vowel team, oo. Then we had group again just like yesterday, but with one more student. We worked on similar things as yesterday, such as the sounds of the letters of the alphabet, and the vowel sounds oa. Mrs. Black and I then talked about a student in the group with A.D.H.D. He has A.D.H.D. that is untreated, but able to be helped by structure and being outdoors more. An educator can identify characteristics of A.D.H.D. but can’t diagnose it. Mrs. Black also showed me a communication book, which is used by many children with autism. It is filled with mostly nouns and feelings. A system is used in which you type a word, and a visual picture comes up. I found it very interesting when Mrs. Black told me that it used to be around 1 in 1000 kids were born with autism, and now it is 1 in 150.
We then worked with the same student as yesterday in the small room with minimal distractions. It was difficult in the beginning because he thought he had an earache, but he was much more focused by the end. We worked on reading the names of foods, and placing them in the right categories. After, we worked with the same two girls as yesterday on reading poetry. They are working on reading and writing poems for their class. I was given the task to pick a few poems from, “The New Kid on the Block,” and read them with the girls. Lastly, we worked with a student from “group” earlier in the day. He tends to talk in a baby voice, and it’s hard for him to present himself like a first grade instead of younger. We worked with him on letter sounds and reading.

Highlight of my day: I really enjoyed seeing Mrs. Black work with the student in the minimal distraction room. She knows the student and his needs so well that she was able to get him to work much better with her by the end of the session. While he started out resisting Mrs. Black and not wanting to meet with her, she used different methods, such as counting to three, and he eventually cooperated.

Daily blog #1 -First day at school

Today was my first day shadowing Mrs. Black in the Kearsarge Elementary School's special education class room. I arrived to the school at 8:30 a.m., and met one of the other specialists. Immediately, two very cute second grade girls gave me hugs and proceeded to tell me all about their week long vacation. Mrs. Black then showed me around the elementary school, and introduced me to the teachers.
Next, I observed a class of 5 students that Mrs. Black teaches. The class consists of 4 first graders and one second grader. We worked on mastering the sounds that each letter of the alphabet makes. Mrs. Black and I then went into a room with an autistic student who has problems with social skills. In the room we read words and did various activities. At some points I acted as a model, modeling the behavior that the student should repeat. Mrs. Black would ask me a question, and I would model the way the question should be answered. While he was a good reader, comprehension questions seemed to be difficult. In addition, he would do something called scripting, which is where he would recall scripts that he has heard.
After my break, I worked with Mrs. Black with two girls who had trouble with english, and more specifically spelling. They finished writing poems, and then reviewed their spelling list. Lastly, we spent time with a boy in kindergarten who had trouble with oral motor skills. It was hard for him to slow down, and be able to take a sip of juice without spilling. Mrs. Black worked with him on the letter sounds as well as identifying images to go along with specific letters.
Tonight I will be coloring something called a social story. An educator and speech pathologist get together to make a social story which is written words with visuals. The story stays in school to help the student with something that is difficult for him. In this instance, an autistic student has broken his ankle and needs a cast. In order to help him with the process a story was made for him to read, and become more comfortable with.
I really enjoy being at the school so far. I have already learned so much from just one day, and I can't wait to see what I will know and feel by the end of the three weeks.

Highlight of my day: At one point during the day while I was walking with Mrs. Black, she said that this was her favorite time of the year because she could see how much the children she teaches have progressed. It really touched me when she said this because Mrs. Black is a genuinely kind person who seems to love her job, and love to help others.