After reading the assigned reading(s) from the text, post a comment below to share your understanding of the material, and make a personal connection. (Both components are required).
Your comment may be conversational (not formal, as in an academic paper or APA style document), yet you should follow the conventions of standard English as well as reflect the professionalism and scholarship that is appropriate in a graduate level class.
You may want to revisit the blog as other students post their comments, and add to or question your colleagues. This discourse (even electronically) will be the foundation of our understanding of how this (course) material is an integral part of being a professional educator.
Please post your name or "username" so that others may address you and your comments.
Your comment may be conversational (not formal, as in an academic paper or APA style document), yet you should follow the conventions of standard English as well as reflect the professionalism and scholarship that is appropriate in a graduate level class.
You may want to revisit the blog as other students post their comments, and add to or question your colleagues. This discourse (even electronically) will be the foundation of our understanding of how this (course) material is an integral part of being a professional educator.
Please post your name or "username" so that others may address you and your comments.
Post 1
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the first two chapters in Turnbull's "Exceptional Lives," a lot of the information was familiar to me. However, it was only familiar because of courses I had recently taken during my graduate work. I am currently in the TESOL program, but I majored in Spanish education for my undergraduate work and am still amazed at how little I was taught about Special Education. I took one course on Special Ed. during undergrad, and for many of the class activities the "foreign language people" were placed together and were exempt. My professor was always saying that most students receiving special education services would be exempt from taking foreign language. I continued to pay attention because it was important information, but I never truly considered the personal impact on my future classroom(s).
When I had my first student teaching placement I was somewhat shocked to see that all students took foreign language, including those with IEPs and 504 plans. Fortunately, my cooperating teacher also had a degree in special education and helped me out, but I felt misguided and ill-equipped. When I began a long term substitute position I again had every student, even those with IEPs and 504 plans. I had the special education teacher as a resource, but again I felt slightly cheated in my education.
Thankfully in a few of my graduate courses we have begun learn how English Language Learners (ELLs) are addressed in Special Education laws and in the related services. Much of the material in the first chapter was review, such as the more legislative side (IDEA, NCLB, etc.. This has also been a nice review and a way to fill in some of the gaps in my schooling. However, as I sit in many of my classes I can't help but feel as if other students know more than I do about this subject. I know that many students majored in Special Ed. and that is most likely why, but it also makes me frightened for people like me who maybe aren't mastering in a subject that involves more in-depth information on this critical area.
Post 2
ReplyDeleteAs I read the chapters, I had some background on RTI and the classification process, but only because of recent coursework. In other classes we have touched on the tedious process of classifying English Language Learners as LD, however, I found it interesting that in the book there was only mention of this group in one or two places in these chapters. I would assume (and hope) that the book goes into greater detail in later.
Although much of this information is new to me, one concept from the first chapter that was brand new was the idea of IFSP; I had heard of early intervention, but I did not know that families could receive federally funded services as early as birth that included a specific plan for them and their child. I was also unfamiliar with the idea of due process. I knew that parents and teachers worked collaboratively to create a plan for the child, but I never really gave much thought to what happens if one party is dissatisfied. From my understanding as many steps as possible should be taken before taking matters to the federal court. From what I read it does seem like an effective way to check one another, but I am unsure of how these situations play out in reality.
In chapter two another concept was completely unfamiliar to me. I didn't know that the term "general education" also applied to things such as recess and other school activities. Now that it has come to my attention, I agree with the laws that require inclusion in these areas to occur as much as possible.
Aside from slight fear that reading these chapters instilled, I am continually amazed at how in-depth and personalized Special Education services are for each student. The amount of time, planning, and research put into developing IEPs never ceases to amaze me. As a future ESOL teacher I am eager to take part in this process, simply because I haven't been exposed to it yet in my educational career or schooling. Aside from becoming more confident in my knowledge of the "ins and outs" of Special Ed., I also hope that after taking this course I will be a confident advocate for an ELL if the situation arose.
One of the things I was wondering about in the second chapter were the characteristics of inclusion. I know that IDEA has a presumption in favor of inclusion, there are specific rules around inclusion and that inclusion might look a little different for each individual based on their needs, but I was wondering whether the characteristics of inclusion are enforced in any way or if they are more of a set of guidelines? I am thinking specifically of the principle of natural proportions which states that “students with exceptionalities should be placed in classrooms in a natural proportion to the occurrence of exceptionality within the general population (46).”
ReplyDeleteI was in a school where each grade level had two classes, one taught by a general education teacher and another co-taught by a general and special education teacher. All (with a few exceptions) of the special education students were always placed together in the co-taught classes, but for some grade levels such as kindergarten and first grade this system yielded some classes where half of the students had special needs. Intuitively their system seems like it could work, but in practice it sometimes resulted in chaotic classroom situations where it was hard to meet each students needs. Is this type of situation where the proportions are “unnatural” common? Could the school come under fire from some authority for not having natural proportions? Does anyone know?
In Chapter one of the textbook “Exceptional Lives” most of the information presented I was familiar with. My familiarity is due to the following: as an undergraduate I original majored in music therapy and music education until my junior year in which I switched my major to sole music education. This experience in music therapy allowed me to work with a vast population with disabilities and I.E.P. This experience has allowed me to gain a better understanding of I.E.P. and the essentialness it serves the student in success. I did however have a few points that were interesting to me.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter one under the law of I.D. E. A. extracurricular activities and other non academic activities must be available to disabled students. I think this is great and should be encouraged, but I would like to see the statics to see if students with disability do take advantage of this opportunity. I would predict it would be a small percent but hopefully I am wrong.
Another interesting point made in the reading is that schools districted are provided with federal money to assist them in the programs used for disable children. The statics on page 18 shows that the “IDEA authorizes the federal government to cover the excess cost of special education up to 40 percent, federal aid in 2002-2003 was only 15.5 percent of the excess cost”. This statics aroused the question if the funds are lacking in certain districts does that not affect the quality of the special education program. Also why is there such a gap between what IDEA allows and what is presented in aid to the schools?
In chapter 2 universal design was an interesting topic. I can see how the idea is trying to promote learning in the general classroom for all students by taking students strength and tailoring the lesson to meet that student. I am a firm believer in presenting subjects matters in different ways because every child learns different, and as educators we should take this into consideration. When I was reading the ideas behind universal design it sounded like, when you learn how the student learns best you should present the material always in that fashion. While I do agree you should learn how a student learns best, I believe that you have to expose to the students to different ways of learning because they cannot rely on only way of learning, because that will not benefit them in the future.
Both chapters were a great introduction in many topics that will be extremely important when dealing with children with disabilities in the classroom.
After reading chapters 1 and 2 in "Exceptional Lives," I found myself revisiting many of the important parts of Special Education. I have been teaching Special Education in the RCSD for the past 3 years and have a certification in Students with Disabilities so most of this was review, but still extremely useful. The one part that continues to amaze me about Special Education is the amount of people/agencies involvoed in the process. We all can see from the list in the textbook and the powerpoint that we went over in class that there is an extensive list of people incvolved with carrying out roles in order to ensure that Special Education students are accounted for. Being a Special Education teacher, I can say first hand that it really takes a dedicated teacher to be sure that each specail education students is recieving all of their servieces that are mandated to them through their IEP. Both chapters do a wonderful job of introducing Special Education and all the major compenents that need to be thought about when thinking/dealing with Special Education students.
ReplyDeleteWith little experience in special education, this book is beginning to help me really understand some of the topics that I have heard about in schools. In my undergrad I didn’t take any classes on special education, although I wish I had! Fredonia has a music therapy program just like Nazareth, and they did offer a “music for the special learner” class. Unfortunately it didn’t fit in my schedule. While subbing the past several months in various schools, I have worked as a TA in an inclusive classroom, a 1:1 with a student with behavior problems, a speech pathologist, and several other areas I am very unfamiliar with. Although those experiences have been very helpful for me I always wished I knew more about what was going on.
ReplyDeleteI found chapter two to be really helpful for me. It broke down specifics regarding IDEA. Before reading this I honestly had no idea it existed. The chart on page 53 (2.8) was also helpful in breaking down the components of an IEP. I think if I were to read one now I would have a better understanding of what it consists and its purpose. I remember reading some student’s IEP’s during student teaching and thinking they looked and sounded so foreign. My cooperating teacher wasn’t really any help in explaining it because it confused her also. Because she had never taken a class in special education, it was unfamiliar to her. It seems as though the district had not taken much time to educate general and special area teachers about how to use IEP’s to the students benefit in the classroom. It could have been that specific school that didn’t make any effort. I’m sure other schools do a great job of educating their staff. I am wondering what each specific schools policy is on violence in the classroom regarding students with IEP’s. I know we talked in class about a procedure for getting readmitted into the classroom, but is it the same for every district?
I am looking forward to discussing these topics more in depth over the next couple weeks. I will feel much more confident as a teacher with this new knowledge, especially subbing when I am thrown into all sorts of situations.
Having had a bit of experience in the special education world, I am familiar with much of the reading that was assigned to us in the Chapter. The case studies and the vignettes, however, were very helpful, and I enjoyed reading about them. Having firsthand examples can be interesting and beneficial.
ReplyDeleteAs far as Chapter 2 is concerned, it is amazing how stringent IDEA law really is. It is something that not a lot of people really think about, but it is very important. The way the law outlines IEPs, implementation, is very extensive and strict.
I also found the topic of universal design to be very similar to that of differentiation. Educational needs to be tailored to the individual needs of the students, so in that regard, this is a theory that suggests how we may go about doing that.