This week I really enjoyed the readings and I think they go along with what we are covering in class. The technology that we saw last Tuesday really shows how I can accommodate students in my classroom however I need to. I liked seeing some of the different types of computer websites, blogging, 'games', and ways that my students can express themselves. Some of the technologies I thought were a little inappropriate for students in a classroom. I suppose it depends on the age and grade level but some of the new things I learned were things I would not consider using in my classroom. But other things (like Abbey mentioned) like the blogs, digital stories, after school 'today's meet', and such are great ideas and things that I would love to incorporate into my room.
From the articles I really appreciated the various ideas of accommodating different learners and some of the ideas were really neat. In the first article, I thought it was a huge eye opener to read about this little boy that was gifted but yet sometimes not understood or did not fully function to the term gifted. It was as if he developed his own meaning to the term gifted and I really saw a lot from this child. His family went through a lot to accommodate his needs but it was well worth it. When the teacher in his first school was frustrated by having to allow Marcus have accommodations and modified schedules I thought that it was weird for a teacher to act like that. I could not understand why a teacher would not want to do anything in his or her power to help a student in the classroom. I believe creating an environment for Marcus where his learning styles are accommodated to where it does not affect other students too much would be what I would try and do. In the second article I liked reading the specific ways I can set up my classroom. I would even say that I would use some of those techniques and support systems in my classroom no matter what type of learners I have. I completely agree with the schedules and how children/students rely on a set, guided routine everyday. Many of the things I saw/read about kind of reminded me about what we did in Erik's class last semester when the one group presented that showed us the stations to accommodate students.
I think that between Tuesdays class and the readings there is a reminder that while technology is great and we need to bridge that gap that some students may have, we need to remember that the simplest things such as visual simulations in our classrooms can be just as efficient and stimulating.
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I share similar feelings toward the Marcus article because I couldn't understand why the teacher would not support the student's needs t the fullest. However, this may sound bad on my behalf but I am honestly worried about accomodating the individual needs of special needs students in my class. I, too, thought the presentations in Erik's class was a huge success last semester because we were introduced to ways to help these students, but I wish we would do more with it. I feel that MSU has failed to properly train us Elementary Education majors in assessing special needs children. I don't understand why we don't have a course to help explain these ideas to us? I know Secondary Education majors have this course and opportunity, so why don't we? It makes me frustrated because I want to be able to assess and handle everyone of my future students to the best of my capabilities and wish I had more guidance to follow from my under-grad.
ReplyDeleteI understand both your frustration and Abbey's above frustration. I think that it is upsetting that more is not done to show general educators the ideas that the CEP students learn. If all teachers were taught what we special educators have learned then it would be so much easier to collaborate once we get into the real world of teaching. There is such a divide between what people think general ed is versus special ed. I've heard some teachers say, "Oh, it must be easier becuase you have less kids." And the that couldn't be farther from the truth!! It is so hard for teachers to work together to begin with because we are given so little professional development time.
ReplyDeleteAside from all that it is really the general educators job to identify students to refer them to special education. So it will be your job to decide which students will be labled and sent to a resource room. Of course there is a panel of teachers and professionals the do the whole IEP process with parents and the student however, it is first the responsibility of the general educator to see the irregular behaviors and report it to a special educator. I don't know about you but this sounds scary to me if you are not being given any instruction on how to identify or help these students.
Another big issue I see is that these students who go into special education can take years to get there. If you are working in an elementary room and you don't know techniques to help students with special needs, who will inevitably be in your classroom, then how will they be expected to improve?
It is all a twisted web of scary scenrios that hopefully will be aided by a good support system of general educators, principals, special educators and specialists.