Barb

I would like to start off my response by saying I have found a new idol. Barb Rentenbach is one of the most intelligent people I've ever met. Prior to the presentation, I watched both videos. I also visited Barb's website for Mule and Muse Productions. I read some of her material, but not all of it. I came into the presentation not knowing exactly what to expect. I wasn't sure if it would be purely Barb or Barb with a panel of others with verbal difficulty. During the videos I watched the night before, I could tell that Barb was a very smart woman that had many thoughts and feelings. I also noted in the videos how much the commentators with verbal difficulty had to say. They were all very funny. When the presentation began and Barb began typing, I was expecting her to type "Autism is my prison." When she changed her sentence on me, I was surprised. She seemed, not to embrace, but at least learn to live comfortably with her disability. I wondered if she had always been at peace with her disability, or if took many years, if not decades to come to the place she is now in life. I have worked with many students with disabilities; many that I know comprehend the receptive language, but cannot respond or express much. So this was not a new phenomenon to me.  I personally feel that many people diagnosed with a disability are automatically treated differently because they cannot verbalize themselves. However, I have a feeling there are a lot more people that have feelings and thoughts like Barb, but are still trapped (or as Barb says their voices are still in the "shop.") During the presentation, I kept racking my brain for a question. I have this brilliant woman sitting in front of us, and I felt intimidated a little; not because of her disability by any means, but because she was smarter than almost the entire audience. This may be jumping to conclusions, but she has had her whole life to do what she says she does best "think." She has had her lifetime to contemplate, while us "normals" are always on the go. We are always doing or acting or speaking. We never shut up and watch, listen, relax. I think that was one of her most important lessons to me. How different would I be if for at least fifteen minutes a day, I just contemplated? Not necessarily about academics or work, about life. Her words were very carefully chosen, but they always had strong meaning. After the presentation, I had the pleasure of meeting Barb. There was no denying she could understand everything around her, even if she wanted to have lunch instead. 

Breaking containment – the power of narrative knowing

I read the article titled Breaking containment – the power of narrative knowing: countering silences within traditional special education research by David Conner. Recent research in the field of special education has been addressing the over-representation of students of color. Conner has countered this research with small excerpts from eight young people who are both of color and have diagnoses of disabilities. Conner's main audience seems to be the recent researchers that have been over-representing these students. His secondary audience seems to be anyone and everyone. Conner wants these stories to be read and passed around. I have very very mixed feelings about this article. This article is indeed controversial. First and foremost, the issue of race always makes me feel a bit uncomfortable.

Coming from a high middle class white family, I know that most other races think that white people, according to the article, "enjoy a better life" than other races. As much as colored people are set under higher prejudiced standards, whites are also. I grew up with loving and hard working parents; however, both my mother and father grew up in poverty and abusive homes. To say that whites "expect to be wealthy"  is a huge misconception among the colored population.

One thing that I really enjoyed from the article was the perspectives taken on having a disability. Some students melted it into their lives, they accepted it. Others, did not. After working for years with students with disabilities, I have seen this range. However, I never knew to what extent the internal chaos these students have. The research in this particular article dealt specifically with students with a learning disability. This is one of the hardest types of disabilities I have witnessed on a social level. When a student has a physical handicap, most people are more willing to be accepting or at least understand why they act the way they act. However, when someone looks normal and is acting 'funny' then people do judge. People just think they are weird, having a disability does not enter their minds.

Overall, the article was surprising. I felt that the author did not show too much of his own feelings; he was research based in every statement he made in the article. I assumed a lot from the article, and would have liked to have read the student's full statements. The article compares to the issue in the text with specifics in poverty and special education, but not together. So reading the text, the reader has to put both scenarios together to relate to this article. In conclusion, this article was very informative and very controversial; it makes a reader question a lot his/her own actions, perspectives and history.

QTC 2

(2.1) One of the most cited theories of human development is that of Swiss biologist Jean Piaget.  After reading about Piaget’s basic assumptions (p. 27-32) look with particular attention at the stage of child development you would like to teach.  The other most cited theory of human development belongs to Russian developmentalist Lev Vygotsky.  Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development leads us to expect greater diversity among our same-aged students than Piaget.  Given these two influential theorists’ ideas on cognitive development, how might you accommodate students who are not yet working at the level of their peers?

Special Education would include students from the age ranges of 13-21, which would coincide with Piaget's Formal Operations stage and assumes that children of this age have more abilities for logical reasoning. Because special education has such a wide variety of students who will not be working at the level of their peers, I must accommodate in almost every way possible for them. Abstract problems may still be difficult for them so giving them concrete materials to solve problems with. 

(2) Theories in educational psychology promote the idea that language plays a critical role in cognitive development.  Examine Table 2.2 (p. 51), paying particular attention to the age range that you are interested in teaching.  Consider how you might incorporate or adapt the strategies presented for use with your own students.

I would incorporate many of these aspects into my classroom because speech and language difficulty is a major facet in special education. Using terminology associated with academic various disciplines is important. There  will be some words like "examine' that will be very common in science, but I can also use it in other subjects as well. This allows students to explore other vocabulary and review to the ones they've heard of before.I also think distinguishing between similar abstract words is very important. Varying the vocabulary in the room can be important and if even if a word is similar, doesn't always mean that the words are the same meaning. 

3.1

(3.1) Personal and social development can have a major influence on both individual student learning and the learning environment as a whole. Identify a case from the CSEL guidelines* that you would like to address in your paper.  Then, examine the possible developmental factors that could be influencing your target student(s) or classroom in the case study. Consider all dimensions of personal and social development, including cognitive, language, social, emotional, and moral development. *CSEL guidelines can be found under CSEL Artifact. Cases are included at the end of the document. Choose the case that best suits your desired grade level.

The case study I will be examining is the high school education case study, with Tony, Jeff and Morris. These graduating seniors seem to care very little about learning.  Whenever they think your back is turned, they start passing notes and text messaging.  Worse, the three boys have started disrupting those engaged in learning.  No matter what you say, they laugh at the students who present their group projects to the class.  Yesterday, Tony, Jeff, and Morris started roughhousing; then all three of them refused to sit down and follow the class procedures that the classroom community agreed upon at the beginning of the year. According to the textbook, these students are having trouble with identity and role confusion. They pull numerous parts of themselves together and begin to form an identity. In their long term search for identity, the adolescents may initially take on temporary identities, aligning themselves strongly with a particular peer group, adhering rigidly to certain characteristics. 

(3.2) Check out tables 3.1 (p. 75), 3.2 (p. 83) and 3.3 (p. 91) with particular attention to the age ranges you are interested in teaching.  Identify your personal favorite ways that an educator can promote a child’s sense of self, perspective taking, and moral reasoning skills.

To promote a sense of self in the older students,  I would "give students to examine and experiment with with a variety of adult like roles." (pg 75) This would be especially important for students with disabilities because it will give them opportunities to examine what life could be like after high school. This will push them to see their potentials and see what jobs could fit those potentials.

To promote perspective taking in middle school age, I would "encourage students to look at historical and current events from the perspectives of various historical figures and cultural groups; use role-playing activities to enhance perspective taking" (pg 83). This would be a fun activity for letting students entertain perspective ideas. Students with disabilities would be able to act out and play with different characters.

To promote moral reasoning skills in elementary school, I would "give reasons that such behaviors are not acceptable, focusing on the harm and distress they have caused others" (pg 95). This type of reasoning is important for students to understand. Adults often use phrases like "because I said so" or simple directions like "stop that." They rarely give logical reasons for their commands, which makes the children feel belittled and may stop following rules if they see no point.

10.1 & 10.2

QTC 10.1 Lower-Level Thinking  (Knowledge - Define, Identify, List,)
List four different types of models.



QTC 10.2 Higher-Level Thinking (Analysis - Compare, Differentiate, Examine)
Examine the four different essential conditions for successful modeling. 

9.1 & 9.2

QTC 9.1 Lower-Level Thinking  (Knowledge - Define, Identify, List,)

There are a few basic assumptions of behaviorism. Briefly identify about 2-3.


QTC 9.2 Higher-Level Thinking (Analysis - Compare, Differentiate, Examine)

Compare and contrast classical conditioning and instrumental conditioning.

8.1 & 8.2

QTC 8.1 Lower-Level Thinking  (Knowledge - Define, Identify, List,)

List and briefly describe a couple of factors that affect strategy use.


QTC 8.2 Higher-Level Thinking (Analysis - Compare, Differentiate, Examine)

Transfer is the extent to which knowledge and skills acquired in one situation affect people's learning or performance in a subsequent situation. Compare the different types of transfer and describe an example of each. 

7.1 & 7.2

QTC 7.1 Lower-Level Thinking  (Knowledge - Define, Identify, List,)

The book talks about community of learners, define what this consists of.
List strategies that teachers can do to create this type of classroom environment.
Identify two potential weaknesses of communities of learners. 


QTC 7.2 Higher-Level Thinking (Analysis - Compare, Differentiate, Examine)

The book gives several authentic activities that can be developed for virtually any area of curriculum. Take two and develop a short activity plan for your potential classroom. Take some of the academic language in the chapter and incorporate their importance as well. (Ex. conduct an experiment in a science class- making a volcano). 

6.1 & 6.2

6.1 Lower-order QTC- Describe the model of human memory by Atkinson and Shiffron. Give as many examples as necessary. You can explain one memory input or you can use different examples of memories and how they are inputted and retrieved. 


6.2 Higher- order QTC- Researchers have identified as least six factors that affect retrieval. Describe in depth one or two factors. Give some examples that a teacher can use in a classroom to enhance long term memory retrieval. How can teachers take these factors and actually apply them to their teaching?

15.1 & 15.2

(15.1) Turn to p. 559 in Ormrod’s text.  Now, imagine that you are meeting with Ingrid’s grandmother today to explain her scores on the recent standardized achievement test pictured at the bottom of p. 559.  What will you tell her about Ingrid’s performance? her strengths? her weaknesses? Even though this is not a criterion referenced test, if Ingrid’s grandmother asks you what she could be doing at home to help strengthen Ingrid’s skills, what will you suggest? 

(15.2) Even though this is not a criterion referenced test, if Ingrid’s grandmother asks you what she could be doing at home to help strengthen Ingrid’s skills, what will you suggest? Provide at least three areas where the grandmother could help Ingrid.


I would start my conversation with Ingrid's grandmother by trying to make her feel as comfortable in my classroom. I would start by introducing her to my classroom and what kinds of things we do as a class and how Ingrid fits into the classroom dynamics by saying how Ingrid positively fits into the social aspects. I would then sit down with Ingrid's grandmother and explain the recent test. I would explain as best I could what the test was testing and how the scores work. I would explain how the percentiles, percentile bands, stanine results and how she can read them. I would also be honest with her grandmother and explain that standardized tests can show strengths and weaknesses, but do not show the child in a comprehensive manner. Also, standardized tests can induce test anxiety and a pressured by the school systems. 
I would then examine the test results by explaining Ingrid scored between average to well above average in math concepts, social studies, science and reading comprehension. Ingrid scored below average on spelling and math computation.  If Ingrid's grandmother asks me what she could be doing at home to help strengthen Ingrid's skills, (1) I would suggest reading with Ingrid every single night. I would try to encourage full inclusion into books. I would also try having them writing creative stories. If Ingrid comes across a word in a book or one of her writings, then she should circle it and see if she spelled it correctly in the dictionary. There are also spelling flashcards and workbooks that I could personally suggest or let Ingrid check out of my classroom. I would also tell Ingrid's grandmother that this test does not diagnose any problems. I would show her Ingrid's classroom work and give my  own personal opinions based on Ingrid's classroom history. 
(2) I would end the meeting with Ingrid's grandmother by encouraging constant communication with me. I would also suggest Ingrid's grandmother to read any notes, pamphlets and her assignment book. This would keep her more in the loop with what's going on in the classroom. (3) One more thing I would suggest for Ingrid's grandmother to do at home would be to work on her math computation. I would suggest work books for math and extra work for her to do at home.

14.1 Chelsey Sorter

My lesson plan would be geared towards the younger age groups, pre-k- first. Because Special Education licensure is a Pre-K- 12, I like to explore different lesson plans for different age groups. For this particular example, I will be teaching math skills using a literature-based activity.  The primary goal of the lesson plan will be learning to use numbers and count, literature and using creative thinking. 

On day one, I will ask the students if they have read Dr. Seuss books before. I will  then ask them if they know any poems.I will start by introducing the author, Dr. Seuss and the book " Ten Apples Up On Top." I will bring an apple and show them that the book is about apples. I will then ask the children to help me to count to ten and place the apples in a row as we count. When I read the book, I will ask the children to help me jump up or touch the top of our heads when the books says "up" or "top." 
On the second day, I will bring out the book and ask if the children remember our our story from yesterday. On this day, I will have students practice balancing bean bag "apples" on their heads. Count how many bean bags each student can balance on his/her head.
On the third day, we will have paper plates and markers out to draw and count apples. 
On the fourth day, we will each write a sentence to put in our collective book.
On the fifth day, I will have a short worksheet to evaluate their counting. The students will simply have to count how many apples they see in each question. 


In this lesson plan, I had many informal and formal assessments that I used. I will ask them many books they've read to get an idea of how many students have read or heard of Dr. Seuss. I will ask the students to help me count and jump with me each time they hear the trigger words. On the second day with the bean bags, I will individually go around to students and see how many remember the counting techniques. Finally, I have a formal evaluation on the fifth day to see how many they can count. This lesson has a lot of opportunities to evaluate how much the students are learning.

14.2

*Chapter 14* (14.2) Consider norm referenced assessment and criterion referenced assessment. Are there advantages to both? Are there disadvantages?

Both norm- referenced and criterion referenced assessments are beneficial for different measurements. There are disadvantages and advantages to both types of assessments. Criterion- referenced testing gives information about student performance. They are compared to specific, specified criteria. This gives teachers a better understanding of the curriculum taught in their classrooms based on national and state standards. In my opinion, this gives teachers a better understanding of what exactly they're having problems with. These types of tests may also be used for measuring special services required for that student's test taking abilities. Students feel more comfortable with these types of tests because most of the time, it is content reflective. One disadvantage is that the results don't necessarily show how well a student may have done compared to others. If all the grades are very low, then the teacher can reflect upon their lesson plans and see what wasn't taught in an effective manner.

Norm- referenced assessments are a comparison test based on how well students do amongst their peers. These tests give a certain percentile that students may fall in. One advantage of this test is that it assesses how well a student does compared to their peers in certain content. Another advantage of this test is that it has the ability to show how well a teacher is teaching one particular area. If students in a class have an overall very high percentile in one area, it could mean that the teacher has very good lesson plans for that content area. One disadvantage is the possibility of outliers. One student that may particularly exceed the average or one student in the lowest region can throw off the percentile evaluations. One disadvantage to this test is that it may not take into consideration the socioeconomic statuses of that school's region, which is shown to affect students the most. Another disadvantage to this test is that most standardized norm- referenced tests like the TCAP or the Benchmarks are required to be taken by the special education population. This drives down the averages for other students; when in reality a student may have scored actually better than what the percentile they fall into. I would also like to add that most of the time students take to heart how their scores range on these norm- referenced tests. It can either bring down or increase their self-esteem. More than likely, students also feel much more stressed about these types of tests.