SPED 405 | portfolio

Deepening Your Understanding of Students with Special Needs & Special Education

Demonstrate your learning of a student who is struggling in your classroom. The student does not have to have a formal diagnosis, but should be someone on the radar of your SA and school team. Present this narrative in the form of a story like one of the chapters in The Short Bus, detailing the background and experiences of the student in as much detail as you can.

Describe a process for problem solving where this student runs into difficulties in the classroom or school setting. What strategies/adaptations did you put in place for this student? What advice would you pass on for future educators of this student? What are concrete strategies that you have used and learned in working with this student that would be helpful for other teachers? Consider this a summative strategy chart for all of the things you and your school did to help to support this student.

Comprise your own personal journey. Ask yourself: how have your experiences with the student affected you personally and professionally? What did you change in your classroom practice to support this learner? What directions will your future professional learning take in regards to Special Education? How has working with this student changed or shifted you as an educator? Prepare a one-page reflection on your learning.

NARRATIVE

Being in the classroom it was always a hit or a miss for Steven. There were times when Steven was involved and engaged, but there were also many times where Steven displayed behavioral challenges that affected both his learning and learning of other students around him. Steven is not designated but the talk around the school implies that he was a challenging student overall who others have correlated to being autistic.

Today Steven seemed to be obsessing about a plastic spoon. “Steven, can you please put the spoon away?” asked Ms. B. “But he’s my friend” explained Steven. It was clear that today was going to be an off day. “Please put the spoon in your backpack now” replied Ms. B. So, Steven followed and the class began. As the lesson progressed Steven struggled to stay on focus and on task. At times, students would be turned off by Stevens’ quirky behavior asking fellow classmates, “can I touch your face?”, or “Were friends right”. Most students would just ignore, but others will complain or be asked to be moved to a different table. Ms. B attempts to keep Steven on task as much as she could and hoped that Steven was able to achieve the learning targets set out for today’s lesson.

The bell rings and Steven is off to gym class. Like every other class, Steven had his good days and bad days. Steven often participated but hated running outside the most, “I can’t run outside my feet will get wet because my shoes have holes”. Lucky for Steven today was an indoor day. Steven does well socially in the gym compared to the classroom. Class starts off with Steven being excited, clapping his hands, running for the ball, cheering other classmates on, he was involved. “He gets excited but sometimes it’s difficult for him to get the ball because some students find him too goofy and don’t pass to him, what I try to do is encourage”, says the gym teacher. “Giving instructions is also difficult with Steven, he often disrupts and don’t follow instructions very well, look watch him”, the gym teacher continues to say as I look to find Steven taking his pinnie off and just putting in on the side instead of in the bin. “Steven is selective, he will only do tasks that he thinks is fun and help putting away equipment is not one of them”, the gym teacher says in frustration.

Was there a better way for us as educators to integrate students who display quirky behaviors, or a better way to keep students on task without isolating them from the rest of the class? The next day, I noticed Stevens’ frustration, he seemed to be having difficulties with the content we were learning. “How are you feeling about the next coming unit test” asked Ms. B. “I’m not sure”, replied Steven. I could see that uneasiness in his eyes and knew that he was overwhelmed with everything. “That’s okay, how would you feel if we divided the test in two parts?” asked Ms. B. “That would be better”, replied Steven. The following days the test results came back, “good job on your test Steven” said Ms. B. Steven looked through the rubric and feedback please with what he had accomplished.

Plan of Action

The experience I had with this student was an eye opener. I truly understood the importance of building a relationship with your student because I believe this helped me create a more positive learning environment for this student where I witnessed the student motivated to participate and learn. I had the education assistant notified me that he had to be taken out of the classroom and already had written multiple reflections, but I found that I never had to do that. Building that respect between the pupil and the teacher helped with classroom management and motivated the student to work along-side me instead of against me. On top of building relationship is collaboration. More specifically collaborate with the student themselves. Ask the student themselves what they like and don’t like, what works for them because it is the student who will be able to answer these questions best. For example, at times this student didn’t like working in groups or with a partner, and I had this conversation with the student of what they prefer. I learned that sometimes being in a group hinders his learning because the other students exclude him from being involved and don’t trust him with the equipment or the actual “making” of the activity. Therefore, I learned that sometimes it is best if the student works on their own and that I should not see this as a negative way or a way of exclusion. Sometimes for students to be included they need to be separated. Lastly, don’t ever assume. For my SPED assignment in 401/402 I talked about the self-fulfilling prophecy. This student taught me that even though they seem like they are focused or aren’t getting their work done does not mean that they are not learning or understanding. Through my practicum, this student has surprised me with good test results that showed his learning of the unit. Therefore, even though the student may have off days I’ve learned that maybe this is process and soon it didn’t bother me as long as the student didn’t bother anyone else and as long as they were able to achieve the learning targets. Lastly, celebrate individuality of all students. It is important that to celebrate the students’ individuality. Acknowledge each student from time to time by saying thanking the student for being on task. I found that these little encouragements go a long way and it not only helps you build that positive relationship but it also motivates the student to continue to make good decisions.

My Personal Journey

At the beginning of my practicum I had several concerns with this student, and found myself allocating a lot of time and energy towards this student and neglecting others because of this. Therefore, I knew I had to find a better way. The first step I took was collaborate with the educational assistant. Sure, enough she knew exactly who I was talking about and the challenges that I was facing. The educational assistant provided pointers such as, have him near the front of the classroom, and surround him with students who can build him up, students who are focused but don’t show too much excitement or enthusiasm because this will also distract him. I also collaborated with the student, I asked the student where they feel most comfortable in the classroom, where they feel they can be less distracted, which students does he feel comfortable being around, and how I can set up the lesson and classroom so that I can provide him with a positive environment where he can stay on task. I also spoke to the student individually regarding behavioural expectation in the classroom. When the student would be disruptive I would ask the student to simply step outside the classroom. I would have a conversation where I don’t necessarily tell students behaviours I like and don’t like, but ask the students questions so that he can make better decisions. These questions include, why do you think I asked you to go outside, is this good behaviour why or why not, what behaviour should we be displaying. Most importantly, provide the student the option of working outside to help stay focus. I ask the student instead of telling the student because I want him to reflect and develop good decision making skills for himself. Secondly, providing student with the shape of the day ahead of time especially when doing activities that included equipment. For example, I had marble activity and already foreseeing the potential issues, I spoke with the student ahead of time and told him what the activity was including the expectation I had so that he can have fun and be involved in the activity. Turns out a little chat will go a long way, and I did not have any issues during the lesson. Not but not the least, a strategy that the school implemented near the end of my practicum was have the student go outside and reflect when the unwanted behaviour continues. I was given a form to provide students with questions that they were to answer.