Guided Response: Review the posts of your classmates and the instructor

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Guided Response: Review the posts of your classmates and the instructor. Substantively reply to at least two peers  who have chosen at least one different setting than you selected. Address any differences in your explanations and examples of differentiation and developmentally appropriate learning. If applicable, offer illustrations from your own personal experiences.

Peer 1

Bonnie

 

Special educators can be found in many different settings. One setting that a special educator can be found is co-teaching in a general education classroom (Public school). Another setting is a residential treatment program (Special purpose school). 

The role of a special education teacher who is co-teaching in a general education classroom is to service the students with special needs or a disability. Special educators work along side the general education teacher to create lessons and ensure that the needs of the special education students are met. The special education teacher may also make modifications to the lesson plans of the general education teacher for the special education students in the classroom.

The role of a special educator in a residential treatment program is to assist students with significant emotional, mental, behavioral, and learning disorders. This includes developing a curriculum, assessing students, and writing academic reports. 

Developmentally appropriate learning experiences are what we know about how students learn at different ages and developmental stages. Differentiated appropriate learning experiences are teaching the same material using different strategies and methods.

A special educator working in a general education class will provide learning experiences for students with disabilities that are differentiated, developmentally appropriate, and challenging by tailoring each lesson to the needs of the students. There may be times where the lesson needs to be tailored to each special education student because they have different IEPs. A special educator working in a residential treatment program will provide learning experiences for students with disability that are differentiated based on there mood and feeling that day. Students in residential treatment programs may need to base their day on how they feel at the moment. Many of them suffer from mental and emotional illnesses so it may be better to plan for change. A special educator may have to tailor the lessons based on how the student is performing that day. It is important that these types of learning experiences occur in order to properly meet the needs of the student.

 

 

PEER 2

Zack

Home instruction (Temporary setting) is when a child is taught in the student’s place of residence or another appropriate setting due to a health condition, need for treatment, court order, or exclusion from general education for disciplinary or safety reasons. Instruction in a resource room (settings within a public school) is when Students come or are pulled to the resource room for a variety of reasons. One reason can be the child needs individual support because they have an IEP.

Homeschool teacher educates students in a variety of subjects in alternative or home settings. The teacher travels to a child's place to the residence and ensures to teach the child how they would teach them in a classroom setting. According to IDEA, children with disabilities should learn in the least restricted environment with other children which is known as the resource room. The teacher is supposed to support the child in any shortcoming they have related to IEP goals. The resource teacher also works with other teachers to ensure the child is reaching their goals. 

Reflect on how a special educator will provide learning experiences for students with disabilities that are differentiated, developmentally appropriate, and challenging within both chosen settings. Your reflection must include details about what differentiated and developmentally appropriate learning experiences are, with at least one example that illustrates the importance of ensuring these types of learning experiences occur. The example(s) may be based on a personal experience or based on readings for this week.

Differentiated appropriate learning experiences use a range of data sources to pinpoint what students currently know, and what they are ready to learn next (observations, assessments.) Important factors, the curriculum implementation/planning and the use of formative assessments for learning and instructional strategies.  A developmentally appropriate learning experience is teaching a child what is appropriate for their age. Information and observations of a group of children so you can plan activities that are not too simple or too difficult. Many developmentally appropriate activities are open-ended, which you can see a child's growth or struggle. This way, children at different developmental levels can participate with equal success.

Peer 3

Nancy

Hello Class, 

The two settings I chose to contrast are from the Temporary (Hospital Based) and Public School  (Resource Room) Settings. The resource room is a separate room where those who have disabilities can come and obtain extra academic support. The resource room teacher works with the general education teacher to figure out where a student is having issues and creates a supplemental education curriculum with differentiated instruction and uses it in one on one or small group settings as tutoring or classroom instruction. They also assess these students to see if these strategies are working and take the info back to the teachers and staff to see how they took the info back and utilized it (Cohen, 2009). The resource room focus in elementary and middle school is strengthening any weaknesses where as in the secondary school, they are scheduled for 5 or more a week and have a lot more time to talk to other educators (NASET, 2018).

The hospital based setting allows for a special education teacher to tend to one student for a temporary period of time. These students usually have a chronic condition such as cancer, or are even hospitalized due to an accident or asthma. The stays in the hospital can be short or in and out multiple times over the course of a year. These special education teachers go to the hospitals, set up their mobile classrooms and teach (Cohen, 2009). Many of the school districts are connected to hospitals and work with them to provide teachers for them. I just read that the Inglewood School District is doing this. A really great way for teachers in this setting to collaborate is to join associations which allow connection points around the country. 

The goal for special educators is to provide differentiated learning experiences that are appropriate. So we have to find alternatives to help students really get the concept in the shortest amount of time and as simply as possible, knowing that no two people's journey's are alike. Special educators have to make sure that the outcomes are productive, students are involved and develop a love for education and learning even if they do not always like the subject and help develop healthy habits which include a consciousness of self (Yu, 2014).

My example is of a student we had who was 7'2 basketball player who was Autistic and had tons of learning disabilities. Due to his age and really his stature, the school felt he could compete in classes that were over his head. He came from a very poor area, bad nutrition which led to bad brain functionality and no basic resources such as electricity. He had never experienced a foreign language and was failing. The teacher told this student - athlete and his parents that the kid would never pass her class 2 months prior to the day he was supposed to graduate. 

The curriculum was not too hard for him, but her delivery of the material was under a one size fits all train of thought. She did not think it fair that she had to handle students who were special needs and we ended up having to pull him out of the school to go somewhere that offered more differentiated instruction. We found a school that had the exact same curriculum but applied differently. Instead of talking at kids and lecturing for 40 minutes at a time...he could go online and do sections at a time, watch videos that he could stop and start and slow down or move ahead at his comfortability. He got a B in the class in half the time. We just placed him in college on scholarship to play basketball. This is how important this subject is because it could be the difference between a kid's success and poverty.