Benchmark Philosophy of Special Education
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module_5_example_1.docxRunning Head: PHILOSOPHY 1
Running Head: PHILOSOPHY 9
Philosophy of Special Education
Student Example (You Name Here)
Grand Canyon University
EDU 535
July 25, 2015
Special Education
“The field of special education boasts major accomplishments and improvements in the lives of individuals with disabilities. Public school classrooms have made significant progress with integrating individuals with disabilities into the fabric of everyday life,” (Andrews, Carnine, Coutinho, Edgar, Forness, Fuchs, Jordan, Kauffman, Patton, Paul, Rosell, Rueda, Schiller, Skrtic, and Wong, 2000, p. 124). Being a teacher in the special education field has helped me shape and develop as a person, and as a teacher. Developing my own personal philosophy has helped me become a better teacher, and instill confidence in what I am teaching. The following paper will address my personal philosophy of special education in regards to the purpose of schooling, the nature of learners, curriculum, instructional methods, classroom management, assessments and community involvement.
Purpose of Schooling
The purpose of schooling is for students to continuously learn and apply new skills and knowledge to function in society. These skills and knowledge can be learned through social interactions, and academic learning environments. The overall goal is to teach students how to become lifelong learners by laying the foundations of critical thinking skills, adaptively, solve real world problems and establish great social and communication skills.
Project based learning is an example that allows students to obtain knowledge through a complex and meaningful approach. Students are engaged with the research and collaboration with other students which makes for a better learning outcome, as well as, the development of social skills and learning how to communicate efficiently with others.
Nature of Learners
“The learning environment recognizes the learner as its core participant, encouraging their active engagement and develops in them an understanding of their own activity as learners” (Dumont, Istance, & Benavides, et al., 2010, p. 4). The nature of the learner is based on their learning environment and the key components which include, emotions and motivation.
Emotions can be associated with good and bad learning experiences. A students learning environment when approached in a positive way, can leave an impression of encouragement. Positive emotions are an important key to a student’s cognitive development, the sense of accomplishment and mastery associated with their skills.
Motivation, when presented in a positive way, increases the student’s ability to be engaged in the material, and allow them to become an active learner. Students experience with positive motivation will make them feel competent and able to achieve an objective.
One of my students, struggled in math. She refused to even try harder concepts because she had a negative interaction with a teacher. Anxiety and failure were a constant fear and often her behavior would spike, ultimately getting her way of not participating in the lesson. I started to work one on one and I would try to make a positive, safe and understanding learning environment. Eventually she was able to try new math concepts and was able to except constructive feedback about her errors, (it took an entire school year).
Curriculum
The constant shift in curriculum between subject-centered and student-centered, has been up for debate throughout the centuries. Subject-centered curriculum focuses on the mastery of a group of subject that are comprised together to form the curriculum (Common Core).
Student-centered curriculum focuses on the whole student as an individual learner. “The student’s freedom to learn activities, and creative self-expression that engages the student in the learning process,” (Webb et al., 2013, p. 377-378). Teaches also benefit from student-centered curriculum, by having more creative flexibility and freedom with the curriculum. For example, I put together some topics that I thought the students would be interested in. Different life cycles, planets, weather were among a few. I then presented these topics to my students and let them choose what they wanted to learn for the following Friday. Once the students chose the topic together, I as the teacher, was able to be creative on how I was going to present the information. The students chose to learn about owls. The students played a matching game and learned about different species of owls, and also created owl masks. They also got to dissect owl pellets to see what interesting creatures the owl feeds on at night.
If I was constrained to teach subject-centered curriculum, I feel I would not have been able to do hands-on activities with the students. My students chose what was interesting to them, and I built the meaningful curriculum around it.
Instructional Methods
There are many forms of instructional approaches that a teacher can use in the main stream and the special education classrooms. The most common approach is the one-sided, which consists of the teacher lecturing and the students taking notes and/or participating in a worksheet. According to Mitchell (2008), collaborative teaching is a cooperative educational teaching strategy, that enables groups of people with a diverse background and a combined expertise to become solution oriented. Collaborative teaching can be broken down into more specific means of teaching. Co-teaching with the general education teacher allows for small group teaching, rotating of groups and a socially constructed environment that allows students to learn from each other.
I support co-teaching because I have participated in it. For example, the general education teacher and I collaborated on a lesson with small rotating groups. The small groups allowed us to touch on different math concepts with the whole class, and not exclude our special education students. The students could be a part of the whole group discussion and they could peer help other students or other students could help them. As the teacher, it was easier to explain and behavior manage smaller groups, and check for better student understanding of the concept.
Classroom Management
Each teacher manages their classroom to their own strengths, abilities and comfort. In special education, many factors and challenges can be presented when it comes to managing a learning environment effectively. One factor to consider is inclusion within the mainstream classroom and/or a special day class. Each learning environment is different and calls for changes is instructional delivery and behavior. Naturally, as teachers we assume that more time equals to more learning, however, this is not always the case. “The effective learning time depends heavily on the atmosphere of the classroom and on the teacher’s leadership on managing the instructional task” (Goodman et al., 1990, p. 2-3). Teachers can plan a daily schedule around adequate “brain breaks,” stretching and short lessons. It is important to already have pre-determined groups and instructional modifications before the lesson is presented. Also, pre-planning for any behavior issues or breakdowns is a key element as well.
For example, co-teaching with one of my para-educators, we decided to teach a group of six students. We collaborated on how we would manage time, behavior and the lesson. One teacher would teach their part of the lesson, then we would split the students into two groups, (3 students each, for practice of the learning skill). When splitting the groups, we would allow time for a “brain break” with a song about the lesson or a short video that explained some facts. Each teacher would check for student understanding of the material learned, and do a quick, short assessment. The groups would come back together to create a poster on the concepts they learned, and students would be called upon to help present or give input about the poster. The entire lesson took thirty minutes, and allowed for instruction to be modified on the spot, depending on students learning capabilities and behavior issues.
Assessment Practices
Assessments can be useful to probe for students pre-existing knowledge, retention and track students learning progress. The most useful assessment is the formative assessment. Formative assessments, I believe provide a better understanding of how the student learns, and enable the teacher to adjust to the students learning style. Feedback is another important element that goes along with formative assessments. Making sure your students understand feedback is helpful, not embarrassing, and it allows them to see the concepts they need to work on. Feedback for teachers about their students, helps for better lesson planning, modified instruction and to motivate students in a positive way.
For example, each week, students have a binder they take out to check their learning progress. Each student has a point-to-point graph, that shows how far they got in word recognition the week before and the goal they need to meet for that day. The point-to-point graph show the student a visual progression and allows them to set a goal, which they think is attainable for themselves. The teacher provides feed back to the student on the words they missed and why. This graph shows the teacher what the students still do not know and what they have retained. Allowing for more practice of letter sounds and identification.
Professional Relationships with Family and Community
Parent and teacher collaboration is an important tool to ensure the learning of the student is continued in the home. For example, homework is a big part of a student’s learning process. Continual practice of learning skills at home and boundary setting, helps keep constancy more streamline. My interaction with a student trickled over to his home life. I would go to the student’s house once a week, to help his parents learn how to work with a child with Autism. I showed them how to make a daily visual schedule, and how to be consistent with homework accountability, before their child got his reward. The challenges that I faced included that the family spoke only some English, and I did not want to over step into parenting boundaries. I was not sure how the parents viewed me because I look younger than I am, and I do not have children of my own. However, the positive relationship that the parents and I had built, allowed us to trust each other and collaborate to ensure social and academic success of their child.
In conclusion, my role as an educator is to provide an educational learning environment that builds trust, respect and a strong love for learning. My special education philosophy helps improve my instructional framework and challenges me to be a better teacher. Changing the lives of individuals with disabilities and ensuring that they have an educational experience to last them a lifetime.
References
Andrews, J. E., Carnine, D. W., Coutinho, M. J., Edgar, E. B., Forness, S. R., Fuchs, L. S.,
Jordan, D., Kauffman, J. M., Patton, J. P., Paul, J., Rosell, J., Rueda, R., Schiller, E.,
Skrtic, T. M., Wong, J. (2000). Bridging the special education divide. Remedial and
Special Education, 21(5), 258-260.
Collier, Margo., & Keefee, Elizabeth B., & Hirrel, Laura B. (2015). Preparing Special Education
Teachers to Collaborate With Families. School Community Journal, 25(1), 117-135.
Council for Exceptional Children. (2010). Special Education Professional Practice Standards.
Council for Exceptional Children. (2014). Evidence-Based Special Education in the Context of
Scarce Evidence-Based Practices: The Council for Exceptional Children’s Interdivisional
Research Group. Teaching Exceptional Children, 47(2), 81-84.
Dumčienė, A. (2014). Empowerment for education of students with special education needs.
Education Physical Training Sport, 94(3), 25.
Dumont, H., Istance, D., & Benavides, F. (2010). The nature of learning: Using research to
inspire practice. Center for educational research and innovation,
Goodman, Libby. (1990). Time and Learning in the Special Education Classroom.
Mitchell, David. R. (2008). What Really Works in Special Education and Inclusion Education.
Tzivinikou, S. (2015). Collaboration between general and special education teachers:
Developing co-teaching skills in heterogeneous. Problems of Education in the 21st
Century, 64, 108-119.
