Benchmark Philosophy of Special Education
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philosophy_of_special_education_2b.docxRUNNING HEAD: PHILOSOPHY OF SPECIAL EDUCATION DAVIS 1
PHILOSOPHY OF SPECIAL EDUCATION DAVIS 7
Philosophy of Special Education
Bernice Davis
Grand Canyon University
EDU 535
April 27, 2016
Special Education
The reason for special education is to enable students to develop successfully to their fullest potential by providing a free appropriate public education in compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) as implemented by DoD Instruction 1342.12, "Provision of Early Intervention and Special Education Services to Eligible DOD Dependents.” As a teacher in the special education my philosophy is touch the lives of every special needs child in a positive way so they may gain knowledge and be successful for a life time so they may become a productive citizen. This paper will address special education, the purpose of schooling, the nature of learners, instructional method, curriculum, assessment practices and evaluation, community involvement and my personal philosophy
Purpose of Schooling
The purpose of schooling is to prepare students become productive members of society. It is imperative that students are able to interact with others and be able to operate as a team in a group setting. Alternative school is an educational setting designed to accommodate educational, behavioral, and medical needs of children and adolescents in a traditional school environment. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a condition in which a person (usually a child) has an unusually high activity level and a short attention span. Individuals with the disorder may act impulsively and may have learning and behavioral problems. Dyslexia is a type of reading disorder often characterized by the reversal of letters or words (Golden, 2012).
Nature of learners
Language programs must have the support of principals, teachers, parents, and the community. School staff should understand that mother tongue instruction provides the groundwork for achieving high levels of English proficiency (Golden, 2012) Early intervention indicates that additional instructional services provided at the beginning of students' schooling, and that they are intense enough to bring at-risk students quickly to a level at which they can profit from high-quality classroom instruction (Wright & Wright, 2007)
Clinical education is carefully sequenced. First, teachers teach skills, subjects, or concepts; finally, they use informal assessment strategies to identify the possible causes of failure (Brue & Wilmshurst, 2010). All too often, these encounters remain unrecognized or underestimate as dominant mainstream discourses stifle students' cultural capital. An ethnographic investigation conducted inside and outside of schools reveals rich language and literacy practices that often go unnoticed in classrooms (Brue & Wilmshurst, 2010) Example: There was a student that I had that struggled in multiplication facts. She would often distract the class to try to cover up her lack of knowledge. I began to work with her one on one and with other peers also working with her she was able to become fluent in her multiplication facts and focus more in class.
Curriculum
According to (Brue & Wilmshurst, 2010) a high School Curriculum is an essential element to any student's education. It helps the students to build a solid educational foundation from an early age by looking through the School Curriculum products. We identify educational and fun products for Math, Reading, Writing, Language Arts, Science and Social Studies. This program provides advanced study in Special Education. It will help me to prepare professionally in education to get more adequately serve students with disabilities in schools, community agencies, and mental health facilities.
Program standards used are the superior content standards utilized by the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) in partnership with the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). Special education classes give a unique service to physically or mentally challenged students. As an educator it means a great deal to me to provides quality instruction to students with disabilities. I will Forming small groups of two or three students within the class grouped according to their level can help with personalizing the teaching while not sacrificing class instruction time. For example, in math class, one group could be working on the basics while a more advanced group could be working on their geometry skills (Wright & Wright, 2007).
Instructional Methods
According to (Brue & Wilmshurst, 2010) for one to be an effective teacher, it requires many tools, most of which are through trial and error. Many resources are available to help teachers planning lessons, manage classroom environments, and develop high-quality instruction for students with special needs. Effective teaching strategies should be included while working with special needs students. Two terms you are sure to encounter are accommodation and modification. Accommodation is a device, material, or support process that enables the students to finish a task more efficiently.
Modification refers to change or decrease in the course content or outcome (Wright & Wright, 2007). Example to modify student work you would give he or she a longer time or less question than my advance students. To accommodate students, you can supply them with a calculator alone with their facts math sheet. I will model the lesson for my students that may need a little more help. If you are doing co-teaching the teacher can sit at a teacher table and go over math facts using cards. The other teacher can be teaching another skill as they alternate. By providing this type of service the students can get the skills they need.
Classroom management
Classroom management is the way you arrange your class. You must think about every aspect of the lesson, routines, procedures, a multitude of interactions and the discipline in the classroom. The more you think it out beforehand, the easier it will be when something unplanned happens which it always does, since I’m dealing with so many different personalities. I will find several tips and tricks on how to run an orderly classroom. Classroom Management (Golden, 2012).
As teachers we need to have a behavior plan or create one for the students that are in need classroom. There so are many available behavior plan that can be used in the classroom, I have found that some plans are better than others, but, the best plans for discipline, instead of just punishing is to establish good classroom management at beginning of the school year before students step into the classroom. I will discuss and enforce the rules consistently, give students reminders throughout the year. By given the students positive language and making students responsible for their learning, praise them when needed, will help motive and encourage the students.
However, by having a (BIP) better known as behavior intervention plan in place will help change student’s behavior in the classroom, this will also help students with ADD, ADHD and other students that can’t stay focus or stay on task. I have found that most experienced teachers have resolving their classroom management strategies doing the first year of teaching in the school system. Also having a specific routine when teaching your lesson and breaking the classroom up into groups and sticking with it also helps with classroom management. You have to have consistency when dealing with your class and stick to your schedule.
Assessment Practices and Evaluation
Assessment and evaluation is a problem-solving process (Golden, 2012)that involves many ways of collecting information about the student. According to (Wright & Wright, 2007) assessment is a process that involves the systematic collection and interpretation of a wide variety of information on which to base instructional or intervention decisions and, when appropriate, classification and placement decisions. Assessment is primarily a problem-solving process. At my school we use anecdotal notes to describe the progress of our students, we observe our students and document what the student’s knowledge of the content.
By using anecdotal notes, help to analyze, assess and evaluate student’s strengths and weakness it also helps with the assessment of the students’ development in all areas. Example the teacher assesses the cognitive, physical, emotional, social area of learning by using anecdotal notes, this will allow me to track my students progress. There is other assessment that can be used, formative and summative assessment, alone with comprehensive assessment
To assess the students and evaluate them, the I will use sample work and portfolios from each of students this provide he or she with information on their achievements. To encourage the students to provide evidence of their writing they are ask write an enter in their journal on a short story, they are to give a description of what happen in the story and make a time line of the events in the story. Using this method of evaluation, will allow the me knowledge of how my students comprehending. Using these assessment practice and evaluation will help determining student’s strength and weakness in reading and writing. In math you can keep a list of the students and a chart of numbers of the multiplication facts they have learned and what they need to know with the date. This allows you to assess them daily and weekly as they progress.
Professional relationships with family and community
I believe that schools, parents, and the community should work together to promote the health, well-being, and learning of all students. When schools actively involve parents and engage the community resources, they can respond more effectively to the health-related and needs of the students. Family and community involvements foster partnerships among schools, family, community groups, and individuals. The partnership of these groups connections result in sharing and maximizing resources. And they help children and youth develop healthy behaviors and promote healthy families.
Annie E. Casey Foundation's Family and Community Involvement, has a Web site that has information, resources and tools to help empower families, communities and schools to work in partnership with one another. Communication built on inadequate information, assumptions or stereotypes can create distance between schools, parents, and students. How if the school and communities handled the partnership in the right way, the school-family communication will provide an opportunity to live out the values of togetherness, which are at the heart of anti-bias education (Wright & Wright, 2007). Some things that can be used to help students and promoted parent’s involvement and community involvement is family math night.
This is when the administration and faculty come together to involve parents in the education of their children, family math night give the teacher a chance to communicate with the parent in a positive manner. The night consists of well thought-out games and activities to help the parents understand and learn the new math program. I will be welcoming my parents in my classroom with an open door policy this will help the parents feel comfortable to come and volunteer in classroom, communicating with parent is very important, therefore using email, phone calls and send notes home is a good way to communicate
In conclusion I love teaching and impacting the lives of others. I enjoy reaping the benefits of seeing my students with and without disabilities grow in the knowledge and become more independent and mature as they learn and work together even in a group setting. My philosophy and goals are touch the lives of every special needs student in a positive way so they may gain knowledge from my teaching and be successful for a life time. And the way that I can engage my students, and make sure that they become successful is to reflect on my lesson and attend classes to better myself.
References
Brue, A., & Wilmshurst, L. (2010). The complete guide to special education: Expert advice on evaluation, ieps, and helping kids succeed (second edition) . Paperback.
Golden, C. (2012). The special educator's toolkit: Everything you need to organize, manage, and monitor your classroom. 1st edition. brookes publisher.
Wright, P., & Wright, P. D. (2007). Wrightslaw: Special Education Law, 2nd Edition. Harbor House Law Press, Inc.
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