Chapter 9-11

I love this question because my student teaching position was an itinerant position. I did my student teaching at Exceptional Child Coop in Houston, MO, they serves about 12 different school district with all different kinds of services (SLP, Adaptive PE, Early Childhood, and Deaf Education). I traveled between 4 school districts every day and it was hard to find time to really talk to the people we need to talk to. If I need to talk to a teacher about a student, we would try to leave early from one school so we can talk to the teacher at the next school. This was hard because we rarely enough time, so my model teacher would usually send out an email the night before so the teacher would know that we were trying to talk to them. We did a lot of our consulting on email. Trying to consult with the parents, was extremely hard because we were never there when the parents picked up or dropped off. Again my model teacher would text the parents saying that we placed something in their child's backpack. This way the parents were aware that we are trying to communicate with them. We had one student who was kicked out for 25 days due to behavior. The IEP team decided that this child needed services and couldn't go that long without any services so we decided that the child would be dropped off at school and then would be picked up after our time. This was the only days that we were able to talk to the parent. When the parent or the aunt drop the child off, we would consult with them briefly asking them how the student was that day. Then we would work with the child for 90 mins and when the parent came to pick up, again we would talk to them about how the child did, what we worked on and what was expected of the child later that week (i.e., spelling test and a reading test). I remember one day the child received their first 100% on a reading worksheet and was so proud to show dad!! When dad picked up the child, the child proudly gave dad the paper that had a big 100% on it. Dad was so happy for his child. After the child came back to school, I gave a spelling test and the child received an 100% on that (1st time on the spelling test) the child put it in the notebook and I hoped the dad saw it. I enjoyed those 25 days because I was able to actually talk to the parents to let them know what was actually happening while the child was in my care and they actually saw what we were i.e., on and those results.

Even though there was no time to talk or consult with the parents and the teachers, I liked that I had the kids one on one. I didn't have to be distracted with the other problems that can pop up in the classroom and the child didn't have to compete for my attention. Once I pulled the child out of the class, they had all my attention and we were able to have fun and learn through play.

Framework of Assessment

I have chosen reading as my content area. Reading is one of our main focus in school because a child can acquire much language as it reads various stories. It is best to assess a child's reading in both an informal and a formal setting. This way a teacher can get a true picture of the child's skill in reading.

Basic Reading Inventory would be probably the first assessment that I would use with my students. This assessment is done informally and the student would read a short passage in one minute, while I indicate what mistakes the child makes. There are certain indications that you mark on the words to show exactly what was made. This assessment it great for your records because it shows how many words the child can read in one minute. It can also use as to show improvement as the child learns new words throughout the year. Lastly, it helps me as a teacher to know exactly what the child is struggling with so we can target it throughout the school year.

Another informal assessment that I would give my students, would be comprehension. This will be done once a week usually on Fridays. We will work on one story a week, we will read the story, or maybe interact out the story. Then on Friday, we will read the story: either together or have the students read it by themselves (depends on where the student is) then the students will answer the questions by themselves. Lastly, we will go over then questions together and will talk about which one they got right and which ones they got right. This will help me know what the child is processing from the story.

Lastly, one of the formal assessment that I would use The Abecedarian Reading Assessment. This reading assessment addresses Letter Knowledge, Phonological Awareness, Phoneme Awareness, Alphabetic principle, Vocabulary, and Decoding. This is a great formal assessment because it assesses all the aspects that can come into play with reading. It will help you target the gaps in the child's skill when it comes to reading. For the phonological and the phoneme awareness sections, would a great area to assess what the child is hearing if s/he is wearing a hearing aid or a cochlear implant. However, children who don't have amplification, you can use visual phonics as an adaptation. Here is a link that tells you more about the assessment. http://www.balancedreading.com/assessment/abecedarian.pdf

There are many different kinds of reading assessment and they all do their jobs in assessing the child's skills and they all show you the gaps for that child. These are just a few of those assessments.

Good Bye Houston, Mo

It is official, I am moving now of my apartment today. Almost as I write this blog. lol. Anyways, It was a great experience. I totally just loved my placement. The kids were great and eager to learn, it was had to say good bye to the kids, the coop and my co-workers. They sure made me feel welcomed and just part of their group. It was a privilege of sending 11 weeks there.

Even with all the positive things out here, I am so happy to be moved out and back home. There were just a few times that I went back home but it was hard living in two places at once but that ends today!!!

I am back home just in time for Easter! Then the next step is apply for jobs, finishing up portfolio, and then my parents will be coming out and the final act in this chapter is GRADUATION!!! I cant believe that two years just flew by, where did the time go?!

From there it is back to Cali for a few week in the summer for my brother's graduation, a friends wedding, to see a few friends and cant forget to throw in some FUN!!! Imagine that I get to have some fun now!!! YAY!!

That's all what I could say for now cause the next chapter in totally unknown for it is in God's hands as I wait for the phone calls of various jobs offer. So, wish me luck, as I anxiously wait for instructions on whats next.

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

To assume that all deaf and hearing children have the same knowledge and approach learning in the same way is a joke to me. Lets talk about a typical 3 grade classroom first. All the children are hearing and they might live in the same area but that doesn't mean that they have the same knowledge or the same approach to learning. One family can be every involved in their children's life and wants to expose them to as much as they can to expand their horizons that child will have different knowledge than the next child who family doesn't have money to expand their child horizons or doesn't really want to be involved in how their child learns at school. The child who has a very involved family, s/he can have this love to learn and cant wait to get to school but on the other hand the child who doesn't have a very involved family might not want to learn or go to school. We aren't just dealing with the child and the child alone, we are dealing with the family, their environment, their will to learn. It goes back to the Nature vs. Nurture debate. I think it is the same with children who are deaf and even more so because they need that language just as much a child who is hearing. So, we look heavily at the family and see if they are putting true effort at learning their child primary mode of communication or if they are admit about getting the hearing aids/cochlear implant on.

I think it is hard to say how I would differentiate my instruction in an inclusive setting because 1) I have never been in that situation before and 2) each child is so different. My best stab at the question would to keep a close eye out on how the child seems to process what the rest of the class is doing. I might have to give that student more time to process or more prompts to what I want the rest of the class to do. If the assignment is to write a sentence about a picture, I might accept one or two words from my student who is deaf (depending if that is where they child is or not) then I might give that child the sentence prompt and then just have the student fill in what s/he said about the photo.

Treating children the same in our classroom, I think is the biggest mistake that we as teachers can do because they are not the same, they don't have the same family, background, knowledge, exposure ect... the list goes on and on. We need to take each child and teach directly to them. Yes, it is A LOT of work but I believe that is how our children will learn the best.

Science Strategies

Science has always been my favorite subject. I think it can be so easy to learn because it is hands on and you can see what is happening and the changes in front of your eyes. Here are a few strategies for sciences.

Slowly and Progressively: Science can be very interesting to people but when you are learning science if a teacher is going to fast and is just mixing things from left to right it can be hard to follow. So a great strategies is to slow down, I got this strategy from http://www.studyup.com/articles/teaching/teachingstrategiesforscience.html. This website states that teachers need to move slowly when teaching science and make in meaningful when they are implementing the experiences so the children can fully grasp the content of the topic.

Everyday Lives: This same website: http://www.studyup.com/articles/teaching/teachingstrategiesforscience.html also talks about how it would be beneficial for the students if the teacher can integrate science into their student's everyday life by giving them examples that they can related to. This way the student can see how science plays a key role in their everyday lives.

Tie it in: Lastly the same website: http://www.studyup.com/articles/teaching/teachingstrategiesforscience.html discusses how the teacher should be very observant and very careful when presenting the topic of the day. The teachers should be able to gage where the students are with understanding and it might help if the teacher would build on what was learned on the previous day. This way the student can make more of a connection and might learn more when presented in a different way or when it is expanded on.

Alternative Scenarios: This website: http://www.beesburg.com/edtools/glossary.html talks briefly that is would be a good idea of encourage the students to tell you or to write down a different way that the experiment might happen. This would be good because it would force the child to think about what is really happening and what might happen if we alter anything in the process. It will also help engage the teacher to where the student might need more of a help in understanding what is happening. This might be hard for our children who are deaf because it might be hard for them to imagine a different scenario but I think will help and prompting the students might get there and understand what is expected for them, especially if they have enough language and are out of the concrete phrase by Erik Erikson.

Get in there: I believe science in a hands on content area. The website http://www.beesburg.com/edtools/glossary.html expands on this under the term "cooking" It basically says that make it a hands-on lesson and related it to something that the student knows and works with on a frequent basic. The website gives an example of cooking and how it can be used with various subjects: reading cause the student have to read what is next, math because of all the measurements especially if you want to double a recipe, and lastly science because you can see what happens when heat is applied or when an outside force in applied, i.e. stirring or the differences between baking soda and baking power.

Math Strategies

Math, I think it is a subject where you either loved it or hate it. Most of the time you will probably meet people that hate math. I fall right in the middle I hate basic math but love advance math. Don't even try to understand that. Anyways, the following blog I list a few strategies for that will help you better teach your students math and hopeful they will be a person who will love it because you made it fun.

Space it out: I receive this strategies from this website: http://deafed.department.tcnj.edu/math/space.html. I totally agree. It talks about to space out math practice a few times a day in short breaks instead of once a day for hours at a time. I mean I know I get burnt out if I work on something for a long time, especially if it is not fun and motivating. So, why as teachers do we expect our students to do the same thing. It doesn't make sense. Another thing is talks about is to teach the communicative property together. That mean when you are teaching the kids that 4 +5= 9 also teach that 5+4=9 at the same time. Especially with children who have any learning disabilities or our students who are deaf that can be so concrete. This helps them to learn two equations at the same time instead of learning one and then months later seeing the same problem reversed. They might not know how to solve it then. Last thing the website states is to teach in chunks before moving on. Have the students learn one thing till mastery then move on. How many of us been in class and it just seems like the class in moving in lightening speed and we can only understand bits and pieces of it? Sure as adults you can probably pull it in later because you have that ability to think abstractly and fill in the chunks but a child who hasn't learn that strategies might not ever catch up because it is going at lightening speed for them.

Make Math Meaningful: I think it is the most important strategy for math. I also got this strategy from http://deafed.department.tcnj.edu/math/meaningfulmath.html It basically talks about how as teachers we need to relate what we teach to our students. Our students wont retain the instructions if we don't relate it to them. Tell them why they need to know this. I remember growing up, I will never use math in my everyday life. Which is so not true, I love to bake and that is all about math if I double a recipe or cut it half. I remember baking with my mom and my mom showing me that this is math put to use. Then it finally connected. We use math everyday when it comes to money. Why not teach our kids with math using fake money so they can learn a hard concept and related it to their everyday life buy making them buy something with their money at the end of the week. Another point this website makes is have the student use the various math tools like a calculator, ruler, or yard sticks because thats what we are going to those tools in the real world too. As adults we aren't expected to multiply 5693 ft by 3284 ft in our head!! Why should we expect our kids to do that same thing. Lastly this websites stresses that we need to have math involve in another subjects; read a book where the main character is trying to add or subtract in the story. For example: in my student teaching I did my unit on Easter and the Easter bunny wanted to share his eggs. So we started with 5 eggs and then we subtracted an egg for every person he gave it away too.

Use more than one way to teach: We all learn differently: some of us are auditory learners, some are visual learner, some are kinetic learners and some are all three. We tend to soak in the information better when it is presented in the way we learn. I received this strategies from http://www.ttaconline.org/staff/sol/sci_deaf.htm. It basically says to present math in more than one way for our children. Present in a way that it touches on all the ways a person can learn so the information can be accessed to all the students. This means that you might use varies manipulative one week and then take about it what happened the next week and the lastly use a visual on the smart board or an over head. Be flexible and change up the way you teach.

Word problems come to life: I know that word problems can be a trick to a lot of people. They can be wordy and have a lot of unnecessary numbers that are designed to throw us off. So, what do we do. Well, this website http://www.ttaconline.org/staff/sol/sci_deaf.htm suggest that teachers should introduce these nasty word problems using informal math vocabulary and then have the student act out what it is saying. This way the children are able to get up and intact what is happening. Then have the students translate what happened into a math sentence in their own words. You also can use various drawing, pictures, anything that visually shows what is happening.

In your own words: My Last strategy actually comes from an article on this website: http://www.cirtl.net/node/5503 and it states to have the children explain the math problems to each other whether it is in English or in ASL. This way the children will be able to put what they have learned in their own words and as a teacher you can see what concepts they know and what concepts they don't know and spend more time on those concepts.

The Last Two Weeks

Week 10 was normal. I was teaching all day Monday-Friday. Everything went well nothing out of the blue. All the kids were pretty good, a few off days with some of them but I held my stance and wouldn't let them get away with anything. :-)

Week 11 was my last week. I taught on spring and Easter, since this was my last week I wanted the kids to learn by having fun. So I bought some Easter eggs and we went on Easter egg hunts almost everyday but inside the eggs were either sight words, phonics, or we working on letter recognition. I enjoyed planning these lessons and I think the children enjoyed learning.

On Wednesday was my final evaluation. My teacher came and was again so impressed with the way I taught the kids. We had one kid that has multiple disabilities and my teacher said that she enjoyed watching me teach this kid. She said that she could see that I really care about the kids I teach and it really shows. So, many people say that I will be a great teacher but when it comes from another teacher really means something. It was such a great day, I finally feel like a true teacher.

On Friday was my last day at the Exceptional Child Coop. It was a good but sad day. I have enjoyed working at the Coop. The people there are just true and they enjoy life. They know their stuff and they know how to have a good time. I learned from everyone there. I learned how to teach from my model teacher, Angela. I learned another behavior management from Dara. I learned how to teach verbs from Paul, I learned how to laugh from Sheila, Dara, Phil, John, Lisa, Deanna, Becky and Daleene. I learned another way to teach deaf children from Christina. I learn what not to do while driving from Eileen. The last thing and the most important thing that I learned there was that there are only three days of the week: Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Monday-Thursday is always Friday in your head, then its Saturday, and Sunday. LOL... Thank you for having me, I really enjoyed everyone there!!! I will miss you guys!

My adventure of student teaching if officially over, now I am in the process of moving out and heading back to Springfield. Now, I wait to see what door opens now.