Christiana Byrne
ESE 309
Observation
In order to complete this observation, I used my practicum assignment for EEL 364. I am completing my practicum in a general education fourth grade classroom. I regularly observe and assist in this class. “Mrs. Brown” (All names have been changed.) has been teaching for about ten years, and has been working at Ketterlinus for four of those years. There are 17 students in the class. The majority are female. There is one Latino student, the rest of the students are white. Mrs. Brown informed me that there are two students in her class with IEPs, there is one student who is currently on an RTI plan, and one student with a speech disability. These students will be the focus of my report.
I was curious about one of the students from the first time I entered Mrs. Brown’s class. It was apparent that “Abby” was disabled in some way. Upon discussing it with Mrs. Brown, she told me that Abby has Down syndrome. According to Mrs. Brown, Abby is very highly functioning for a student with Down syndrome. She informed me that Abby is a “special case.” While Mrs. Brown does not feel that her classroom is truly the least restrictive environment for Abby, Abby’s parents want her to be included in the general education class. Their reasoning is that they want Abby to have a chance to interact with other students and develop her social skills. Her parents think that this is the most important goal for their daughter. They seem to doubt in their daughter’s ability to make significant progress academically, but believe that learning to behave in a socially appropriate manner is attainable. Mrs. Brown is a friend of the girl’s parents. She said that this accommodation situation works well because the student is familiar with her, and that she is able to work very closely with the girl’s parents.
The objectives covered in Abby’s IEP plan are mostly social, such as learning to make eye contact, and following instructions, rather than purely academic. In class, I have often seen Mrs. Brown working on the objectives that have been written for Abby. She reminds Abby to look at her when she speaks to her. She has Abby work on impulse control, such as not eating her snack when it is not snack time, and not getting up and moving around without permission. Abby does seem to be successfully at meeting these objectives, although, I have seen a few mild acts of disobedience. Once, she snuck away from her desk and grabbed a book and sat down in a corner reading it. From the quick and efficient response of the teacher, I would assume this was behavior that occurs fairly often. Mrs. Brown says that Abby is not graded on anything in the class. She is given “smiley faces” for reinforcement on her work. She gets some pull out time to work with a special education teacher on her reading and writing, which according to Mrs. Brown, is on a first grade level. Mrs. Brown said that when the class is given a writing prompt, Abby often simply copies the prompt from the board. When she actually writes, her sentences are short and simple with many errors. Mrs. Brown said that, overall, Abby has a higher level of achievement than would be expected for someone with her particular disabilities.
Craig is a student with a mild reading disability; his reading difficulties sometimes affect his ability to focus which leads to behavioral issues. However, he does not have ADHD or an emotional disorder, which was my initial impression of this student. I assumed that this was the case because he is often disruptive in class. Once Mrs. Brown explained this, I noticed that she often redirects the child when she sees him getting off track. Because he has problems with reading, Craig has some pull out time with a reading specialist, but he spends almost all of the school day in Mrs. Brown’s classroom. Craig sometimes becomes bored or disengaged when he is unable to keep up with the readings in class, and that is when he begins to disrupt his fellow classmates. I have witnessed this. Mrs. Brown said that she generally does not make specialized adaptations to her lessons for Craig unless the specific lesson calls for it, and mostly these accommodations are in relation to the time he is given to complete an assignment. Mrs. Brown said that she tries to create her lessons so there is never too much reading, and that there is a mix of activities that allow all her students to all be actively involved. She also said that Craig’s IEP allows him extra time to complete tests.
Suzanne is a student who has a speech impairment. Her difficulties physically forming words to speak do not affect her cognitive ability in any way. Mrs. Brown told me that Suzanne is actually one of the more advanced students in the class academically. Suzanne is pulled from class to work with a speech therapist to improve her speaking abilities, but this is the extent of her accommodation. She is slightly shy, but she has volunteered to read for me when I was conducting a science lesson. She reads at a normal pace, but she speaks extremely softly and does not fully enunciate her words, making it difficult to understand her. She appears to be a motivated and dedicated student; she just has an impairment that does not allow her to articulate her words clearly when speaking.
Jorge is the one Latino student in the classroom. He is currently on an RTI program, and Mrs. Brown informed me that the meeting to decide if he will be evaluated for special education is coming up soon. The teacher’s personal opinion of the situation is that Jorge’s issue is more behavioral than cognitive. She thinks that he simply is not putting forth the necessary effort for whatever reason. She also discussed candidly with me the process of evaluating students. Mrs. Brown feels that it is imperative that students get the support that they need in order to do well in school, but she says that the downside is when students are mislabeled. She said she fears that Jorge will be considered for special education when he may not need to be. She speculated that even though the system supposedly reevaluates students to ensure that no errors where made, that once students are labeled, the labels tend to stick. She does not claim to have the expertise to evaluate students, but she expressed hopes that Jorge will be able to show the improvements needed to not be recommended for special education services.
This observation helped me see the real life application of what I am learning in ESE 309. It is certain that a general education elementary teacher is going to have students of varying abilities in his or her classroom. It was interesting to see the variety of cases found in one typical classroom setting. Also, it made me realize that the very specific case-by-case nature of special education means that you are never finished learning about special education. While this class is an introduction to the possibilities of what a teacher may encounter in the field, your learning will continue every year when you meet your new class. It is your job as a teacher to educate yourself about your students, and know their strengths and their limitations in order to inform your teaching practices. I think this is true of ALL students, not just those served under IDEA or 504. This observation also highlighted the fact that all decisions about special education are made by a team of people, including parents and other professionals. I think it is important to become accustomed to the idea of sharing this responsibility. I know that from the first day in my practicum assignment, I had my reservations about the placement of Abby (the child with Down syndrome). Even after my discussion with the teacher, I still wonder if Abby is receiving the best possible education in that environment. However, I am aware that her parents are the authority in this case, and that the decision for her to be there was made by a number of people. So it really made me reflect on what I would do in that situation. I think as a classroom teacher, since you have the most contact and interaction with the students, it is your duty to advocate for students with special needs by taking the extra time to collect meaningful data and carefully presenting your point of view in IEP meetings. Also, you need to be prepared to handle situations in which you are not in agreement with a student’s placement. Like it or not, I may be responsible for teaching a student like Abby, so I need to be ready to search for ways to understand how she learns and how I can best help her meet the educational goals set for her.