Reflective Thoughts

Me on 3 hours of sleep and a super busy Monday.

HAPPY MONDAY!

This week's reflective journal focuses on two key elements of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Initial Preparation Standard 5: "Beginning special education professionals select, adapt, and use a repertoire of evidence-based strategies to advance learning of individuals with exceptionalities" (Council for Exceptional Children, 2012). The two key elements focused on this week are:
5.1: "Beginning special education professionals consider an individual's abilities, interests, learning environments, and cultural and linguistic factors in the selection, development, and adaptation of learning experiences for individuals with exceptionalities", and 5.2: "Beginning special education professionals use technologies to support instructional assessment, planning, and delivery for individuals with exceptionalities" (Council for Exceptional Children, 2012).

1. Discuss your prior beliefs about teaching students with disabilities. How have the readings, discussions, and the assignment altered or informed your current beliefs, knowledge and skills related to planning instruction for students with disabilities?

Prior to the past year of my life working with my son and then my daughter, I did not think I would ever have the patience or ability to work with students who had a disability; then one day, it simply occurred to me that I already was with my youngest two children. My oldest son has ADD and even though he has been neurologically mind mapped to show his level of disability since his original diagnosis at age six, I never thought of him as having a disability. Please do not get me wrong, he certainly has had his fare share of academic struggles in school systems that did not provide him with adequate support, but my own definitions of disability were limited and ignorant and this is what had previously shaped my own thoughts about teaching students with disabilities. Despite my limited knowledge and ignorance, I still believed that every child, regardless of the presence of a disability or not, should be able to get the individualized assistance they need in school.

Before knowing and understanding the special education laws, I was also wary of inclusive classrooms where students with disabilities were included; however, now my fears of inclusive classroom is centered on teacher qualifications and experience, rather than concern for the student or students in question. Prior to this assignment, my knowledge of evidence-based strategies has been limited. This week's assignment has allowed me to give a name to strategies that I have used "naturally" while learning about new strategies to use. Now I feel more confident in my abilities to plan effective instruction for students with disabilities.

2. After reviewing the CEC Standard 5 and its two key elements, discuss three areas you would like to improve upon professionally during this course.

Goal 1: I would like to become more familiar with the various types of strategies and begin a "toolbox" for me to have available for quick reference, even though my professional goal is to work for a Head Start program, some of these strategies will come in handy; in addition, having a knowledge of the various evidence-based strategies will also help me as a parent when working with my own children at home, or talking with their teachers as a foundation for understanding them.

Goal 2: I would like to learn from my peers, and the readings throughout the course, how I can connect with families to learn more about the student as an individual. Talking to the families is certainly a great start, but some families are less likely to open up and share than others. This lack of shared information could be due to cultural differences, or just a general sense of uncomfortableness between all parties, for one reason or another. How can we respectfully overcome these differences and work as a team?

Goal 3: I have taken an assistive technology class before, but I am hoping to improve my ability to apply my knowledge of AT to the evidence-based practices within the text or other sources throughout this course, while learning about additional options for AT that I may not have considered before.

3. Based on your experience, current role in education, and/or future role in education, how might you apply these concepts to plan effective instruction for students with disabilities?

Working for Head Start is similar to working in a day care classroom, where play is the primary learning strategy used. Even so, there are structured times for specific learning activities and this is where my knowledge of evidence-based strategies will be needed. I will need to know how to reach the student with the visual or hearing impairment, communication delays, behavioral or mood disorder, etc. I plan to utilize what I learn throughout this course, in my classroom and provide appropriate instruction for my preschool aged students whether I am in a child care, Head Start, or a Pre-K classroom.


Council for Exceptional Children. (2012).  CEC initial level special educator preparation standards. Retrieved 7/13/2015 from http://www.cec.sped.org/sitecore/shell/Controls/Rich%20Text%20Editor//~/media/Files/Standards/Professional%20Preparation%20Standards/Initial%20Preparation%20Standards%20with%20Elaborations.pdf.