Reflections
Reflections
Competency 1
Categories of Disabilities
In competency one, I included my presentation on intellectual disabilities, the prezi to go along with it and the fact sheet. This helps to display my understanding of one of the disability categories. It was very helpful to see exactly what this disability is defined as, as well as the struggles, characteristics, and ways to help students of the struggling with this. In addition to including my presentation, that I made in parallel of one of my peers, I also included a new chart I made to display all the categories of disabilities along with their definitions, characteristics, common types and prevalence. One of the most touching things I learned was regarding the origins of Rosa's law in 2010. Her and her family are an inspiration to us all and we can take a note from them on kindness and compassion.
Competency 2
Identification and Remediation of Disabilities
In competency two, I pull together the concept maps and other research I've done regarding ways of addressing disabilities. These ways include response to intervention, individualized education plans, universal design learning, and assistive technology. In response to intervention in addition to my concept map I included the diagram of the multi-tiered pyramid. This illustrates the levels of intervention to assist students in succeeding. In addition, I added some research that I had done on secondary mathematics and response to intervention. It was very helpful for me to see how secondary mathematics can be used with RtI when it is most commonly used in the elementary levels. For the IEP portion I included my concept map and a link to competency four. In the universal design learning I redefined this and included a funny video that Dr. Raimondi found. The assistive technology portion allowed me to gather some articles on a variety of needs for assistive technology and students with disabilities.
Competency 3
The Special Education Process, State/Federal Special Education Laws/Regulations and Response to Intervention (RTI)
Regarding laws and regulations, as well as the history of special education, I created a small series of podcasts. I discuss some of the main goals and most important laws including IDEA, NCLB, and a timeline of historical events such as the normalization of disabilities. We have come a long way in our history of handling people with disabilities, we should be proud of the progress we've made, however, we need to keep in mind that there's still much progress to be made.
Competency 4
Individualizing Instruction (IEP, Instructional Strategies)
For the individualizing education section, I found it best to interview people that had much experience with process. Of the people I interviewed there included: a student that had an IEP from the preschool through college and is currently studying to become a special education teacher, a student with severe emotional/behavioral disabilities, and a parent. It was very insightful to see their different perspectives on the IEP System but also their agreement on how much it helped lead to a path of success.
Competency 5
Applying Positive Behavioral Supports and Interventions to Address Student and Classroom Management Needs (PBIS)
Competency five regarded positive behavioral interventions and strategies. I included a Prezi I made on this topic as well a concept map on managing behavior. For me this was one of the most important competencies as it is the area that I knew least about coming into this class, and the area of the most concern as I enter the teaching profession. There are hundreds of fantastic strategies to helps teachers in navigating the world of managing a classroom. In my research and in many articles, one of the most important things is creating a safe environment for students to learn and to be an approachable person that they can come to for support and assistance. Once the student knows they will receive help without judgement they are much more open to discussing topics that they are having difficulty with and asking questions.
Competency 6
Effective Practice for Planning and Designing Co-Teaching and Collaboration with Peers
For the co-teaching competency, I found a chart on the pros and cons of each of the six main co-teaching methods. Using this chart and some of my previous knowledge I developed ways a lesson plan would change per each strategy. The best strategy often depends on the material and the chemistry between teachers. I also included my concept map on the subject, and wrote about some of the reasons why I think collaboration is key. Communication helps get everyone on the same page and collaboration aids in the creation of exceptional ideas, with everyone's differing perspectives at work.