Victoria



Victoria, This is your wiki page for our course. For 2/8/12 I am asking that you write a commentary on Culturally Responsive Instruction - How you might you apply these ideas in your classroom. Include considerations for students with disabilities. (300 words).

Thank you Victoria for a very detailed commentary with many good ideas for how you can incorporate ways of understanding and valuing aspects of different cultures in your classroom. Recognizing the culture of all the students in your class, including students with disabilities, sends a clear message that difference is to be valued. This understanding is a springboard for understanding the commonalities and differences among individuals with various disabilities. As you go through this course, you will learn about aspects of various different types of disabilities to help you consider how you might infuse this information into your appreciation of differences. Well done.

It would help me if next time you could copy and paste your reflection into your page. If you need help, please see me or someone from your base group. Dr. OReilly


 * 2/10/12**


 * Chapter 5**: Understanding Students with Learning Disabilities


 * Describing the characteristics: Academic Achievement: //Mathematics//**

Since my co-concentration focuses on mathematics my eye was drawn straight to the mathematics section on page 128. Over the years being inside different classrooms and observing my peers I have seen a multitude of levels in math. Students with learning disabilities can either have a severe misunderstanding of math or they can have milder form of this learning disability.

In the book it broke down the disabilities in math into 3 subgroups. These subgroups included procedural problems, semantic memory problems, and visual-spatial problems. Understanding these groups will help me address my students that will be included in my general education math classes. I never realized there were a range of disabilities and also labels to disabilities in mathematics because it has come natural to me.

Reading about the disabilities in math I have learned that many students that have this disability also have the disability in reading. About two thirds have both disabilities. Word related problems in mathematics become nearly impossible when a student possess both disabilities. These disabilities relate to the working memory process. Without the short-term and long-term memory containing abilities students suffer in understanding and progressing in math.

Math is a very frustrating topic for many students. It is a subject area that our country is lacking in compared to the rest of the world. With more emphasis on proper instruction and more patience for student’s math, and other subject areas, it will become a more positive learning experience. Children with learning abilities are capable of learning mathematics. It is determined if they succeed by the educated teacher that provides their instruction. Without a teacher who understands the different learning disabilities students will keep falling behind and will not make strides forward.

I agree. Unfortunately, students fall behind in math and never catch up, since one topic builds off the next. If you don't understand division in third grade, but get promoted to fourth and beyond with no services, how will you do algebra? General education must become more informed about earning disabilities and not just pass students so the next teacher can deal with them. The students are not a problem; they have a problem which needs to be addressed as early as possible. Kate Connelly Gocel I am mathematically challenged as well. I am able to understand it better now that I am older, but when I was young, it wasn't pretty. Eventually, I had a math teacher that was able to explain it me. Paul Tomasheski

Victoria, Math is challenging for many students I believe because of the way it is taught and as, you note, a lack of understanding of where students may encounter difficulties. While there are a number of views about how best to approach math instruction for students with learning disabilities, some experts such as David Chard and Brad Witzel advocate hands-on, concrete experiences with manipulatives to develop conceptual understanding of math. Russell Gersten is another expert whose work you might want to look into. You might want to pursue more reading on your own about students with learning disabilities and math instruction to help you with your lesson assignment. Regards, Dr, OReilly

Victoria Gemma 3/12/12 Chapter 9: “Understanding students with intellectual disabilities”.

An intellectual disability is not the same as mental retardation. At first I would have categorized them together like most people do. Intellectual y disabled students are able to learn but the rate at which they learn is much slower. They have difficulty with communication and everyday life skills. In this note I found it important that not only do they implement the general education curriculum, but also somehow incorporate life skills into lessons and objectives. So learning how to count money in class or even learning how to wash their hands in class before they eat. These small details and lessons will help the progress of the intellectual disabled student. Working as a community and having the parents and teachers communicating will ultimately benefit a child’s success. Also identifying the needs of the child early on is essential. In determining the child’s needs the school can provide the supplementary materials and aides to the student in order to make their learning less restrictive. I also found that the “Tassel” program was very interesting. It discusses the two main goals which are academic and then occupational. This program is a great stepping stone to helping children of intellectual disabilities. While they need there academics they have also the ability to reach for success for their futures by becoming involved in vocational schools and other programs. Getting school jobs and even having portfolios made up for them is crucial in developing their life skills. These students will be able to someday survive on their own by adapting these new routines. This is something I would have never known about until this class and I’m glad I have become aware. I think that this is an exceptional resource for students with intellectual disabilities and more districts and families need to become involved in this.

Victoria Gemma
 * Chapter 7: ** Understanding Students with Emotional or Behavioral Disorders

The key component of this chapter, and one of the most interesting to me, is the wraparound practice. Although the chapter discusses that this practice is family-driven, collaborative, individualized, culturally competent, and is community and strengths-based. This practice gets its name from this entire group of components that surround the student. I wanted to learn more about this practice because I feel that it will greatly affect the future education of children with and without disabilities. Apart from reading the chapter I went ahead and searched into more detail about this practice. I have learned that this is not a once and done attempt to help an individual. If the suggested accommodations have not positively affected the child then the group/team will come together and work to revise and suggest a new plan of action. This is important that the community and the other members do not give up on the child and do not force the child to fit the model instead of the model fitting the child. Further detail discusses the profiles that are processed within multiple settings and life routines. This is crucial that all people involved with this student become active in facilitating the child’s needs. Therefore the teacher, the parents, the community are all in communication to achieve one goal. No matter the length of time it takes to achieve this, the process continues until the success/ goals have been met. There are so many great success stories that have been told about implementing such a practice into special education. I believe that this individualized approach to students with intellectual abilities is a necessity. Also the support from outside sources other than the school and the parents is something that will help emphasizing to the child that they are respected and they are accepted in their school, home and community.

Positive Behavior Support (video response)

This topic has always been interesting to me. Also it was the topic that related to my article that I chose to analyze in the first half of the semester. The Positive Behavior Support system is a proactive prevention intervention that uses rewards systems and specific teaching strategies to promote appropriate behaviors. There are different levels of this system. The majority of the students are categorized into the universal level. It is not until the second level where students have a difficult time responding to the intervention methods in the universal stage. The Individualized level is implemented only when the student has a very challenging behavior and this is a small percentage of students, from the video about 5%. As the video progressed it discussed the key elements of positive behavior; which I have experienced myself when I attended Sparta Middle School in Sparta NJ. In my school it was called “Character Counts.” The core principles of character which are repeated throughout the video are caring, respect, responsibility, and citizenship. About 100% of the teachers from the Monroe school agreed with this system and have decided it is very beneficial to the students. Not only does this emphasize good behavior for the poorly behaved students but it also rewards the students that have behaved appropriate all along. Another important aspect that stood out immediately to me was when they were discussing that it needs to change from “punishment” to “positive”. The teachers need to hold the children accountable and hold high expectations. They have to make clear the expectations for the students. To apply this positive behavior system in my classroom I would do many of the things demonstrated in the video. First I would teach them what their expectations are. I would show them how they can uphold these expectations. For example by greeting people in the morning or picking up trash in the hallways. This is showing respect not only for the teachers but also for their environment. As a student I have seen some of these tactics in place. When I was at school the students were not allowed to leave until there was no trash on the floors in the hallway. Teachers were greeted by Mr. or Mrs. Also there was a tape line down the center of the hallways so that when you would walk the students would walk along the right side this way no altercations or problems would arise. Every morning the announcements would announce that “character counts” and then again at the end of the day dismissal. I think that implementing these behavioral expectations will not only help students in school but also it will help the students achieve successes outside of school.