Melissa Mehre

Educ 351
Section 1
4/28/12
Committed to Change

Before taking Education 351, Teaching Children with Exceptional Needs, I was unaware of
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), Least
Restrictive Environments, or Response to Intervention (RTI). I did not know that there were laws
regulating the education of students with special needs. I was in the gifted and talented program
throughout all of my middle school, junior high, and high school years and did not often have classes, if
ever, with any students with exceptional needs. This shows how uninformed I was, seeing as students in
the gifted and talented program are technically considered students with exceptional needsjust not
the exceptionalities that society deems traditional. I was pleased when I found out that practicum
experience would be necessary in order to meet the requirements of this class. Before this class, I had
not had much experience with students with exceptional needs, other than working with two young
boys with autism through my part-time job. These practicum hours have provided me with beneficial
knowledge of classroom management and techniques for modification in my classroom.
I spent all ten hours of my required practicum hours in Mr. Johnsons 5
th
grade classroom. I
had initially set up my practicum hours for this classroom in order to observe one of the young boys with
autism that I work with outside of school. David moved from Minnesota to Wisconsin at the
beginning of the school year and his family pushed for him to be moved 100% into the general
education classroom. This was quite a shock for David, because he was in a classroom with only
students with autism in Minnesota. It was interesting to me, because the week that I began my
practicum hours with Mr. Johnson, Davids IEP was changed, and he was moved from being in the
general education classroom 100% of the time down to about 10% of the time. David suffered from
extreme anxiety in the general education classroom, not to mention his outbursts often had detrimental
effects on the other students education in the classroom. Right away I had experienced how the laws
surrounding IDEA had affected this students IEP; it assured that there was updating in order to best fit
the students needs.
In addition to David being in the class, there were also other students with exceptionalities in
Mr. Johnsons classroom. Samantha was a student who is both gifted and talented as well as having
an emotional behavioral disability. She was a very intelligent student, but often sought attention from
Mr. Johnson and her peers. As well as having David and Samantha in the classroom, Johnny is a
student with a learning disability in reading and math. This was a great classroom to complete my
practicum in, as I gained experience with three different types of disabilities in the general education
classroom. While watching Mr. Johnson and his techniques with his students, I have observed quite a
few valuable strategies that I will take into my classroom.
The first strategy that Mr. Johnson did well with was classroom management. The school in
which I completed my practicum has a school-wide behavior program that follows closely with Positive
Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS). All over the school (in the hallways, lunchroom, gym, and
classrooms) there are posters of the behavior spectrum. Students strive to be at a 5 meaning they are
functioning above the expectations of adults. Students do not want to be at a 1 meaning they are
performing far below the expectations of adults. Along with this idea, some of the special education
teachers have implemented characters for students with exceptionalities. Super-flex is a strong
superhero who is always living at a 5, all of the students are supposed to want to be like Super-flex. On
the other hand, there is Rock-brain who is always living at a 1. No one wants to be a Rock-brain. Mr.
Johnson does a very nice job implementing this behavior plan in his classroom. I often heard him talking
to Samantha about her behavior in terms of this behavior spectrum. For example, when Samantha
would speak out of turn continuously, Mr. Johnson would say you are at a 1 right now. When
Samantha would not respond he would say acknowledge that I am speaking to you. Mr. Johnson did
very well at deciding when to scold Samantha. He often ignored much of her minor behaviors, because
it was clear she was only looking for attention. However, whenever her behavior started to interfere
with his other students learning, he would speak to her about her behavior, often using the PBIS model
accepted school-wide. Mr. Johnson controlled his classroom very well in general; he often drifted
between the pods of desks in order to maintain control of all of the students. If anyone began acting
out or speaking out of turn, all it took was a slight touch on the shoulder or Mr. Johnsons proximity to a
certain student in order for the behavior to be corrected. Finally, Mr. Johnson gave away pod points
for good behavior, like being the first pod to be ready for the next activity, to the pod who cleaned up
their desks the fastest, or for each canned food item brought in for the school food drive. The pod of
the week was the pod from last week with the most points, and they earned certain privileges, like
being the first students to line up for recess. I really like this idea, because it is a great way to reinforce
good behavior without an effect on the students grades. I feel as though Mr. Johnson made a good
decision to keep consistentthe pods earn points based on behavior and they are rewarded with non-
academic privileges, like lining up first.
Another strategy Mr. Johnson used in his classroom was fidgets. He allowed Samantha to have
certain fidgets in the classroom in order for her to reduce anxiety and stress. Samantha was allowed
play-dough on the first day I was in the classroom. Over the course of the three weeks I observed she
mostly used play-dough. However, during the last week I was in the classroom observing, she used a
different fidget. She used a pair of musical/chime balls that she rolled methodically in one hand. The
play-dough had not been distracting to any students, however, because this new fidget involved a small
amount of noise, it distracted a few students close to her. During group reading time where Mr.
Johnson read aloud from a book the class chose, one of her peers asked Samantha to put her fidgets
away. Mr. Johnson used this as a great opportunity to educate the class. He said that Samantha has
permission to use the chimes, and she needs them in order to be comfortable in the class. He said that
the noise is pretty quiet and well get used to it. I really liked how Mr. Johnson included himself in this
sentence, making the students feel more comfortable with the idea right away. Finally, one day
Samantha could not stop playing with her hair, so he accommodated her need by telling her that if she
felt it was necessary that she needed to move to the back of the room in order to not interrupt the rest
of the class. This showed me that Mr. Johnson was empathetic to Samanthas needs, but also conscious
of his other students needs as well.
Finally, Mr. Johnson did a great job accommodating all types of learners in the general
education classroom. This helped Johnny specifically, because he has a learning disability in reading and
math, but I am positive it also increased other students learning as well. Mr. Johnson did a very good
job with providing information and concepts verbally, visually, kinesthetically, and in relation to the
students. Whenever there needed to be reading from the textbook in order to complete an assignment,
the class would read the excerpt as a whole. Students volunteered to read paragraph by paragraph so
that the material was provided both in writing in front of the students and also verbally. This helped
Johnny in comprehending the material required. Another way Mr. Johnson conveyed information was
by using diagrams on the ELMO, a visual display device. This helped those students who were visual
learners. For example, Mr. Johnson showed the path of the triangular trade, while also labeling the legs
of the triangle with which goods were shipped. This combined Mr. Johnson verbally giving the
information to the students, while also drawing it on the ELMO. In addition, there were certain verbal
cues the class used as a whole. There was a specific cue for vocabulary wordsMr. Johnson and the
students would raise one hand in the air, making a circular rodeo motion while whistling. This cued all
students in that a vocabulary word had just been read. In addition, they sang money money money
every time a big idea involving a person or country making money or becoming wealthy in social studies.
Another technique Mr. Johnson used was tapping into the students kinesthetics by having them stand
and act out scenes or important bits of information. Finally, Mr. Johnson did a very good job relating the
information to the students. For example, he related Benjamin Franklins Farmers Almanac to Google,
something the students are familiar with.
Before this practicum experience, I had not had much exposure to students with
exceptionalities. I entered this class, Education 351, Teaching Children with Exceptional Needs, with a
very traditional view of students with disabilities. Before this course, I did not know there were laws
guiding the education of students with exceptional needs. I did not know about least restrictive
environments, I did not know the different types of disabilities. I did not know that most of the time,
general educators and special educators push to have students with disabilities in the general education
setting. After having this course, I now know that many students with exceptionalities simply need
accommodations made for them in order to be fully successful in the general education setting. I am
now committed to making my classroom a welcoming and safe environment for all of my students. I am
also committed to ending the cycle of these preconceived notions that students with exceptionalities do
not belong in the general education setting. I fully believe that when given the opportunity students
with exceptionalities can be as successful as any other student in the general education classroom.
Finally, I am committed to trying all of the strategies I have learned from Mr. Johnson, as well as
constantly seeking new ways to make all of my students more successful.