Austin Simpson

Heidi Frederickson
EDUC450
8 Nov. 2015
Teacher Work Sample Section Four:
Modifications
Disclaimer: All characters in the following narrative are completely
fictitious, both in name and trait; with no relation or correlation to any
students I know or have known. Specifically, all IEPs that are
mentioned by name are fictitious characters based off of what I have
learned through my course work at CSU; they bear no resemblance in
name to students my colleagues or I have or have had in our
classrooms.
In wide-eyed perplexity, I sat in front of our schools counselor for
the first time. I was digging through the mass of student files she had
given me, my heart a puddle somewhere at the bottom of my stomach.
We had talked about what to do with ELLs, 504s, IEPs, and all the
others on our never ending list of acronyms. After all, I was a
professional now, right? I could figure this out.
Could I figure this out?
I only had seven English language learners across my 146
students. Their levels of literacy and fluency varied, but I could handle
that. I could set up study sessions for them. I could give them a range
of resources to help them access material. My ELL students would be
fine, so long as I could make them feel comfortable in my classroom,
and giving individual attention to those six would be an easy enough
task. Luckily, six of the seven are Spanish speakers as their first
language, and the seventh speaks Russian. With the exception of
Carlos S, who is new to the U.S. this year, they are all level four and
five speakers, with excellent basic intrapersonal communication skills
and their cognitive academic language proficiencies lacking a little, but
we can certainly work on that. Carlos will
The eight 504s I had would be fairly simple to accommodate. A
little extra time on tests was no skin off my back, and conferences
(more than average) to keep them on track would do wonders for
them. If I run across any specific issues with my 504s, that can be
addressedhopefully my conferences will make them feel comfortable
enough to share their problems, and I ought to know enough about
them to give them good solutions for their problems.
Ive got a few GT students also. I had been thinking what I would
do with GT students in my classroom for a while. Of course, it wasnt
guaranteed that they would be gifted in talented in English, so they
may find my class boring and a waste of time. Thats where I come in.
If I could include the subject areas that theyre interested in with my

class, then I think I might have their interest. Christine Johnson, for
instance, is incredibly gifted and talented with music. Shes already
composed a few pieces in her years of high school and is on her way to
the Berklee College of Music in Boston next year. I thought of designing
a culminating project for her in which she would compose of piece of
music based of a poem or short story we had read (with a written
rationale to accompany it, of course). That way, her time in my class
wont be a waste of time for her, and she might even find a new
interest through it while developing other modes of reading and writing
skills.
My five IEPs, on the other hand, might prove to be a little more
difficult. Nathan Stroud and Emily Weiss will have their own paralegals
with them, which will be a tremendous help. Of course, I will have to
come up with instruction plans to help the paras understand how to
best help Nathan and Emily. I havent ever had to do that before, which
is nerve racking; but I think by meeting with the paras and coming up
with plans together for Nathan and Emily to get the same content and
skills as everyone else, we should be okay.
My other three IEPs will all be unique themselves in my approach
to their education, which will be okay. Calvin Bolt has severe ADHD, so
as long as Calvin knows he can move around my classroom and stand
up as needed, so long as he doesnt try to distract others, then he
should be okay. Nicole Stinson is legally blind. She can only read a text
if the font is massive and only a few inches from he face. There are
several computer and tablet technologies that blow up text that we
could implement to help Nicole get the visual aid she needs. John
Cowart has clinical depression and an inability to form and maintain
intrapersonal relationships. A lot of one-on-one time with John and
additional attention to let him know that he at least has got a friend in
me might be a healthy start for his future success. The knowledge
alone that he is cared about might be able to work wonders. However, I
think clear communication with the school counselor about John and
the ways we can help him as the year progresses will be the most
effective way of making sure I do well by John rather than hurt him,
even if my intentions are good. In fact, keeping clear communication
with the counselor about all of my IEPs will be paramount to their
success in my classroom.
Yeah, I think I could do this. That is until I got to Janelle Rayne.
Janelle was diagnosed with leukemia just several months ago. My
university training kind of forgot to mention that kids are still people,
and people get sick. They kind of forgot to mention how in the world I
am supposed to deal with that as a teacher. I could handle my IEPs,
504s, GTs, and ELLs. I thought I knew what to do in the event of a
threat to the school. I understood that students in south Chicago or in
the Bronx had it bad in ways a white middle class male in Colorado
would and could never understandthat it was a battle just to make it

to 21 for those kids. In the midst of all the case studies from around
the country about students who have overcome adversity; or how
adversity is seemingly insurmountable in the some of the hardest,
most rundown school districts in our nations; or how to handle IEPs and
504s and ELLs and the GTs; I forgot that students like Janelle would
have to fight to make it to 21 too.
I sat back my chair facing the school counselor and muttered a
fluent line of curses. The counselor, Kathy, gasped at my sudden
outburst.
Are you okay? she asked.
Yeah, theres just a lot here. A lot to take in, you know? Its just
not right that students can get cancer. How am I supposed to help that
girl?
The same way you help any student. By caring. Youre not going
to be able to save her from her cancer, thats the doctors job. But you
can make your classroom a sanctuary for her, a second home. If you do
your part in offering a support system that only a person in your
position can offer, youve done a world of good.
I sat with my eyes closed for a few moments longer, taking in
what Kathy was saying. I realized that I wasnt alone in this venture. I
had resources to help make accommodations for my students as I
learned more about them. If I did my part, and made my classroom an
environment that is comfortable for all students, and made the
modifications necessary to get started, then it would be much easier to
make further modifications as the year went forward.