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Danielle Saltrick

SERP 597e

1/29/18

Personal Learning

To start off, perspective is a person’s view on a situation or event, sometimes different

than others. For Special Education teachers, the areas to focus on when figuring out one’s

perspectives are an individual’s learning. This can be the source of many different perspectives

such as the Special Education teacher, general education, psychologist, speech therapist, and

parents. The goal of all these people is to focus on the individual’s learning. Within their

learning, is the style to which they learn. As the all-famous saying, “Every student can learn, just

not on the same day or in the same way.” This saying can help people understand that one form

of teaching may not be the best or most effective for one student. This can include the

perspective of the student as well because from their perspective, information may be going over

their head because of the way it is being taught. Each student will have a different learning style,

and it is up to the teachers to determine what style that is based on their perspective of the

student in the classroom.

As a special education student teacher, I know my perspective of a student includes their

individual learning and their learning styles. Another perspective I have to take on is the

knowledge of disabilities of the students I work with. When determining the best option and

services for that student, it is important to determine what areas they struggle in and how I can

adapt to that. This can include the changing or adapting of curriculum for the student or

modifying their learning environment.

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Being in the special education classroom as a student teacher, I have an insight to the

legal guidelines and the student’s IEPs. When determining if a student qualifies for services, we

ask the perspectives of the teachers and parents and other professional in the school to

understand their views on the particular student in their academic or social and emotional

abilities. In my placement, I co-teach with my mentor teacher the lessons for that week.

Occasionally we have a one-on-one teaching with students who need additional services. We

determine what the best form of teaching style works for that particular student. I would like to

think that my part is successful in the co-teaching, but I can understand if there are a few times

where I would mess up the lesson because I am unsure of the learning styles of all of the students

I am teaching. I also believe that an extra set of eyes to determine another view on a student or

students and include information for their educational goals.

In the classroom, during lessons, I have to determine if there is a successful form of

motivational and reward system for the students when learning. As this can be an important part

for student and their success in the classroom. If they feel motivated in the classroom, then they

are likely to produced better work. Reward systems can include raffle tickets, or daily stars if

they are working hard on their assignment during the lesson.

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Interpersonal Communication

Reflect on the ways that your cultural background affects your non-verbal communication
practices. You may fill in this form and write more in paragraph format.

Communication Practice Reflection

Comfort with direct eye I’m comfortable with direct eye contact, to an extent. If it lasts
contact more than 10 seconds without a break to look away, then I would
become uncomfortable. Growing up, I wasn’t specifically taught
to keep eye contact, or taught if it was rude to have eye contact
with someone. I believe I learned it through incidental learning
by how my family talked to one another, and by how I interacted
with teacher or peers throughout school.
Eye contact variations I found there is not a lot of variation between how I maintain eye
depending on contact depending on if I am talking to someone as opposed to
communication listening to someone talk. I do believe that when listening to
someone talk or lecture, you tend to maintain eye contact for
longer as you want to show the person that you are listening. As
for when you are the speaker, the eye contact would vary if you
are a teacher speaking to a classroom so your eyes have to
wonder between students.
Comfort level with silence I embrace silence, as it is the best time I can work. I tend to get
distracted easily by noise or talking. I took a training at work,
where for 45 seconds we sat in silenced. If I was working one-
on-one with a student and has to wait 45 seconds for a response,
then I would determine something is wrong, or I should change
my question.
Preferred distance from When working with a group, I prefer to walk around the
group classroom to maintain proximity to keep the students engaged in
the lesson.
Preferred distance in 1:1 When working one-on-one, I prefer to sit closer to the specific
interaction student to determine what he/she is struggling with, and for
comfort for the student knowing I am right there to assist them.
“Encouragers” I definitely believe that body movements of a teacher to the
students is important. An open and inviting body (not having
arms crossed) will make a student or whoever you are talking to,
feel more encouraged to respond.
Other The facial expressions given when talking or listening to
someone.

How do these cultural or personal ways of communicating affect your collaborative

relationships?
- I believe by how I grew up and how comfortable I feel with eye contact is beneficial
towards my collaborative relationships. When discussing with my mentor teaching, I
make sure to maintain eye contact to ensure she knows I am listening, as well as nodding
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my head to show I understand. There are a few times I would reveal a quizzical
expression on my face and she would understand this as me not understanding what she
just said. I learned these forms of communication by how I grew up and who I grew up
with. I never had a lesson in how to respond or listen to others, it was always something
you pick up. As for distance, it has become a habit for me to walk around the classroom
just to make sure the students are paying attention and are on the right work.

Why and how do frames of reference or perspectives play a role in interpersonal communications
in professional settings?
- By determining a perspective on a situation or a student, I can better understand how to
evolve my ways to teach. If a situation occurs where a student has an outburst in class,
the perspective of a general education teacher may be that the student is purposely trying
to disrupt the class and his/her teaching. If a Special Education teacher were to observe
this, their perspective might be that something had caused this outburst and try to
determine what triggered it. This can happen during a TAT meeting when all teachers
and school professionals come together to give input on their perspective of a particular
student that they feel concerns about because of their observations of the student in the
classroom and in social settings. TAT meetings happen frequently and set up mostly by
the general education teacher.