Chapter 10 Reflection (AG)

I found this chapter to be very useful. As a future teacher it is a bit difficult to hear that I will be working with students with learning disabilities. It is not easy to realize that I will have to accommodate so many needs within my classroom. It will be a challenge to work with students with learning disabilities.
It is necessary to realize that each student learns in a different way. I really like how the chapter emphasizes on different teaching approaches. Although the chapter emphasizes on teaching science to students with learning disabilities, they may also be used to teach other subjects and concepts. The chapter offers scaffolding, activity-based science, learning strategies, visual presentations, multimedia, mnemonics, and graphic organizers. As I stated all of the approaches may be used to teach any concept.
I am majoring in Bilingual Bicultural education, and one thing I really liked about this chapter, was the focus on sheltered instruction and the 5-E model. I have taken many classes in BLBC, and I believe that the 5-E model may be an effective tool to teach linguistically and culturally diverse students.

Chapter 10 Reflection (hb)

Chapter 10 Reflection

I’ll have to admit that the placement of this chapter in this book threw me off. Teaching students with special needs is usually the one of the first things that is talked about. However, I feel that where this fits into what we’ve learned up to now is perfect. The chapter is all about teaching students with special needs. The categories of special needs as stated are students with disabilities, gifted and talented students, and students with linguistically and culturally diverse backgrounds. The chapter talks about things we have learned about in all our other classes such as No Child Left Behind, IEP’s, modifications, and common assessments. What I find different is that the chapter gives great examples of some strategies soon-to-be teachers can use to help them teach students with special needs. One of the strategies which I’m a huge advocate is the use of graphic organizers. Something else that this book talks about that our other books and classes don’t delve too much into is the process of inclusion. The chapter talks about making real inclusion a goal for gifted and talented students. We are so busy always talking about the students on the other end of the spectrum when we fail to realize that these students need just as much attention and help as the other students. Having worked a special education assistant, this chapter helped me connect the dots and put the missing pieces together. Assistants aren’t always filled in with the specifics and I feel that I now know why certain things were done a certain way.

Chapter 9 Reflection (hb)

I always thought that Science and Math went hand in hand with each other. Not like how reading and writing go hand in hand, but more like Social Studies and Language Arts. I have never heard it put so eloquently as to say that “mathematics is called the language of Science.” Everything the chapter talks about from the concepts of measuring to the graphing, I perceived as common sense and knowledge. However, delving into the chapter, I realized that it’s not as common sense as I thought it had been. And even more so, the ideas of integrating science and language arts were something that is eye opening for me. “The pursuit of meaning” is a phrase that makes perfect sense to me, being am English junkie and loving language arts. I have never thought that the concept of predicting crossed over from language arts to science and vice versa. It makes perfect sense and when I see it all broken down and written out like this, it makes me go, “Ahhhh…. Of course it does!” I still have a tough time figuring in social studies with science. I know that science is crucial in learning about other cultures and the past, but in regards to the subject inside of a classroom, I feel that a lot of the idea presented would fall more under language arts. Although I did mention that social studies and language arts team up well, so it makes more sense to me that a complete integration is the key. With this being the case, I feel that this chapter really did a great job of burning the idea of integration into us so that we don’t have to think about it too much to do it.

Chapter 10 Reflection

Once again the authors of Teaching Science as Inquiry deliver and provide a wealth of important information on science for all learners. They offer wonderful tips and practical ways to teach students with a variety of special learning needs. I like the learning standard offered by Dr. Edwin Ellis in his teaching model, Makes Sense Strategies (p. 259). The notion of “watering up” not “watering down” is important for all teachers to keep in mind. You should expect more of your students, not less. I also like the idea of “think sheets” and semantic maps in assisting students with learning strategies.

The suggestions listed for LD learners are helpful: using activities-based science (evidenced by the Scruggs study); intensive scaffolding; learning strategies; visual presentations; multimedia in general; mnemonics; and graphic organizers (p. 256). Much like “sheltered instruction,” mentioned in terms of ELL students, I find that what works well for these students works well for all students. I have often created something for special learners that I end up using with the whole class. Also, don’t miss the website mentioned in the text: http://www.as.wvu.edu/~scidis/sitemap.html. It is great.

I’m a little confused how “language objectives” work (p. 269) and a little concerned how it will be working with an IEP. I haven’t had the experience yet. It seems a little overwhelming to consider all the different ways in which children learn, but comforting to know that it has always been like that. Even before IDEA and NCLB, teachers have had to be creative in educating children because, as the authors remind us, “each child is unique.”

Chapter 9 Reflection

I never realized how seamlessly other subjects can be integrated with science and appreciate what he authors propose. Not surprisingly, mathematics and science are inextricably linked, mathematics being called the “language of science.” The International System of Units (SI) for the metric system, p. 235 is something that I suppose one of these days America will adopt. It is interesting that they say programs should de-emphasis converting the American system of measurement with the metric system. Growing up, it was always “1 liter is about 2 pints” and still is a little that way.

With one of my classes, I used a bar graph to show a representational view of the weather in a given month. The vertical axis showed the number of days, and the horizontal axis showed the type of weather, e.g., sunny, rainy, partly cloudy, mostly cloudy, etc. The data can then be compared to other parts of the world. This idea can be integrated with social studies as the authors suggest, p. 248. How is our weather similar to other continents or other areas of the world? I also like how the authors show how to use a line graph to help with making predictions, one of the pillars of science processes.

Keeping a journal is one of the best easy to integrate writing into the science lesson. It makes kids have to think about what they have done or witnessed and put their experience into their own words. I like the Comprehension questions on p. 246 and a K-W-L chart is the perfect device to measure a student’s prior knowledge. A shoebox “midden” is something new to me but like how the teacher used it as a time capsule.

All in all, I would want to be in communication with the all other teachers who are involved with my students and keep a through line for the thematic unit. Can all the subjects in the curriculum be connected with one another? I’d like to try to have some relatable quality between subjects. Combining different topics leads to the ultimate in “higher level” thinking.

Chapter 8 Reflection

Technology is so integrated with everything we do and every aspect of life, it’s hard to imagine teaching without it. Yet for generations, teachers and students managed to survive and thrive. Today, the computer is a useful tool and helps students become more involved. Children grow up so reliant on digital images and video that it’s really like a language that you have to speak to be able to communicate with young people. It is critical that children have exposure to as much technology as possible and it is certainly an advantage in the real world.

There seems though to be a great disparity in the technology available from one classroom to the next. Well-funded suburban schools have incredible equipment and resources. Even some of the CPS schools have sophisticated equipment I have heard. Unfortunately, my clinical classroom has one computer, for the teacher’s use only, although the kids have a 40-minute session once a week in the computer lab. It’s helpful that our text mentions that there are ideas and suggestions for the one computer classroom, p. 223. (It’s funny that the resources are over ten years old!)

I appreciate what the authors say about “Acceptable Use Policies for the Internet” p. 227. It’s important to have Internet Standards in place and a good idea to have students sign off on what is acceptable use. Last year, we had to deal with a student who used someone’s password and was going to play a childish prank. It was innocent enough but something like that can get out of hand very easily. It’s good to make kids aware that the information on the computer needs to be taken seriously.

Things that I will definitely use (and already use) are Excel spreadsheets, pie charts and bar graphs, and digital cameras. In my plants unit, I am going to use daily digital photos to document and measure a plant’s growth. If I was actually doing it in my own classroom, I could use my own camera, equipment, and laptop, which wouldn’t cost the school or me any additional money. I also like the website BrainPop and look forward to trying Kid Pix and Kidspiration. The authors’ guide to evaluating software provided in the text will certainly be handy in the future. Finally, I think it would be important to stay up to date with technology as much as possible, to seek out classes and seminars to keep current with on-going innovations. Technological advances can help all areas of the curriculum, not just science.

Chapter 10 Reflection

Whoops! I am so sorry this is so late! I thought I posted this from Word, guess not!

This chapter covers teaching students with special needs, gifted and talented children and culturally ad linguistically diverse students. I found the descriptions of the various disabilities and impairments accurate and they served to reinforce previous knowledge of that subject. My major is special education, so this chapter had particular meaning for me.
The text, once again, provided useful information and I found the subject of specific learning disabilities, cognitive delays and emotional and behavioral disorders interesting. One term the authors used surprised me. “Mental retardation” is an expression that is frowned upon as my SPED professors have reiterated many times. Currently, it is acceptable to say “cognitively delayed or impaired.” I have no doubt within the next year or so, the terms will change again to something more appropriate.
That being said, I am aware of the glaring differences between educating regular education teachers and special education teachers. I was just chatting with a woman that was going into early childhood education and she peppered me with questions about teaching students with special needs. Her concern was that one course about teaching such students was not going to be enough to prepare her for the inclusion classroom. I couldn’t agree more. It is concerning. I also believe more could be done within the schools to foster a more collaborative relationship between teachers in general.