Candidate Work Sample- Annotated Bibliography

Annotated Bibliography

1.)    This teacher’s guide to Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy is important for teachers to use whether they have a student with Muscular Dystrophy or not.  It is organized into questions and answers with information about important questions that should be addressed in a regular classroom, such as how can a child’s muscle weakness affect school participation and how much does the child know about the disease.  It includes information about children from early childhood to students in high school.

2.)    The disabled students’ Program offers suggestions on how to teach students with a variety of disabilities.  It includes information about many disabilities, but teaching students with mobility impairments is a big topic.  The website offers advice on what to do for a child with mobility impairment in your classroom without making them stand out.  These simple accommodations can help students in any type of setting.

3.)    This journal for adaptations for students with muscular dystrophy provides information on how to adapt the school environment for students with muscular dystrophy in order to promote a successful school experience.  It discusses specific categories of adaptations across the physical and behavioral domains. 

4.)    The document for instructional strategies for students with mobility impairments gives detailed information on the types of mobility impairments and how to accommodate for each individual one.  The document offers considerations and instructional strategies on how to make a student with a mobility impairment feel comfortable in a classroom setting. 

5.)      This website on strategies for teaching students with Learning Disabilities is a very informative site on many different disabilities.  It offers general information on diseases that causes students to become wheelchair-bound and how teachers should handle certain situations.  It also offers bulleted comments on how to approach a student with a wheelchair in your classroom.

EDEE 409 Midterm

1.  (Chapter 1) (Special Education Foundations) Discuss the role the Civil Rights Movement had on contributing to new approaches in special education. Be sure to include reference to pertinent court cases and legislation to support your discussion.

The Civil Rights movement initially began as a movement to create equality for African Americans but ended up influencing people with disabilities.  For example in 1954, the Brown v. Board of Education case occurred in the U.S. Supreme Court which ruled that “it was unlawful under the Fourteenth Amendment to discriminate arbitrarily against any group of people” (Friend/Bursuck, 2009).  The court decision introduced the idea of integration into public schools and ensured that diverse student groups learned together, which the students with disabilities were soon recognized as a group of children whose rights had been violated because they were not integrated into regular schools.  Another act that came about as a result of the Civil Rights Act is Section 504 of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973.  This act prevents discrimination against all individuals with disabilities in programs that receive federal funds, which includes all public schools.  Also, through this act, students with any type of disability are entitled to receive specific types of assistance to help them succeed in school.  The most significant disability ever passed, the Americans with Disabilities Act, was also based on the Civil Rights Act.  This act “protects all individuals with disabilities from discrimination and it requires most employers to make accommodations for them” (Friend/Bursack, 2009).  It also ensures that transportation, buildings, and many places open to the public are accessible to people with disabilities.  These three cases are just a few examples of how the Civil Rights act opened many opportunities for equality, not just for African Americans, but people with disabilities as well.

2.  (Chapter 2)  (Special Education Laws and Services) Identify and explain the tiers of Response to Intervention (RtI).  When is this process implemented and what is its significance for educators and students?   (Suggested resources – the Friend text and the IRIS Center -- http://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/rti01_overview/chalcycle.htm.)

Response to Intervention is a procedure for analyzing studnets’ learning problems.  It believes that approximately 75-80 percent of students will be able to learn if they receive high-quality instruction, that approximately 15-20 percent will benefit from moderately intensive instruction, and approximately 5-10 percent will need highly intensive instruction and possibly special education services.  RtI is usually implemented at the elementary level and can occur whenever professionals determine a student is experiencing learning problems that are significant and that are interfering with achievement.  There are three tiers to this process and an example of Tier 1 intervention is a district-adopted reading program that has shown to be effective with students that is used in the regular classroom with a group of students.  An example of a Tier 2 Intervention would be if a student was struggling with this reading program, he would participate in a supplemental reading program in a small group that is led by the school’s reading specialist.  This would most likely occur 4 times a week for a certain amount of time each day.  An example of a Tier 3 intervention would be if that particular student was still having difficulty, then he would be enrolled in an even more intense skills based reading program that is carried out for a longer period of time each day.  If the third tier intervention does help the student, then they are referred for special education services.  It is very significant for general education teachers, because they are the ones that must carry it out by meeting with a small group of students in the classroom and assisting in gathering data concerning student skill acquisition.  The goal of Response to Intervention is to prevent some students from ever needing special education and to ensure that students who do need specialized instruction will receive it as soon as possible.

3. (Chapter 3) (Collaboration) You are having a parent conference with Jerome’s father tomorrow about Jerome’s progress in controlling his disruptive behavior. This is the first meeting since initiating a behavior management plan that you and Jerome’s father worked out at your last conference. Using the shared problem-solving model described in chapter 3, describe what you should do to prepare for tomorrow’s conference.  What steps should be taken after the conference?

After identifying the problem and brainstorming to propose a solution, I must evaluate the ideas by considering whether they seem likely to resolve the problem and are feasible.  I can do this by selecting criteria by which to judge the ideas and creating a decision sheet.  Then I would need to plan the specifics by listing the major tasks that need to be completed to implement the solution, and decide who will take responsibility for each task.  Also, it will be important to decide how long to implement the solution before meeting to evaluate its effectiveness.  While implementing the decided solution, it will be important to keep some type of record documenting my efforts and how the intervention affects the student.  After the plan is implemented, I, along with the rest of my team would need to evaluate the outcomes and the effectiveness.  If we decide that it has been effective, it would be judged a success and will be continued to maintain the results.  If the solution has a somewhat positive effect, but is not perfect, then it can be modified to make the plan be more feasible.  If a solution does not seem to be working at all, it can be deemed ineffective and then we would either find a different solution, or reconsider whether the original problem has been accurately identified or not.  All in all, the teacher should be extremely prepared before meeting with a parent and should be flexible in reaching ideas, especially when working with a collaborative effort.

4. (Chapter 5) (Planning Instruction – INCLUDE Strategy) You have just learned that the new student who is to join your class has a speech impairment. The student’s file does not thoroughly describe the areas of strength or need, but rather indicates generally that the student has trouble with articulation. Based on this limited information, outline how you would use the INCLUDE strategy to help meet the educational needs of your new student. 

• Identify the classroom demands:
• Make sure the classroom management is appropriate for this new.  Make sure that the classroom climate is appropriate by teaching the rest of the students the right attitudes to have towards children with differences.  Use flexible grouping in the classroom when students work in groups, make sure that there are small group work so the child can feel comfortable enough to speak out loud, despite his speech impairment.  Have a variety of instructional materials available and use different instructional methods in order to accommodate to his learning needs.  I would use any type of aid in order to assist him to work to his fullest potential on all of his assignments. 
• Note Student Learning Strengths and Needs:
• Make sure to point out student’s strengths and be positive so they can see themselves, others, and learning in a positive light.  I would make sure the student is using his academic skills by especially using his survival skills, where he must attend school regularly, being organized, completing tasks in and out of school,  taking an interest in school and displaying positive interpersonal skills.  Since the child has a speech impairment, he might have trouble with some of these survival skills, so it would be important to make sure he stays on track with these.  He might especially have trouble with interpersonal skills, so it is important to enhance his social-emotional development by pairing him with a student who is sensitive to others who have disabilities. 
• Step 3- Check for Potential Areas of Student Success: 
• I would analyze this student strengths and paying attention to the activities or tasks that he can do successfully and acknowledge these strengths, because that will help to improve his self-esteem.
• Step 4: Look for Potential Problem Areas-  
• In this step I would review his learning needs within a particular instructional context and identify potential mismatches. 
• Step 5: Use Information to Brainstorm Ways to Differentiate Instruction
• Make accommodations for the student such as bypass or compensatory strategies, where I would allow him to demonstrate mastery in a particular subject in alternative ways.  Another way for accommodating him would be to provide accommodations in instructional methods, materials, grouping and classroom management. 
• Step 6: Differentiate Instruction
• I would select age-appropriate strategies, give the student choices, and selecting strategies that demonstrate effectiveness
• Step 7: Evaluate Student Progress
• I would evaluate the strategy effectiveness by tracking his grades, observing him, analyzing his student work, using portfolios, performance assessment, and teacher, parent, and student ratings.  This will help me determine whether to continue, change, or discontinue a particular intervention.

EDEE 409 Take Home Final

EDEE 409 Take Home Final

Chapter 12: Responding to Student Behavior

·         Positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) are based on four elements: (1.) clearly defined outcomes, (2.) behavioral and biomedical science, (3.) practices demonstrated effective through research, (4.) systemic approaches that enhance the learning environment and outcomes for all students.

·         The starting point for interventions is prevention.

·         Token economy is a prevention strategy that creates a system in which students earn “money” that they exchange for rewards.

o   Resource: http://www.kidsmakingchange.com/TokenEconomy/cms/Token_Economy.html

o   This website explains what a token economy is in public schools and explains the past and the history of these economies and why they work with children.

·         A teacher’s initial response to student behavior often determines whether a problem situation develops and how intense it is.

·         Functional behavior assessment (FBA) is a problem-solving process implemented for any student with a disability who has chronic, serious behavior problems. 

o   Resource: http://www.p12.nysed.gov/specialed/publications/policy/functionbehav.htm

o   This website offers guidance on functional behavior assessments and how to implement it. 

·         Social reinforcers are various types of positive interactions that a teacher, parent, or peer can give a student to reward appropriate behavior and increase it.

·         Activity reinforcers involve activities such as playing games, having extra recess, helping a teacher in another class, and participating in other coveted individual or group pastimes.

·         Tangible reinforcers are prizes and other objects that students can earn as symbols of achievement and that students want to obtain.

·         A behavior contract is an agreement between the teacher and student that clearly specifies the expectations for the student, the rewards for meeting those expectations, the consequences of not meeting them, and the timeframe for which the agreenment is valid.

o   Resource: http://www.interventioncentral.org/index.php/challenging-students/132-behavior-contracts

o   This website provides advice on how to implement behavior contracts and the advantages of it this type of intervention.

Chapter 11: Evaluating Student Learning

·         Mnemonics impose an order on information to be remembered using words, poems, rhymes, jingles, or images to aid memory.

·         The keyword method uses visual imagery to make material more meaningful to students and hence easier to remember.  First, a vocabulary word or fact is changed into a word that sounds similar and is easy to picture.

·         When using alternative forms of questions, the teacher changes the type of question asked (for example, multiple choice instead of essay questions) or the construction of the question (for example, adding a word blank for fill-in-the-blank questions.

·         An alternative tests site is a type of testing accommodations that involves changing the location where a student with a disability is tested to make sure the results of the test are accurate. 

·         A third grading option is using alternatives to letter and number grades, such as pass/fail grades and checklists of skill competencies.

·         Differentiated report cards are report cards that have individualized provisions for students to clarify the meaning of their grades.

·         Individualized grading includes accommodations that involve changing either the elements being graded (such as curriculum content, class participation, and homework) or the values or weights assigned to these elements.

o   Resource: http://www.greatschools.org/special-education/legal-rights/1019-grading-system-for-a-student-with-ld-and-an-iep.gs

o   This website has an article for individualizing a grading system for a student with an LD and an IEP. 

·         Basing grades on progress on IEP objectives can also be helpful for students who are in special education but do not have modified curricular expectations.

·         Performance-based assessment measured learning processes rather than focusing only on learning products.  It frequently involves using authentic learning tasks, or tasks that are presented within real-world contexts and lead to real-world outcomes.

o   Resource: http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/196021.aspx

o   This is an online book on a Teacher’s Guide to Performance-based Learning and Assessment.  It offers all of the chapters online so you can quickly access the information that you need.

·         Portfolio Assessment is a method of evaluation in which a purposeful collection of students work is used to determine student effort, progress, and achievement in one or more areas.

o   Resource: http://www.teachervision.fen.com/assessment/resource/5942.html

o   This website is a guide for classroom teachers K-8 to use portfolio assessments in their classroom.  It offers key reminders to implement this form of assessment in your classroom.

Chapter 10: Strategies for Independent Learning

·         Students need to perform independently in five key areas: gaining information, storing and retrieving information, expressing information, self-advocating, and managing time.

• Resource: http://www.ldpride.net/selfadvocacy.htm
• This is a great website that I found that is a self-advocacy learning manual.  It has a character that is called “detective learner” and he helps explain all about learning disabilities and how students can self-advocate for themselves.  It is an excellent resource because it is geared towards children and explains the terms in words that they can understand.

·         Self-advocacy is an important part of self-determination, or the ability to make decisions and direct behavior so that the desired goals are achieved.

·         Learning Strategies are techniques, principles, and rules that enable a student to learn to solve problems and complete tasks independently.

·         Remember that just telling students the steps of a learning strategy is not enough.  Letting students watch you perform the strategy and then carefully guiding students as they learn to perform it are essential.

·         Reciprocal teaching is a way to teach students to comprehend reading material by providing them with teacher and peer models of thinking behavior and then allowing them to practice these thinking behaviors with their peers.

• Resource: http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/students/atrisk/at6lk38.htm
• This is a website that provides basic information about reciprocal teaching, including the definition of it, the purpose, and the research from it.  It offers valuable information and is very useful when you are looking to familiarize yourself with reciprocal teaching.

·         The Give me Five strategy focuses students’ attention on five body parts in order to improve their listening skills: eyes on the speaker, mouth quiet, body still, ears listening, and hands free.

·         A pattern guide is a graphic organizer designed to help students organize their papers.

·         For peer editing, several steps are followed.  First the writer reads the paper to a peer editor while the editor listens.  The peer editor then summarizes the paper.  Next, the editor evaluates the paper, sharing with the writer an analysis of salient features of the writing that might guide a revision or lead to improvement.  Then the peer editor and the writer brainstorm ways to improve the paper.

• Resource: http://www.timesaversforteachers.com/freeforms/peereditingform.pdf
• This is a PDF document that is an actual sample of a peer editing form.  You can simply print this out and give to your students to promote classmate peer editing.