Journal 12

It's important to remember to remain calm when you are frustrated with a child that is having difficulty. When you're upset, they sense that, and then they get stressed. As stated in ch 12, "Behavior is a concern for all teachers. Whether you teach 5-year-olds in a kindergarten class or 17-year-olds in 11th-grade English, the environment you create in your classroom affects whether students' inappropriate behaviors escalate or improve, and your response to such behaviors significantly influences students' learning."

Some ways you can help prevent this are:

• communicate well with students
• use effective teaching methods
• foster positive student interactions

Schoolwide strategies stated in the book are:

• use a soft voice at all times
• ask for assistance is something is spilled or dropped
• remove all trays and dispose of all trash when you are finished eating.

I also believe a big thing for teachers is to let the students know that you want to help, that you're on their side. If they feel they have created that trust with you, it's easier for the two (or more) of you to find a solution to whatever problem is present.

Journal 11

no entry required

Journal 10

If I remember correctly, this was the week that we got into groups and picked something to teach another group. We decided that we would teach sewing with a needle and thread, and then decided who would teach what part, and what order we would go, making sure we knew who was next. My part was teaching the actual sewing part. I was thankful that my mother taught me this, because that enabled me to do it. It was really fun teaching, and the other group seemed to enjoy it as well.

Journal 9

In part of this lesson, we learned about different co-teaching strategies. They were as follows:

• one teach, one observe
• one teaches, the other observes how the students are doing and paying attention
• one teach, one assist
• one teaches, the other assists as the lesson goes along
• station teaching
• divides class into groups, each spending a certain amount of time at each
• parallel teaching
• each teacher takes half the class presenting same material to all using same teaching strategy
• supplemental teaching
• one teacher works with those at level, other works with those who need more instruction
• alternative teaching
• different teaching methods resulting in same result with all students
• team teaching
• both teachers involved in teaching without one overpowering the other

I liked learning about these because you can see the different styles, and thus helping you decide what works for you if you teach with another person in the same class. They should also remember that they can alter throughout time as long as it benefits the students. One strategy may work for one subject, but not for another, so it's important that the teachers quickly pick up on what strategy to use for what subject.

Journal 8

In ch 8 we got a different direction with children. "This chapter is about students who are not necessarily eligible for special education whose learning is at risk and whose success often depends on the quality of the instruction they receive and the care provided by general education teachers." The intro in the chapter continues with 4 reasons why they are included:

1. students with certain needs (i.e. ADHD, language barriers, poverty, child abuse) benefit greatly from similar strategies as used on those with special education needs
2. recognize you'll teach students with diverse needs resulting from diverse causes
3. realize special ed is more than help and is reserved for certain groups
4. not all special ed teachers are responsible for meeting needs for all students

It's important to reach out to all children. There are many kids who have struggles in life, but that doesn't always mean they have a disability. Part of it can be due to personality and characteristic attributes. Just because a child shows struggle doesn't mean they should be referred to special education. You have to look below the surface to see what really is going on.

Journal 7

This week had to deal with Ch 7 which was about high-incidence disabilities. There are three categories"

• Learning disabilities
• Emotional disturbances
• Speech/language impairments

One of these includes ADHD, which I presented with a group in class. I specifically signed up for this one because my older brother has it, so i had personal experience and prior knowledge to it what would benefit teaching the lesson. Luckily he was agreeable to me talking about him, and with the information i gathered from him and my parents was so helpful. Getting life experience directly from someone and not just reading it from the book was so much better. I liked teaching with everyone, and I liked talking about my brother. I have learned for myself that children with this don't have problems with learning, but with paying attention. My brother is incredibly smart and is classified as "genius" due to his IQ level, so I know there's nothing wrong with that. As long as teachers find ways to get the children interested in paying attention and falling in love with that whey're learning, that is so amazing.

1. How do you feel about your lesson delivery and why? Was it effective, why or why not?
• I felt it went very well. We all knew what we were going to talk about and how we were going to present it.
2. What evidence do you have (while delivering your lesson) of effective student engagement?
• People were paying attention, and when we did the video and asked questions on it, they responded, and even voiced when they weren't sure about the correct answer.
3. If you were to teach this lesson by yourself, not in a group, what would you change and why?
• Instead of just talking about it and talking about someone who has it, I would like to bring someone in and talk about what it's like, that way the students can ask more questions that we wouldn't have answers for.
4. What could have been an area of improvement in your teaching?
• I don't exactly remember, but maybe asking more questions, finding out what they know, and maybe even if they've seen this in their own lives what it was like.
5. Based on the criteria for the “Teaching Experience” on our syllabus, would you give your group a 0, 5 or a 10?  Why?  AND would you give yourself a 0, 5 or a 10?  Why?
• It's hard to say, but I would think probably an 8 for the group, and maybe at least an 8 or 9 for me. I did a lot of work getting personal information and looking up additional research to as to decide what would be the best stuff to present.

Journal 6

In this week, we learned what low-incidence disabilities are. They include but are not limited to:

• hearing impairments
• orthopedic impairments
• visual impairments
• autism
• deafness
• blindness
• traumatic brain injury
• developmental delay.

When working with kids with these disabilities, you automatically notice their differences. You can then apply what we learned from the previous week-assessing and analyzing their needs. With this you can find what best fits their needs. But be aware that two children have the same disability, but they may handle it differently, and some characteristics may be more dominant in one than in the other. You want to understand what each individual child needs, and go from there.