Special Education Practices & Procedures - EDU 4640

To fulfill the requirements of this course, I spent approximately 240 hours observing and working alongside a seasoned special educator in a local elementary school. During my time at this placement, I had a wide variety of experiences that have really helped refine my view of special education and its role in public schools: from attending EST meetings to writing an IEP to instructing students 1:1 and in small groups, and everything in between, I truly value the exposure I've had taking on all of these special ed.-related responsibilities.

How can special education support the inclusion of students with disabilities?

This was our guiding question for the course, and I suppose the answer would be: supporting inclusion can happen in a wide variety of ways. Special educators are responsible for promoting inclusion as much as possible, of course, while providing an appropriate education in the least restrictive environment. For some students, this may look like spending 100% of the time in their grade-level classroom, with a special educator coming into the room for periods of co-teaching. For other students, appropriate inclusion may mean he or she participates in specials classes with the class (art, music, gym and library), while receiving intensive academic and social/behavioral instruction in a separate, special ed classroom. It is up to the special educator to determine a student's strengths and weaknesses and present levels, and to then set appropriate SMART goals for growth.The plan for inclusion should take all of these things into consideration.

 

While I was at this placement, my cooperating teacher ended up having to go on medical leave. This put me in the sudden position of needing to take on much more responsibility with special ed instruction that I had been used to. In hindsight, it ended up being a great experience for me; my confidence in my ability to teach and relate to the students, yet still maintain a professional and respectful rapport with the kids--it skyrocketed. In the relatively short time I spent here, I saw noticeable gains in two of my students' reading skills/levels. And while I felt like my work was adequate in math instruction here, I'd love to take more courses eventually in math instruction and assessment in order to best help my future students.

Throughout this experience, I really enjoyed connecting professionally with other teachers, and I saw the benefit of being able to ask to for input but also of offering my own suggestions, as well. I look forward to bringing all of these experiences with me as I move into my spring student teaching placement. Even as I apply my new understandings, I'm sure I will find there is still much to learn!