Chapter 13: Learning Environments

I think the most important component of an environment conducive to learning is organization. Students (especially students with disabilities) are often more productive, more efficient, and better behaved when a classroom has clear expectations & defined routines. I want students to feel safe, respected, and valued. I want to create a safe and comfortable place for discussion and learning.

As far as the classroom environment itself, lots of natural light and soft colors will help to create a calm environment. Eliminating unnecessary clutter and teaching students to take care of their environment will create a learning space we can all be proud of. Relying on a combination of group tables and "safe space" seating can not only facilitate student collaboration, but also provide opportunities for personal space when needed. For parents, a separate "parent only"space would help define an even area for parents to discuss their child with me, deepening parent-teacher relationships.

Case Study
For this case study, a relatively small seventh-grade resource classroom will be examined. The majority of the students in this classroom are served through the Specific Learning Disability (SLD) eligibility category under IDEIA 2004. One student in particular, Cherie, who has an Emotional-Behavioral Disorder (EBD), seems to be at the root of the problems this class faces:

You are particularly frustrated with a seventh grade group of students that appears to engage less and less with learning and more and more with one of your highly amusing leaders of the class.  Cherie is really funny, but does not show good judgment in choosing appropriate times and ways to be funny.  Yesterday she tripped Carmen as she passed her desk on the way to get a chair for a guest in our class.  The day before, Cherie made rude noises throughout small group presentations.  Today Cherie jumped up while Tommy was reading a poem about a battle, a poem that appeared engaging to the majority of the students; she started pretending she was shooting a gun at other students.  Several joined in the pretend battle and disrupted the class to the point that Tommy could not finish reading the poem.

Evaluation of Case
The primary components that will be addressed in this case study are Cherie's social development as evidenced by Erikson's psychosocial stages and the classroom environment itself influenced by Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Understanding Cherie's social development will help predict her behavior in social settings and allow appropriate interventions to be planned & implemented. According to Erikson, her basic conflict at this stage of adolescence is "identity vs. role confusion," or the solidifying of a sense of self. Students with EBD often have trouble finding this sense of self and can face significant difficulty in this stage manifested through aberrant behaviors. Providing ample opportunity to express & discover in healthy, non-disruptive manners can help Cherie accomplish this conflict. On the other hand, the classroom environment can influence behavior in very direct ways. In Maslow's hierarchy of needs, certain basic needs must be met before others higher in the hierarchy. For instance, one must accomplish breathing before feeling secure in a relationship. This translates in the classroom as finding the antecedent of aberrant behavior and satisfying the need before such behavior occurs. In this case study, other students' behavior is preceded by Cherie's behavior; Cherie may be acting from a motive of attention, which corresponds to the "love/belonging" stage in Maslow's hierarchy of needs. In short, this need must be met before she can accomplish respect for others, a need in the next stage.

Description of Intervention Plan
With this theoretical framework in place, a tiered intervention plan involving guided choice & reinforcement for positive, healthy behaviors and functional behavioral assessment to determine antecedents & needs would most likely be effective. The first tier involves collecting data through a functional behavior assessment of Cherie during class, recording a consequence of her behavior (e.g. making a joke so the class will laugh), and inferring the need that must be met to avoid such behavior. If her behavior seeks to get attention, which it often does, providing descriptive feedback and praise for modeling appropriate behavior as well as frequent informal assessment through direct questioning during instruction could meet this need. As the least intrusive, this tier seeks to restore harmony to the classroom environment and retain engagement during instruction for all learners. The second tier provides targeted intervention for Cherie when she exhibits specific disruptive behaviors. Relaying classroom expectations as a controlled choice, such as by saying, "What I need you to do is make a decision: you can stop making rude noises and pay attention to the lesson, meaning later you can sit with your friends at lunch, or you can continue to make rude noises and sit alone at lunch," presents expectations, consequences, and self-regulation in a very clear and efficient manner. Because the student has the "choice" to behave or not to behave, knowing the outcome to expect for either choice, he or she will be more likely to self-regulate behavior. Phrasing a command this way also depersonalizes a statement, so students may not feel as singled-out. In students with EBD, this feeling is often accompanied by an increase in aberrant behavior, so guided choice gives them a sense of control while preserving ultimate control by the teacher.

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Chapter 11: Motivation Theories

Out of all the motivation theories we covered in class, I found the use of extrinsic motivators to be the most useful for me as a special educator. As I mentioned in class, I feel as though sometimes one must "open the motivational door" so to speak with an extrinsic motivator before we can even begin to build intrinsic motivation. This is especially apparent for students with learning disabilities, who often lack any intrinsic motivation in the classroom; if they did, then would special education even be necessary?

As a special educator, one of our primary goals is to build student motivation to achieve our behavioral and academic goals. One of the best examples I can think of actually happened to me fairly recently. In my practicum experience at Fulton High School, I sat in on a student's IEP meeting. I have this student in class for about 2 hours every day for math, and appropriate behavior is a daily struggle. This student rarely finishes any work as a result. So, as part of a behavior intervention plan on the IEP, an agreement was made between the student and the wellness teacher that if he finishes a certain amount of work in my class every day and displays appropriate behavior, he can be rewarded with 15 minutes of gym time. Because special educators often have students for larger chunks of the day, great rewards like this can be used as motivation.

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Field Trip

I thoroughly enjoyed Barb Rentenbach's presentation. I think that in a lot of ways it showed a broad audience what people with disabilities are capable of and that our ability to communicate is not limited to our ability to speak. Barb's ability to write is astounding, especially her comprehension of humor. Often, individuals with autism struggle with socially intricate concepts such as humor, but Barb has quite a mastery of it.

I wish that there would have been a broader use of facilitated communication. I feel that is something important for people to see and be comfortable interacting with, especially a group of educators. While I understand that it can take up more time, I really believe it would have been beneficial and interesting. As Lois mentioned, that may have been a personal choice on Barb's behalf.

After seeing this presentation, it makes me think of students with autism in a different way -- thought without language is an intensely interesting concept that I actually struggle wrapping my head around. I would love to read more works by Barb and look in to the support Lois' organization provides for individuals with autism.

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Chapter 14: Assessment Strategies

We hear the word "assessment" a lot in special education. There is a huge emphasis placed on appropriate assessment to receive special education services and perhaps an even greater emphasis to perform on state and district wide assessments. As such, I feel that being familiar with a variety of assessment strategies allows these criteria to be met much more efficiently. 

I find informal assessment to be one of my favorite assessment strategies. It allows you to receive frequent and immediate feedback from student learning and mastery. It also provides opportunities for students to practice the correct response, an important factor in reducing guessing. This strategy can be executed as simply as asking a question to a student during instruction.

Performance assessments often show aspects of student learning one would not normally see under more traditional assessment formats. Not only does performance assessment require students to explore the material, but also requires them to apply it to a concept such as a presentation or activity. I would use this model for students to instruct other students, promoting social learning.

While standardized tests often get a bad rap, they are not all inherently evil. While I would agree that the execution of these tests is often especially poor for students with disabilities, the fact that they apply to a common set of standards allows all students to be learning the same things. I will most likely have to make adaptations for these assessments (such as read aloud, time limits, or others) for my students.

I prefer criterion-referenced assessments because special education is geared towards teaching to mastery. Individual student performance is extremely important, and providing assessment to gauge that allows the special educators to collect data.

Teaching students to apply their knowledge through authentic assessment really bridges the gap between the classroom and the real world. I would use this often with students who have transition statements on their IEPs, which are goals for life after high school such as self-care, getting a job, managing money, etc.

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