H1-Honor Diversity and Development

Honoring Diversity and Development

H1 – Honoring student diversity and development means offering a curriculum and providing a learning environment that incorporates the needs of all students including those of various ethnicities, educational backgrounds, socio-economic backgrounds, gifted students, and students with special needs.  Students with special needs may be those English Language Learners who do not have full language proficiency, students on 504 programs, or those with various levels of learning disabilities. Any of these students may require an Individualized Educational Program (IEP) developed especially for them to accommodate for specific disabilities or needs.

Accommodations may include additional time to complete tests and/or homework assignments, a translator who speaks their native language, a scribe, or specialized technology to accommodate visual or hearing impairments.  Ballard High School offers inclusion classes that integrate students with IEP’s into the mainstream classroom seamlessly. This strategy encourages student camaraderie and community, and enables those students with IEP’s to collaborate and grow academically and socially along with their peers.

During an eighth grade tour at Ballard High School this month, the Special Education Coordinator hosted a small group of eighth grade special education students answering their questions and alleviating some of their anxieties as they prepare to enter the world of high school. The students, overwhelmed by the sheer size of the school compared to their middle school in Magnolia, demonstrated concerns about what accommodations would be available to them in high school, the expectations, as well as the intimidating process of maneuvering through the crowded high school hallways. The coordinator assured them they would be allotted the same accommodations in high school as in middle school, however, the difference involves more advocacy and organizational skills on their part. While teachers want to assist in any way they can, and will accommodate for any student’s IEP, there are literally hundreds of students, therefore, those with specific needs may be required to be more vocal about reminding teachers what those needs are. She assured the students that there was ample support with regard to scheduling, counseling, a teen health center, psychologist, and assistance with the bus system.

The school staff works cohesively to ensure all students’ needs are met in order to produce successful graduates prepared for life after high school. As part of staff professional training to uphold this promise, the Special Ed department provides support for those teachers who have less experience working with students with needs. A differentiated instruction model demonstrates the effectiveness of accommodations for all students, with or without “disabilities.” However, most teachers at Ballard will inevitably teach some students with IEPs.

During my student teaching internship at Ballard High School, the 12th grade ELA class I am working with includes three students with IEPs. One student is assigned an IA who accompanies him during first period to assist with his transcription of in-class written work. He uses his own personal laptop to participate in group or independent writing assignments, write in his theme journal, and complete his vocabulary squares.  This student, along with the other two in class, may require additional time to complete assignments, additional explanation, directions provided in more than one media, i.e. spoken, written on the white board, and something physical to take away to read again later.  In addition, I am teaching English Language Learners (ELLs) who will also require some differentiated instruction. Like the ELA class, this may include additional time to complete assignments, shorter assignments, repeated instruction, one-on-one instruction, an IA to assist with translations, or any number of the accommodations listed above. I will be teaching “Hamlet” in both classes, and have a modified book to assist with the ELL’s and those students who may need the accommodation in the mainstream ELA class. Furthermore, my  lesson plan structure will be differentiated to accommodate students of all levels.

I expect future education in the area of special education will be most beneficial both as an ELL teacher, as well as a mainstream ELA teacher working with students of all ability levels.  As we learn more about students with special needs in our society, this knowledge will be increasingly helpful in the classroom.

Reference:

Ballard High School (2013). Accommodations and Individualized Education Program Handout.  Materials from Special Education Coordinator.

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Teaching ELL’s with Learning Disabilities

Honoring student diversity and development (H1 of the Principles of HOPE) to me means ensuring that all students regardless of socio economic status, cultural background, or academic, social, or physical abilities receive a quality education that will propel them into a successful adulthood. This particular principle resonates with me as I continue my studies regarding teaching English Language Learners (ELL), and, as discussed in EDSP 6644, teaching English Language Learners with disabilities. Supporting ELLs with Learning Disabilities

As a future ELL teacher in a country with a growing ELL population, it is clear from my studies in Dr. Preciado’s class, and through my research to date that I will be faced with, not only students who have the challenge of gaining content knowledge while learning English as an additional language, but also teaching those ELL students who may possess mild intellectual, learning, or physical disabilities. According to Nguyen (2012), approximately 50% of ELL’s receive special education services; however, the number of those students who have disabilities related to speech-language impairment compared to the number who have actual learning disabilities is unclear. Educators have difficulty separating a disability from the language acquisition issue (Maxwell & Shah, 2012). This phenomenon is especially interesting and important to me as I enter the field, and will attempt to accurately assess my students in order to provide the best possible service to meet their individual needs, whether that means directing them to a more appropriate class, or creating more differentiated curriculum in my own class.

More work is necessary in this area of education as our diverse ELL population grows, and we need to ensure these students are placed in the correct learning environment which may be an ELL class, a special education program, general education classes, or a combination of these services. Gaining additional knowledge about ELL’s with disabilities will help me better understand the different signs and symptoms of students’ learning patterns or struggles and, hopefully, enable me to better assess students so I can provide the assistance and education they need for academic, as well as social development.

Ongoing study, research, and involvement in the area of English Language Learners with disabilities are necessary for me to succeed as an educator in today’s schools.

References:

Maxwell, L.A. & Shah, N. (2012). Evaluating ELLs for special needs a challenge. Education Week, 32(2).

Nguyen, H.T. (2012). General education and special education teachers collaborate to support English language learners with learning disabilities. Innovative Practices. Issues in Teacher Education, 21(1), 127-151.

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The Curriculum and Culture of Ballard High School: An Intern’s Observations – EDU 6989

L.Smith.Profile.doc

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Successful Instructional Strategies for All~EDU 6133

There are several strategies utilized in teaching English Language Learners (ELL’s) and students with disabilities that connect with the emphasis in the TPA on academic language. From the video clip A Visit to Classrooms of English Language Learners (2011), we learn some instructional strategies include comprehensible input, contextualized language, verbal interaction, active involvement and anxiety reduction. There are several methods in which these strategies are incorporated into the classroom.

Comprehensible input is that information given to the students to assist learners to understand the basic meaning of the language and might include pictures, physically demonstrating, and providing examples. For example, the teacher can say “raise your hand” as she raises her hand to show the students what she is saying, until they understand the concept. Use of visuals such as pictures, graphics and maps also help students learn basic concepts.

Cooperative learning or “Buddies” provides students with a support system to build confidence, trust and positive learning environment. According to Marzano, Pickering and Pollock (2001), there are five basic elements of cooperative learning:

• Positive interdependence (a sense of being “in it together”)
• Face-to-face promotive interaction (helping each other)
• Individual and group accountability (each has to contribute for group success)
• Interpersonal and small group skills (working as a team)
• Group processing (reflecting how well the group functions together) (pp.85-86)

Marzano et. al. (2001) also suggests that the buddy system should be heterogeneous. In other words, students do better when they work in diverse groups in order to learn from one another and build on their knowledge strengths and skills.

Repetition is another strategy used predominantly in teaching ELL’s and students with disabilities. Just as we teach children their native language by repeating words and demonstrating when they are babies, a lot of repetition is required when learning a second language. Ms. Fernandez at Coral Way Bilingual School demonstrates how much repetition she uses in the classroom by repeating phrases, as she continually acts out the concept, and having the students repeat and act out phrases. Teachers can use pictures, acting, facial expressions and ‘realia’ to assist in the learning process until the concept is contextualized in a way the students will remember.

Through verbal interaction students work together, and learn academic language. Again, this may be done through cooperative learning via small groups or pairs, or within the larger context of class discussion. Singing songs is one example of verbal interaction where students learn by singing together and listening to their peers and the musician on the tape.

Active involvement or kinesthetic learning is another strategy used to instill academic language in a way students will remember. Students learn by doing, whether it involves listening to an instructional song and acting out the movements, listening to the teacher’s instructions and completing a physical task, or working on a group project that includes a physical activity.

These instructional strategies work for ELL students and those students with disabilities, as well as those students with “double disability,” that is those students with disabilities who come from diverse cultural backgrounds (Sink, 2013). Furthermore, they are good common practices for all teachers. Working together with colleagues, being aware and knowledgeable about disabilities and different cultures and getting to know the students and their families will make incorporating these strategies in the classroom easier and more effective increasing the academic language base that will lead to successful cross content learning.

References:

SchoolTube. (2011). A visit to classrooms of english language learners [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.schooltube.com/video/acaca0e86f20635ba97e/A

Sink, C. A (2013) Language and Students with Disabilities Slides:  Retrieved from https://bbweb-prod.spu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_group=courses&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Fcontent%2Ffile%3Fcmd%3Dview%26content_id%3D_831476_1%26course_id%3D_62826_1%26framesetWrapped%3Dtrue

Marzano, R. J., Pickering, D. J., Pollock, J. E. (2001). Classroom Instruction that Works. Alexandria, VA: ACSD

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