Memo #6

Memo #6 I am feeling at this point very scattered. I think if I knew at the beginning about the lack of “standards” for special education I would have focused my I-search a little differently. I also perhaps should have narrowed down what “special education” entails as I found that in a contained classroom it can mean Autism, low IQ, DiGeorges Syndrome, MR and a variety of other disorders that qualify these students for Special Education. I had no idea of the ability among students. Because of this if I had focused on one disorder such as Autism, it may have helped me to concentrate on the research instead of being distracted by the other factors that I found interesting. In hind site I feel like my research could have been more focused knowing what I know now. I know that Special Education is a blanket term for students who can’t function in a general education classroom for various reasons academically, socially and/or emotionally. Depending on the students issues writing looks completely different and so does the process. I know that in the world of Chariho the writing that exists is focused on response to a prompt and functional writing such as job applications and basic emails. In addition, students work on power point presentations as a means of writing as well. Outside of this type of writing students tend to struggle to the point where it is not productive. I observed a class for a 90 min block with the focus on a writing prompt. What I saw amazed me. I was expecting a room with students lacking the enthusiasm to work. I really don’t know why. Instead it was a class of approximately 18 boys and 2 girls full of energy and excitement brainstorming what they had to be thankful for. Full of respect for each other and excitement to share with me their writing. They were eager to write and eager to share. What I saw in the real world was not what I expected after reading secondary sources. It was no surprise that secondary and primary sources eluded to the fact that writing was difficult for these students. However, secondary sources led me to think that with certain prompts, scaffolding modeling and revisions students could and would become successful writers. What my observation showed me was not what I expected after reading several articles. What I saw was high school kids who still could not even write. Although they could communicate thoughts they could not physically transfer them to a page. Teacher Assistants would scribe their thoughts then the students would physically copy that onto their paper. If left alone only for a minute or 2 students could not continue the process without continuous prompting. Other students who were more advanced were able to write but definitely enhanced by the initial brainstorming of the class. Then there was also a select few who needed the TA to write ideas and give them choices because the writing was too overwhelming. What struck me most was no matter how much or little was written they were proud of their work. They tried their best and it showed. They took advice the teacher and TA’s gave them and revised as needed. The entire brainstorm and rough draft took 90 minutes. The last step would be to upload it on canvas on a different day. I thought at the beginning of this that special education was held to similar standards as general education. What I did not know was that they are not…AT ALL. They are not graded, do not receive a diploma, and there are no standards to speak of. Curriculum? The teacher was told to “wing it.” What concerns me about this is that are they truly being challenged to the best of their ability? Yet there are so many factors and nuances that must be considered in this world of education. It is a true balance of teaching social, emotional and academic skills. All of the students with their strengths and weakness are melded into one classroom of controlled chaos that we call special education. What frustrates me is the comment I received from the teacher at Chariho….who was told to “wing it” upon being hired. What kind of system is that? Why are these students not given a higher standard and expectation? The ratio of students and the diversity suggested to me that not all kids are getting the focus and at some level not reaching their fullest potential. I think in general I conclude that the theory of teaching writing is great. Because really it mirrors general education. However, the short time I spent in a classroom I conclude that it probably only benefits a handful of students. What I also believe to be true is that writing is probably not the focus of special education because students are developing life skills. These life skills trump the importance of writing as the goal is to truly to get students living and functioning independently. This is through daily life skills, social skills, math and functional writing. And really…when there is “no curriculum” there really isn’t a push to improve writing rather than just practice it and make it functional.

Memo #5

Memo #5 As I mentioned in class I feel like I have a better understanding on how writing should be taught and is taught in a special education classroom. To summarize, instruction should and often does look much like it should in a regular education classroom. Although the focus of assignments may be significantly different as are the expectations, teaching strategies are and should be similar across classrooms. My research has led me to new questions based on the responses of teachers. How on earth does one teacher manage a classroom of special education students? The reality of teaching is that without a classroom that fosters an environment for learning, it is difficult to sustain any quality of teaching. When I hear about the disruption of other disciplines, as well as behavioral issues, and motivational problems I wonder how any teacher successfully provides challenging, differentiated instruction. This leads me to my next step in my research…to observe a class and see for myself how this is accomplished. No valuable instruction can take place until students are in an environment that fosters and encourages learning. So, my next question is… what classroom management strategies are utilized in a special education classroom in order to be able to successfully provide students with the best environment in order to foster the teaching of writing.

Memo #4 addendum

I am posting this as another post to add to my Memo #4. It is a follow up email I received as the teacher was out and I could not interview directly. I am posting the whole response to my questions as there are some things I found so interesting that I did not want to even paraphrase, particularly how students are so over praised that they have a false sense of how wonderful a student they are. Yes, Gwen - I can help you and you can come into our class anytime. Sorry it took so long for me to respond. First block is a good time usually. Monday, Tues. Thur. and Fri. are best for first block but you can come in 3rd or 4th as well - we just have less students here....but that might actually be better.... 1. Yes, Writing is a serious challenge to my students. There are many reasons why - disability being number one reason, (memory, processing, dyslexia, low IQ) but I also believe the nature of special education (k-12) mostly self contained and pull out situations does expose the students to less high quality writing instruction and less practice writing. They are pulled out too much? The pace at which our student’s work is a hinderence - I have students that may take an hour to write a simple paragraph. 2 - 3 weeks to write a short story (1 page). Many of our students are not good readers - they do not read for pleasure, they do not develop good vocabulary. Many receive speech and language therapy - they are not active readers and active communicators...they are not exposed to sophisticated vocabulary. Many adults tend to "expect less" in the area of communication and may simplify their own language and word choices when speaking with disabled youth. Some students, especially those with autism, have very limited experiences in the world. Many students (especially autism) do not participate in the community in sports, movie theaters, vacations, malls, beaches, hikes, parties, sports, boy scouts, etc., in the same way as other neuro-typical kids. Many kids with autism and intellectual disability have narrow limited interests. They may have very limited choices in foods they eat, television shows they watch, etc...Furthermore, I believe that our students have a difficult time recognizing quality work not only the work they produce but the work others produce. They tend to be naive - they like what they like and don't tend to judge and compare works of art. Art just "is". People tend to be very careful when they criticize disabled students work. We usually emphasize the good and try to bump up their self esteem which is very important, but they often develop a false sense of how wonderful of a student they are. They often think their writing work is perfecly fine, because they have gotten so much encouragement and they do not have work from adults and typical peers to compare it to. They have been isolated in a "sheltered classroom" where it is all positive reinforcement from "nice and understanding special ed teachers" saying nice job Johnny. 2. Anything black and white and purely factual is easier to write - a weekend report or a story of an event in their lives perhaps. Writing their opinion on something is good for a few sentences. Creative writing is a major challenge because many students want to plagiarize from pop culture rather than truly create an original story. But, really all writing is challenging. 3. I was taught how to teach writing in college courses and in 6 traits writing, little workshops here and there, Learning A-Z.com, but really nothing has been provided to me....I find prompts on internet and create my own assignments and ideas. Several students need complete scribing of all work. 4. I don't use any particular curriculum. I fly by the seat of my pants and create my own assignments. The district provided nothing to me - they told me to be creative. I try to make the writing meaningful for students and related to functional and adult life and employment. We do not do a lot of creative writing - we focus on applications, resumes, steps in a process, reporting, emailing, writing about careers, addressing envelopes, and writing connected to other subjects - science lab reports, history, etc. Writing on the computer is best! They enjoy technology. 5. They do not understand traditional rubrics - it would need to be very simple. We typically revise once, more than this and the students are totally frustrated - they don't see the need to continue editing - more than one revision and the writing quality tends to get worse rather than better. We move onto the next assignment - quantity over quality. I can't expect perfection after one revision - just looking to change attitudes about writing and make them understand the importance of doing your best. Just looking for slow and steady improvements. 6. handwriting quality is often an issue, cursive writing and signatures are very difficult, I hope all this can help you in your research. Come on into the class and you could even provide a writing prompt or ask the students to take a survey, answer an email - anything you want - if you want to take a look at the student work samples. Of course - you can't use their names - must black the name out. Keith Cronin

Memo #4

I've been a little disappointed with the response (or no response) from teachers. While I have not heard from the elementary school teachers I have spoken with 2 high school teachers. The first is the teacher of the autism classroom. After spending a block in his room I am amazed any writing takes place. The spectrum is wide and very difficult to manage. He clearly acknowledged that YES, writing is a HUGE problem. He stated that there is no writing that appears easier than others. He states there are 2 major struggles the kids have. Organizing their thoughts and transposing them on paper. They stray off task easily or have difficulty even verbalizing what they want to write. The act of writing in itself poses a whole different challenge. With respect to the strategies I've mentioned in secondary sources he states yes, that is what in theory what he was taught and it is a practice he uses. For example, he had several different organizers that help the kids with their thought processes. He believes that those strategies are indeed the best for all kids. Modeling step by step, drafting, scaffolding, revising, use of graphic organizers are all practices he feels works for the kids. What he found was the most difficult was working with such diverse kids and keeping them on task and focused. So what he said in practice worked best was instead of practicing as a class he allowed students to come and go as they needed to and from the tasks. He said it made it extremely difficult to teach as different kids would get up and move about the class and the class would always be at different steps in the process. He said he found it frustrating at times but relies on his TA's to let those kids do what they needed to and then refocus them to the assignment. He said unlike a regular class where kids can be given a time to start and finish his students require lots of breaks, redirection, and may take days to complete an assignment because of the need for all the modeling, prewriting, scaffolding etc. So what I concluded from this conversation was that in fact what secondary sources suggest is something that is happening in at least one classroom. What did not get addressed in my readings was the practical application of the time, patience, and extra hands this whole process takes. Next I interviewed the severe and profound teacher. She echoed much of what the other teacher said. She however, felt that for her students the physical ability to write was a much bigger issue. She too uses several of the same strategies and breaks writing into very specific steps allowing students to work at their own pace. She always models her thought processes, her organization and builds from there. More TA's work beside her but her students require much more physical help. She finds that her students work much better on electronic devises as they struggle with the pen to paper concrete writing. She also stated because of this most students will verbalize their thoughts and she or a TA will physically write for them. This is a practice she has integrated as she said she finds letting them have the thought process and expression is sometimes more important for them mentally than the physical writing. She also said that style of writing wasn't a factor for her class. Because she taught moderate-severe profound disability her focus was on topics to just engage students so they would participate in the process as several of them have extremely limited vocabulary and are difficult to engage in any assignment. What I found interesting as I walked into the classes was although I knew they were given writing assignment I would have never known by the activity of the class. There was so many other things going on like PT and OT, toileting and feeding schedules, among other kids just not being able to sit to complete assignments. The distractions were overwhelming. I mentioned this to the first teacher. He laughed and said "welcome to my world."

Memo #1

Search Research Proposal: Teaching writing in a Special Education Classroom Having worked as a nurse during summer school in a Special Education classroom, I’ve seen the spectrum of severe and profound mental and physical disabilities integrated with students on all levels of the Autistic spectrum. In the summer, the school focuses primarily on maintaining the students’ current level of functioning. Depending on the student this may be a physical or academic need. Teachers do not accomplish these goals alone. Teacher Assistants, Physical, Occupational and Speech Therapists span the room as adjuncts to support the various student’s needs. As a Registered Nurse and Certified School Nurse Teacher I enter this topic with a decent understanding how to physically and emotionally care for students with special needs. At Chariho the Special Education Teachers and I collaborate in helping my Health Career Students understand this population better in order to serve their needs in the medical field. I have become very attached to several students through my work. I’ve seen them progress from elementary school to high school. Some students have become more ill due their medical conditions while higher functioning students become eligible to enter the work force and are emotionally and academically prepared for their transition from high school to life beyond. As we know the ability (or lack of ability ) to write can be an important component to a person’ s success. It can open or shut doors to employment opportunities. This led me to thinking about what writing instruction looks like in a Special Education Classroom. As students enter the workforce there must be a necessity to write as well as read. When I thought about the students I’ve encountered, I started wondering to what extent are they able to write. I’ve watched a classroom that focused on money and interpersonal skills. Surely, writing is a part of the process to prepare them as well. So this leads me to the burning question... What is the writing expectation of a special education teacher and student? Response to Literature, Response to Informational Texts, Reflective essays and Argumentative papers clutter an English teacher’s desk. But do they in a Special Education room? Or is it a focus on more basic skills, for example a job application or a thank you letter. For the purpose of this I-Search paper I think it is best to narrow down the type of student I will need to investigate. Due to the physical limitations of most severe and profound kids I think it will be difficult to use that population for this proposal. Therefore, I think it is most appropriate to research the students who are capable of physically writing and communicating their thoughts, as well as being productive citizens in the workforce where different types of writing will in fact be expected of them. For this proposal I will focus on students in the self contained academic classrooms. The diagnoses vary from mental retardation, children on the autistic spectrum to children with seizure disorders that has over time affected their mental capabilities. My plan is to not focus on the specific illness, but more that those student have “special needs.” I will be curious to see how or if instruction varies. If need be, I will tailor my research come that time if I discover there is a significant difference that will support further research. Understanding that writing is a critical component of a successful person it would make sense that the teaching of writing is an integral part of a special education classroom. This leads me to the following questions that I will focus on for my I -Research Paper. First, what does the writing curriculum look like in a Special Education Classroom and how is it different from a regular high school class? Second, what standards and/ or benchmarks are expected of students upon graduation? Third, who or what determines these standards? What are the pressures placed on the teacher to meet standards? Fourth, as a teacher of a diverse class how is writing taught and differentiated among students? Fifth, what type of writing is taught and how is it assessed? Lastly, is their any evidence that students who are more capable writers have an increase likelihood of success is the workplace. In order to gather my data I will need both primary and secondary sources. Fortunately, I have direct contact with the elementary, middle, and high school special education teachers. I plan to interview staff directly as these teachers are the ones who have direct instruction with the students and have degrees in the field of special education. I am anticipating they will guide or inform me of the standards they are governed by, at which point I can gain secondary research. In addition, I will be investigating the various methods of instruction across the spectrum for different age groups as well as the expectations. I am curious to understand how teachers differentiate instruction as well as assess student work. What are the expectations and benchmarks for a student that will be graduating high school with regards to writing standards. My last thought I think will be difficult to research. I would like to know if there is any research that supports the notion that students that have graduated and are successful in the workforce had a higher level of writing ability in secondary education. It can not be argued that the skill of writing is essential to the success of students. In a nutshell, I want to know how does this relate to special ed students. What are the expectations and how are they different from a general classroom? How do teachers instruct, differentiate and evaluate? Finally, how does their instruction benefit this population as citizens. I am unsure if my last question will be answered. I am not sure if I will have success finding secondary sources and I do not know if teachers stay connected in order to see the students post high school. Regardless of what I find I do already know one thing. The innocence and hearts of these kids is overwhelming. They struggle, laugh, and love like everyone else just maybe expressed in different ways. I am looking forward to spending time in the classroom learning more about the kids I hold dear to my heart.

I Search Proposal

Search Research Proposal: Teaching writing in a Special Education Classroom Having worked as a nurse during summer school in a Special Education classroom, I’ve seen the spectrum of severe and profound mental and physical disabilities integrated with students on all levels of the Autistic spectrum. In the summer, the school focuses primarily on maintaining the students’ current level of functioning. Depending on the student this may be a physical or academic need. Teachers do not accomplish these goals alone. Teacher Assistants, Physical, Occupational and Speech Therapists span the room as adjuncts to support the various student’s needs. As a Registered Nurse and Certified School Nurse Teacher I enter this topic with a decent understanding how to physically and emotionally care for students with special needs. At Chariho the Special Education Teachers and I collaborate in helping my Health Career Students understand this population better in order to serve their needs in the medical field. I have become very attached to several students through my work. I’ve seen them progress from elementary school to high school. Some students have become more ill due their medical conditions while higher functioning students become eligible to enter the work force and are emotionally and academically prepared for their transition from high school to life beyond. As we know the ability (or lack of ability ) to write can be an important component to a person’ s success. It can open or shut doors to employment opportunities. This led me to thinking about what writing instruction looks like in a Special Education Classroom. As students enter the workforce there must be a necessity to write as well as read. When I thought about the students I’ve encountered, I started wondering to what extent are they able to write. I’ve watched a classroom that focused on money and interpersonal skills. Surely, writing is a part of the process to prepare them as well. So this leads me to the burning question... What is the writing expectation of a special education teacher and student? Response to Literature, Response to Informational Texts, Reflective essays and Argumentative papers clutter an English teacher’s desk. But do they in a Special Education room? Or is it a focus on more basic skills, for example a job application or a thank you letter. For the purpose of this I-Search paper I think it is best to narrow down the type of student I will need to investigate. Due to the physical limitations of most severe and profound kids I think it will be difficult to use that population for this proposal. Therefore, I think it is most appropriate to research the students who are capable of physically writing and communicating their thoughts, as well as being productive citizens in the workforce where different types of writing will in fact be expected of them. For this proposal I will focus on students in the self contained academic classrooms. The diagnoses vary from mental retardation, children on the autistic spectrum to children with seizure disorders that has over time affected their mental capabilities. My plan is to not focus on the specific illness, but more that those student have “special needs.” I will be curious to see how or if instruction varies. If need be, I will tailor my research come that time if I discover there is a significant difference that will support further research. Understanding that writing is a critical component of a successful person it would make sense that the teaching of writing is an integral part of a special education classroom. This leads me to the following questions that I will focus on for my I -Research Paper. First, what does the writing curriculum look like in a Special Education Classroom and how is it different from a regular high school class? Second, what standards and/ or benchmarks are expected of students upon graduation? Third, who or what determines these standards? What are the pressures placed on the teacher to meet standards? Fourth, as a teacher of a diverse class how is writing taught and differentiated among students? Fifth, what type of writing is taught and how is it assessed? Lastly, is their any evidence that students who are more capable writers have an increase likelihood of success is the workplace. In order to gather my data I will need both primary and secondary sources. Fortunately, I have direct contact with the elementary, middle, and high school special education teachers. I plan to interview staff directly as these teachers are the ones who have direct instruction with the students and have degrees in the field of special education. I am anticipating they will guide or inform me of the standards they are governed by, at which point I can gain secondary research. In addition, I will be investigating the various methods of instruction across the spectrum for different age groups as well as the expectations. I am curious to understand how teachers differentiate instruction as well as assess student work. What are the expectations and benchmarks for a student that will be graduating high school with regards to writing standards. My last thought I think will be difficult to research. I would like to know if there is any research that supports the notion that students that have graduated and are successful in the workforce had a higher level of writing ability in secondary education. It can not be argued that the skill of writing is essential to the success of students. In a nutshell, I want to know how does this relate to special ed students. What are the expectations and how are they different from a general classroom? How do teachers instruct, differentiate and evaluate? Finally, how does their instruction benefit this population as citizens. I am unsure if my last question will be answered. I am not sure if I will have success finding secondary sources and I do not know if teachers stay connected in order to see the students post high school. Regardless of what I find I do already know one thing. The innocence and hearts of these kids is overwhelming. They struggle, laugh, and love like everyone else just maybe expressed in different ways. I am looking forward to spending time in the classroom learning more about the kids I hold dear to my heart.

Memo #3 addendum

I am clear in my mind what I plan to ask during the interview, but apparently that did not come out on my blog last week. So my specific questions include the following: 1. As a teacher, what do you feel is the biggest reason students with learning disabilities struggle with writing? 2. As a Special Education Teacher what were you taught in theory is the best approach to teaching learning disabled students? 3. Are these strategies similar or different to those researched in my secondary sources? 4. Do you implement these strategies in the classroom? If so which ones are or are not successful? 5. Over the years has your practice led you to new strategies than what you were taught in school? 6. If so what are they? 7. Is there a type of writing that students with special needs excel at? 8. What type of writing do you feel is most beneficial to the student? 9. Do state standards reflect this? Hope this clarifies some ambiguity to what direction I was going in.