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.