Reflection

As a regular education teacher who has only had two special education courses in college, this course was a whirlwind of information and yet, with every new lesson, I was able to think of how it could be applied in my classroom.  As my blog’s title implies, “The Journey of a Professional Learner,” I believe that as educators we must constantly be learning or searching for the best practice.  The second one becomes stagnant and ok with “OK” that’s when one loses their zeal and zest for life.  My journey has honestly just begun.  This is my 5^th year teaching and while I feel more confident in my teaching now, I am also excited to continue on this educational path to see what else I may learn along the way.

Highlights:

The ability to walk into an IEP meeting and be much more knowlegeable in reference to terminology and the availability of assistive technology for students.  I will be able to express my opinion confidently in these meetings. 

The importance of UDL.  My lesson plans now reflect this model.  Teaching the social studies classroom requires much reading and writing, but now I realize that there are other ways to engage all my students.  I have also realized how important it is to engage all students.  One size does not fit all.

Technology, Technology, Technology!  Wow, perhaps this is the most important and influential part of the course for me.  There is so much FREE stuff out there that until this course, I would have never known about.  For example, we watched a webinar about the iPad and apps that could be downloaded to it for our students.  Prior to this course, I knew there were a few apps for students but now I realize that the amount is incredible.  Another example is storybird.com.  I will certainly be using this site to help with formative assessments in my classroom.  I often will list on the board words and terms I want my students to use in a story to reflect their learning of a topic.  They originally would write the story on a blank piece of paper.  With storybird.com, the students can create their stories but in a more fun and animated way.  This increases their salience and learning.

From my second article critique, I have realized that we are forging a new way to teach writing in the secondary classroom: through the use of blogs.  This technology is new and does not have a “how to” just yet, but I would like to contribute to creating this “how to” manual at some point by allowing my learners to blog next year about what we are learning in social studies class.

I learned about the different special needs students and how to provide assistive technology to them.  But I also realized that assistive technology does not need to be high tech, thousand dollar items.  For example, some of my students have learning disabilities and have a hard time manifesting their inattentiveness.  I have provided these students with stress balls to squeeze when they are feeling anxious and hyper in my classroom.  This is a low-tech assistive technology device.  My ELL learners have been introduced to GoogleTranslate and I have provided pencil grips to my students who have some issues with handwriting because of fine motor control issues. 

I will share my blog with others in the educational community where I work.  Many of my co-workers have seen me working on my studies throughout the semester and have asked what I am working so dilently on.  While I have shown them pieces of it, now that the course is complete, I will take the time to create a presentation and model this blog.  Part of learning is also being able to express and disseminate one’s new found information.  I will do this with my blog.

I have always been interested in law.  This course explained many of the laws related to students with special needs and people with disabilities.  IDEA, ADA, FAPE, IEP’s, 504’s—all of these laws, documents, and requirements I learned during the course of this class.

I have become more aware of people with special needs and anything to do with them.  For example, two weeks ago on the news there was a segment about the increase in autism.  Prior to this course I would have listened but having been a part of a coruse that discussed autism and wanting to be more knowledgeable, I watched the segment and then re-watched it on-line, blogged about it, and sent it to a few special education teachers who teach children with autism.  I am more aware as a result of this course.

I have finally learned how to blog!  For years I have been telling myself that someday I will learn how to blog and this course has taught me the basics of blogging.  When I first started and in my first few posts, I would easily become frustrated because I did not know how to troubleshoot or how to screenshot or how to change the size of a picture.  I did not even know how to edit a post so I would make sure it was perfect prior to publishing realizing I did not know how to get back to my posts.  Now, I know how to do this and I can think of something else to say or find a better picture or example and edit my posts.  I can also track how many people have checked out my blog and posts and even from where they are located (people across the Atlantic Ocean have checked it out)!  I am excited to begin a new blog this summer that will certainly cross paths with this one, but will highlight another personal mission of mine: Curing Type I diabetes!

I have met some wonderful educators, heard great presentations, and read wonderful blogs that give me hope for the future of education in this country.  So often we focus on the negative aspects of education, but after meeting many new faces and seeing their faith in education, their aspirations to become better teachers, and hearing their opinions, ideas and stories, I have more hope in the future of education in America.