Reflection about the Hike

I realize this blog is...a bit late, but hey, the day we went hiking was my birthday...of course I was going to forget = ]
I have to say that I absolutely LOVED this class. I enjoyed going outside and exploring. I am a very athletic, outdoorsy gal and being around nature makes me happy, espically when you are walking along side of the mighty niagara river!! who wouldn't love it?!
My favorite part about this activity is a toss up between the rock throw, and the muffins. The rock throw was a great way to relieve stress (I wish I had one right about now....) and yet, the muffins were delicious!! I thought it was amazing that shelley trusted everyone enough to allow them into her home as guests, you don't see professors in a university doing that too often. I have learned that shelley is a pretty unique teacher; which i love because that is what I inspire to be. I dont want to be the teacher that everyone dreads going to every day.(its already against me that I will be teaching math...everyone hates math) I want to make learning fun and original and if that means inviting my students over for some muffins and OJ, so be it!
But on an honest note, this was my favorite class of the semester, and not just because it was my birthday. I got to learn a lot about classmates that I otherwise wouldn't have had the opportunity to know. Kalani and I have been in the same EDU class every semester, and I had no idea how much we had in common. I got close to jenny as well, she is so sweet. I think it is very important to think not only about grades, but about knowledge and to not get those two confused with one another.

learn and serve. Last Visit

6hours.

Last Wednesday, I am sad to say, was my last day at gaskill. It was their last day before thanksgiving, and NU didn't have class, so I decided to spend the entire day there from 8am to 2pm to get my final six hours completed.

During this day, every class worked on vocabulary folders. Myself and Mrs. Roesser had to make all the folders for the students that were absent and finish the ones that others could not complete. Overall, lets just say by the end of the day my fingertips lacked their fingerprints from all the tape usage. = ]

Anyway, today I had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. Roesser's exceptional students which are her 7th period students, whom I have never been able to meet. She filled me in with the children who had their own IEP's and I learned that many of them had their own aid as well. This reminded me of Chapter 3 in our text books and how early intervention is key to helping a child with a disability over come many obstacles throughtout his/her life.

I personally believe that IEP's can be very helpful to students who will use them to their advantage. The government has come a long way in how well they manage student's individual needs.

On a different note, throughout the day I was able to help students one-on-one with any questions or problems they might have had while doing this project. Mrs. Roesser's honors class had already completed most of their folders and had to take a test. A lot of them were not too excited about the equations test for NYS, which is what Mrs. Roesser had had them take. This was a practice exam for the end of the year test that they all must take. Mrs. Roesser has a neat set-up in her classroom where she provides "hints" on posters placed throughout her room. This is to assist the kids in learning how to rely on other forms of information and help than just her or I or any other assistant in the room. I find this method unique and helpful because Mrs. Roesser will not always be the one to give them the answer they desire to a certain question, however, if the students learn to ask each other, or look around at the "hints" provided, they may find what they are looking for.

At the end of the day I was sad to see my experience at Gaskill come to an end, out of all the placements I have had thus far, this one was the most rewarding. I had a great cooperative teacher and great students that accepted me from day one. I learned a lot about teaching and a lot about NYS expectations of both students and teachers. As I handed in my ID to the main office the secretary asked me if I would like to come back for another semester and with out hesitation I replied "absolutely."

Learn and serve week 6

Today in learn and serve there was a substitute for Mrs. Roeser, but I had an interesting day. Their first period class is a very busy one, meaning that the kids in it..are always busy...talking. Its a hard class to manage even for Mrs. Roeser, so when a sub is there...the kids can take advantage. There is one boy in this class named Bob. Now Bobis intelligent, just lazy. He always loses worksheets and never has a pencil and is always flirting with the girls and talking to other guys. He is the type of student that distracts everyone from doing something productive. Today however, it was my job to keep him on track. The sub simply assigned them a worksheet to do about angles. This is the same material they have been working with for 2weeks now, so they should have flown through the 6 problems they had to do. Bob however did not have his worksheet. I had to make extra copies and provide a writing utensil for him. He didn't work even after all I provided for him. He kept talking to other students and causing trouble. As a result I pulled him aside and worked on it with him. While the other students got to put their answers up on the board, Bob had to sit alone with me in the back of the room, not participating in the fun. What surprised me was how quickly and accurately he got the answers. I was mildly impressed. So I asked him, "if you know how to do this math, why dont you just do it and save yourself the aggravation?" He replied "Its annoying to do math." I laughed because I always loved doing my math homework, and math class was the one class I looked forward to during the day. Overall, I learned that even though Bob may be hyper in class, he does know the material, and even if I must sit down and do it with him, at least I know that he will be prepared for the next test because of it.

I also came to realize that Bob may have undiagnosed ADHD, his symptoms fit it, and he doesn't like sitting still and working, at all. so I'm curious if he may have this, in Chapter 4, it discusses how children with ADHD act in school and what to do about it. However, I dont believe that it is a learning disability in Bob's case, just a distraction. While I was working with him one-on-one he seemed perfect and very capable for doing the math on his own. I am thinking that this ADHD may just be a social conflict. He may feel that he needs to draw attention to himself by acting out to fit in and be "funny" to his peers. Even though this may be funny to others, Bob doesn't have to act this way, and I think he knows that he doesn't have to, but he chooses to because he needs a distraction while in school and an outlet to be able to fit it, because who doesn't want to fit in, right?


Directly outside room 300 there is this poster. I thought that I'd take a picture of it and relate it to the textbook. Throughout the entire textbook, it is always noted to be respectful of other people, even if they are different. This sign demonstrates the moral of our text, to be respectful, responsible and not bully others. I thought it was a neat way to put our textbook into perspective because really, all we're learning is to accept others for who they are and not judge them by a disability.

CAST visit for the class I missed

I found out that Cast is a great program that helps teachers learn new methods for teaching students who may have several various types of abilities. Casts solution is called Universal Design for learning, this technique provides a blue print for creating flexible goals, methods, materials and assessments that accommodate learner differences.
they also have various networks that accommodate different abilities such as:
-recognition network
-strategic network
-affective network
to learn more about UDL click here
CAST's professional development provides preK- college educators with knowledge, skills, strategies and tools that maximize learning opportunities for all students. Guided by Principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), and researched based practices helps today's educators meet the requirements of today's diverse classrooms.

This website makes me recall chapter 9 in the text about children with gifts and talents. These students are exceptional and as teachers it is our responsibility to know how to work with them.

learn and serve week 5

Today in learn and serve it was a half day because the 8th grade math teachers had to attend a training session. this was kinda wierd for me to hear, I didnt think that after you get a career post-graduation that you still had to be "trained" as a teacher. all these realizations are making me re-think teaching. I knew that as a teacher, my responsibility rests in the states hands for the material that I need to cover throughout the school year. But what I wasnt aware of is all the interfering the state does in every school district multiple times a year. they pretty much monitor every move a teacher makes, and i'm not sure how to feel about that. good that they care about how the future congressman of the united states are being educated, or bad because they dont allow their teachers to use any diversity in their own classroom and actually teach their students....i guess i will have to find a happy medium.

anyway, today we worked on a packet and more vocabulary words. Congruent was the new word of the day and zero of the kids knew what it meant.(I guess they were suppossed to read before class and know the definition..) So as a result, while they were working on the packet I had to answer the question "what does this word mean?" about...13 and a half times. but I enjoyed it because I love helping students. something that made me laugh was when one of the students asked me "are you good at math?" before she allowed me to answer her question....I guess I made her believe that I am indeed good at math. lol

since it was a half day i got to sit through more than 2 classes, I was able to see her inclusion class and her honors class.(honors left, inclusion right) the honors class was working on solving equations with a variable while the inclusion class was 2 weeks behind her regular 8th graders, just beginning to learn complimentary and supplimentary. One of the kids in her inclusion class was an attention hog and was being very disruptive while the others were trying to work and she had to send him to detention, this was the first time I had ever seen mrs. roeser yell at a student. In our textbook in Chapter 2 it touches base on how students should be in a classroom with the least amount of resistance. This is important to reference because in the classroom I was just discussing (Roesser's inclusion) this is an example of how students with disabilities are being put through a classroom of least resistance. Shelley often tells us that she teachers to the "highest" level because it pushes those below that level to achieve greater things. This chapter discusses how this is possible through an inclusion classroom.

all in all it was an interesting day because Mrs. Roeser trusted me to manage the classroom alone for about 20minutes. which was nice because I got to feel like it was my classroom. I got to answer the student's questions and, as always, they were very accepting of me being in charge. It was great = ]

learn and serve week 4

Today was an interesting day at learn and serve. I was able to help the students with a worksheet they had to complete and present in class. Its nice because the students are starting to warm-up to me and ask me for help freely and actually have conversations with me. Today I was complimented on my shoes. =]

The kids are currently working on complementary angles and supplementary angles. we gave them a pop quiz, but unfortunately only 3 of the students got a passing grade. = [ but it was mostly for little mistakes such as confusing complimentary angles with suplimentary angles which is easily fixable!! There is light at the end of the tunnel! Hopefully by Tuesday(when their test it) they will have it down. They were all listening very intently to Mrs. Roeser when she was explaining what they had done wrong on the quiz and how they can improve it by the time the test comes.

Another cool thing was that during 2nd periond I got to sit in and listen to mr. clark's science class. His class is an inclusion class who has one child named Bob, he's blind and has a great sense of humor! One thing I liked about Mr. clarks class is that he made the students use the smart board A LOT through his lecture. the kids liked it and it made them interact with each other and have fun while learning. one thing I noticed was that Bob had an aid with him that spoke to him through images she would draw on his back and help him visualize what was going on, I thought this was very interesting a good way to keep Bob feeling like he is a part of the classroom.

Today was a good experience for me because I can see myself beginning to feel more comfortable in the classroom, instead of just standing in the corner while the students do a worksheet I will walk around and ask if they need any assistance or if they understand what they're doing. It's a great change to how I used to act in learn and serve and I think it has a lot to do with the teacher that I am working under. Mrs. Roeser has helped me feel comfortable in her classroom and I appreciate all the guidance she has given me thus far.

The textbook makes it a point to infer that females are less likely to pursue a career in math or science because society portrays females staying at home, cleaning, cooking and raising a family while the male figure goes out to earn the money. I strongly disagree with this because in the 21st century women are capable of just as much as males are, espically in the professional sense. Even though the textbook does not address this, studies have suggested that women are actually smarter than men in most cases. this is because women can multi-task and relate to others on a personal level which helps with their memorization of material and applying said material to a later instance.

In Class November 5th

During class today I got my very first experience with an adult who has a developmental disability and I must say that it was a great one. We were assigned two topics to do a presentation on. Rebecca was my partner and we chose from the Good Work HaBits (one B) "Respecting Others" and from Bad Work HaBits we chose "Complaining" I personally think we had a GREAT example for complaining...you will soon find out why!!!
After we returned to class we went into stations to play with playdoh, and build a fort!! I think we did this so that the O.U. students could interact with all of us and not be limited to just a small group, which I think was a lot of fun.

My Experience with Lisa was amazing. She is about 35 years old, she wouldn't tell me exactly how old she was because she was embarassed, even though she shouldn't be embarassed because she's beautiful. She is very talkative and fun to be around. I couldnt have asked for a better partner. I found out that she loves pottery, reading, baking and cooking, she also loves CAFE MOCHAS with 3 splenda, no whipped cream and skim milk!!! She has a younger sister who is married and has a son, who she claims, cannot get enough of her(and I can't blaim him!) She is a great individual and I consider myself lucky to have met her. I also met Ben and Melissa, they were amazing as well. These adults that came in today truly are exceptional!!!

The Class I missed...

Have you ever spent time with an adult with a cognitive or developmental disability? If yes, describe and explain.
No I have never spent time with an adult with a cognitive or developmental disability...Until today!! (November 5th) So we will see how it goes, I'm excited!! =]
Opportunitys Unlimited
CAST Universal Design for Learning
IRIS Modules
She Stoops To Conquer

This is Lisa, I spent the class with her, learning about her and getting to know what an amazing person she is. This is the first adult I interacted with that has an exceptionality. It changed the way I look at other adults just like her.

Learn and Serve week 3

This week at Gaskill Prep. I got to help the kids with a small in-class project using Algebra Tables. Algebra tables were very new to me, I have never seen them before in my life and I came to find out that they are REQUIRED by NYS to teach in the classroom and it will be testable material.

I honestly do not know why they introduced FOILing in this fashion because it is the most confusing method I have ever seen. To show this to a student who has never seen two bi-nomials being multiplied together before, and expect them to understand this is crazy. I am in Calc III and I had trouble the first time I saw it. Tuesday was actually one of the very first times I enjoyed myself at learn and serve. I had time to discuss topics with my teacher including the testing that every student beginning in 1st grade has to endure up to graduation, ONLY these "tests" don't count until you reach highschool(Regents Exams) their only use is to determine whether or not the teacher is teaching the required material, and whether or not theyre teaching it correctly. If the student fails, it does not matter, they continue onto the next grade level without consequence, these examinations are purely for comparison purposes. I personally find this outrageous. We should not be putting such elaborate tests down 7year olds throats. And to continue doing so until graduation is even worse. All this testing is leading to higher levels of drop outs in high school, and lower over-all GPA's because by the time the students reach high school they are burnt out from all the testing. Also, they figure because the tests they took at the end of the year didn't matter in previous years, the one they have to take called the Regents Exam, won't be worth anything either. WRONG. Students won't understand the difference between the tests, and all the ciriculum forced upon teachers does not allow much room for the teacher to actually TEACH her students. No room for creativitiy or variation. Its all about knowing the material for the end of the year state exam....ridiculous.

The textbook discusses in chapter 8 that students with autism will typically have a difficult time performing well on a state examination such as these because they compare his results to other student's results. Chapter 8 goes into detail about the symtoms of those students who have autism and how they over come it. A better way to help a student with autism feel successful about the progress he/she has made throughout the year wouldn't be an exam, but perhaps a hands-on activity with his/her teacher demonstrating some of the skills he/she has been taught throughout the school year.

Anyway! Learn and serve came to be a good experience because I loved helping the students understand their math better and actually getting to be involved and not just stand and observe!!!! =D

It was like a breath of fresh air...or a beautiful beam of sunlight through the trees!!

Quiz Continued...SSTC

Act I

pg. 1 line 11 -follies
pg. 2 line 30-discretion
pg. 3 line 74-pewter
pg. 4 line 91-superfluous
pg. 9 line 6-squire

Act II

pg. 15 line 20-militia

pg. 16 line 52-quarrelling

pg.16 line-39-attentive

pg. 17 line 70- extragvagant

pg. 18 line 94-impudent

Act III

pg. 43 line 176-plundered

pg.44 line 207- brute

pg. 46 line 248- bawling

pg. 48 line 299- acquaintance

pg. 48 line 304-Egad

Act IV

pg.51 line 8- constance

pg.51 line14- elopement

pg. 52 line43- rogue

pg.53 line 64- prudently

pg. 54 line 89-entreaty

Act V
pg.66 line 15-peremptory

pg.72 line 46-rebuke

pg.74 line 80-thicket
pg. 81 line 111-levity

pg. 82 line 141-contrivances

Characters Music

Mr. Hardcastle

Mrs. Hardcastle

Kate Hardcastle

Tony Lumpkin

Marlow

Hastings

Constance Neville

Sir Charles Marlow

Pimple the Maid

Diggory(Dick Muggins)

Roger

Thomas(Jack Slang)

week 8-post

What do you think are the top 3 things you need to know when talking with parents?

Before I watched the film, I think I was pretty narrow-minded on how to approach a parent concerning their child in the classroom. I thought that the teacher did all of the talking, recipricating the struggles and success of the child focusing more on how the child conducted themselves in class as opposed to home. I knew that input from the parent was important but not as important as what the video had explained. I figured that I would be mindful of why I am speaking to the parents and try not to attack the student nor the parent, try my best to be respectful and patient, some parents might be angry about a grade, or something the student had said to them about the class, and to be respectful of their background and culture as to not offend a tradition and blame their culture for bad grades, bad behavior, etc.

After I watched the short clip I found out that, as a teacher, you want to hear feedback from the parent and how they think the classroom is being ran and what the child says about school when they come home, and how important that is to become a good teacher. As a teacher I need to learn to take those comments from the students and their parents and instead of ignorning them, learn to modify my procedures to help both the student and parent become more accepting of how the classroom is operated. Also to incorporate classroom activities while talking to the parent, make them feel like their input is important to the success of the student. Be careful not to give a negative association to the parent about their child. Let them know that good things are going on in the classroom, positive attitudes rubb off on other people, if I stay positive the parent will be positive. Use the conference as a back and forth dialouge, make sure you ask the parent about how they feel about the progress of their child and what THEY think is their child's weak areas, what might help them to succeed in the classroom.

Help Parents Get Involved!!

Helpful Tips to future Teachers
"Home-School Communication: The Parent-Teacher Conference"
Click Me = ]

Entry 8-Quiz

ChalkBoard Activity
1)What kind of activity is this?
This activity was interactive, because it forced us to get up out of our seats, leave our comfort behind, and write on the board, cramped next to people.
2) How does it challenge you?
It was a bit challenging because you had to think of something to represent the "umbrella theory" in your own words, and we all know that nothing is better than the original umbrella! I did a Ferris Wheel, which took place of my original soccer ball idea. I thought it was a good metaphor because a ferris wheel has spokes, which resemble all the different aspects of the same disorder.
3)What background knowledge are you using to complete this activity?
The background knowledge i used to complete this activity wasn't much. I pretty much only used it to think of the ferris wheel.
4)How much do you love this blackboard compared to the other blackboard?
This blackboard ALWAYS works.

Hallway Podcast
1)What kind of activity is this?
This was interactive and technological. We had to learn how to use the camera and post a podcast onto the blogger which I have done. below = ] we had to use the resources we were presented with, which was the other students in our group.
2)What does it enable students to understand?
This forced us to understand how to record a podcast and post it to our blog, understand the technology used and understand why these skills are beneficial to us. In our own classroom when we become teachers we will know how to incorporate students who have difficulty writing, to use podcasts to express themselves.
3)How does it provide a way to make "flexible" grouping?
Flexible grouping is when you use your group to help you figure out the task at hand. The professor didnt allow questions, so we had to rely on each other for answers and help.
4)What does a workshop model like this enable teachers to do?
This helps teachers learn different techniques to help their students succeed that might have trouble expressing themselves in a typical format such as writing. Doing podcasts will allow room for the student to be more comfortable expressing themselves via technology instead of writing.

5-Picture Story

It was a beautiful day at NU so the four of us decided to go into the DO NOT ENTER zone of the falls, because we had a craving for the forbidden vending machine. This vending machine was a treturous journey down the gorge, but we all knew we could do it together! So Jenny, Jill, Kalani and I all got on our best hiking gear and got ready for the challenge. We came across many obsticles, but none so dangerious as "The Hole" we decided that we had to jump over it in order for us to reach the snacks. We did it! and then...we feasted.

The End.

Entry 7 Chapter 6

We had a long weekend, so I didn't have to go to learn and serve for the second week. = ] I know that it's not a good sign that I'm kinda happy about this, but regardless...I am.
Chapter 6
1) The role of collaboration among the educational team is critical in meeting the needs of children with communication difficulties. What should be done to ensure that professionals have what they need to allow for this collaboration?
I believe that what should be done in school systems nation-wide to ensure that teachers, and other educational professionals, have what they need to help the success of their students, is to make it mandatory for school districts to supply trained professionals that can help other teachers and students when necessary. Also, I believe that government funding should be available to the school districts that may need financial assistance in order to supply these trained specialists.
Tips for Special Educators
NYS Special Ed.

Entry 6 Learn and Serve 1st visit

I am currently placed at Gaskill Prep. in Niagara Falls. My first impression was "oh my God, I am going to get chewed up and spit out, and/or my car is going to get robbed"
This school is in the heart of the falls, with street parking only. I came to class dressed in Gucci and Coach...I stuck out like a sore thumb.


My teacher was absent that day, (which has ironically happened to me at every single placement I have had) so I had to work under a substitute. She is actually a Grad Student here at NU, and has subbed at this school many times and knew what she was doing. However, because she was a sub she did not have a lesson plan, so I just stood in the classroom...observing the children doing a worksheet for two hours.

I personally have had terrible expericences with learn and serve up to this point, I have not done anything even remotely close to teaching, just watching and being bored, counting to minutes until I can leave. When I came to NU, I was told that the education program was great! And that Education majors get put right into the classroom and love it! Sadly, this has not been the case for me. = [
I love teaching, I have tutored since 10th grade and I love the feeling of helping others succeed. Unfortunately, I do not feel that way when it comes to learn and serve, I dont feel that it benefits me because I am not teaching or doing, just watching.


I hope that in the future I can get some great teachers that I can learn from!!
reflecting back to this post now 20hours of service later, i regret saying a lot of what I did. Yes I did stick out like a sore thumb every time I went to Gaskill, but no one made me feel out of place. Everyone there was great. And if you think about it, they have to be great! some of these students come hard homelives, and the falculty needs to know how to address that, and they do. All the teachers I had the pleasure of meeting, no matter how brief, had a great outlook on the prospect of their students, which is what a lot of those kids need. They need someone to believe in them and motivate them to do great things with their future, and the falculty at gaskill do a great job of shining a light on every student's future.

Entry 5 (chapter 4)

Since we did not have class this past week, I thought I would discuss in this blog entry the importance of being able to identify children with learning disabilities in a classroom setting.

One of the important topics in chapther 4 was the discrepancy model. One major problem I have with the model is one that is touched on in the chapter; "discrepancies between IQ and achievement/performance may exist for any number of reasons; thus, this approach is really just helping us find children with 'unexplained underachievement' that may, or may not be due to a learning disability"(pg. 112)
What this quote is saying is something I agree with 100%. Even though it is very important to be able to identify an exceptional student early on, (as we learned in chapter 3) being young can also be a disadvantage. Students could have enviromental influences that cause them to not be motivated in school, not care to do well, and just flat out not care about school at all, therefore causing the teacher to believe the student is struggling with material and believe it could be a learning disability, when in reality it is just the mind set of the student not wanting to learn. This goes into what was discussed later in the chapter: "Not all children with academic problems have learning disabilities" (pg. 124) Which further supports my point that even though the model, and detecting disabilities at a young age is critical to providing the best education and support system for the child, sometimes it can be misleading.

I was told that for this post, I had to include a Podcast...which involves a webcam..which I do not have. I was told if I do not have a webcam, to include a powerpoint slide show..which I also do not have. = [
INSTEAD!! I figured I would show that I know how to include a movie by adding a sample video that came with my computer...yes, I know what you're thinking..."A sample video?" but hey!! at least I am "Tech Savay!!" YAY!! = ]

PS!!! My answer to "What is service learning?"
"Service-Learning is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities."
Yes...I googled the answer. = ] CLICK ME
why is service learning important to me?
I believe that service learning is much like what Niagara does with education majors: Learn and Serve. Because the integrates education majors into the classroom to observe, and take in the enviroment of the classroom and really see if this is the career that they want for the rest of their lives!! In a way teachers do influence their students with civic responsibility and to stregthen communities just be teaching children within the community.

Entry 4 (Chapter 3)

In class last thursday we discussed chapter 3 and the importance of early childhood intervention. My reaction to the reading is that I became very aware of how important it is to be aware of the warning signs and catch "abilities" at the earliest stages possible.

What I found the most interesting were all the studies that were conducted to evaluate the long term effects early intervention had on children. The results of those who did attend pre-school, and those who did not were astounding. Those who did partake in the study and did go to pre-school ended up with a greater percentage of going to college, landing higher paying jobs, and becoming more socially adaptive to their surroundings. Early intervention has come a long way in the past few decades and starts even before the baby is born. Pre-natal care is essential to a healthy baby!!

Class activity wise, I enjoyed going out and taking pictures, it allows everyone to express their own creativity and gives everyone a chance to stretch their legs in the middle of the 3hour class. I also really appreciated how Professor Mclaughlin took time to speak with us one on one to discuss our own personal interests and the goals we wish to accomplish etc. etc. I think that made a difference in the class. Professors in college dont typically take time away from class to sit and discuss with their students anymore, nor do they care to accomplish some sort of connection with them. I do really enjoy all the crazyness of our classroom, and the great personality and energy Shelley brings to the classroom so early in the morning!! Very inspiring for a future teacher to experience.

Here are some good websites to check out!
CEC Home page
WNY Parents

Entry 3 (chapter 9)

1) What are some special problems of gender for students with gifts?
2) How do public schools define children with gifts and talents?
3) Define and discuss the concept of twice exceptional.

1) Some problems of gender for students with gifts lie mostly within the female aspect. Many girls are forced to believe that they must conform to an accepted standard of femininity, and conforming to that standard does not allow them to be independent, risk taking, develop to their full potential, or to be assertive, and only allows slight room for competitiveness. With these factors hindering the development of a gifted student, which most times includes, determination, persistence, hard work and desire to succeed, it is very difficult for a female to succeed without following the social norm. In society females are perceived to be passive, modest, dependent, nurturing and unselfish. Due to these standards, many women are on either side of the extreme in their adult life. Meaning that most women fall under two categories; homemakers and full time career holders. This coincides with the obligation for young girls to not feed their giftedness, but to instead hide it to fit in.

2) Public schools define children with gifts and talents as "Children and youth with outstanding talent to perform, or show the potential for performing, at remarkably high levels of accomplishment when compared with others of their age, experience, or environment. These children and youth exhibit high-performance capability in intellectual, creative, and/or artistic areas, possess an unusual leadership capacity, or excel in specific academic fields. They require services or activities not ordinarily provided by the schools. Outstanding talents are present in children and youth from all cultural groups, across all economic strata, and in all areas of human endeavor." (Pg. 288)

3) Twice exceptional are children with disabilities who have gifts and talents, other wise stated as "presence of both giftedness and a learning disability." An example of a child with twice exceptionality would be one who has been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome. This child may have a difficult time communicating with his peers, but on an intellectual level, he may be years ahead of the rest of his classmates. Overall, he may need assistance with his social adaptation, regardless of his academic proficiency, even though academically he may need to be challenged more.

The reason I chose this picture is because it demonstrates multiple examples of how to teach students with different needs. It has an example of how a student can make a 3-D representation of what he may be learning in order to understand it better (the houses) it also has drawings, some black and white and others with color. This demonstrates different interpretations and how to express the student's personal understanding from what they may be learning in the classroom. And finally, it has words, which is a different expression of understanding. A certain student may correlate words with facts better than he does pictures with facts.

Entry 2 (chapter 2)

1) Identify and briefly explain the six key principles of PL 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act.
2) How did passage of PL94-142 place substantial pressure on public school systems?
YouTube
MSNBC News
Photobucket
MySpace Login

1) The six key principles of PL 94-142 are:

Zero Reject

Nondiscriminatory evaluation

Individualized education program

Least restrictive environment

Due process

Parental participation

Zero Reject can be explained by stating "all children with disabilities must be provided a free and appropriate public education."

Nondiscriminatory evaluation can be explained by stating "each student must receive a full individual examination before being placed in a special education program, with tests appropriate to the child's cultural and linguistic background."

Individualized education program can be explained by stating "an individualized education program (IEP) must be written for every student with a disability who is receiving special education. The IEP must describe the child's current performance and goals for the school year, the particular special education services to be delivered, and the procedures by which outcomes are evaluated."

Least restrictive environment can be described by stating "as much as possible, children who have disabilities must be educated with children who are not handicapped."
Due process can be described by stating "due process is a set of legal procedures to ensure the fairness of educational decisions and the accountability of both professionals and parents in making those decisions."
Parental participation can be described by stating "parents are to be included in the development of the IEP, and they have the right to access their child's educational records."
(Page 39)

2) The PL 94-142 placed substantial pressure on public school systems by demanding from the school systems, in return for their aid, "evidence that they were doing their best to help children with disabilities receive needed services."(Pg. 40) Specific provisions in the law placed substantial pressure on public school systems by demanding more from assessments, parental contact, and student evaluation than most schools had been used to. In other words, testing had become a huge influence in providing adequate evidence that the school systems were doing their best to helping out exceptional students as well as they could.

Entry 1 (chapter 1)

1) How have approaches to treating individuals with special needs changed over time?
2) What is the ecological approach?
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1) Approaches to treating individuals with special needs have changed over time in all sorts of aspects. At home, parents have become more aware, and more accepting of their special child and have become more open and willing to help them whether it be because they have disability, or an ability. Also, in the education system many states have become aware of the special funding and attention that these special students need in the classroom and are moving towards a brighter future for them all. This is being done by having specially trained teachers, and aids help special students while in school as well as giving them confidence in knowing that they are just as capable of doing any educational task as any other student. Inclusion classes help special students socially, by exposing them to other students. "More than 40 states now have some state-supported provisions for helping these younger children develop well...this social movement is called the prekindergarten movement"(Kirk et.al., pg.9) This is to prove how the government has improved the ways exceptional students are treated even before they enter their school years.

2) The ecological approach can be described in various ways: using the "ecological model" it shows how exceptional children interact in complex environmental forces (Kirk et.al., pg.15). This model demonstrates that "exceptionalities should be remediated by modifying elements in the environment to allow more constructive interactions between the individual and their environment." Another way to the approach is to take into consideration the variations of ecology, which according to the book are the "changes in the child's environment that modify activities, schedules, and structures to promote opportunities for socialization." In an overall assessment, the ecology approach can be briefly described as how outside influences, such as family, culture, peers, and their physical setting have an impact on an exceptional child.