Observation Video on Teaching Techniques
Student’s name
Institutional affiliation
Question 1-Service Model and Learning Environment
Co-teaching is a model of instructional delivery that uses two certified teachers to teach students of varying levels of need and ability. In this English co-teaching class, Lisa and Jennifer have a shared responsibility for every student. They co-teach by sharing a room and students. For example, co-teaching is evidenced as Lisa and Jennifer walk around the class as they read out text simultaneously to their students. Another example is when they are both standing at the front of the class and addressing students at the same time. It is unclear who the generic and special needs teacher is between the two hence no student belongs to a particular teacher. Co-teaching at Herndon’s class is successful because through all phases the teachers are always talking about the individual needs of the students. At the same time, this mode of delivery is informative to the teachers as they learn from each other’s teaching strategies. In essence, co-teaching is successful because everybody realizes that they are part of the same team and they need to collaborate with each other to bridge the achievement gap in the students.
A resource room refers to a separate and unique classroom where students that have educational disabilities like learning disabilities get direct and specialized academic and instruction assistance. Here there are resource room teachers that help them with their homework and other related tasks as a group or individual. Unlike in co-teaching and resource rooms, all the students in a self-contained classroom have special needs. In co-teaching and resource rooms, learners tend to have mild disabilities. The resource room teacher has customized the space to suit the learners’ needs. For instance, the teacher decorated the room with green and blue which are calming colors that remind students of natural things such as water, grass, sky, and ocean. Additionally, the teacher has used dividers to break up the huge spaces making the room making it easy for students who want to work independently and without distractions. The physical environment of a classroom makes it conducive for learning to eliminate distortions and making modifications such as the rotating chairs and swing chairs that help keep the students calm.
A self-contained classroom is a class where all learners have the same academic requirements. The children in a self-contained class have special needs and require the help of teachers in areas of functional academics, adaptive behavior, and living skills. This instruction method is critical in ensuring learners receive high-quality education and prepare them for the ability to read, write, communicate, and behave. The types of students that are usually in a self-contained classroom are those that have special needs problems including anxiety disorders, bipolar conditions, and obsessive-compulsive disorders. The curriculum of self-contained classrooms includes letter studies, reading, and counting time. Additionally, they are also taught computer studies. The technology used to teach a self-contained class includes an asynchronous learning tool which is facilitated by the use of technology. Learners use ipads and computers to gain valuable skills. Without a doubt, it is helpful to the learners as it improves their ability to communicate.
All three types of education service delivery models play a significant role in improving their ability to communicate and function properly in the real world. The main aim advantage of employing a self-contained model is that learners get a personalized approach to learning. The main downside of this pedagogy model is that students that spend a lot of time in self-contained classrooms are at a higher increased risk of struggling socially (Aspiranti, Bebech, Ruffo, & Skinner, 2019). One disadvantage of co-teaching has to do with the lack of subject matter for the special needs teacher. On the positive side, co-teaching gives opportunities for one-to-one learning and strong modeling during class time. One advantage of resource rooms is that it has fewer distractions. The main disadvantage is the stigma and struggle that comes with being in the resource room from other students. From my standpoint, the self-contained model is the method that serves their students best because it contains students that have similar needs making it easy to coordinate their learning.
Question 2-Strategies for Teaching Exceptional Students
Accommodations and modifications are strategies used in helping students with disabilities attain their educational goals. While accommodations changes the way students access information, demonstrate learning, and participate in school activities, modifications change what the student is being taught or what they are expected to demonstrate. In essence, modifications allow for a change in the curriculum while accommodations do not (Conderman, Liberty, & DeSpain, 2017). Examples of accommodations include adjusting the amount of workload a student is expected to complete, giving extra assistance, and adding more time. Examples of modifications include presenting a student that is easily overwhelmed with one mathematics problem at a time, short breaks, or allowing students to finish their assignments from home.
Differentiated instruction is a kind of teaching strategy of providing students with the specific support they need to do their best. In essence, differentiated learning is tailoring the instruction process to meet individual needs. It is important to differentiate instruction for exceptional students because students are not the same. Each student is unique because they possess unique background knowledge, learning styles, and interests. One example of differentiated instruction in the video is classroom arrangement into centers. They provide a visual and concrete cue for students to benefit from a structured learning environment. Another example is the use of individualized and scaffolded learning tasks. In this strategy, the teacher observes what a child is interested in and then asks questions to help further students thinking.
From my viewpoint, the strategies employed for students with disabilities are helpful and go a long way in ensuring they succeed in their learning path. Without a doubt, every student is unique and as such, there is a need for more individualized approaches, particularly when dealing with children with special needs. If a student gets overwhelmed when they are given too many mathematical problems to solve at a time, then by all means the teacher should meet them at their point of need. If giving them one question at a time is the best way to go approach learning them it should be explored by all means. If such strategies can help the students perform better and improve their communication and life skills, then they should be incorporated in all schools. In the future, I plan on executing these strategies by paying attention to individual needs and developing a teaching plan for each student.
Question 3-Reflection as an Educational Professional
Overall, watching the video clips attached to this assignment was an eye-opener. It was informative and fun at the same time. I learned new concepts that I had never known about in my life including differentiating instruction, self-contained learning, and co-teaching model. One key lesson that I will take away from this assignment is that teachers should not have a general approach to learning because children are not the same. Teachers should seek to adopt a personalized approach to learning by taking time to know about the learners. This way, knowing the best way to approach instruction becomes easy. The main challenge that I see attached to being a special education teacher is the fact that one does not deal with students that are the same. So, the teacher needs to be diverse and be prepared to deal with many personalities which can be an uphill task. Some of the motivations behind wanting to work with exceptional teachers include passion and inspiration from an experience with a person with special needs. It is possible that the teacher has a relative or knows a person who is differently-abled and they have seen their struggle in attaining education. I have learned that for me to make a good teacher, I have to be all-rounded and open-minded. I also need to work on my social skills, I am to make an excellent teacher for students that have special needs.
References
Aspiranti, K. B., Bebech, A., Ruffo, B., & Skinner, C. H. (2019). Classroom management in self-contained classrooms for children with autism: Extending research on the color wheel system. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 12(1), 143-153.
Conderman, G., Liberty, L., & DeSpain, S. (2017). Understanding accommodations, modifications, and interventions. Kappa Delta Pi Record, 53(2), 70-75.
Kart, M. (2017). Teacher perceptions of resource room practices for students with visual impairments (Doctoral dissertation, The Ohio State University).
