Angela Vallecorsa SPED 340 Shadow Project April 28, 2012

Observation The school where I chose to observe a special education life skills teacher was at **** Middle School; this school is in an urban setting. Inside of the life skills classroom, the first thing I noticed was the dcor of the room; tiger memorabilia and pictures were everywhere. A large shelf on one side of the room held materials for the classroom, as well as manipulative supplies. There were two adults in the classroomone teacher and one aide. There were four children in the life skills class on that particular day (all boys), but there are usually seven childrensix boys and one girl. The ages of these children range from 12-15; the grade levels are from six to eight. When I observed, the students were completing their reading lesson. Each of the students had to read the passage out loud to the teacher, and the teacher would then ask the student if he had any questions. Each week the students read a new story on Monday, and then they go on to read the story every day and follow with activities or comprehension questions. The teacher also gives a heavy focus on vocabulary, so the students are able to master the words easily. I observed the reading, comprehension, and vocabulary practice; the students then went to their gym class. The students go to gym class every day, so they are able to release energy. This helps them stay focused in their classroom for the rest of the school day. Throughout the day, some of the students are included in the general education social studies class, as well as the special classes, such as music, art, gym, home economics and computer studies.

Teaching Strategies I observed the class for the allotted time the shadow project called for and I was able to examine a few teaching strategies, as well as behavior management strategies. When the children were working, the teacher was able to explain to me first a few teaching and behavior strategies which she uses. One strategic and evidence based service she was trained in explicitly is the TEACCH program, which stands for Treatment and Education of Autistic and Related Communication-Handicapped Children (Glossary, 2012). For her life skills classroom, she uses what she learned to create in-depth visual schedules for her students to see what the day will bring. Every day the schedule is different because she balances the academic work with the life skills training. According to Snell and Brown (2011), Visual schedules are coordinated with a structured work and activity system for helping studentsgrasp answers to questions, such as the following: What task(s) will I do? How much work is required? How can I monitor my progress? When am I done? What happens next? (pg. 147) By using the TEACCH programs visual schedules with her life skills students, the students will know what is going on and will not be surprised throughout the day. At least once a week or every other week she is able to use the school van and take the children to different places within the community, such as banks, restaurants, hair salons, post offices, hospitals, and more. The teacher asks the cafeteria workers to pack two lunches when the life-skills class goes to a restaurant because if a child misbehaves, he or she would have to eat the packed lunch rather than ordering from the menu. This is one strategic self-monitoring idea for curbing bad behavior when the class visits different restaurants. Before they leave to go on their adventures, the

teacher always reviews the Tiger Tools, which is a positive behavior poster implemented as a positive behavior intervention support throughout the school. Another behavior strategy the teacher uses and likes the best is positive reinforcement. She tells her students they must do the work to get the reward. She rewards her students with candy, popcorn, movies, pizza parties; she likes to keep things extravagant because her students will see the benefits from the work they complete. This is one way the teacher is able to influence the children to stay on task and do their work on a daily basis. One way the teacher is advancing peer relationships within the classroom is through utilizing the teaching strategy of cooperative learning groups. The peer relationships blossom because of the specific ways she lets her students work together. There is a center in the back of the room specifically for reading or communicating with each other. There are four comfortable chairs facing each other in this center where the students are permitted to read or talk together in this space when it is okay with the teacher. For example, when the children take part in shared reading activities when the teacher reads aloud higher-level books, such as the fad books of the present, the students can get into their groups and then talk about what they heard and read easier books within the same topic. The cooperative groups would be working in such a way that the students would be influencing each other through their books and ideas about the topic. The best strategy the teacher uses is repeated practice. This is an element of discrete teaching trials. Schreibmans work on the elements of discrete teaching trials shows us that A discrete teaching trial consists of a concise and consistent instruction, the childs response, and a specific consequence, the nature of which is determined by the childs response (Schreibman, 2000, as cited in Snell and Brown, 2011). The teacher uses differentiated instruction in a consistent way with the repeated practice, where she emphasizes correct practice only. If the

child answers wrong, the consequence of answering that particular way would be none other than repeating what the child just answered wrong, so he or she could search for the correct answer with a bit more guidance from the teacher. One of the students had an adaptation for his disruptive behavior. He was seated away from all of the other students. When necessary, he would have a board set up in front of him which would keep him separated completely from the others within the classroom. This helps him, as well as the other students in the classroom stay on task. The teacher finds that this student has the most difficulties staying on task, so if this adaptation is in place it will help him deviate from his behavior problems. He does not have a positive behavior support plan at this time; the child is guided only by the positive behaviors influenced to him through the Tiger Tools poster. Interview I asked the appropriate questions to the teacher about the number of children who have disabilities in her class and which teaching strategies work best in her classroom; she responded with the following answers: Since my classroom is life skills, all of my students have a learning disabilityI find that most students enjoy the math manipulates (as a math strategy) the most because its just fun for themI find that being two steps ahead of the behavior problems is a good strategy to utilize when working with students who sometimes have problem behaviors. (The teacher, personal communication, April 27, 2012) She also added that as a way to keep her kids engaged and focused, she keeps consistent with her consequences and rewards. I asked the teacher what in ways she is able to support peer relationships. She replied, I like to send the students in twos or threes when they go into the

home economics room, so they are able to mingle with others, but are able to rely on one another (The teacher, personal communication, April 27, 2012). This is a good way to build companionship within the general education population, but only if the students in the life skills classroom are open to making new friends. There is a program in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, called Best Friends in BC, for regular education students to meet with students who are disabled on Sunday afternoons to participate in an activity, such as bowling, or going to get ice cream. The students in the regular education classroom seem to like hanging out with the students who have disabilities, but then outside of the program those students will not hang out with the other children. How to form peer relationships between the general education students and students who have disabilities is a hot topic at this point because educators are struggling to find ways that work. These programs are all structured and are somewhat forced, and they cannot make the students become friends. For there to be less drama and heartbreak in the classroom, the teacher went on to explain, Sometimes its better off without the regular education peers becoming friends because my students are more content, it seems (The teacher, personal communication, April 27, 2012). The teacher explained to me also about the goals on the Individualized Education Plans. The goals come directly from the PASA (Pennsylvania Alternate System of Assessment) standards book she uses, but she has to reword them according to her students needs. She showed me all of the short term objectives were the same (on a real IEP which she showed to me) as the annual goal, but the three short terms goals had different numbers working up to the annual goal of 85%. The teacher does not write academic skills or occupational therapy goals for her life skills classroom, only the social skills, job readiness, functional literacy and functional math goals.

Interpretation The most effective behavior strategy I was able to observe was the man cave. This was where a boy who had the most behavior problems sat. There was a board to blind him from the other students in the classroom, so he was able to stay on task. The board was not set up in front of him when I was there, though. I saw once that he tried to communicate with the other students and the teacher asked him right away if he wanted the man cave put up, and the child said no and got back to work. The boys parents helped to suggest this strategy to the teacher. I also observed the TEACCH strategy through the highly visual schedules the children had, as well as the schedules which were on the board. The teacher explained to me how much the children enjoy having different schedules, and the TEACCH program is extremely effective for keeping her students on task. Even though her students are not autistic, the way she uses the visual schedules is a vital benefit for the children to be successful. The teacher has been teaching for around 20 years now, so she knows which strategies work the best and which ones are not extremely effective. During the time I observed, it appeared as if I saw only strategies that worked. In this experience, I very much appreciated the input she gave me as she showed me a couple different IEPS, and explained how her life skills classroom operates.

References Glossary and Abbreviations. (2012). Retrieved from the Web April 27, 2012. http://www.goodschoolsguide.co.uk/help-and-advice/your-child-educationadvice/glossary-and-abbreviations The teacher (2012, April 27). Personal Interview. Snell, M.E., & Brown, F. (2011). Instruction of students with disabilities. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.