Standard #: 3.

Artifact #: 3.2

Artifact Name/Title/Description: Instructional Strategies

I have selected the Instructional Activities Assignment to demonstrate my knowledge on

how to incorporate various content areas (ex: vocabulary, survival/common signs, math, writing,
life skills, etc.) for a middle school self-contained, cross-categorical class by implementing
organized, meaningful lessons. While observing lessons taught by a special educator, the name of
each lesson, what each lesson entailed, including the objective, materials used, and the full
description of each activity was documented. For example, there was a lesson on animals and the
objective was learning the names of animals at the zoo and the materials used were packets
with pictures of animals and pencils. The students were given a packet that had pictures of the
animals at the zoo; for each picture, the students were required to draw a line to the matching
word. This standard states that beginning special education professionals understand and use
general and specialized content knowledge for teaching across curricular content areas to
individualize learning for individuals with exceptionalities. For the writing activity, the special
educator individualized the learning by giving different requirements to each student. The
advanced students repeatedly wrote their full name and addresses on a piece of lined paper. On
the other hand, the students that struggle with writing repeatedly traced the dotted letters to form
their names and the uppercase/lowercase letters of the alphabet. The standard also states that
beginning special education professionals modify general and specialized curricula to make them
accessible to individuals with exceptionalities. The special educator and speech pathologist
worked together to introduce students to the concepts of same and different. They allowed
each student to respond to the questions verbally or on their augmentative communication device
in order to modify the activity for students who were nonverbal.
My growing competence as a teacher is rapidly increasing as I observe special educators
with expertise in this field. I am picking up strategies on how to teach lessons that are
meaningful and involve hands-on activities for the students. For the activities on understanding
the meaning of the word opposite, the special educator called on each student to go up to the
board to answer each question. When educators allow each student an individual turn to answer
each question, it makes everyone feel like they are being fully included. If a student answered a
question incorrectly, he or she was allowed to try again until he or she got the answer correct so
that all of the students were able to succeed. Providing each student many opportunities for
success often results in a rise of self-esteem. When I have my own class, the skills and insights
Ive gained will certainly apply to new experiences and situations. I will be able to use the
Instructional Activities worksheet as a guide for planning lessons. The lessons from this prior
experience turned out to be successful, so it would be beneficial for a beginning special educator
to include these lessons or to include lessons that are of similarity into his or her class. I can also
use this artifact as a reference to remind myself of the strategies for activating the use of
scaffolding. In this artifact, the special educator read the historical story to the class, read the
instructions, and then the class worked together to answer the multiple choice questions. In other
words, the special educator gave first did the lecturing, then she provided the students guidance,
and then she allowed the students to collaborate and work together to complete the assignment.