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Kelsey Peters

Dr. Ellis

EDUC 2301.2

Reflection Paper

I completed my observation hours at Lone Oak High School in the Special Education and

Resource classroom. Lone Oak is a warm and inviting school that makes you feel like a family.

While this school is one of the top schools in academic testing scores, this school is also very

competitive is sports, Future Farmers of America competitions, and UIL. The educators at Lone

Oak ISD not only focus on the day to day curriculum, but also maintain one on one interactions

with each student.

I had the pleasure of observing with Mr. Dexter in the nonverbal and verbal special

education classroom. While observing the class I was able to see how the students with

intellectual disabilities are integrated with the general education students and the newly updated

Life Skills curriculum is being implemented. Mr. Dexter has worked very hard to incorporate a

life skills program that includes day to day life skills for the students to learn things such as, how

to wash their clothes, cook, and clean. However he did not stop there, more than that he has

given the students a sense of self-worth an help build their self-esteem by teaching them how to

give back to the world by teaching the students about gardening and to care for animals. An

examples of this is “The Café.” This is a store that the students have created and run that sells

coffee, tea, and cookies in between classes to the other students and teachers. This allows them

to learn about money and responsibility and prepares them to have successful jobs. They also use

this opportunity as a fund raiser for their class. The funds they raise they turn around and put into
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a greenhouse project. The students’ greenhouse is an indoor and outdoor biology project that

allow the students to learn about renewable food sources. The students have used the fruits and

vegetables for cooking as well as for food for the rabbits they raise.

The rabbits is another project that Mr. Dexter implemented in partnership with the FFA

to give the students one on one interaction with the general education students. This teaches the

students value, responsibility, and nurturing. The long term value of this program is to help them

be prepared for when they become parents, because they are getting used to having to care for a

living being. The short term value comes in the form of them learning about competition,

winning and losing, trying your best, and a job well done. The students work with the general

education students while working with the rabbits. They study and learn all the parts of animals

and then focus on FFA competition. One nonverbal special education student even won Lone

Oak $11,000 at a competition in 2017 and the school was able to buy a new greenhouse and a

new rabbit house for the animals.

The lessons and skills I witnessed while observing Mr. Dexter in his classroom has

inspired me to re-think my position of these individual students and I now want to think outside

of the box of how I can incorporate some of his ideas in my classroom when I become a teacher.

In my classroom I want to strive to highlight the abilities if each individual regardless of any

limitations they might have and give them every opportunity to reach their full potential and I

want to insure to include them in as much activity as they can handle.