Shannon Creedon

CEC Standards 1, 6, &7

Initial Preparation Standard 1: Learner Development and Individual

Learning Differences
Beginning special education professionals understand how exceptionalities may
interact with development and learning and use this knowledge to provide
meaningful and challenging learning experiences for individuals with
exceptionalities.
Key Elements
1.1 Beginning special education professionals understand how language, culture,
and family background influence the learning of individuals with exceptionalities.
1.2 Beginning special education professionals use understanding of development
and individual differences to respond to the needs of individuals with
exceptionalities.

Throughout my education at Wheelock College and Boston University, I have taken

many courses that reiterate the importance of understanding the cultures of my future students.

This understanding is crucial because it gives educators a better background about what is

influencing the learning that is happening in their classroom by their students. Although most of

the time as a special educator you are working on similar goals with students, it is important to

remember that those students each learn in a unique way. This standard states that educators

must provide enriching and meaningful learning experiences for students which is a goal I have

been working on since I took my first class my freshman year of college.

A theory that has influenced me about the individual learning differences that my future

students will have is Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences. This theory explains

how a person can be intelligent in many ways. The different types of ways that people can show

their intelligences are musical, bodily-kinesthetic, logical-mathematical, linguistic, spatial,

interpersonal, intrapersonal, and nature (Gardner, 1993). When learning about this theory, it put

into perspective about how important it is for instruction to include all of these types of

intelligences so that you are reaching every student.

 A reading that influenced me with this topic was Explicit Instruction by Anita Archer and

Charles A. Hughes (2011). This book gave me the lesson plan format that I use which includes

the format of I do, we do, you do. This is when I do the activity that the students will be doing

myself, then we do the activity together, then they go off and do the activity by themselves. This

format is really great for all students because it gives the students a way to visually see the

activity, then the can kinesthetically do the activity, and then they are able to go off and do the

activity on their own.

The first piece of evidence that proves I have met this standard is my final paper that I

wrote for my Racial and Cultural Identities class (artifact 1.1). This paper was a reflection on an

interview that I conducted on myself at the beginning of the semester. I asked myself many

different questions that related to race and cultures and then at the end of the semester I reflected

on this interview. I feel that this paper shows how I have met this standard because it shows what

kind of reflection that I am capable of. Reflection is key to fully understanding student’s cultures

and family backgrounds because they are most likely going to be much different than your own

but knowing that and being able to reflect on it is a critical skill.

The second piece of evidence that proves that I have met this standard is a research paper

that I wrote for my Children with Special Needs course (artifact 8.1). The paper that I wrote was

on Art Therapy and how it helps students with autism. This research paper supports this standard

because it shows that I will be able to conduct research on different types of instruction that may

help students succeed in the classroom. Making sure that each student is getting the appropriate

and fitting instruction for them is going to be my top priority in my classroom. No student should

feel as though they are not fully understanding the concepts and I want to make sure I am giving

each student a full opportunity to be successful.

 The third piece of evidence that proves that I have met this standard is a brochure that I

did for my Intro to Special Education course (artifact 8.2). The brochure that I made was about

word walls and the importance of having them in your classroom. This research that I conducted

gave me a more in depth understanding of the importance of word walls and how to structure

them so that the students in the classroom are developing skills to utilize the world around them.

This artifact shows that I have proved this standard by showing how I am able to incorporate

something small like word walls into my classroom and strategically use it for students learning.

Having knowledge on strategies like this shows how I will be able to help students conceptualize

knowledge that is being instructed to them in a useful and productive way. Overall I think that I

have met this standard due to my ability to research and implement meaningful instructional

strategies.

Initial Preparation Standard 6: Professional Learning and Ethical Practice

Beginning special education professionals use foundational knowledge of the field
and their professional ethical principles and practice standards to inform special
education practice, to engage in lifelong learning, and to advance the profession.
Key Elements
6.1 Beginning special education professionals use professional ethical principles
and professional practice standards to guide their practice.
6.2 Beginning special education professionals understand how foundational
knowledge and current issues influence professional practice.
6.3 Beginning special education professionals understand that diversity is a part of
families, cultures, and schools, and that complex human issues can interact with
the delivery of special education services.
6.4 Beginning special education professionals understand the significance of
lifelong learning and participate in professional activities and learning
communities.
6.5 Beginning special education professionals advance the profession by engaging
in activities such as advocacy and mentoring.
6.6 Beginning special education professionals provide guidance and direction to
paraeducators, tutors, and volunteers

To me this standard means that as an educator, we have to remember that our students

come from all different cultural backgrounds and we need to be mindful of how that can effect

some students learning. We as educators also need to be open-minded about how we are always
learning so that we can better ourselves as people and as educators. This standard means a lot to

me because I have believed since the day I started my journey to be an educator that all students

deserve an education that is going to help them succeed. No matter what the student has going on

in their lives they deserve and they have the right to get the correct supports so that they can

excel in their lives.

A book that has influenced me greatly is Yardsticks by Chip Wood (2007). This book

discusses how understanding children’s development is crucial to being able to efficiently

instruct students. Wood believes that the better that educators understand children’s development

he better instructors they will be for children (Wood, 2007). He states that in most curriculums

there’s not a lot of variation of ways that children can learn (Wood, 2007). This book influenced

me to continuously think about how I am incorporating different types of intelligences in to each

of the lessons that I teach through the future curriculums that I receive.

A different book that has influenced my thinking about this standard is Grant Wiggins

and Jay McTighe’s book Understanding by Design (2005). This book talks about how an

important part of teaching is reflection. This standard talks about how it is important that as

teachers you are constantly learning and improving just like the students so that they can get the

best instruction. That is essentially what Wiggins and McTighe’s book is saying as well. They

discuss how teachers need to make sure that they are consistently reflecting so that they can

improve their instruction and scaffold student’s success.

The first piece of evidence that I have that proves I have met this standard is a social

justice lesson that I planned my sophomore year of college (artifact 1.2). For this social justice

lesson, I decided I was going to look at a history book and after we had a few lessons on what

really happened when Christopher Columbus came to America. We were going to look at how
the history book framed Christopher Columbus in a heroic way even though he was not a hero.

This proves that I have met this standard because this lesson just starts a conversation about

racism and how it grew throughout our country since it was founded. Being able to start

conversations like this when children are so young is so important to the development of their

ideas about the world. Knowing that different people go through different things shows that I am

understanding and hopefully will help me grow a bond with each of my students.

The second piece of evidence that I have is a character education lesson that I made for

my students while in my full time practicum (artifact 9.1). This book was about bullying a new

student but it did not have any words, it was just illustrations. The students were able to look at

the pictures and know what is going on. IT was amazing to see how these students could look at

the different emotions that the characters had and know exactly what they were feeling. This

lesson proves that I meet this standard because it shows that I am able to guide a lesson about a

tough subject by just using a picture book with no words. It shows that I care enough to talk to

students about something that can be really awful for people and how I am on their side no

matter what. Bullying can be a big factor to students not doing well in school and it is important

to address that with students directly.

The last piece of evidence that I have is a lesson that I did with 4th graders and their 2nd

grade buddies this year. We all gathered in one classroom and got with our buddies. When we

did, we started to do research on one influential person of color. We found a picture of that

person and then the two of them together found when the person was born, what they were

known for, and a famous quote that they had. These portraits and facts were going to be hung up

in the hallway so that everyone who passed by could see them. This shows that I have met this

standard because I know that people of color go through so much more than people who are
white, and the students of color often feel out of place at school when they are surrounded by so

many white students. That is why it felt important to fill the halls with influential people of color

so that those students could see that not only are there so many amazing people of color, that

their peers and their teachers know and respect these people just as much as they respect them.

Having the inclusivity of race is so important for students of color to succeed. Over I believe that

I have met this standard through different social justice lessons that include me vocalizing that

everyone has different cultures but we all come together in school and in life and repsect each

other.

Initial Preparation Standard 7: Collaboration

Beginning special education professionals collaborate with families, other
educators, related service providers, individuals with exceptionalities, and
personnel from community agencies in culturally responsive ways to address the
needs of individuals with exceptionalities across a range of learning experiences.
Key Elements
7.1 Beginning special education professionals use the theory and elements of
effective collaboration. 7.2 Beginning special education professionals serve as a
collaborative resource to colleagues.
7.3 Beginning special education professionals use collaboration to promote the
well being of individuals with exceptionalities across a wide range of settings and
collaborators.

This standard to me means that as a future special educator having foundational

knowledge and the ability to collaborate with other professional so that you can both bring

meaningful learning strategies as well as other foundational knowledge. When you are a special

educator you are lucky to have so many people in your realm that can help you by either

supporting the students on your case load as well as being able to discuss and collaborate with

other teachers in the school. Having the advantage of collaborating with other professionals gives

students the opportunity to have more meaningful learning experiences because of the influx of

ideas coming from each individual planning lessons. Being able to effectively collaborate with
others at work gives educators a better idea about how current issues and foundational

knowledge can influence professional practices as well.

Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory (Paquette &Ryan, n.d) has influenced my

thinking on collaboration greatly. Bronfenbrenner talked about all the different systems in a

person’s life and how every system in crucial to their development. It made me reflect and

remember that being able to collaborate with student’s families and other professionals in their

life is key so that they can see how each of these different systems still come together. These

systems collaborate so that the student can get the best education through both school and home.

If the parents and teachers are staying in touch the learning that is happening at school can be

extended at home which is immensely beneficial for all students.

A reading that has influenced my understanding of collaboration is Knackendoffel,

Dettmer, and Thurstons book called Collaboration, Consultation, and Teamwork for Students

with Special Needs (2017). This book discusses the important of collaboration, consultation, and

teamwork and how those three concepts benefit students greatly. They discuss that collaboration

is key for all students but especially students with special needs (2017). The authors explicitly

states that the more collaboration that is happening the better instruction students are getting

(2017). They say this because having different types of professionals and also many different

people with different experiences and ideas can come up with great ways to engage and scaffold

students learning rather than planning and instructing by just using what you know (2017). Being

able to incorporate collaborative ideas in the classroom can profit students immensely.

The first piece of evidence that I have that proves that I met this standard is a consultation

project that I did (artifact 7.2). This collaboration project allowed me to talk with a different

teacher in my school that was struggling with a student’s behaviors. We sat down and talked
about the student’s behaviors and I was able to take some time to take data on this student. After

I took the data, we sat down and looked for patterns together and we brainstormed different ideas

that may help this student succeed behaviorally in the future. This project proves that I meet this

standard because it shows how I am able to successfully collaborate with other professionals. It

also shows that I am able to both listen to others ideas as well as give my own ideas in a way that

is productive and respectful.

The second piece of evidence that proves I have met this standard is a collaboration

project that I did with two of my peers (artifact 10.1). This collaboration project had the three of

us look at a case study of a student who was on an IEP and has a diagnosis of autism. We were

then supposed to discuss the overview of the student, what the students present performance is,

their strengths, needs, how we will monitor his progress, what related services that he needs, his

behavior plan, and what he will need in his transition plan. The three of us collaborated and took

time to discuss each of these things so that we were all in agreement about what was best for the

student. This project proves that I met this standard because I was able to effectively collaborate

with my peers to make sure that the student in the case study was receiving everything that he

needed to be successful during his transition to middle school. Being able to effectively

collaborate is crucial to being a special education teacher because when making IEP’s you need

to be able to voice your ideas as well as listen to others ideas.

The third piece of evidence that I have is a staff development project that I did for my

Parent and Professional Collaboration course (artifact 10.2). This staff development project was

made so that we could research a different strategy to use in our classrooms that could help

improve either behaviors or academic success. The strategy that I decided to study was Positive

Behavioral Supports and Interventions. I made a PowerPoint on this subject that discussed how
to use these types of interventions and supports in a school system. This proves that I have met

this standard by showing that I am constantly trying to stay up to date on the latest types of

interventions and supports so that my future students are getting the best possible supports and

resources that they need to be successful. Overall, I believe that I met this standard by showing

how I am capable of successful collaboration as well as educating myself and others on different

types of interventions and supports there are for students.

 References

Archer, A. L., & Hughes, C. A. (2011). Explicit Instruction. New York City, New York:
Guilford Publications.
Gardner, H. (1993). Multiple Intelligences: The theory in Practice. New York: Basic Books.
Knackendoffel, A., Dettmer, P., & Thurston, L.P. (2017). Collaboration, Consultation, and
Teamwork for Students with Special Needs. New York, NY: Pearson.
Paquette, D., & Ryan, J. (n.d.). Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory. Retrieved from
floridahealth.gov: http://www.floridahealth.gov/AlternateSites/CMS-
Kids/providers/early_steps/training/documents/bronfenbrenners_ecological.pdf
Wiggins, G. P., & McTighe, J. (2008). Understanding by design. Alexandria, VA: Association
for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Wood, C. (2007). Yardsticks. Turner Falls: Northeast Foundation for Children.
Is Knackendoffel, Dettmer, and Thurstons book called Collaboration, Consultation, and
Teamwork for Students with Special Needs (2017).