Mod 2/ Unit 4 /Activity 1 Understanding Cultures and Languages

Here is my mind map chart for this project. When you do this project you have to a  summary of two different cultural groups. I have not included this but it is easy to do.

https://www.examtime.com/en-US/p/966105

Mod 2/ Unit 3 / Activity 1 VoiceThread

Here is the VoiceThread activity that myself and my partner completed.

https://voicethread.com/?#q.b5830438.i0.k0

Mod 2/Unit 3/ Activity 4

Here is my mind map for this activity

https://www.examtime.com/en-US/p/959050

I could embed it but it runs really slow on this blog.

Certification Update

Been busy for this last week there are a few blogs now with the completed activities.

Mod 2 unit 4 activity 3 ELL Planning Blog

            I’ve been an ELL instructor for the last eleven years and I think I have just about covered every type of lesson and unit you could imagine. One of my upcoming lessons will likely be on flora identification for my 5^th grade elementary school students. The objective for this unit is for the students to learn the terminology related to plants and also discuss different ecosystems. The students will be evaluated on their understanding of the parts of the plants and their ability to use the new vocabulary in a discussion or presentation.

            Any ELL teacher has to take in account which stage of language acquisition their students are in. The six stages of language acquisition as described by Judie Haynes in her article Stages of Second Language Acquisition are as follows. The first stage is Pre-production which is referred to as the silent period. In this level the student is only able to parrot language and will have a small vocabulary. The second stage is Early Production, where the learner is developing an active vocabulary and uses memorization to help them communicate. The third stage is Speech Emergence where the learner can communicate in simple phrases and sentences. The fourth stage is Intermediate Fluency where the learner has a larger vocabulary and starting to use complex sentences. The fifth and final stage is Advanced Fluency where the student is near native speaker capabilities. (Haynes, 2005)

For a student in the Pre-Production stage of language acquisition, I would obviously try to keep the activities that deal with the topic somewhat visual and use activities that invoke a TPR (total physical response). In the past, I have done nature walks where the students are given a picture check list of plants and leaves to collect (or take pictures of with the handheld devices). When the students are finished the nature walk, we return to the classroom where we go over the names of the each plant, give simple descriptions using colors, shapes and sizes. I find if we focus on the listening skills and get the student to repeat the vocabulary they tend to retain the lesson. I focus extensively on vocabulary and language development for students in this stage.

            I would say that the majority of my students are in the early production stage of language acquisition.  For this group I tend to use a very similar approach as the pre-production group. By doing hands on lessons, I find I really get a great response from my students. However, I am able to introduce more written work into the lesson plan. For this lesson, I will spend time going over the different parts of a flower and get them to label a diagram. I will also use a simple video from YouTube to help give the students a visual aid to the project.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CX2m2n2uDAE

            For students who are in the intermediate fluency stage of language acquisition I would increase the amount of reading materials the students would be responsible for. Then, through classroom discussions engage the students to relay what they have learnt from the lesson and encourage them to speak freely about their thoughts. I would also assign a group project where they collaborate together to do a presentation about a plant of their choice. They would help each other with their writing and research. As with the other groups these students also experience a nature walk but I give them more tasks to complete while on the walk, such as scientific drawings and expanding their observations to include various fauna.

            For students who are in the advanced fluency stage of language acquisition, I would allow for more independent study and basically handle their education like I would with any of my native speaking students. The students would participate in classroom discussions on the topic and present ideas. Through the discussion I would check to make sure that students have gained the skill of metacognition. Research has showed that this is an important skill for ELL students to gain in order to become proficient readers. With this topic in mind, I would seek to get the student to explore more complex ideas about plants and broaden their vocabulary. I would also get these students to experience a nature walk but their walk would be much more goal orientated. I have used an application in the past where students use it to indentify as many plants a possible and also make detailed scientific drawings of the plants. The application can be found at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bim.plant. Here is example of a lesson that I have used with students in this stage. http://www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/chiwonlee/plsc211/labmanual/lab1.PDF

References

Haynes, J. (2005, January 1). Stages of Second Language Acquisition. . Retrieved , from http://www.everythingesl.net/inservices/language_stages.php

Lee, C. W. (2011, January 1). Lab 1: Plant Indentification. . Retrieved June 10, 2014, from http://www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/chiwonlee/plsc211/labmanual/lab1.PDF

Unit 3. The Referral Process for Special Edcuation

The Referral Process at Burntwood Elementary

For this activity, I interviewed my mother who I asked to speak the variety of special needs professionals at her school. She spoke to Amanda Devlin who is the school counselor at Burntwood Elementary in Thompson, Manitoba and Terri-Lynn Ellis who is the Primary School resource teacher also at Burntwood. Below, I addressed each question paraphrasing from the discussion I had with my mother.      

Ms. Devlin has been the counselor at Burntwood for several years and Ms. Ellis is in her first year as a resource teacher. The following is a summary of the answers they provided me.  

Amanda Devlin: School Counselor at Mystery Lake District.  Currently at Burntwood Elementary

1          

            1.     How is a student identified for special education referral?

At Burntwood Elementary, we have a three level system. A level 1 student would be classified as severely disabled and usually come into the system already identified. Ex: A student who has Down’s syndrome. Level 2 or level 3 students would be classified as students who display a learning disability but would have to be identified by the system. In our school, the homeroom teacher is the first person who identifies a student for special education referral. There have been instances where parents have asked for a referral but commonly it is the homeroom teacher.

2.     Who takes responsibility for the progress of the child before and after the referral?

As mentioned, the homeroom teacher starts the referral process but once the referral is made then the responsibility moves on to the resource teacher. After that, it moves to the principal to file the paperwork so funding can be received to conduct an IEP

3.  What is the school administrations directive for special education?

The directive for our school and district is full inclusion. Students who are identified for special education and then accepted for funding receive an IEP that will include them into regular classes as much as possible. They are only in “special needs” resource rooms if the nature of their disability makes it impossible for integration. The school has several designated locations for special needs to get extra attention.

4. What provisions are made for students identified for special education?

There are a variety of provisions that are made for students identified for special education. The provisions vary from student to student but all students receive an IEP once they are accepted for funding. Also, there are goals set and about 3 to 4 times a year we have an IEP meeting to assess how the student is doing. If a student is a level 2 or 3 student with a mild learning disability they may receive what is called a curriculum based IEP which is strictly for the grade level where they are at.

 Students with a level 1 disability often have a paraprofessional present with them during the day. We also have a pickup service for some children, where the paraprofessional will go in a taxi to pick the child at their homes. Other paraprofessionals can be called in as well, such as occupational therapist, speech pathologist, psychologist, and physical therapist. Social workers are also part of the system as many of the children come from tough family situations.

5. What is the level of parent involvement in referral process and special education?

The level of parent involvement can vary. Unfortunately, in our district many of the students that we have whether they are disabled or not, come from tough family situations. We have a lot of alcoholism in our district and we see many students who come in malnourished or suffering from many other types of abuse. However, there are parents that are involved in the process and they can also apply for funding to help assist them with their children. The principal and I will assist them in this process. One more thing, before the principal can apply for funding the parents must give their permission. Nothing can be done without their permission.

Terri-Lynn Ellis: Resource Teacher at Burntwood Elementary.

1.      How do you identify a student for special education?

I am the second person in the referral process but together with the homeroom teacher we talk about the student and often we will administer several small academic tests to find out the exact weaknesses of the student. With a level 1 student we have prior knowledge of the disabilities but with other students we look for obvious signs of struggle.

2.      What are the signs of a struggling student?

In the primary system, the signs we look for are struggles with reading, writing, verbal and basic motor skills. We have a student recently who was in grade 2 but was unable to do his alphabet, his cutting skills were poor and he had very poor basic math skills.  Also, this student had very poor verbal skills and we knew that a speech pathologist would have to be a part of his program. There are a variety of other signs that we look for before we apply for funding for an IEP, so more obvious than others.

3.      Are there alternate methods of instruction tried out before referring the student for special education? If yes, what are they?

There are variety of things we will try before referring a student for special education which include making modifications to their work and trying to accommodate them by providing extra assistance or more time. However, more often than not, the homeroom teacher refers the student to me. I then schedule a meeting with the counselor and principal, where we discuss the child and get the parents involved in the process of getting funding.

Reflections

As my university has no person who is in charge of indentifying students for special needs, I reached out to my mother who is a paraprofessional at Burntwood Elementary. She referred me to several individuals who are a part of the special education department at her school.  There are several counselors and resources teachers in this district. As mentioned in my interview, the Mystery Lake district is marred by a lot of social issues. There is a large Native Canadian population in the area and unfortunately this community has more than its fair share of social problems. Many students come from abusive situations and alcoholism is rampant in the Native population in Thompson. The homeroom teachers and resource teachers have to take the lead in the referral process very often. From conversations with my mother, the school support system can very often be strained with all the extra responsibilities they take on.

Here in Korea, my experiences have been very limited with working with special needs children. I was working in a public elementary school and they once brought in a child with a “level 1” disability into my English class. For me it was not an issue and I included him as much as possible in the lesson plan. The school only included him in my class for three sessions. It is very rare that special needs children are introduced into English classes in Korea. I have only had one experience where I made a referral for special education. My first year I worked at a private academy and there was a child who I felt had Asperger’s Syndrome or some other form of Autism. I spoke to the head teacher at my school and the manager but little if nothing was done. My guess would be that the issue was swept under the rug, out of fear that the parents might remove their child from the school and the owner would be angry for the lost revenue. I continued teaching the child and made accommodations for him where I could.  In the end, I found it a very rewarding experience as the student really enjoyed my class and performed quite well. 

Unit 3 Blog post

The Role of Personalized Education

The role of personalized learning is a concept that is definitely in the forefront of a lot of conversation about education today. Although personalized learning is an idea that crosses all levels of education, it is especially important for special education. A key factor to the success of a special needs student is getting the correct education so they are able to grow as person. Personalized learning is defined as learning that adjusts the instruction so that pace of the instruction is more individualized. Also, the instruction is differentiated and it leverages student’s interests and experiences so the student’s involvement is more “personalized”. Proponents of personalized learning advocate that learning can no longer be a “one size fits all “style of education.

The aspects of personalized learning are vital to proper care for special needs students. As we see in the I.D.E.A categories, the wide range of disabilities teachers may have to encounter are great and each comes with their own set of challenges. So, to be able to personalize a student’s education we first need to know the student. We don’t just need to have an understanding of the student’s disability but also understand what the students interests are so we are able to leverage this to provide a relevant material to the student and engage them in their learning. 

As teachers we all need to be prepared to approach any topic from a variety of ways so that we are able to be more flexible to the needs of the students. Differentiated instruction is vital to being able to discover all the opportunities that students have to learn.  I find that when I have several lessons prepared for the same subjects, I am able to draw upon the one that best suits the needs of my students.

One of the routes we can take is to embrace the idea of added technology into the classroom and giving students the chance to use this technology to their advantage. Personalized learning does not require technology but to be authentic in today’s classrooms it certainly helps. We also saw in our mind mapping exercise that there are an extensive number of assistive technologies available to teachers for students dealing with disabilities. It is our duty to look for any avenue possible to help improve their lives. I find in my experience that when I am integrating technologies like Prezi into my classroom the student are much more engaged.

In tomorrow’s world, I see technology playing a larger and larger role. But, technology is no good unless effective teaching already exists. Teachers need to make sure that have good classroom management skills and also collaboration with other teachers is extremely important. Teachers need to use tools, such as online forums, chat groups, blogs, websites and communication devices like the iPhone to create a network that they can draw lessons, advice and curriculum ideas from. From my own personal experience, my coworkers at Bucheon University have been an integral part of my success as teacher and being able to personalize my lessons. 

Week Three Activity 2 & 3

This activity was pretty straight forward and not a lot to talk about. We found two PTA meetings on Youtube and made reflections on those meetings. This was an interesting activity because I am not really that familiar with PTA/PTO meetings and it was a good experience to watch how they are ran.

Not much else to report on this activity.

The second activity was video. You can check my other post for a link to the site that I used. here is the video I ended up creating. The video was on three different laws/policies regarding education.


Enjoy.

Week Three Update

So, Week three is down and moving on to week 4. Good times. I've been pretty busy doing the assignments for Teach Now, working on my Masters work and watching my beloved Chicago BlackHawks play in the playoffs. Busy Busy!

So, the first project was another infographic. We had to research statistics about our local district and they use the data to come up with a perspective on student achievement.

Here was my submission: