Barger Academy of Fine Arts
April 1, 2014 9:00-12:00
I got to observe Mrs. McDill who is one of the exceptional education specialists at Barger. She serves the younger students and then there is another teacher to help with the 4th and 5th grade students. My first 30 minutes were spent with her during her planning period. I was able to talk with her about some challenges of her job, how to deal with parents, and the switch of writing IEPs from standards-based to skills-based. From the very beginning of just talking with her I could tell that she was a very relaxed teacher. Her educational philosophy focused around letting the kids be kids and not being too strict with them. The students she has in exceptional education sometimes have more intense disabilities and therefore cannot sit still very long. In her classroom she lets students get all their wiggles out as long as they are paying attention. She believes that you have to adapt it to the kids and just be silly with them. Using repetition and silly examples make learning fun for these students and helps them retain what they are learning.
Today was also picture day, so her schedule was very different from the usual morning she has. She was able to pull out two kindergarteners for ten minutes before having their picture made. Barger also uses Wilson materials and so Mrs. McDill went over the alphabet cards having the 2 students say the letter, picture, and sound. Much of my time observing this day was spent with her talking about her job and learning about accommodations she uses. Students were in and out of the classroom because of pictures and lunch schedules, so I saw a couple students for pull out for just a couple minutes each. While talking with her I also learned how passionate she was about teaching the students real life skills and not just academic standards. Since most students she helps will not go to college they needed real life abilities that they could use in a job. Repetitious jobs such as an assembly line or basic life skills like brushing teeth and going to the store are activities she talks about. She wants every child to be independent for reallife, so it’s not just all about school in her classroom. Of course she addressed the student’s IEP goals and standards, but she often incorporates these into examples and fun activities to make learning more enjoyable for the students.
I got to observe Mrs. McDill who is one of the exceptional education specialists at Barger. She serves the younger students and then there is another teacher to help with the 4th and 5th grade students. My first 30 minutes were spent with her during her planning period. I was able to talk with her about some challenges of her job, how to deal with parents, and the switch of writing IEPs from standards-based to skills-based. From the very beginning of just talking with her I could tell that she was a very relaxed teacher. Her educational philosophy focused around letting the kids be kids and not being too strict with them. The students she has in exceptional education sometimes have more intense disabilities and therefore cannot sit still very long. In her classroom she lets students get all their wiggles out as long as they are paying attention. She believes that you have to adapt it to the kids and just be silly with them. Using repetition and silly examples make learning fun for these students and helps them retain what they are learning.
Today was also picture day, so her schedule was very different from the usual morning she has. She was able to pull out two kindergarteners for ten minutes before having their picture made. Barger also uses Wilson materials and so Mrs. McDill went over the alphabet cards having the 2 students say the letter, picture, and sound. Much of my time observing this day was spent with her talking about her job and learning about accommodations she uses. Students were in and out of the classroom because of pictures and lunch schedules, so I saw a couple students for pull out for just a couple minutes each. While talking with her I also learned how passionate she was about teaching the students real life skills and not just academic standards. Since most students she helps will not go to college they needed real life abilities that they could use in a job. Repetitious jobs such as an assembly line or basic life skills like brushing teeth and going to the store are activities she talks about. She wants every child to be independent for reallife, so it’s not just all about school in her classroom. Of course she addressed the student’s IEP goals and standards, but she often incorporates these into examples and fun activities to make learning more enjoyable for the students.
April 4, 2014 9:00-12:00
My second day at Barger was also spent with Mrs. McDill doing pull out with students. Our first group was kindergarteners, then we had first grade, another group of kindergarteners, and finally two second grade students. The kindergarten and first grade students were in a resource room instead of her classroom which was something I was not expecting. All of the groups went over the Wilson alphabet cards with the letter, picture, and sound. The two 1st grade students then used iPads for manipulatives to make three-letter words. Mrs. McDill would show the students a flashcard and they would have to write one letter on each iPad. For instance, the word would be cat and student A would write c on the first iPad, student B wrote a on the second one, and student A would write t on the last iPad. This seemed like such an easy task but the two students really struggled with it. They not only had to identify the letter but recognize what sound it made. They would then touch each iPad and say the letter’s sound then smooth it out by sliding hands along all three iPads and blending the letters together to form the word. I really liked this method and she said she just started using it a few weeks ago. She tried writing it on one iPad but that did not work, among other methods. She reiterated multiple times to me how sometimes as a teacher you have to try out a method out and if it does not work try something else.
Another pull out group that she had was first grade where we practiced “juicy details!” The student brought in his airplane and they described things like color, size, what it is, where it is, and the movement. Each description was then compiled into a sentence like The green bird airplane is flying at Barger Academy. This strategy worked well for exceptional education students because they might not be able to form sentences abstractly but with their juicy details they focused on small ideas and put them into bigger ideas and sentences. For each detail they added they got to fly around the room to celebrate and release some energy. The last group I observed were two 2nd grade boys, one of whom had a traumatic brain disorder from getting hit when he was a young boy. She had to adapt many different strategies in order to prove to him that he was able to learn. She uses a light up ball to keep their attention and if they are still the ball does not light up, but when they move too much the ball lights up which cues them to calm down some. I noticed by observing her that she really adapts material to them and lets them learn by having fun so it is somewhat disguised to them.
My second day at Barger was also spent with Mrs. McDill doing pull out with students. Our first group was kindergarteners, then we had first grade, another group of kindergarteners, and finally two second grade students. The kindergarten and first grade students were in a resource room instead of her classroom which was something I was not expecting. All of the groups went over the Wilson alphabet cards with the letter, picture, and sound. The two 1st grade students then used iPads for manipulatives to make three-letter words. Mrs. McDill would show the students a flashcard and they would have to write one letter on each iPad. For instance, the word would be cat and student A would write c on the first iPad, student B wrote a on the second one, and student A would write t on the last iPad. This seemed like such an easy task but the two students really struggled with it. They not only had to identify the letter but recognize what sound it made. They would then touch each iPad and say the letter’s sound then smooth it out by sliding hands along all three iPads and blending the letters together to form the word. I really liked this method and she said she just started using it a few weeks ago. She tried writing it on one iPad but that did not work, among other methods. She reiterated multiple times to me how sometimes as a teacher you have to try out a method out and if it does not work try something else.
Another pull out group that she had was first grade where we practiced “juicy details!” The student brought in his airplane and they described things like color, size, what it is, where it is, and the movement. Each description was then compiled into a sentence like The green bird airplane is flying at Barger Academy. This strategy worked well for exceptional education students because they might not be able to form sentences abstractly but with their juicy details they focused on small ideas and put them into bigger ideas and sentences. For each detail they added they got to fly around the room to celebrate and release some energy. The last group I observed were two 2nd grade boys, one of whom had a traumatic brain disorder from getting hit when he was a young boy. She had to adapt many different strategies in order to prove to him that he was able to learn. She uses a light up ball to keep their attention and if they are still the ball does not light up, but when they move too much the ball lights up which cues them to calm down some. I noticed by observing her that she really adapts material to them and lets them learn by having fun so it is somewhat disguised to them.