East Brainerd Primary: Kindergarten-3rd Grade
Monday, April 7, 2014
9:00-12:00
Mrs. Crabtree: Exceptional Education Teacher
Mrs. King: Special Education Inclusion
9:00-12:00
Mrs. Crabtree: Exceptional Education Teacher
Mrs. King: Special Education Inclusion
East Brainerd Primary serves
children kindergarten through third grade. For the first hour and half until
10:30 I went with Mrs. King doing inclusion in classrooms. In all three classes
we went to her primary role was to assist the student without being too much of
a distraction. We saw a 2nd grade boy, kindergarten boy, and two 3rd
grade boys. She mostly stood next to the second and third grade students
watching over their shoulder. This is what I imagined when I thought of inclusion
as she stood closely to the student and made sure they stayed on track. The
kindergarten student was relatively new to East Brainerd and is considered
legally blind. The students were working on writing their name when we got to
the classroom. Mrs. King first observed the student writing but then put her
hand over his hand to assist in writing the correct letters. She talked to him
about simple topics such as saying the alphabet, how to hold a pencil correctly,
and writing in between the lines on paper.
The kindergarten student forgot his glasses at home and Mrs. King said it was not the first time it had happened. The mother is often forgetful, so she said one of the biggest hurdles was working alongside his mother. Talking to her afterwards was very beneficial to get insights on how to work with parents of exceptional education students and what to do when they are not always willing to cooperate. Talking with Mrs. King after that classroom session was also helpful to discuss the appropriateness of IEPs. This student’s IEP focused a lot on writing, but kindergarten students do not do that much lengthy writing. She believed that there should be a revised IEP written to better fit the kindergarten student and his standards at that level. This was also a struggle she mentioned about how the IEP was written at his previous school so they did not have much say over goals and benchmarks until they revised it at the end of the school year.
The last portion of my time at the school from 10:30-12:00 was spent in the exceptional education classroom observing pull out interventions. Mrs. King first worked with three kindergarten students using alphabet cards. The students would take turns saying the letter, picture on the card, and the sound it makes. If a student said the incorrect answer she would give another student the chance to say the correct letter and sounds. After going through them once they went through the alphabet cards a second time to see how fast they could go through them. The purpose of this was to increase letter recognition frequency. The students’ time ends, they earn a sticker on their chart, and get taken back to class. I moved to Mrs. Crabtree for the last hour also using alphabet cards. Her student was a Hispanic child who primarily spoke Spanish. They practiced saying the letter, putting letters in the correct order, and blending three letter words. I observed how patient Mrs. Crabtree was and how she simplified everything for this student who spoke limited English. You can tell that she deeply cares about students and wants them to reach their most potential.
The kindergarten student forgot his glasses at home and Mrs. King said it was not the first time it had happened. The mother is often forgetful, so she said one of the biggest hurdles was working alongside his mother. Talking to her afterwards was very beneficial to get insights on how to work with parents of exceptional education students and what to do when they are not always willing to cooperate. Talking with Mrs. King after that classroom session was also helpful to discuss the appropriateness of IEPs. This student’s IEP focused a lot on writing, but kindergarten students do not do that much lengthy writing. She believed that there should be a revised IEP written to better fit the kindergarten student and his standards at that level. This was also a struggle she mentioned about how the IEP was written at his previous school so they did not have much say over goals and benchmarks until they revised it at the end of the school year.
The last portion of my time at the school from 10:30-12:00 was spent in the exceptional education classroom observing pull out interventions. Mrs. King first worked with three kindergarten students using alphabet cards. The students would take turns saying the letter, picture on the card, and the sound it makes. If a student said the incorrect answer she would give another student the chance to say the correct letter and sounds. After going through them once they went through the alphabet cards a second time to see how fast they could go through them. The purpose of this was to increase letter recognition frequency. The students’ time ends, they earn a sticker on their chart, and get taken back to class. I moved to Mrs. Crabtree for the last hour also using alphabet cards. Her student was a Hispanic child who primarily spoke Spanish. They practiced saying the letter, putting letters in the correct order, and blending three letter words. I observed how patient Mrs. Crabtree was and how she simplified everything for this student who spoke limited English. You can tell that she deeply cares about students and wants them to reach their most potential.