Spring 2010 Blog 2

In week four we talked about responsive teachers and differentiation. I am placed in a Special Education classroom and so these two things are especially important. Many of these students have situations that are different from their peers and they deal with different things such as impairments, learning disabilities, etc. A responsive teacher can react to situations and be understanding of what the students are going through. A part of this is differentiation. Many of the students that have learning disabilities did not succeed in the general education curriculum, and that is why they are placed in Special Education. Ms. Waugh does different activities with them that are at their level. This way, they do not become as frustrated and can improve more quickly. The first week I was in the classroom, the students had 10 spelling words, whereas their general education peers had 20. The students are now worked up to 15 or 20 words and are doing great with them. It took them a few weeks to not feel overwhelmed, and now they are doing well. This is a good example of being a responsive teacher as well as differentiation.

I have also witnessed other forms of being a responsive teacher. Ms. Waugh has a few students with ADHD. This means they are full of energy and loves hands-on activities. Instead of having these students do worksheets, they do other activities. To learn how to alphabetize, the students used magnetic words and took turns walking up to the board and placing their word in alphabetical order with the other words. An activity used to learn vocabulary was flashcards used with race cars. Each student had a car on the "race track" and got to move it one space for each word they got correct from the flashcards. The students loved the cars and wanted to win the race and so they put forth a lot of effort.

Like in general education, the students in special education are not all on the same levels. Ms. Waugh gave the students different stories on different levels in order to suit their own needs. They didn't know that one was harder and one was easier, they just knew they were different. This is important for the sake of the child's self-esteem. I think Ms. Waugh does a great job of this. I have never heard any student make fun of another no matter how much the student struggled. I believe this is one of the reasons the students are so successful in this special education classroom because they are not afraid to try.

Teachers who do the same thing every year, every day despite the students are not responsive. The students will not be as successful in this type of environment. Being responsive and differentiating is essential if you want ALL students to succeed.