Equipping Classroom Teachers better
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Keith McNamara
Apr 3, 2011, 10:37:34 PM4/3/11
to Foundations of Special Education 541
One of the consistent themes I've noticed in this course is the how
challenging it is to properly differentiate for the bewildering number
of possible exceptionalities that can appear in the classroom. But
many of us, especially those who are not certified or specially
trained in working with many of these exceptionalies, are often at a
loss as to how to best meet the needs of these students. It is
particularly daunting when a student has not been properly diagnosed.
As someone who works almost entirely with struggling students it is
often difficult without the benefit of formal evaluation to know
exactly what the cause of their struggles are. Trial and error
differentiation is usually the default.
But even when they are identified and provided a fully detailed IEP,
it can still be challenging to devise ways of meeting the student's
needs adequately. Much more training is needed for all teachers, not
just special education teachers, to adequately support students with
disabilities.
As has been posted here before, professional development in this area
is woefully inadequate (at least in DCPS). For those of us who work
with particular students receiving services, an over-reliance on the
expertise of their special education teacher for tips and strategies
is not enough. How can we best enable teachers with the knowledge and
skills to effectively work with certain specific disabilities? Should
resources for professional development focus on in-depth training in
certain disabilities so that teachers will be better equipped to
assist students who are already identified? Or, given the typical slow
pace of referral to special services, should resources be devoted to
equip teachers to more effectively support a wide range of potential
behavioral or learning disorders? Given impending budget constraints
for states and districts across the country, no doubt these questions
will be critical ones to ask if we are truly serious about ensuring
every student receives a "free and appropriate" education.
.
challenging it is to properly differentiate for the bewildering number
of possible exceptionalities that can appear in the classroom. But
many of us, especially those who are not certified or specially
trained in working with many of these exceptionalies, are often at a
loss as to how to best meet the needs of these students. It is
particularly daunting when a student has not been properly diagnosed.
As someone who works almost entirely with struggling students it is
often difficult without the benefit of formal evaluation to know
exactly what the cause of their struggles are. Trial and error
differentiation is usually the default.
But even when they are identified and provided a fully detailed IEP,
it can still be challenging to devise ways of meeting the student's
needs adequately. Much more training is needed for all teachers, not
just special education teachers, to adequately support students with
disabilities.
As has been posted here before, professional development in this area
is woefully inadequate (at least in DCPS). For those of us who work
with particular students receiving services, an over-reliance on the
expertise of their special education teacher for tips and strategies
is not enough. How can we best enable teachers with the knowledge and
skills to effectively work with certain specific disabilities? Should
resources for professional development focus on in-depth training in
certain disabilities so that teachers will be better equipped to
assist students who are already identified? Or, given the typical slow
pace of referral to special services, should resources be devoted to
equip teachers to more effectively support a wide range of potential
behavioral or learning disorders? Given impending budget constraints
for states and districts across the country, no doubt these questions
will be critical ones to ask if we are truly serious about ensuring
every student receives a "free and appropriate" education.
.
Drew Smith
Apr 10, 2011, 9:48:55 PM4/10/11
to Foundations of Special Education 541
Keith,
I really empathize with your post. I have had very similar
frustrations with finding best practices for all students, even those
with IEP's. I think that your proposition to "equip teachers to more
Our trainings need to be more focused on identifying issues and the
tools then needed to address those issues. I feel that this type of
teacher development would make sense financially and academically to
truly promote progress.
I really empathize with your post. I have had very similar
frustrations with finding best practices for all students, even those
with IEP's. I think that your proposition to "equip teachers to more
effectively support a wide range of potential behavioral or learning
disorders" should be the direction districts head, particularly DCPS.
Our trainings need to be more focused on identifying issues and the
tools then needed to address those issues. I feel that this type of
teacher development would make sense financially and academically to
truly promote progress.
Alida Maravi
Apr 11, 2011, 2:35:13 AM4/11/11
to Foundations of Special Education 541
Keith,
I completely agree with your concerns about the challenges of helping
our special education kids. I struggle with this every day and always
feel as if I am "treading water" with my kids with exceptionalities -
sometimes we have good days and others we have bad days both
academically and behaviorally. Although I only have 1 child that is
officially identified and has an IEP, I have a couple others with
exceptionalities that just have not been identified or went through
the process to be told that their academic deficiencies can be
attributed to factors other than an exceptionality and therefore they
cannot receive special education services. I think that you are right
in saying that more resources and professional development are needed
in order for us to ensure as much academic progress as possible. Even
a document compiled with the descriptions of different types of
exceptionalities, behavioral and academic indicators of each
exceptionality and concrete tips about how to differentiate for
students with each exceptionality would be helpful. That way if a
student didn't have an IEP, we could still use such a manual to guide
our instruction. A lot of times I feel like the reason our schools or
DCPS doesn't provide adequate training to ALL teachers for teaching
children with exceptionalities is that there is such a wide range of
possible exceptionalities that they almost don't know where to begin
especially with students that have such diverse needs. I think
perhaps having one professional development day dedicated to
professional development on how to differentiate for all learners
would be useful. I would suggest that smaller workshops be held for
each type or related types of exceptionalities. That way, teachers
could attend more in depth trainings that would help him or her with
the actual exceptionalities in his or her classroom. These workshops
could be provided for several or all schools in the district since
there may only be a handful of teachers at a school that have MR
students, for example, but in the whole district there are several
more. I think this would save the district money because instead of
trying to provide the same PD to each school, educators across the
district could come to one larger PD broken up into smaller
workshops. This would be a perfect example of differentiation for
teachers that have such different professional development needs for
their particular classrooms.
I completely agree with your concerns about the challenges of helping
our special education kids. I struggle with this every day and always
feel as if I am "treading water" with my kids with exceptionalities -
sometimes we have good days and others we have bad days both
academically and behaviorally. Although I only have 1 child that is
officially identified and has an IEP, I have a couple others with
exceptionalities that just have not been identified or went through
the process to be told that their academic deficiencies can be
attributed to factors other than an exceptionality and therefore they
cannot receive special education services. I think that you are right
in saying that more resources and professional development are needed
in order for us to ensure as much academic progress as possible. Even
a document compiled with the descriptions of different types of
exceptionalities, behavioral and academic indicators of each
exceptionality and concrete tips about how to differentiate for
students with each exceptionality would be helpful. That way if a
student didn't have an IEP, we could still use such a manual to guide
our instruction. A lot of times I feel like the reason our schools or
DCPS doesn't provide adequate training to ALL teachers for teaching
children with exceptionalities is that there is such a wide range of
possible exceptionalities that they almost don't know where to begin
especially with students that have such diverse needs. I think
perhaps having one professional development day dedicated to
professional development on how to differentiate for all learners
would be useful. I would suggest that smaller workshops be held for
each type or related types of exceptionalities. That way, teachers
could attend more in depth trainings that would help him or her with
the actual exceptionalities in his or her classroom. These workshops
could be provided for several or all schools in the district since
there may only be a handful of teachers at a school that have MR
students, for example, but in the whole district there are several
more. I think this would save the district money because instead of
trying to provide the same PD to each school, educators across the
district could come to one larger PD broken up into smaller
workshops. This would be a perfect example of differentiation for
teachers that have such different professional development needs for
their particular classrooms.
Amanda Washington
Apr 11, 2011, 7:47:21 PM4/11/11
to Foundations of Special Education 541
Keith,
I completely agree with and appreciate your post. I think that there
should be specialized instruction for teachers who are wrorking with
the highest needs students. I find myself often very frustrated that
I seem to be working with some of the highest needs children in my
school, however, am not adequately trained to teach these children.
In my opinion, it seems that special needs children are often put off
as a burden as opposed to a group of students who should receive the
highest level of attention. Teachers who are either new or not as
experienced are paired with the special needs children and they become
an isolated group within the DCPS classroom (or atleast in my
school). To tadequately and effectively educate and differentiate for
the special needs child, there should be a prerequisite seperate from
teaching general education.
In my opinion a certain number of PD hours specifically related to
differentiation and modification and high level of experience in the
general education classroom should be implemented for all those
wishing to teach students with special needs. Without this, I think
that our special needs students are being underserved.
I completely agree with and appreciate your post. I think that there
should be specialized instruction for teachers who are wrorking with
the highest needs students. I find myself often very frustrated that
I seem to be working with some of the highest needs children in my
school, however, am not adequately trained to teach these children.
In my opinion, it seems that special needs children are often put off
as a burden as opposed to a group of students who should receive the
highest level of attention. Teachers who are either new or not as
experienced are paired with the special needs children and they become
an isolated group within the DCPS classroom (or atleast in my
school). To tadequately and effectively educate and differentiate for
the special needs child, there should be a prerequisite seperate from
teaching general education.
In my opinion a certain number of PD hours specifically related to
differentiation and modification and high level of experience in the
general education classroom should be implemented for all those
wishing to teach students with special needs. Without this, I think
that our special needs students are being underserved.
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