Friday 17 February 2012

Group Presentation - Chapter 11

Below is a copy of the presentation my group made on Chapter 11, "Evaluating Student Learning"


Class 9 - Friday, February 17th 2012

Tonight my group presented our presentation on Chapter 11, "Evaluating Student Learning".  My group did well and I was happy with the way we were able to present our chapter.  I felt that the students were attentive and receptive to the information we had to share.  Our group dynamic helped us a lot and I felt that everyone pulled their weight and contributed to a truly collaborative project.

The final presentation was done in a TV talk-show format.  This was an interesting way of presenting the information, however I felt that it perhaps went a little long and didn't involve enough chances for the audience to work together or discuss new information.  It was like watching a show, and not being involved in a presentation.

Thursday 16 February 2012

Class 8 - Thursday, February 16th 2012

Tonight we had the first two group presentations.  The first presentation was on differentiated instruction. I felt that this group did well, giving a lot of practical ideas and seemed to know the topic thoroughly.  The visit to Natalie's classroom was a nice way to show how differentiated instruction is achieved in a classroom environment.

The second presentation on independent learning had a lot of group discussions and the audience was involved throughout the evening.

Tuesday 14 February 2012

Class 7 - Tuesday, February 14th 2012

For today's class, we did a jigsaw activity on 5 different case studies:

Case 1
Teddy (Grade 3)
Problem:  spelling accurately
Intervention:  direct instruction, tested on taught/untaught words.
Result:  Increased weekly scores to 65% after 13 weeks.

Case 2
Jody
Problem:  was given reading probes for abc's and phonics, level quite low
Intervention:  was given a Tier 2 intervention with daily testing.
Result:  Successful

Case 3
Megan (Grade 5)
Problem:  spelling problems
Intervention:  tried copy-cover-say-spell method and phonetics.
Result:  Teacher found that phonetics  was the more successful method.

Case 4
Lilly (Grade 4)
Problem:  reading disability
Intervention:  Tier 1 - observation and testing, Tier 2 - 2 methods of reading help tried but failed.  Tier 3 - recommended for special education reading class.
Result:  unknown

Case 5
Gavin (Grade 7)
Problem:  reading problem
Intervention:  testing found he was a slow reader and comprehender but understood meanings.
Result:  tests demonstrated that Gavin did not require special education.

After the case studies, we worked in our groups to prepare for our presentations on Thursday and Friday.

Monday 13 February 2012

Class 6 - Monday, February 13th 2012

For tonight's class we worked on the practice quizzes for the early chapters.  It was heartening to see that most of the replies that I had were the same as my partner's.  We also took some time to work in our group and touch base on our presentation.

Some names that came up in our discussions tonight were:

Psychology of Learning:

1.  Lev Vygotsky
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lev_Vygotsky
www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html 

2.  B.F. Skinner
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._F._Skinner 
www.nndb.com/people/297/000022231/

3.  Howard Gardner
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_multiple_intelligences

4.  K. Anders Ericcson - cognitive psychologist - expert on expertise
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K._Anders_Ericsson


Saturday 11 February 2012

Video Response Sheet - Misunderstood Minds

Misunderstood Minds is a 2002 PBS documentary on children with learning disabilities.  It followed the stories of five adolescents, from the point of them learning about their disability and their reactions to this news, to a follow-up months later to see how their treatments have gone.

Detailed information on the five subjects can be found at:  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/misunderstoodminds/

The documentary can also be viewed on YouTube at:


Questions:


1.  Hearing the term "misunderstood minds" makes you think of what possible learning and social problems?

The term leads me to think of people with problems such as dyslexia, bipolar disorder, aspergers, ADHD, and autism.


2.  Understanding kids who struggle to learn takes what skills on the part of teachers?


A teacher would needs skills such as patience and understanding at first to help the student adjust to the classroom.  For instruction, the teacher would need to have skills in differentiated instruction to ensure that the learner's needs are being met.


3.  What learning specialists do you know who could assist you with those with learning problems?

In our school, we have a counsellor to assist students with learning problems so they could be my first port of call.  


4.  View the video and identify the various learning difficulties that are described.  List these and as well list any strategies you are informed about.

Nathan V - Phonemic awareness - placed in school resource room and given tasks and strategies to tap his strong verbal skills to compensate for his reading difficulties.  He achieved a perfect score on his grade four standardised test.


Lauren - Attention Deficit Disorders - was placed on medication which she described as being able to keep her in tune without changing her personality.


Sarah Lee - Expressive Language Deficiency - was prescribed a full and ongoing language immersion program.  


Adam - difficulty decoding words


Nathan S - Attention Deficit Disorder - enrolled in military school and was excelling.  

5.  Write a brief evaluation of the video, "Misunderstood Minds"

I found this video to be useful to see how students saw their learning disabilities in their own words.  The frustration that the parents and the students felt before any answers were known, and the relief they felt after a diagnosis was quite interesting, and this showed me that parents are looking for an answer to the problem.  

Class 5 - Saturday, February 11th 2012

In our class today, we spent time working on our group presentations.  Our group did further research on our individual content areas and we collaborated using our Google Presentation.  This tool has come in quite handy as it allows group members to work on a joint document in real time.

In the afternoon we looked at a video called "Misunderstood Minds".  This film is about children with different learning disabilities.  A video response post to "Misunderstood Minds" will follow.

Notes taken during the day
  • Least Restrictive Environment => regular classroom.  By law, each town and city must have in place a service plan so that any one of them can be included.
  • Parents could be interested in having their child placed in a specialized environment but school could say no due to budgeting costs.  Having kids placed is a major cost to school districts.  Having schools take on inclusion is an economic idea to save money for school districts.  More placements in-school have replaced out-of-school (private settings).  Parents can resist the school’s plan.  Can be handled with mediation.  Parents have the right to accept or reject the plan.
  • Page 8 – Influences on Current Special Education Practices – given economic times, the fact is that to  support SPED is maybe in some people’s eyes undercutting support of other things.  Who is going to support it?  Fed or State govt?  City or town?  All of these are arguing there is not enough money to go around, and priorities.  Daily occurrence in the US.  By law, SPED has to be supported or funded.  Maybe not to the level people would like.  The more severe the disability, the more dollars the town/city will receive.
  • IFSP - Individual Family Service Plan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

  • Consent - parents have the right to reject or to accept, to certain elements or everything in an IEP.   

Friday 10 February 2012

Class 4 - Friday, February 10th 2012

In tonight's class we used a jigsaw activity to analyse some case studies from the textbook.  We talked about the case study in small groups, then went back to our project group members and explained to them the different case studies we each had.  

Jigsaw activities are helpful in trying to cover a lot of material in a short period of time and are something that I use from time to time in my classroom.  

A few other terms that came up in tonight's class were:

Whole Language Curriculum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_language)


A helpful website that we were introduced to was the What Works? Clearninghouse
(http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/)



Thursday 9 February 2012

Life Without Limbs



Watching the "Extraordinary People" video reminded me of a guest speaker we had at our school in 2011, Nick Vujicic.  Nick is quite a well known person in Taiwan, due to his speaking tours and the translation of his autobiography into Chinese.  To have him speak to our students was quite a coup, as his speaking tours had sold out in Taipei city.  I was amazed at the reaction our students had after his hour long talk.  Many came away with a different perspective on their lives.

http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/


Video Response Sheet - Extraordinary People

We watched the PBS Frontline program's investigation into thalidomide babies, "Extraordinary People", tonight in class.  Before answering the questions from the response sheet, I wanted to briefly sum up my notes taken during the video.

Notes

Thalidomide, a "wonder drug that went wrong", was given to pregnant women in Europe, Australia, Japan and Canada in the early 1960's.  It was a popular drug at the time as it eased problems associated with pregnancy such as morning sickness, and as a sleeping pill.  However, babies were being born without arms or legs, or died because of organs not being formed properly.  As many as 5,000 children were born with these symptoms in Germany, and many were left in institutions run by the German government, or abandoned.

Initially, doctors tried to fit these patients with artificial limbs but the patients were not in favour.  Many thought that the limbs were for the benefit of everyone else (so that they seemed "normal") and not for the patients themselves.

A question that was raised at the time was where these children would be educated - in schools for the handicapped or given a normal education.

One of the people interviewed, an American called Alvin Law, recounted how his grade school opposed his enrolment.  After much negotiation, he was finally accepted into his school.

Germany provided better compensation and assistance for their nationals born with thalidomide than Canada did.

Questions


1.  For you, what is the significance of the title of this video?

I think the title highlights the trials and hardships that the men in the video had to surmount to be accepted in society as full members.  One thing that struck me was the good-humor that most of the men had about their situations.  They didn't seem to see themselves as being "extraordinary" but the ways in which they had overcome a lot of their difficulties would no doubt strike able-bodied individuals as "extraordinary".


2.  What reaction do you have in regards to the message(s) of this video?

One of my reactions to this video is that despite these men having been born with a disability that may affect their mobility, they would no doubt be able to participate in regular schools academically.  The argument for including students with these types of disabilities has been strengthened in my mind by watching this film.  


3.  Describe how you and/or your school could use this video?

I think many of my students think that they have big problems in their life and don't often think about those who have to overcome such hardships from an early age, and come out the other end with such a bright outlook on life.  I would hope that by watching this video my students would take two messages:  that the people in the video have overcome adversities with a positive attitude, and that having a disability doesn't mean that someone can't function normally in society.


Class 3 - Thursday, February 9th 2012


Tonight we discussed the field of special education and the different issues that are addressed in each chapter of the textbook.  We touched briefly on the current main issues of each of the chapters.

Two websites that were mentioned tonight that were of interest are as follows:


  1. http://nichcy.org/ - National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities.  This helpful website contains a lot of information on helping children with disabilities, as well as information on disability laws in the US.
  2. http://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/ - The Iris Center.  This website contains many free online interactive resources to assist educating those with special needs.
We concluded the lesson by watching the film "Extraordinary People".  A video reflection post will follow.




Wednesday 8 February 2012

Group Work

Once our groups were announced, we created a Google document to share information easily among our members.  This type of interaction was helpful as it provided a central point to post links to things we thought could be interesting and helpful when planning our presentation.  Some of the links provided so far include:



Tuesday 7 February 2012

Class 2 - Tuesday, February 7th 2012

Special Education in Taipei

Tonight's class started with a guest speaker, Mr. Uwe Maurer.  Mr. Maurer is a former principal of Morrison Academy and now works with a support group for people with disabilities, including with local elementary schools in Taipei, Taiwan Sunshine.  Mr. Maurer has three children, and his middle child was born with Cri du Chat syndrome, often called Cat's Cry syndrome.  He gave us a lot of first-hand information on the special education situation in Taipei.  He said that there were three main types of special education outlets in Taipei:

1.  There are four large special education schools in Taipei:

  1. Tianmu School for the Mentally Handicapped (about 300 students)
  2. Wenshan Special Education School near the zoo in Muzha (about 300 students, K-12)
  3. A school for the hearing impaired in Zhongshan/Wanhua district 
  4. A school for the visually impaired in Tianmu (about 200 students)
2.  There are about 1-2 public schools in each district in Taipei with better special education programs.  He mentioned that Jingmei Elementary School has a well-equipped special education program with about 40-45 students.

3.  Regular local elementary schools are supposed to have special education classes but if the school is too small, then they won't offer such a class and send the students to another nearby school.  He mentioned that Guting Elementary School is such a school.  They have a special education classroom with 1 teacher and 2 assistants.  He said that the classroom was for those who aren't able to function in the regular classroom.  He also said that there were about 1000 students in self-contained elementary school special education classes in Taipei (excluding special schools), and about 10,000 students in resource room / learning support classrooms.

One interesting point I took away from the talk was that his thoughts on the quality of services available for therapy in Taiwan.  He thought that the physical, occupational and speech therapy provided in Taiwan was better than that in the U.S.   

Mr. Maurer also gave us some useful pointers about working (not dealing) with parents of special needs children.  He said that he thought there were 3 general parent responses from parents with a child with a disability.  
  1. Victim Mentality - those parents who feel that the world has crashed around them and feel that nothing is going to work anymore.
  2. Crusaders - parents take on the disability as a cause and their entire life revolves around being an advocate for their child.  
  3. The middle of the previous two.  
He described what his day involved and asked us to remember that parents of children with disabilities are constantly exhausted, and to keep that in mind when "dealing" with parents.  

I found hearing a first hand perspective to be an invaluable learning tool.  Reading from the textbook about the U.S. situation made me often think about what it would be like for a parent of a child with physical disabilities in Taiwan.  Mr. Maurer was an inspiring speaker and this passion for the topic was truly great to see.

Research Interest 1 - Special Education in Taipei City

Department of Education ─ Special Education:

● General Information

More emphasis will be given to student’s potential development and abilities to overcome obstacles when an educational system is more fully developed. The purpose of promoting special education is not only to respect each student’s rights for education and create the most appropriate learning environment, but more importantly, it is to have everyone make use of his or her special gift and talent.
Special education schools and classes are classified as follows:
1. Students with disabilities:
(1) Pre-school education: a total of 15 schools and 19
classes; a total of 133 schools offering 435 classes for inclusive education.
(2) Elementary school: All schools offer resource classes for students of all levels; a total of 41 schools offering 103 self-sufficient special education classes for students with mental disabilities; 9 schools for students with hearing impairment; and 4 schools for students with visual impairment.
(3) Junior high school: All schools offer resource classes for students of all levels; a total of 21 schools offering 45 self-sufficient special education classes for students with mental disabilities; 4 schools offer to students with hearing impairment and 5 schools for students with visual impairment.
(4) Vocational high school: All schools offer resource classes and a total of 11 schools offering 29 general vocational skills classes.
(5) There are 4 special education schools, offering a total of 169 classes.
(6) There are 6 Special Education Resource Centers for students with mental/psychological disabilities.
2. Gifted and talented:
(1) Elementary school: a total of 37 schools offering 70 gifted classes, 3 schools offering 9 music classes and 2 schools each offering 6 art and dance classes.
(2) Junior high school: a total of 12 schools offering 12 gifted classes, 2 schools offering 4 music classes, 4 schools offering 8 art classes and 2 schools each offering 4 dance classes.
(3) High school: a total of 14 schools offering 60 gifted classes, 3 schools offering 9 art classes, 1 school offering 3 drama classes and 2 schools, each offering 6 music and dance classes.
(4) There is 1 Resource Center for gifted and talented children.

● Important Measures

1. Carry out early intervention programs to look after
underprivileged children
(1) Set up the “Special Education Resource Class” at the Taipei Early Intervention Center and cooperate with social affairs and health organizations to offer early intervention services.
(2) Children receiving special education are given priority in admission to public kindergartens and a subsidy of NT$5,000 per semester is provided to those with disabilities to attend private kindergartens in order for them to receive early education.
2. Implement assessment, placement and assistance program for special education students to provide suitable guidance
Prior to every June, complete the identification of and making arrangements for pre-school, elementary school, and junior high school children needing special care including those entering senior high and vocational schools, offering them adaptive counseling.
3. Establish comprehensive support service system for special education to expand the scope of student service
(1) Besides setting up 6 resource centers for students with disabilities to assist schools in administering special education, the Department also coordinates with medical, social work, labor affairs and other private organizations to set up the support system for students with disabilities, offering them academic, living, and employment assistance. The Department also actively propels the “Operational Modes of Schools’ Special Education Group”.
(2) Set aside a generous budget, offering the various special education subsidies. Recruit special education assistants to assist teachers looking after students. Carry out social worker case management and offer transport services for students with disabilities. Expand the scope of special education services.
4. Improve schools’ barrier-free learning environment to benefit students
(1) Complete the construction of barrier-free swimming pools (upgrade completed in 107 swimming pools. Unable to carry out upgrades at 5 schools due to landscape constraints or relocation).
(2) Improve barrier-free facility to achieve 100% compliance with pertinent regulations. Construct lifts with wheel-chair, accessibility to cater to the needs of students with serious disabilities.
(3) Create an online directory of obstacle-free facilities, allowing handicapped students to get around freely.
5. Develop multifaceted education for gifted students to tap their unlimited potentials
(1) Besides setting up gifted classes for all levels of education, it is also important to incorporate the cultivation of students with special talents in creativity, leadership, and other abilities to the various curriculum and activities.
(2) Propel the “Enforcement Rules Governing the Acceleration Scheme for Gifted High School Students”, school programs for gifted students, and regional educational policies for gifted students. The goal is to infuse gifted education with an open approach that overcomes class constraints with each school operating independently.
(3) Set up the “Taipei Gifted Education Resource Center” to assist schools developing diverse activities and curriculum for gifted students.
6. Consolidate special education evaluation and on-site visits to improve service quality
(1) Besides conducting evaluations on the operations of each school’s special education group, the Department also reviews the results of specific counseling cases related to students with disabilities to gain in-depth understanding as to whether schools are offering adaptive learning services that match students’ needs.
(2) Undertake evaluations or offer on-site assistance covering the various types and levels of gifted education and policies.

● Future Prospects

1. Enhance the mechanism for the identification, placement, schooling, counseling and referral of students needing special care. Offer students suitable placement and comprehensive counseling, continuing education, employment, vocational training, nursing, and medical services.
2. Organize in-service academic staff training programs to enhance their professional competency so as to improve the quality of special education.
3. Research and develop adaptive physical education courses for students with disabilities and encourage schools to offer these students physical training to facilitate their mental and physical well-being.
4. Continue to improve campus barrier-free environment, enhance special education support service and create a quality learning environment to achieve the goal of caring education that is barrier free.

Research Interest 1 - Special Education in New Taipei City

Education Bureau, New Taipei City - Special Education Division:

Special Education Division
  1. Evaluation, placement, and educational assistance for students in special education.
  2. Subsidies, related services, and supportive services for students in special education.
  3. Promotion of a “Friendly Campus” project: guidance and student affairs, guidance for dropouts, gender equity education, and life education.
  4. Character education, model students, service learning, and volunteers in education.
  5. Law-related education, education against drugs, and crisis management in campus.
  6. Education of career development and vocational education in junior high schools.

Research Interest 1 - Special Education in Queensland



I was curious as to my home state's moves on supporting those with learning disabilities.  It appears that Queensland has something similar to IEPs, called EAPs (Education Adjustment Programs).   According to the state government's website:


The Education Adjustment Program (EAP) is a process for identifying and responding to the educational needs of students with disabilities. Adjustments are made for students with disabilities to enable them to access the curriculum, achieve curriculum outcomes and participate in school life.

The EAP supports schools to:

  • identify students (from Prep-Year 12) who meet criteria for the EAP disability categories
  • report the education adjustments they are providing to meet the teaching and learning needs of these students.

More information on Learning and Disability Support in the state of Queensland can be found at:
http://education.qld.gov.au/studentservices/learning/index.html

Specific Learning Disabilities Association Queensland is a parents group formed in Queensland that also has a lot of helpful information on supporting children with learning disabilities.   They can be found at:http://www.speld.org.au/

Research Interest 1 - Special Education in Australia and Taiwan

Disability Services : Life to Live:

I wanted to learn more about the history of special education in my home country, Australia. I found the website for Disability Services Australia to be helpful.

Monday 6 February 2012

Class 1 - Monday, February 6th 2012



Tonight was the first class in our Special Education in the Regular Classroom course.  We spent some time watching the PBS documentary, "Lives Worth Living", which documents the recent history of the disability rights movement in the United States.  Our reason for watching this film was that it covered a lot of the material from the first chapter of our textbook.  I found the film informative and moving, and was an interesting way to cover the material, holding everyone's attention.

As an Australian with very little knowledge of the history of this movement in the US, I found learning about this interesting.  The interviews they had with members of the movement brought a level of reality to the documentary, and also highlighted how recent a lot of the developments were.

One of the points that I found interesting from the beginning of the documentary was that soldiers returning from wars with disabilities were looked at very differently from those born with disabilities.  They were seen as "heroes" and the nation provided them with hospitals and centres for treatment and rehabilitation.  They were given opportunities to continue in society and provided with benefits to help them.  This treatment helped to show others with disabilities the way that they should all be treated, not just those returning from war.

The documentary also showed footage from a Geraldo Rivera investigation into the Willowbrook State School.  This footage proved to be quite shocking, the way the students were mistreated and the lack of any rehabilitation facilities to help them.  You can see a preview of the report below:



One new concept that I heard about at tonight's class was Universal Design for Learning, or UDL.  I found this website was quite useful for explaining the concepts.

We also spoke after the video about testing in special education - this topic was of interest as it the same topic that my group is going to be presenting on next week.  To help with our presentation, I found a copy of a textbook, "Assessment in Special and Inclusive Education", by John Salvia, James Ysseldyke, and Sara Bolt.  I plan to share this with my group members to see if it could be of help to us next week.