General Education Teacher Interview

1.
Samantha Salazar
2/27/15
Teachers name: *************
Subject taught: Accelerated/Advanced Placement English
Grade level: *********
Name of school: Moscow High School
School address: 402 E. 5th Street, Moscow, ID
School phone number: (208) 882-2591
Name of school district: Moscow School District

2. Please describe your role as a general education teacher in referring a student to special
education?
My role is to provide interventions for struggling students, record the impact of those
interventions and forward names of students to the RTI team for further review.
Expansion One:
Because I've had very little experience with having exceptional students in the general
education classroom, I had a lot to learn about the role of a teacher in referrals. I had no idea
about how referrals, interventions, or testing worked until I read about Evaluation and
Eligibility Determination in the second chapter. In order to receive specialized services, a child
must have a disability that requires a modification in instruction. The child must receive a MFE
(multifactored evaluation) as requested by the parent or suggested by an educator, and the
parents must be notified of the intent to test. This seems like a pretty solid method to evaluate a
student, but it is flawed due to the over representation of culturally and linguistically diverse
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students. On page 53 of our textbook, there is a graph that shows risk ratios of race/ethnic
groups and their categorization of disability according to IDEA. The graph shows that from the
average of all categories, American Indian/ Alaska Native and African American children have
the highest representation of disabilities. The main problem with this is that the over
representation of these races is often due to stigmas, meaning that they were wrongly placed in
special education. I never really thought about how race could effect a student's likeliness to be
in special education. I thought that more modifications would be given in the general
classroom, like a bilingual teacher helping a foreign student translate work and learn English
rather than just placing the child in the resource room and have them continue to struggle.
3. How do you keep parents informed about the possibility of referring their child to special
education?
I let parents know about the students struggles, interventions Ive provided. I let the special
education teacher notify parents of concerns or possible testing.

4. Please describe interventions you have tried in your classroom before referring a student
to special education.
Preferential seating, shortened assignments, additional notes, copies of assignments to take
home, modified assignments, graphic organizers, differentiated rubrics, audio books.

5. Would you please describe your role on the evaluation team (or the team that determines
if the student is eligible for special education services)?
I provide the team with student grades, data from classroom interventions and observations.

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6. Once the student is eligible to receive special education services, please describe how you
prepare for an Individual Education Program/Plan (IEP) meeting?
I show up with a current grade report. I plan on complying with all accommodations. I report
on the students progress and accommodations I have made to help him/her achieve this
progress.

7. Describe your role in special education once the student is on an IEP?

My job is to comply with all accommodations on the IEP, keep confidential information to
myself and communicate with the special education teacher about student progress or needs.
Expansion Two:
I never took the time to really think about a general educator's role in assisting with an
IEP. In fact, I had no idea what an IEP was or how it functioned. I had this clarified in Chapter
2, which explained what this form was and how it provided the teachers of the exceptional
student the goals and accommodations necessary for the student to make progress. As Rachel
described, she has to be accountable for confidentiality, IEP goal completion, and goal changes.
I think this is a lot to handle, but with the help of a special education teacher, this job could be
much easier. I think that teacher partnerships could be very useful in a situation like this. As we
talked about in lecture today (2/24/15 Emotional Disturbances), the pairing of a general teacher
and a specialized instructor could really balance out the classroom setting. An educator with
knowledge of exceptional children would be right there to answer any questions or concerns
(especially if you haven't had much experience with them), and better yet, there would be more
flexibility in class for both disabled and average students to get help when they need it.
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8. How many students with special needs do you currently have in your classroom and
what types of disabilities do they have?
Due to confidentiality laws, I cannot answer this question.

9. What modifications or accommodations are you currently providing or have previously

provided for students with special needs in your classroom?
Due to confidentiality laws, I cannot answer this question.

Expansion Three:
In chapter 2 of our textbook we learned about providing special education students with
an inclusive education. This means putting them into the general education classroom as often
as appropriate. This is crucial because social development is one of the most important aspects
of attending school, and the loss or delay of skills critical to verbal and nonverbal
communication is detrimental to their future. It is more effective for a child to improve their
social skills through interactions with their same age peers. I would have liked to learn more
about the process of inclusion from the perspective of a general education English teacher, but
aside from that I learned a great deal about the subject in class. When I was in high school, most
of the kids with moderate to severe forms of intellectual and learning disabilities were always in
the resource room. These exceptional students were often bullied when put in an environment
outside of that room (lunch time for example) because my peers would see a student that they've
never seen before acting in a strange way they haven't been exposed to. I feel like if inclusion
was implemented more in my high school, we would have gained a great deal of understanding

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from having an exceptional student in the classroom like in Peter's case (the in-class video of a
downs syndrome student).
10. As a beginning teacher what advice can you give me about special education?
Be very aware of all accommodations on a students IEP, keep written records of all
accommodations you have made and student progress and keep a clear line of communication
open with the special education teacher. Also remember that the accommodations are in the
students best interest, not yours.
11. Does having kids in special education in the classroom affect the atmosphere of the
students learning?
No. And if it does, then its my fault, and I better fix it. Students dont usually know who is on
an IEP (if the student is on for learning disabilities). They may notice if a parapro offers more
help or takes them out of the room to take a test, but otherwise, no. The expectations are that they
do the same work as everyone else (just with accommodations), and therefore they shouldnt
draw attention. Once in a while someone will notice and complain that the other student has
easier work. Quite frankly, I tell them everyone has something they need help on, including
them, and then I move on. I dont spend time discussing it. When Ive had severely disabled
students, the regular education students are usually very compassionate and helpful.

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