RUNNING HEAD: MAGLOV INTERNSHIP PROPOSAL

Internship Proposal Paper

Sara Maglov
Loyola University
ET 691 Spring 2019

Introduction
For my internship I would like to provide professional development related to Special
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Education topics to general education teacher within my schoolhouse. This learning would occur

through an online course designed to provide general education teachers of grades K-5 with an

overview of common learning and behavioral disorders and ways to address these needs in their

classrooms. Teachers will work through a combination of synchronous and asynchronous

sessions to identify students of need and develop intervention plans using data as well as design

current county issued curriculum to meet the needs of a wide-range of learners. Participants will

develop intervention plans and lessons that are immediately ready for classroom use.

Rationale

I have been a Special Educator for 10 years and I have worked in three different school

environments. Within each schoolhouse I have found there is an overwhelming need for all

teachers to have a baseline knowledge of common learning challenges and how to address them

within the classroom. Since I began in this career field the number of special education students

being included in the general education classroom has increased but there has been little done to

educate the general education teachers on meeting the needs of these students. One reason for

this is the lack of time to provide this type of professional development. During the required

inservice trainings schools are bound to the professional learning dictated by the district. As a

result, teachers must seek this type of learning on their own time and at cost to themselves.

Specifically at Vincent Farm Elementary School there are nearly 100 students with

special education supports and services included in our general education classroom rooms.

While many of the students receive a portion of their instruction outside of the general education

environment a vast majority should have their needs met by the general education teacher. A

survey completed by the staff indicates general education teachers do not feel equipped to meet

the needs of these students and desire a way to gather data to identify students for supports as
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well.

The design of the course would take into consideration the time constraints as well as

address the needs and preferences of the adult professional learner.

Learners

The target learners for this professional development course are teachers of grade K-5 at

Vincent Farm Elementary School. Participants must teach general education classes and should

have no formal special education schooling or training. Course participants require access to

GMail and Google Drive, a computer, tablet or phone with microphone and camera access as

well as an account with Zoom in order to participate in two synchronous sessions.

Objectives

At the conclusion of the course participants will be able to…

● Gather strategies, tools and practices that address the needs of students with
learning/behavioral difficulties
● Reflect on current personal teaching practices in order to identify areas of strength and
need
● Appropriately use a variety of technology tools to access content, reflect and collaborate
● Apply knowledge gained to plan effective lessons to meet the needs of a diverse group of
students

Overview of Course

Course participants will complete five modules, each lasting roughly 1 week, to address a

variety of special education topics. There will be two major assignments to complete by the

conclusion of the professional development course. The goal of the assignments is to provide

learners with ready-to-use plans and lessons for the students currently under their charge.

Module Title/Topic Overview Activities Technology Tools

Re-defining Special Explore readings and viewings *Reflection journal entry *Google Slides
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Education related to current special education * “Getting to Know You” *VoiceThread

practices and reflect on personal
beliefs and teaching practices

Data Collection Made Explore simple data collection
Easy (& Meaningful!) methods in order to make
instructional decisions. Begin
collecting data for a student in your
class.
*Reflection journal entry *Google Slides
*Analyzing Data activity
*Identify student for Response
Plan (major assignment)
*Begin data collection

Differentiation: Identify the various ways to *Reflection journal entry *Google Drive
Reaching ALL Learners provide differentiation using data *Collaborate to differentiate *Zoom or Google
and the learning styles of your county provided lesson Hangout
students. *Continue data collection

Small Group Instruction *Identify various types of small *Reflection journal *Google Slides
instructional groups and factors *Data analysis “drag & drop”
that attribute to the design of small activity *Google Forms
instructional groups. *Continue data collection for
*Analyze data in order to targeted student
determine which type of small
instructional group is most
appropriate

Addressing the WHOLE Define the term “Whole Child *Reflection Journal *Google Slides
Learner Approach” and identify ways to *Scenario analysis VoiceThread *VoiceThread
meet the needs of the “Whole *Create “Whole Child” visual *Mind Map or Mind
Child” *Analyze personal data Meister
collected and make instructional *Google Drive
plan for targeted student

Online Components

To meet the needs of busy educators, this course will occur entirely online through a

combination of synchronous and asynchronous sessions using Google Hangout. Participants are

able to access the two synchronous sessions, the first and last, remotely, and can complete

asynchronous sessions at their own pace and from anywhere. Those involved in the course will

also have exposure to such online tools as VoiceThread, Google Drive, Mind Map and Mind

Meister. Students will be required to collaborate with one another and will be encouraged to use

Google Hangout but can meet in person if it suits them.

Change
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When designing this course, it was important to consider where members of the Vincent

Farm Elementary School staff are currently and where we need to go. Using Ely’s conditions for

change and Roger’s concept on perceived attributes as a framework, I believe we have met

several of the conditions and the staff is ready for a change. Members of the staff has exhibited a

dissatisfaction with the status quo. A survey to determine professional development topics of

interest yielded favorable results for “ways to address struggling learners” and there is a lot of

conversation at grade level planning meetings related to a feeling of inadequacy in this area. This

addresses Roger’s attribute related to advantage. Teachers will be able to grow professionally and

meet the needs of their students using data driven decisions. Ely outlines that for change to occur

participants must have access to the necessary materials and time. (Ely, 1990). While Roger

argues there is a requirement of convenience as well as low-complexity. (Rogers, 2012).The

design of the course being online aids in meeting these conditions. Participants have a county-

issued laptop computer with ready access to all course requirements. Because the sessions are

online and largely asynchronous it also meets the condition of time; participants can work at their

own pace and when it suits their schedules. This course also provides incentive, another

condition of change (Ely, 1990) as it aligns to our School Progress Plan initiative that aims to

meet the needs of some of our lowest performing subgroups. The administration is consistently

looking for evidence of data driven practices to address deficit skills. The course modules are

designed to help educators learn how to reach these students and how to collect ongoing data to

support their instructional decisions. In the end, educators should be able to apply the skills they

learned in real time and will be able to collect and use real student data providing what Roger’s

refers to as observability. They will see the results and be able to continue to utilize what the

learned after completion of the fifth module.

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Conclusion

This five week course was designed to fit the schedule of busy educators and provide an

overview of special education. The use of asynchronous sessions that occur online provides a

flexible, simple way for participants to access the information at their own time and pace. The

need for change in how teachers plan and teach lower performing students is evident at Vincent

Farm Elementary and hopefully, we will be able to reach more students by first expanding the

knowledge base of some of our educators.

References

Ely, D. P. (1990). Conditions that facilitate the implementation of educational technology

Innovations. Journal of Research on Computing in Education., 23(2), 298-306. Retrieved

February 4, 2018, from https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tXQUy2l--

C427T9XLrqYNfm8KxLB3Jxu/view
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Rogers, E. M. (2012). Diffusion of Innovations (5th ed.). S.l.: Simon & Schuster,U.S.