Running Head: FIELD EXPERIENCE OBSERVATION/INTERVIEW 1

Week Three Assignment – Field Experience Observation/Interview

Janina Schrecengost

National University

ITL604 Learners and Learning

Professor Emmons

11-23-19
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Abstract

The following paper will provide a summary of the interview with Ms. Smith, a Mild/Moderate

Special Education teacher, conducted at Mira Loma Middle School. I further analyze the UDL

strategies used by the teacher and explain how and why they are used.
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Ms. Smith is a special education teacher who teaches both science and social studies. The

students she works with represents the student body, in that there are about 83% Hispanic/Latino

students, 2% African American students, 11% White students and 4% other ethnicities or mixed

students, and about 24% English Language Learners. She teaches a self-contained combo class

of 7th and 8th grade students, which, she admits, is challenging. Self contained means the students

are all in special education. She is also a collaborative teacher, which means she teams up with a

regular education teacher to teach special education and general education students together.

The student communication information system utilized by Mrs. Smith is called Q

Communications. Ms. Smith describes the system as having everything from class schedules to

grades, to standardized and health test scores. The system also allows her to access contact

information and demographics, as well as to determine any labels a student might have as well as

to view input from past teaches and administration. The system allows her to communicate with

parents as well as being able to assign the system to call home for her.

Early screening processes she is involved with are SST’s or Student Study Teams. A SST

meeting is called when a low achieving general education student is identified. The school

utilizes a tiered system of intervention. Ms. Smith stated that the process starts with in class

interventions, then progresses to intervention classes for example; a student may have a math

class and a math intervention class rather than an elective. Eventually, if a student does not show

progress they will be tested for special education. This would include a full evaluation including

an IQ test, a battery of psychological testing and academic testing including the Woodcock

Johnson IV.

Ms. Smith states that the most important legal mandates a general education teacher

should be aware of is the IEP or Individualized Education Program. Every student receiving
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special education services has an IEP and if a student arrives without one the teacher should

obtain it as quickly as possible. Slavin’s readings mention that, “the idea behind the use of IEPs

is to give everyone concerned with the education of a child with a disability an opportunity to

help formulate the child’s instructional program” (Slavin, 2018, p. 318). Ms. Smith went on to

state that aside from the obvious insight as IEP gives the teacher into the student’s disability; it is

a legal requirement that the teacher follow the accommodations and or modifications as stated in

the IEP. She stated that even though you may think them silly, failure to comply with what is in

the IEP is a serious legal offence and the school district could be sued for non-compliance.

Parents today are becoming more aware of their rights, or the rights their children have under

their IEP. This is why it is so important for general education teachers to make themselves aware

of the child’s IEP and follow it to a “T”, and especially since special education students are now

since special education students are being partially or fully included in the mainstream classroom

more frequently than before. As stated in the Spring (2018) text, “inclusion is the most

frequently used word to refer to the integration of children with disabilities into regular

classrooms (p.140) Ms. Smith recommends asking for help if, when reading the IEP, a teacher

does not fully understand it or know how to implement the accommodations or apply

modifications.

In reference to the question I asked Ms. Smith about important insights for the general

education teacher regarding issues related to common medications administered to children and

adolescents, Ms. smith stated she had knowledge or experience of very few. Most students she

comes into contact with she stated were those who were medicated for conditions such as

add/adhd. She said it is often hard to get the dosage just right and it needs to be continually

changed as the child grows. Ms. Smith described students with too much medication can appear
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very lethargic or near comatose, while a student with too little medication can appear unfocused

and hyper. Ms. Smith went on the say that by the end of the school day, the meds a student took

at the start of the day have mostly worn off. Teachers need to keep this in mind and not be

surprised to see different behavior from that student towards the end of the day. Ms. Smith also

noted that medications need to be taken consistently for any real change to occur and that if a

student has a home life which doesn’t warrant responsible daily ingestion of meds, then behavior

will be affected.

When observing Ms. Smith it was clear to see the use of UDL being implemented in her

classroom. “The idea of UDL is create materials and instructional strategies designed to meet the

needs of the broadest possible range of learners” (Slavin, 2018, p.330). She also had stated that

she uses it daily in her room for self contained students. She believes that all students need and

respond well to flexibility and more so, special education students. Ms. smith uses flexible

seating in her own classroom. She has white board tables, traditional desks, a standing table, as

well as traditional seats, and wobble chairs and bean bags. Students in her classroom are allowed

to choose where they sit but know that if they don’t follow the classroom rules then she reserves

the right move them. When it came to teaching the curriculum Ms. Smith used UDL by teaching

using multiple modalities. She proceeded to do some lecture, for auditory learners, videos and

pictures for visual learners, and hands on activities and those that require movement around the

classroom for kinesthetic learners. She said she mixes it up with at least two modalities per class

that she teaches. For summative assessments she allows her student to choose how they

showcase their knowledge. They can create a presentation, write an essay, or make a poster for

example. She tries to give 2-3 options per summative assessment and allows students to choose.
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As for UDL in the classroom where Ms. Smith co-teaches, she states it seems to vary.

She believes having more students may make it harder for the teachers to allow as much

flexibility as she does in her own classroom. Ms. Smith has been in some classes where there

appears to be no flexibility at all. However, the teacher she currently works with provides a lot of

opportunity for differences in learning styles. The teacher she co teaches with is in a science

class which Ms. Smith describes as being a hands on subject already, but compliments her co

teacher as “really showcasing that aspect.”

In response to a question of my own, “How do you teach and encourage socially

acceptable behavior in your class,” Ms. Smith responded that it comes from both direct

instruction and modeling. She revisits classroom norms a few times throughout the year. She

allows students to come up with norms and rules they feel will help them be successful, and then

they come together as a group to decide which ones they all agree upon the most. Ms. Smith did

admit to gently steering them towards norms she knows they really need to follow to be

successful. As a school she stated they follow “Habits of the Heart, Habits of the Mind”

(Learning Dispositions) and she reinforces that a lot in her classroom i.e. “What do good learners

do? What do good people do? What does good look like? What does that sound like? How can

we emulate those ourselves? She went on to explain that aside from direct instruction, daily

modeling is always needed. If she sees a student acting inappropriately she will stop the lesson

and ask them to model what right behavior looks like.

The last question I put to Ms. Smith was to ask her opinion on the impact on regular

education students of full inclusion. Ms. Smith responded that as an education specialist she

shouldn’t really respond as she did but did anyway. In her opinion, she does not agree with full

inclusion. She thinks it can be great, but not in all cases. She explained that some of her students
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are high enough learners that pushing them out into the mainstream gives them the extra nudge

needed to push themselves, whereas others are not as high and may struggle, although dig deep

and give it their best. They may not meet grade level standards but will learn a lot and their gen

education peers will too. She believes this is especially true in higher grades. Ms. Smith

continued in saying that she has some students who are reading and comprehending at pre-primer

level, and students who have don’t always make it to the bathroom on time. She has students

who are labeled as Intellectually Delayed (ID) who struggles in her self contained class much

less in the general education classroom. Ms. Smith stated that not only is it unfair to ask those

students to sit in a classroom full of grade level typically developing peers and act like they

aren’t lost, confused and frustrated, it isn’t fair to ask general education students to be held back

to the pace those students would require.

Furthermore, she states that most inclusion, including “co-teaching,” is done by pushing

untrained aides into the room and calling that support for the teacher and special education

students, which she believes is absurd. She claims even the best aides are not trained in how to

effectively support a general education teacher or very low students. So, in closing, in her

opinion, unless the collaborative class is with a general education teacher and a special education

teacher then little to no support is happening.

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References

Spring, J. (2018). American Education. New York: Routledge Publishers

Slavin, R. (2018). Educational psychology: Theory and practice (12th Edition). NY, NY:

Pearson