Special Education Practices and Procedures (EDU-6730)

            I recently completed the graduate class Special Education Practices and Procedures.  The guiding question for this class was: How can special education support the inclusion of students with disabilities?  I did not actually attend this class because it was held during school hours and this did make the class a little more challenging. 

However, for this class I spent time working within my own school as a special education graduate student.  I spent time working with students within first grade and students outside of my grade level.  I performed assessments, one on one instruction, small group instruction, and supported students within the general classroom setting.  I also helped teachers with accommodations and modifications for their classrooms.  I worked with a special educator in my school, and she helped to guide me and answer any questions that came up.  In addition to these tasks, I participated in my school’s PBIS team and worked with different behavior management tools.

A lot of the tasks I performed were already things I had completed within my job as a first grade teacher.  However, I did enjoy working with students outside of my grade level and seeing what other accommodations and modifications were being used in other classrooms.

Another aspect of this class was learning about Individualized Education Plans.  I have read many IEPs as a teacher, but this was the first time I had created my own.  None of the students on my supervising teacher’s caseload were up for re-evaluation, so I got to choose which student I wanted to write an IEP for.  I chose a student I had in my first grade class, but now she is currently in third grade.  Through this class, I had the opportunity to work with her again.  I used her previous IEP, the observations I completed, and evaluations I had done with her.  Using all of this information, I created my own IEP.  My special educator offered guidance, and I found it to be a very beneficial learning experience.

As a graduate student in this class, I was required to complete a literature review each week.  The professor assigned the topic of the literature review, but we were able to choose the articles we wanted to use.  This allowed me to look at the area of special education from different viewpoints.  It also gave me ideas to use with my own students, and got me thinking about obstacles I might face as a special educator.

Overall, I enjoyed the time I spent working within special education at my own school.  I do feel like I missed out because I was not able to attend the actual classes.  These would have been helpful when designing my own IEP and for learning other important details about being a special educator.