Classroom Observation and Evaluation Paper

On Friday September 19, 2008, a pre-k special-education classroom was observed at Reisterstown Elementary School. The special-education teacher was Megan Brown who works alongside a second special-education teacher Ms. Coleman. Both teachers are certified in special-education and have master's degrees in special-education. These teachers work alongside five instructional assistants who work one-on-one with the students. According to Ms. Brown, everyone works together to give these students the best education they can possibly receive. Outside services are not used or sought out, but parents are able to seek outside services on their own if they desire them. Ms. Brown is responsible for teaching two males and one female student in her afternoon class.

The morning class consisted of three males and one female student. Because the students are under seven years of age and are not required by law to be labeled with a specific learning disability, they were all labeled as being developmentally delayed. The students were identified through the Child Find Project, which I had never heard of before until now. According to the Child Find Web site, Child Find is a continuous process of public awareness activities, screening and evaluation designed to locate, identify, and quickly refer all children with disabilities and their families who need to receive early intervention, special programs, or preschool special-education services U.S. Office of Special Education Programs(2008). Testing and instructional assessment is done by the teachers and instructional assistants. Most of the individual testing and disability monitoring is conducted by the instructional assistants.

Many services provided to special-needs students of all ages at Reisterstown Elementary School. These services include occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech and language services provided by a speech and language pathologist, inclusion services, and any other service that is found on a students IEP's such as additional test time, a quiet testing location, or before and after [school tutoring. The teachers use a regular pre-k curriculum mandated by Baltimore County. The teacher uses the open-court program, which is mandated by the state of Maryland. The teacher also uses read, play, and learn which is a specialized pre-k play based curriculum The curriculum is modified and adapted as necessary for the students.

Read, Play, and Learn supports children's development in the cognitive, communications, social-emotional, and sensorimotor domains. Activities and curriculum objectives for Read, Play, and Learn are designed to enhance children's skills and encourage skill development in all four of the domains through exploration, interaction, and self-expression. Read, Play, and Learn provides pre-k and kindergarten teachers with adaptations and modifications for each of the recommended activity within each of the developmental levels. Read, Play, and Learn activities are developed to support children's problem-solving, sequential thinking, classification, and representation skills through activities that are geared to each child's developmental level, whether it is sensorimotor, functional, or symbolic. Read, Play, and Learn attempts to build children's expressive and receptive communication skills through interaction, reading, and creative expression. The variety and flexibility of the module activities allows children at all three developmental levels to enhance their skills Brookes(2008).

The funding for the special-education classroom is all from the Baltimore County School

System. This money is provided by the Maryland state government, which is mainly paid for by state tax dollars. According to Ms. Brown, the school does not receive any additional funding and does not pursue any other sources of funding. I wonder whether Ms. Brown told me the truth or not, but I have no way of knowing for sure. I was very surprised to learn that the school does not receive any outside funding for special education. If they really do not receive additional funding, I assume that they have enough money in the school budget for special-education classes and would be willing to seek additional funding if they needed it.

Ms. Brown did a terrific job interacting with the students. Ms Brown asked students a lot of questions, talked to students in fairly simple sentences, gave them a lot of compliments, played lots of music, gave praise for following directions. She made sure that they followed the rules and that the students put their puzzles away before beginning work on another one and cleaned up their trash after snack time. She was quite firm with the students, but she was not physical with the students, and she did not yell at them either. I was very pleased by this because I have seen teachers be physical with special-needs students and even yell at them. When the female student kept misbehaving and making a mess, Ms. Brown did not yell at her. Instead, Ms. Brown gently picked her up and calmly explained to her that she was making bad choices. Ms Brown went on to tell the child that she had to behave and be good because it was the right thing to do. Ms. Brown was very strict when it came to sticking with a schedule and would rush the students if they were taking too much time. When I questioned Miss Brown about it, she said that she does this to accustom the students in the habit of a routine and so that they do not spend too much time playing or goofing off. Ms. Brown also mentioned that it is very important to keep special needs students on a schedule since they will tend to waste valuable time if they are not encouraged to stay on task.

Music can be a motivating and fun way to teach all children, particularly children who have special learning needs. For children and adolescents with cerebral palsy or other cerebral and learning disorders, music strategies may be an effective way to stimulate speech development, provide organization for cognitive and motor development, and create a conducive environment for socialization and leisure pursuits. The music made a big impression to me, especially since Ms. Brown used appropriate music. She used the "Clean Up Song" when students had to put their toys away, a food song during snack time, and rhythm and motion songs during movement time.

Songs work as a mnemonic device to aid in memory and learning by organizing information into smaller chunks, making it easier to encode and retain. Some examples of musical mnemonics include learning the alphabet, the days of the week, a telephone number, or the states and capitals through song melodies or chants. Another benefit of music in teaching new concepts is linked to motivation. A child who is interested and attentive when learning a new skill is much more likely to retain the information as long term memory. In this way, music sparks children's interest in learning, and creates an optimal environment for long-term skill retention United Cerebral Palsy(2008).

Since singing and speech share lots of similarities, yet are accessed differently by the brain, music strategies can be used as a means to improve functional communication. Songs of varying lengths can increase the duration of a child's speech, while rhythm can be used as a timing cue to aid in speech pacing and intelligibility. Singing and wind instruments including whistles, recorders, and horns are also a fun way to increase breath support and oral motor strength. In the social environment, music activities are ideal for children who need more exposure or practice with peers in a motivating setting. Interactive strategies including music instruments and song games can promote social skills such as turn-taking, sharing with others, being patient for a turn or for a song to start, following directions in a group, eye contact, and cooperative play(United Cerebral Palsy(2008).

The students also see a reading specialist named Linda Love on a regular basis as well. According to Mrs. Love, her job is to support classroom teaching, and work collaboratively with Ms. Brown to implement a quality reading program. According to the International Reading Association, the role of the reading specialist is to prevent reading failure at their schools. Reading specialists are equipped to do this job because they have advanced degrees in reading. The reading specialist is required to provide expert instruction, assessment, and leadership for the reading program. Since they have advanced preparation and experience in reading, they are given the responsibility for the literacy performance of readers in general, and readers who are struggling in particular. The reading specialist also supports, supplements, and extends the teaching of the classroom teacher and collaborates with the teacher to implement a quality reading program that is research-based and able to meet the needs of students. As a reading specialist, Mrs. Lovehas specialized knowledge of assessment and diagnosis that is essential for developing, implementing, and evaluating the literacy program in general, and in designing instruction for individual students. The reading specialist can assess the reading strengths and needs of students and provide that information to classroom teachers, parents, and specialized personnel including psychologists, special educators, and speech teachers, in order to provide an effective reading program to the students International Reading Association(2008).

In the morning I was able to observe Ms. Love work one-on-one with some of the students on problem reading areas. Ms. Love spends half an hour each with the students and sometimes spends an hour working with a small group of students with similar. She had many types of different [materials for the students including flashcards, picture cards, dry erase boards, and sentence strips. Ms. Love was very patient and calm with the students. Ms. Love believes that it is very important to be patient and calm with the students, because learning a language takes a good bit of time and effort. She gave the students chocolate for doing a good job and behaving during their lesson which I did not like since I disagree with teachers giving students junk foods as rewards. Ms. Love had to deal with a behavioral problem from a male student, and put him in time out for fifteen minutes after talking to him a few times about his behavior. I liked how she used the time out method since I am a firm believer in time outs myself. After fifteen minutes, the student was calm and able to resume his work.

I was impressed by both teachers and was grateful for their generosity in answering questions. I was particularly impressed by how patient and calm they were with the students. It really did make a difference, and it helped their classrooms run a lot smoother. I was highly satisfied with I was very pleased with both classroom teachers and would happily put my own child in both of those classes. I would happily leave my child with two competent teachers who really know what they're doing and never break down under pressure. I would also recommend the school and teachers to friends, family, and neighbors. There are no changes that I would make to either classroom.

References:

U.S. Office of Special Education Programs. About Child Find. Date Accessed 9/21/2008 from: http://www.childfindidea.org/overview.htm

Brookes, Paul H. Developmental Domains. Date Accessed 9/21/2008 from: http://www.readplaylearn.com/philosophy/domains.htm

United Cerebral Palsy. Benefits of Music for Children with Special Needs: Tips for Parents and Educators. Date accessed 9/21/2008 from: http://www.ucp.org/ucp_channeldoc.cfm/1/16/98/98-98/5093

International Reading Association. Roles of the Reading Specialist. Date Accessed 9/21/2008 from http://www.readingrockets.org/article/78

Brown, Megan (personal communication, September 19, 2008)

Love, Linda (personal communication, September 19, 2008)