DTT2 - DTT Task 1 - Coursework PDF

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Kevin Kling DTT2 - DTT Task 1 A. Describe the Contextual factors in my classroom My students are 7th through 9th graders. I have a total of 28 students in my special education classroom. My students are from varied ethnic and cultural backgrounds. I have 4 or 5 students that come from the Hispanic culture where at least one of the parents speak very little english. Two of those students' parents need my students to work in the evening, so the students aren’t focused on school. We have 10 students that come from city life. My remaining 14 students are from farming families. They are expected to help with chores after school. I also have 20 of my 28 students are from divorced families. However out of my 28 families, I would say 19 of them if I called them and asked for help for their student they would do it. I do have some very caring families that are involved in their kids lives. My special education students pull out students as needed. They stay in the general education classroom, and are pulled out as needed to have one on one or group time to complete work. I have 2 aides that work with me and our students. So our students always have someone in their classroom with them to assist even in the general education setting. Our students have 8 class periods with 1 extra period for lunch. Our periods are 50 minutes long. Like I said before, our kids county is a farming and manufacturing community. Parents want their kids to go to school so they can do better than their parents. We are an economically depressed community with a large Hispanic community. So most of our students are low income families. Our district is made up of 2 high schools, 2 junior highs, and 4 elementary schools. Our numbers each year slowly continue to fall. This causes some hard times when it comes to upkeep to the buildings and upgrading systems. As a school we have 48.5% of our students on free and reduced price lunches. We feed the students breakfast and lunch. If we weren’t here as a school, they probably would not eat. As a whole, the community, school, and district work hand in hand for the betterment of our teachers and students. Those students' parents who are very involved, will come in and volunteer. Our local churches bring in meals for teachers and staff quite often. The teachers and staff at our schools feel really loved and honored by working here. As teachers we feel like we have a big job to do but knowing we have the community behind us it makes our job that much easier. As a teacher I feel knowing I am appreciated makes me want to fight for our students so much more. I feel our kiddos or students feel safe here and loved. I know that they for the most part like all the staff here. Our district is very involved in providing many opportunities for our students.

Our district spends a lot of money on making sure our staff and students have the latest educational tools. They pay for us to go to workshops and professional development. We as staff feel respected and loved. Our students have all the latest technology which allows all students a chance to succeed. For our lower level students they have the technology that will read to them and allow them to speak into the device which will type up their thoughts. This allows students a better chance to succeed. The students feel that they are respected and wanted here. Our district has tried to do a lot to make our school grounds and facilities good. Our schools are in the middle of cornfields. We are a farming community and our school building is older. We don’t have all that the newer building has. They have upgraded the painting and carpets within the last year. We have also upgraded to iPads. We also have lots of groups and athletics for the students. We also have new Apple TV’s. So we have what we need to be successful. Our students are happy with what we have and so are the staff members. As a school, we just upgraded to iPads. We are trying to get our students into the 21st century. We use the iPads for everything including Google Classroom and projects. We have also upgraded from projector systems to Apple TV’s and project off those for all lessons. In my special education class, I would say that 19 sets of parents are involved in their kids' lives. They are active and if I call they will respond. Getting the parents up to date on how to use Google Classroom has been interesting. I have held workshops in the evenings to show them what we are doing in the classrooms. I also show them where to find school work so they know what has been done vs. not done. For my student, on their iPads I have downloaded text to speech and bookshare onto their devices. These two applications really enhance my students' education as they have comprehension issues. The text to speech will read each paragraph to them. The bookshare will allow them to not have to carry around books as all their books are on the iPad. This keeps them from being tired by the end of the day as they have less to carry around. We also use our Apple TV a lot so I can project in a central location so the kids can watch as we go through lessons. This allows our students to focus on a central place and not be distracted. In all, due to these three items it really helps me and helps my students to get more done. Having the iPads have been a great asset to our school. In my special education classroom I have students who have mild impairments and behavioral issues. When it comes to my students with behavioral issues (anger issues, defiant issues, refusal to do school work) we have several ways we try to work with them. First we do a lot of role playing when they are upset. When they are upset and act out then calm down, we will show them through role playing how they could have better handled the situation. We also use a behavior tracking system that through each class period we evaluate their behavior on a 0, 1, 2 scale. From there if they earn so many points per day, they can pick a prize. I want them to be able to learn through the day while also not being a distraction to the rest of the class.

My mild students use a variety of techniques to help design teaching. Most of my 7th graders are students who are lower functioning learners. Most of them do not have parents who understand their school work. Because we know this, we normally keep all school work at school (with parents permission) and we help them with their work here. We normally will cut their school work amount in half and we will work through each problem together. We let the teacher do their lessons with them, then we pull them into our room to give them one on one assistance. Most of my mild students have the text to speech application which we use in most lessons that involve reading. The text to speech will read their assignment to them so they comprehend what they are reading. When it comes to my students and accommodations we do many different things. When it comes to testing, we do small groups, allow them to use calculators, and we read aloud to them. We also give them practice tests, typed notes, we allow them to use notes on tests. We also give them tests that have answers grouped together. All these accommodations help our students feel successful as it helps them learn and grow. C.

For sources, I got all my percentages off the Indiana Department of education website at Inview.doe.in.gov...