Reflection Journal/Notebook

My notebook is organized into a 2 inch three ring binder that has separate tabs for each of the subject areas (reading, math, writing, spelling, behavior management, science and social studies). I have also included research articles on various topics, information on top apps for the iPad, websites as well as graphic organizers. Each strategy that is in the binder has a cover sheet that explains what the strategy is, the strengths and weaknesses of the strategy as well as whether or not I have implemented the strategy at this point. All of this information will be very useful during student teaching and beyond. I am not 100% sure where my placement is at this time, but I am positive this binder and the strategies that are in it will be a wonderful tool and lifesaver during student teaching.

Week 12

The response questions from this week include: What are 3 pointers you have learned using instructional strategies? Has your viewpoint of teaching changed after taking the course? How or how not?

Communication: Being able to express your opinions and thoughts with the students, parents and other professionals (in a respectful manner) helps to build a positive relationship and encourage success with your students! Use multiple strategies during lessons: most of the time using one strategy doesn't get the message or the concept across to the students, but when you incorporate several strategies the student has access to the information in a variety of different ways! Technology: Its amazing how many resources are out there to use with our students, especially when it comes to technology. The great thing about technology is that it is always changing so it is important to keep up with the changes and think about how it support our students learning!

Teaching has been a foreign concept for me since I started this program but with each semester I constantly learn about resources that help me gain the confidence and competence to be a sucessful teacher. After this class, I know that there is never one right answer and that it is a learning process. I am very excited to use these materials during my student teaching!

Week 11

The response questions from this week include: How can you prepare to address transition for students who are Deaf/Hard of Hearing? What do you think is important to students to learn as they prepare to graduate?

When discussing transition with a student I would start when they are in 7th or 8th grade and I would begin by asking questions like where do you see yourself after high school? What kind of career would you like to have? Depending on the choices available and/or the requirements, what classes would they like to take in high school that would prepare them for college or a future career? Depending on these answers that the students provide would determine on other ways to help them prepare to transition such as researching the skills necessary to be successful at a desired career and then developing those skills are a completely different step as well. But by talking with the students as well as their family helps to prepare for transitioning.

As students prepare for graduation, I think that students learn how to live independently and be self-sufficient adults. I think that this is very applicable to students that pursue a job out of high school or go to college. Students need to learn the advocacy skills as well as learning how to find answers to questions or how problem solve when stuck in a unknown situation. As a deaf educator, we can help with teaching students skills of writing checks, doing laundry, applying to schools, etc. But in my opinion, I think that it is important to also teach the students how to find the answer to these questions. If we weren't around, how would they go about solving their problem??

Week 10

The reflection questions from this week include: Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing often have difficulty socializing and making friends with their peers. How can you address this within your classroom? Communicating with parents is very important. What are some ways you can communicate with parents and is there a better way than another?

Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing can have some difficulty in socializing and making friends, which is greatly impacted by communication. Especially at a young age, kids don't have the understanding or the patience to realize the efforts in communication and how to even facilitate the communication. During lessons, I would try to do some role-playing or maybe even highlight positive social behaviors such as if a student were to help another student or attempt in communicating in a different modality. Those behaviors I would praise and highlight to other students to model great examples of social behavior in and outside of the classroom. Another way would be to have a honest discussion about certain social behaviors such as how to get someones attention, if someone uses sign how do you approach them, etc. In regards to making friends, I would try to facilitate that in free play or snack time if I had younger kiddos but with the older kiddos I would use group projects or activities to help with getting our students who are D/HH out of their shell.

In communicating with parents, I agree that it is very important to have a good relationship with the parents. A relationship that is open and trusting is very important as well. Email and phone/text seems to be the most popular way to communicate. And as of right now, I would definitely use both when communicating with my parents. In regards to phone/text, I would express to the parents that they are welcome to text me with any emergencies or questions, but if it is not an emergency they may get a response the next day.
 

Week 9

The reflection questions from this week include: If you have a student who is having trouble paying attention in his regular education class, what are some strategies you can use to help the student attend? Positive Behavior Supports or PBS is a program some districts or schools implement. Complete mini-research regarding this program. Do you think this is a beneficial program? Why or why not?

If I had a student that is having trouble with paying attention in the regular education class, I would help the general education teacher plan for some breaks where the student or students can get up and move or change to a different subject area. One strategy that I saw this year in my practicum setting is a "Dance Break" where the teacher would play some music that the students can dance to for a couple of minutes. It was optional but the students loved the chance to show off those dance skills! I think anything to keep the student engaged and motivated helps with paying attention.

In regards to the PBS program, I think that it is a great way to implement certain behavioral expectations from the students. The program is also implemented throughout all the ages (primary through secondary) which helps continue to build moral and high standards as the students grow within a school district. It helps to develop responsibility and pride in the students when they are noticed for conducting positive behavior that is targeted!

Week 8

The reflection questions from this week include What are some ways you can teach the vocabulary presented within science and social studies? How can you prepare to teach both of these subject areas?

Vocabulary is a key part of understanding concepts that are taught in science and social studies, some strategies that I would use to teach the vocabulary would be to use graphic organizers. Have a word wall or some sort of visual that the students can see the word continuously for the duration of the unit, activities where they have to manipulate the word and its definition (i.e. match the word to its definition or group the words in distinct categories). Using visuals online help as well to give the student a good visual and framework which helps the student relate it to something that they have seen before. For science vocabulary, I would try to give the students as much as real or hands-on experiences as I can. Through experiments, materials, and pictures.

When preparing to teach these subject areas, I would refer to many of the online resources available to educators as well as making sure that I thoroughly understand the concepts myself. If I need assistance or clarification to make sure that I am teaching the concept the same way that the general education teacher is, I would make time to talk to the general ed teacher and ensure we are on the same page.

Week 7

Let me preface this post with comments about last class. I was wrong about my answer to that math problem and I admit it :) so I will accept any good natured ribbing you all throw me!

The reflection questions for this week include: The authors noted the lag in development of mathematics concepts is due to delays in language development, lack of exposure to life-based problem-solving, and inadequate pre-service teacher preparation in the area of mathematics. Do you agree or disagree? Explain your answer. Do you feel prepared to teach math skills and what do you feel you need to teach?

In terms of language development, I agree that there is a lag in the development of the mathematical concepts because teachers typically don't spend the time introducing and explanation the language that used in math. I foresee the word "mean" being an issue for some students, a major reason being that there is a double meaning for the word and its concept is closely related to that of average and median, etc. I think that math as a subject tends to scare people in general, therefore some teachers may not be confident in their skills and abilities to explain mathematical concepts to students which may contribute to inadequate pre-service teacher preparation.

After teaching a couple of math lessons, I definitely feel comfortable with teaching concepts however, its a new area for me and I will always need to prepare and make sure that I truly understand the question and its process before instructing my students. I feel that I need more than one method of teaching the concept to students, especially our students who are deaf or hard of hearing. I would want to adapt to their learning style. Math is a scary subject for a lot of people, if I can find a way to make it fun and enjoyable, that's my goal!

Week 6

The reflection questions from this week include: What strategies/topics stuck in your mind from tonight's class? What information do you feel will help you in planning your instruction?

From this week's class, the topic of writing really stuck in my head. The concept of building skills to get the students to write their own responses to short answer questions. First you start with building their skills in writing letters, then have them copy sentences and words. The easiest way to get a student thinking about a response to a short answer question is to have them tell you about their answer and then have them copy down your writing, then build to having them write their own responses.
Another strategy is the Rainbow Edit, which I have actually seen in my practicum setting this semester. It is a creative idea to get the students really thinking about the writing process and the different elements of their writing.

In planning my instruction, I feel that having data about the student's learning styles and how they perceive information given to them. Differentiated instruction is the key to maintaining success in our student's education. I would also want to know how to vary instruction or use of strategy among different communication modalities.

Week 5

The reflection questions from this week include: Several approaches and suggestions were mentioned by the authors, however challenges continue to impact educating students who are D/HH. In thinking of your classroom, what components of reading and writing do you feel are important to teach and how will you teach them?

The age level for my students are a huge deciding factor for what components that I feel are important to teach. For the elementary students I would focus on phonemic awareness and phonics and start to build the vocabulary. Visual phonics activities are a great way to get the students engaged in learning phonics and building their phonemic awareness skills. In developing vocabulary, I would use a lot of visuals and help the students make sense of it using their language and things around them that can help them associate the word with its meaning. For older students, comprehension and fluency are big areas to target. Repeat readings and questioning help build these skills, readers' theater is another way to help build these skills.

There is no one right answer to what is important to teach, but it is important to provide the support in the areas that the student is struggling with as well as build their skills in the other areas. Its all about balance!

Week 4

The reflection questions from this week include: Stages of development v. Common Core Standards v. Curriculum Scope and Sequence v. hierachy of skills--Which do you think is important  when teaching students with hearing loss? What will be your focus as the student expands and progresses in skill?

 All of these factors affect the education of a student with a hearing loss. I think that it is difficult to pick one out as "important" versus the rest of the factors. I think incorporating and being mindful of the stages of development, scope and sequence, and hierarchy of skills is key to giving the students the instruction they need as well as encouraging them to build on those skills to their hearing peers. All of these "stages" are a good guideline to follow and check to see where the student is performing as compared to their hearing peers, what is the goal of the services we provide? Eventually we want our students to be as competent and efficient as independent adults as their hearing peers would be. But students with a hearing loss require differentiated instruction, which we need to keep in mind when referring to the scope and sequence or common core standards.

As the student expands and progresses in skill, I would continue to provide the services and instruction as they require it. But at the same time, I would continue to encourage and challenge the student to proceed to an academic level that reflects their hearing peers as well.

Week 3

 OK so I failed my challenge of being the first to post! I will say that I attempted last night and my internet decided not to work. So with that said I am writing this post earlier than my previous ones...some improvement! :)

The reflection questions from this week include: Educational placement for students with hearing loss has been a long debate. What are your thoughts about educating students within the "mainstream" versus in a centralized program/school? I am a big supporter for educating students in mainstream; however, the parents/families decision plays a huge factor in deciding this. The family should be informed about the options available to them and why certain programs would benefit their child. Its important to keep in mind communication modality, intervention services, socialization, interpreters, deaf education services available, etc.

How do you plan to take data? Will you take data every day vs once in a while? When is it important to take data? I would create some templates that make it easy to jot down some data in an efficient and quick manner. Depending on the type of data such as hearing aid info or behavior, I would take data daily. For other types of information such as student performance in a subject area such as reading I would spread out the data, depending on the schedule and time.

Week 2

The reflection questions from this week include: When planning for assessment of a student with hearing loss, what considerations should you keep in mind? Should you only use tests designed for this population? Why or Why not? Some considerations to keep in mind when planning for assessment are ensuring that the amplification the student has (CIs and/or Hearing aids) are functioning properly prior to assessment, making adaptions as allowed concerning the student's communication modality, what is or are the reasons for assessment, the environment, and the student's behavior. Personally I believe that we should include assessments that are normed for hearing students as well as assessments designed for D/HH students. By conducting these assessments, we can get information and data on how our students are functioning compared to their hearing peers. Just because our students have a hearing loss, doesn't mean that they are not capable of performing as well or even better than their hearing peers.

Communicating with teachers and staff is a vital part of Deaf Education. Do you think face-to-face is better or email? Why and how do you plan to communicate with staff? When introducing myself to a teachers, I would set up a meeting to talk with staff and teachers face-to-face. I feel that face-to-face interactions are more personable and allows the teachers and deaf educators to get to know each other in a friendly and non-threatening environment. The key to open communication is to let the teachers know that we are a team, we as deaf educators are here to work with the teachers. There are times that email communication is effective and appropriate, for instance quick, non immediate questions, information that is to be shared and/or when a teacher is not available to meet.
 

Week 1

The reflection questions for this week include: What have you learned about instructional strategies? What would you like to learn during this class (CSD 764-Instructional Strategies: D/HH)? To me instructional strategies are the strategies and/or plans on how to convey/teach a skill, concept and/or message to your students. This can be done in numerous ways such as interactive instruction, direct or indirect instruction, etc. There is no one right way to use instruction, you can use a variety of types of instruction in a different situations, environments, concepts, etc.

Throughout this class, I have a strong desire to learn about the different methods to teach different topics such as social studies, math, reading, etc. Behavior management was one of the skills I know that I need to improve on and develop even more in this last year of the graduate program. I am also curious of learning different instructional strategies and methods when working with children with multiple disabilities. I am extremely excited to learn and utilize these strategies in our practicum sites as well as in the "real world."

The fact that research has shown students with a hearing loss often times do not achieve higher than a 3rd grade reading level is something that has been brought up on numerous occasions. This is very unfortunate and I believe that with strong educators and a strong belief and motivation to change this statistic, we can utilize the data at our disposal to help. My plan to face this is would be to challenge and utilize the technology, resources, and assessments available to support my student's needs in the area of literacy development.