Blog 19 : Third Answer

• EQ 
• What techniques can an elementary special education teacher use to ensure that each child is learning?
• Answer #3 (Write in a complete sentence like a thesis statement)*
• The best technique an elementary special education teacher can use to ensure that each child is learning is making sure that the he / she knows each disability that each student has. 
• 3 details to support the answer
• If a student has difficulty learning by listening then the teacher should teach difficult vocabulary before the lesson, provide study guides / worksheets, teach them by making the student use their imagination, and provide written and oral directions. 
• If a student has difficulty expressing him or herself then the teacher should teach with graphs, photos, or other alternate forms of information sharing. Also the teachers should wait for the student to answer questions themselves instead of calling them out, provide classroom rules, and give them plenty of time to think and reflect about the lesson. 
• If a student has difficulty reading and writing then the teacher should help the student learn by accepting visuals reports, not provide long writing assignments, and allow more oral responses. Also give them the opportunity of using true or false, matching, or multiple choice worksheets, and teach the students directly and not with just worksheets. 
• Main key is to be very patient and be willing to give lots of time to a lesson and to each student to respond in their own way, rather it takes five minutes or three days.  
• The research source(s) to support your details and answer
• http://www.readingrockets.org/article/how-adapt-your-teaching-strategies-student-needs
• http://www.educationoasis.com/resources/Articles/adapting_materials.htm
• http://www.ldonline.org/article/370/
• http://education.msu.edu/te/secondary/pdf/Designing-Lessons-for-Diverse-Learners.pdf
• Concluding Sentence
• I picked this as one of my answers because it is very important that every teacher knows what type of disability he or she is about to deal with. Each disability is different and each needs different kinds of attention and ways to teach. If a teacher doesn't know how to take care of a disability then the student wouldn't be learning and then the whole teaching process is pointless. 

Blog 12 : Holiday Project Update

• It is important to consistently work on your senior project, whether it is break or we are in school.  What did you do over the break with your senior project?
•  Over winter break I was unable to attend my mentorship because the school was off for winter break too. However, my little brother was assigned homework to do over his winter break, and I was the one to sit down with him for an hour each day helping to complete his homework. Also, since my brother has special needs I needed to use some of the techniques I learned from my mentorship in order for him to learn and finish the homework. 
• What was the most important thing you learned from what you did, and why?  What was the source of what you learned?
• I learned that each student learns differently. My brother can fully learn only with the technique of hand-over-hand. But others students learn by repetition or speech. The source that I learned was a possible answer for my EQ and I was able to notice when helping my brother do his homework.   
• Your third interview will be a 10 question interview related to possible answers for your EQ. Who do you plan to talk to and why?
• I plan to interview my mentor, Jenna, because in my previous interview she was able to provide me a lot of research. I also find her interview to be the most helpful from my research so far. With the information she gave me I was able to come up with my EQ, and therefore I feel like she would be the one to help me the most with my possible answers.  

Blog 1 – Senior Final Lesson/Interview Reflection

1. What three lessons were most helpful for you to see, and why?
• The three lessons that were most helpful for me were criminal law, special ed advisor, and teaching elementary. Criminal law was helpful for me because I learned a lot about the law and the speaker had me very entertained with her activity and this helped me pay attention more to her knowledge of criminal law. With the experience I have at home with my younger brother I have decided to do my senior project on special needs children, therefore the special ed advisor presentation helped me a lot because it gave me a background of what I'm going to learn while doing my project. Lastly, teaching elementary was helpful for me because it also gave me information about children and what to expect when mentoring at school during the summer. 
2. List one thing that you learned about the senior project in interviews that will help you get off to a good start?
• One thing I learned about the senior project in interviews that will help me get off to a good start was to do my service hours right away. I learned that once I do my service hours/mentorship then I would have a handful of information ready to be used for my senior project. 
3. What topic(s) are you considering, and why?
• The topic I am considering is special ed teaching or special ed nursing. I'm considering these topics because my brother is special ed, therefore I have quite a lot of experience with how special ed children react to learning, and what kind of care parents would want their children to be in when they are sick. 
4. What EQ do you think might be interesting to consider in guiding a project like this? (Please don't worry about any sort of formula...we want this question to come from your genuine interest).
• An EQ that I think might be interesting to consider in guiding a project like this would be...
• What kind of training would a special ed nurse have to have to be more successful than others? 
• What kind of training would a special ed teacher have to do in order to teach more to the kids?
5. What are some ideas you have about finding summer mentorship?
• Having to find a summer mentorship can be quite hard for some people. It can be hard because a hand full of people still do not know what to do their senior project on and having to know right away so one can find a mentor can be quite hard and forced. Also it can be hard to find a mentorship because some topics require a harder to reach mentor than others. However, for me it was easy because I'm planning on mentoring at my brother's school while he attends summer school.