Introduction: For the past three years working in the education field, I have demonstrated collaborative leadership, critical thinking in addition to ethical and professional practices as a special education teacher. This teacher emphasizes the importance of these three fundamentals in the classroom everyday. Implementing alternative communication methods for students with limited communication is one example of collaborative leadership. I demonstrate critical thinking by creating individualized alternative lesson plans to develop the most effective learning environment for my students. Lastly, I demonstrate ethical and professional practices by taking responsibility of the actions of the paraprofessionals within my classroom.
Collaborative Leadership of a Special Education Teacher:
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In September, this candidate began teaching in a substantially separate classroom working with students facing a vast majority of learning disabilities. This Early Childhood Center provides students with the appropriate resources needed to achieve the utmost success. I face several challenges when trying to communicate with my students. Due to the fact that a majority of the students are diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorders including Autism Spectrum Disorders and other severe disabilities marked by communication, social and cognitive delays. As a collaborating school, this candidate took part in leading a discussion during a professional development meeting with co-workers regarding communication with students. After months of research on assistive communication methods, I launched the idea of implementing a Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) as a school wide communication
Also, the instructor reiterated that the anxiety levels of the individuals taking part in the seminar were high. He informed the professionals that the tightness or tension they felt as a result of experiencing the questions he asked parallels that of a student with learning disabilities. Noting, this is how a student with a learning disability feels on a regular bases. Teachers should be mindful of the characteristics of children with learning disabilities; they need to take this into account when providing instruction and asking questions with regard to the lesson. Another great point that was addressed, is the idea that if a person is being yelled at to provide information repeatedly their first response is to look away.
The concern is if the leadership method is effective for that particular setting. The type of leadership style my preceptor has is task-oriented. Spahr defines task-oriented leadership as, “leadership that focuses on completing a job and concentrates on tasks that have to be done, rather than who is doing them” (Spahr, 2015).
In the course of the year, due to the Peer Leadership program, I feel much more motivated. At the beginning, I was insecure and unable to carry out the responsibilities successfully. Many times I found myself out of place and expressing myself was a challenge since I did not feel confident. But I have been able to feel part of a group for the first time in a class at school. I can share with other peers and unwind more easily in front of them and out of class as well.
The overall semester definitely had its up’s and downs . As a Peer Mentor I have learned to appreciate my hardwork much more and also learned that speaking up a lot is key to key action to many things. One of my goals for the semester as a Peer Mentor was to get to know my peer mentees on a friendship level or maybe as acquaintances. That goal actually came true in a way because I only made three acquaintances only. Another goal I had throughout the semester was to go outside of my comfort zone a little, I really didn 't like to talk in front of the class.
Children with autism are to benefit more in such a setting, as there are ways to involve all students with the disorder with their peers to engage in quality education and feel comfortable. There are 10 simple ideas that teachers could integrate in the class so as to bring out the best in children with autism (Kluth, 2010). 1. Getting To Know The Learner Through The
I had the pleasure of visiting with Mrs. Cooke’s fifth grade class during my clinical experiences. Mrs. Cooke has a great rapport with her students and has very little difficult actively engaging students in learning. One of the “takeaways” from my visit references the students’ and teachers’ commitment to the principles of “The Leader in Me”. From a school-wide perspective, East Elementary School does not practice the traditional positive behavior interventions. Instead, the administration has adopted the ideals and principles behind “The Leader in Me”.
Informative Speech Preparation Outline I. INTRODUCTION A. Gain the audience’s attention: Koch states in the article Special Education in 2000 that 1.7 million disabled children were not able to attend public schools until IDEA, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, was implemented (Koch, 2000). Transition to Thesis: A high school diploma is necessary in todays life, but many students with special needs are still facing challenges to receive theirs. B. Thesis: The environment where a student is taught has a major impact on their general education, their future educational experiences, and the likelihood of graduating and continuing their education. C. Credibility Statement: After extensive research on special education and background knowledge from a Children with Exceptionalities class, I have gained the knowledge and information to inform you of the impacts of teaching special education inside of the general education classroom.
This has enhanced and further developed my perspective and understanding of different teaching pedagogies. As a teaching assistant I supported two boys with autism from year 2 to year 4. During this time I would regularly have to adapt class lesson plans to cater to their specific needs, and use a variety of multi-sensory techniques, for them to access the lesson and enhance their learning further. At present I’m working as an outreach inclusions co-ordinator for the Greenwich Support Team for Education in Primary and Secondary schools (STEPS). As an outreach co-ordinator I support 15 schools within Greenwich offering support, advice and resources to teaching staff.
In the program, there are students with learning disabilities, students with autism, nonverbal students, students with behaviors, and much more. There are students right here at CHS that have these disabilities and most students here do not understand how to interact with them. Also for those of you who are future parents, you never know what the future holds and you could have a child with disabilities. Credibility: My mom is a Special Education teacher, I have watched her teach for many years. I have also assisted with some of my moms students.
The first observation was conducted on August 30th at 9:00 a.m., while the student was participating in the special education resource room. The observation took place for a total of 25 minutes. For the duration of the observation the student was seated at a small table working one-on-one with the special education teacher. Along with the student being observed and the special education teacher, two other students, as well as, two paraprofessionals were in the special education resource room during the observation time. One student and paraprofessional were working one-on-one at a small table, while the other student was sitting in a bean bag chair reading a book.
That adage, “it takes a village...”, perfectly sums up special education. It takes the combined efforts of many educators to provide the most optimal education for the student. So be open to advice and really listen. Together, we can provide the best suited education for the child (Hallahan et al., 2012).
It is a very dominant type of leadership. Distributed leadership’s attraction in education lies in its potential to bring about school improvement (Harris, 2007). Leadership activities in the ASF development are designed to promote change in the school. Distributed leadership requires multiple levels of involvement in decision making. It extends to students and encourages student voice” (Harris 2007).
Introduction Team leadership encompasses many things. It may seem like a simple and small task, but in a real sense, it is complex and comes with responsibilities, and commonly, it determines the success of any team or a group. However, the value of teamwork should not be overemphasized considering that all organizations need individuals and personnel who are willing to share ideas, listen to others and contribute to the problem solving of any given group or a company. Team leaders should have the ability, authority, and power to analyze data and information with a team of people with a common aim and objective as well as issues. The leader should understand the dynamic patterns, the connections and relations between paramount factors in these objectives, aims and issues that help in the analysis process.
It is not possible to reach broad conclusions about all students with disabilities, and even within groupings, caution should be exercised. Distinctions between categories of disability are not absolute. There is a wide range of severity, with and without co-occurring conditions. It is necessary to consider some broad groupings of students with somewhat similar conditions to understand their needs and the services they require. Respect and understanding will be notice when children of differing disabilities and cultures play and learn together.
Individual Reflective Paper Introduction Leadership, a controversial concept, has been studied for centuries. Scholars who study leadership have argued with the insight of leadership for many decades and finally promote a wide range of understandings of it. This course “values and leadership” introduces the basic principles and concepts about leadership, and provides us with some conceptual knowledge and practical approaches to be an outstanding leaders. I chose to take this course because I am interested in the topic about leadership.