Reflection Journal # 12

Describe your notebook or file box?  

My notebook is set up with a mixture of strategies to teach all the required subjects (science, math, writing, reading, social studies) and actual lessons that I would want to use in the classroom. Compiling all of these materials gave me some insight into how much knowledge is necessary to be a deaf educator and how much I still have to learn. I focused more often on strategies to teach subjects for my notebook because I wasn't sure what age group I would be serving but I did know what areas I'm not as confident in teaching yet. I really liked searching the internet for the strategies and lessons because it showed how many resources there are available to me with some looking. I also enjoyed having others describe their notebooks because I was able to get even more ideas in places that I had not thought to look at. I learned that Pintrest and teaching blogs are a great resource when looking for ideas for lessons to use in a classroom. Also, there are video teaching blogs on youtube that were a great help to me in lessons. In my notebook, there was also behavioral management strategies in my notebook to help with students and classroom management.  

Do you think this will be helpful in student teaching? Why or why not?

I absolutely think the notebook will help me during student teaching and beyond because I have many resources already available to me and know where to look for more if needed. I feel a little more prepared to go into student teaching with this notebook because no matter what level I will be teaching at, I have strategies that can be used across the spectrum.  

Journal reflection #11

What are 3 pointers you have learned in using instructional strategies?

• Resourcefulness- I have learned that you can find great ideas and teaching ideas in many different places and to not be afraid to use several resources for a different perception on a subject or of the learning needs of the student
• Collaboration- I learned from this class to collaborate with all the other teachers that you encounter. It's is okay to tap other teachers when you need help with a subject or when you are trying to pre teach a student. Also, always keep the regular education teachers informed about your projects and ideas with your student. Be  a team and get everyone together to better serve that student. 
• Creativity- For our students, we are going to have to be creative on ways to teach each individuals needs. Never be afraid to try a new idea, and don't give up on it right away if it isn't successful. Think outside the box and keep it fun for yourself and the student. 

Has your viewpoint of teaching changed after taking this course? How or how not?

My viewpoint of what it takes to be a deaf educator wasn't changed just reaffirmed. It takes a special teacher and person to do this kind of work because it will be challenging and rewarding at the same time. I feel so much more prepared for student teaching because I feel like I got a real world perspective on when it is going to take to succeed in this profession and the amount of work it is going to take, I have some great ideas and resources to take into student teaching and I can't wait to use them. 

Journal Reflection # 10

Students who are Deaf/Hard of Hearing often have difficulty socializing and making friends with their peers. How can you address this with your classroom?
The first thing that a teacher has to assess when addressing socialization of deaf and hard of hearing students is mode of communication. Do the students sign? Are they oral children? A communication barrier can be the first area needing to be addressed in your classroom. If a child signs, perhaps the mainstream classroom teacher can encourage the students to learn some signs or perhaps the deaf educator can make a point to go into the classroom and do a lesson with the students on signing. Also, encouraging the child to communicate with other classmates by saying hello or maybe encouraging them to ask questions to other students and facilitating that communication. I know that some schools have a sign club that allows the children to go after school and practice and learn signs. This is a great way to teaching deaf awareness within your school but also give the students exposure to another language. 

Communicating with parents is very important. What are some ways you can communicate with parents and is there a better way than another?
Given the amount of children we work with as opposed to other classrooms, I would think I would be more inclined to give out my cellphone number to my parents. I realize that this might extend my day into my personal time in the evening but I don't know that this can be avoided sometimes. I would also want to communicate with parents in the manner they are comfortable with be that text messaging, email, talking on the phone etc... Whatever I can do to establish and maintain that line of communication is what I will do. I would hope to have involved and active parents that are just as willing to work to make the student as successful as possible. 

Reflection Journal # 9

If you have a student who is having trouble paying attention in class, what are some strategies you can use to help the student attend?

Having trouble attending in class is something that I have a problem with too. One of the strategies that I respond to is what a teacher does before they start a lesson. If you don't hook a student right from the start you have almost no chance of holding their attention through out. One example is to use a little exercise or movement. Give the students a few minutes to do jumping jacks or stretches or dancing will up there energy levels and get their blood moving. This could help them be reenergized for the lessons to come. Another way is to tell stories to really get the student engaged then lead it into the lesson seamlessly. One of my favorite things is to peak a students interest. That can be accomplished by promising if the students work hard through the first couple of steps that the teacher will show them something really cool.  If the student gets visually distracted, it may be good to limit the distractions on the board or in the powerpoint etc... taking things off the students desk or limiting materials might be helpful as well. Incorporating music during journaling or writing time always helped me and could be effective for some students; however, it could be distracting for our students with a hearing loss. 

Positive Behavior Supports (PBS) is a program that some districts or schools implement. Complete a mini-research regarding the program. Do you think this is a beneficial program? Why or why not?

The positive behavioral supports system seems like a great idea. Is a school wide system put in place to catch students and facility doing something good and positive as opposed to catching students breaking the rules. Its meant as a positive reinforcement as opposed to a negative. I would hope that there will be a positive behavioral support  in the school that I work at because I think it reminds us to focus on the positive aspects of all students and not the negative. I saw a positive behavioral support at KSD when I went called PRIDE, each letter stood for an action P-preparedness  R- respect and so on. I loved the concept and how their charts gave examples of ways to show each concept. 

Reflection Journal # 8

What are some ways you can teach vocabulary presented within science and social studies?

There are many ways to teach the vocabulary of science and social studies. I remember copying the definitions from the glossary, that is not everyone's favorite but it works for some. You can show videos or look at pictures that help represent the concepts being taught. For sign language users, many science words and social studies words are only fingerspelled. This can take away from the sign context clues that may help the student remember the vocabulary word or give a hint to its meaning. Pictures or flowcharts or hands on presentations of a concept or word are always the best but sometimes there isn't any available.  I like the idea of having like a matching game in class to help review the vocabulary. I think games that are fun help solidify learning.

Reflection Journal #7

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 preservice teacher preparation in the area of mathematics. Do you agree or disagree? explain your answer.

I do agree with the authors statement about the lag being attributed all the areas mentioned. A language barrier is something that has to be addressed before teaching the math content. Math is very vocabulary based whether working on word problems or otherwise. Early math can be supported with manipulatives and visual representation. That will be a lot harder as the math concepts become more abstract. A strong language base is needed for not only deaf children, but hearing children as well. Another area of need mentioned was a lack of exposure to life-based problem solving which is often a problem with deaf and hard of hearing children. When children have to be directly taught, as opposed to gaining knowledge incidentally, sometimes it is easier to do things for them watch them struggle and become frustrated. Our job as teachers is to help develop those problem solving skills by giving them opportunities to use and improve those skills. I do agree that the training for teachers of the deaf and hard of hearing lacks content based instruction and that we have to be resourceful to learn subjects on our own. This sometimes can lead to a lack of preparedness on the part of the teacher. I believe, as teachers we have to accept that we are not strong in all areas and to reach out to others to help us with difficult subjects. This could mean working with the regular education teachers to get a better grasp of the content then modifying it for our students.  

What areas do you feel need you need to develop to teach math?  
The first thing I need to do is to develop a better knowledge of math sign language. That will be a must. Also, I feel I need a better understanding of how to teach both concrete math concepts and also the more abstract. Math is a daunting subject to teach in general, but add in a language delay abstract thinking and it can be overwhelming. I am a little nervous about this subject and will be seeking out a lot of outside development to build my confidence to teach this subject.

Reflection journal #6

Research the CAEBER (center for ASL/English Bilingual Education and Research). How would you incorporate some of these techniques into your classroom. 

One of the things I like best about CAEBER is the inclusion of deaf studies into the classroom. I always want to promote successful deaf individuals to my students to show through hard work, you can accomplish your goals. Also, I want my students to know the history of deaf and hard of hearing individuals and their struggles and accomplishments. I want to use their ideas of professional development to keep current on statistics and data to better teach my students. I think that we are gaining better knowledge of how to educate D/HH students and also technology to help our students be successful in life. I know that sometimes we are the only deaf educators in the district. If I were in a school where their was more than one deaf educator, I would hope to incorporate the planning committee and keep a consistency for our students. I know the communication modality the student uses is whatever works best for them; however, I would hope to be able to teach them about ASL and sign and would be knowledgeable enough to know what sign systems will work best for the student,  if any. Incorporating cultural and more than one language is hard, but if you start young, I believe, it can be achieved and beneficial to the students. 

Reflection Journal #5

Several approaches were mentioned by the authors; however, challenges continue to impact educating students who are deaf or hard of hearing. In thinking of your classroom, what components of reading and writing do you feel are important to teach and how will you teach them. 

For a beginning reader or a reader with a lower skill level, I want to start by building their phonemic knowledge with structured input and lessons. In class we talked about visual phonics and when it is appropriate to start. If I was working with a young child I would want to use visual phonics to help add a visual to the phonemes. If the student was older, I would probably not use that strategy. I would want to use shared reading and rereading strategies in my classroom and also at home, if the family is involved, which is sometimes not the case. I really liked the Dolch reading videos and strategies for vocabulary development. Also For vocabulary, I would have a class word wall no matter what the age of the students. In the book it states, "D/HH students' knowledge of signs and their meanings can be associated with printed words without the students' having knowledge of the sound-print relationship." If the student signs, focusing on things like multi-meaning words and the variations associated with function words. I also want to motivate my students to want to read and will try to match my selected readings with their interests if I can or to work with the mainstreaming teacher to peak their interest. I would want to focus on the the ending sounds, plurals, and function words, because I know that those are trouble areas for our deaf and hard of hearing students. I know that reading comprehension requires prior knowledge, so I would hope to incorporate skills and lessons that help to build that knowledge base. I would like to incorporate fluency skills and lessons, reading out loud or in sign, but I know that is secondary to other factors while teaching reading. Chaining is a method of teaching the I would want to incorporate into reading because it takes all the steps and reinforcing what was already learned as well as what needs to be learned. This is such a complicated issue and I think that experience will be the best way for me to understand how to teach reading. Right now I feel like I don't have a great grasp of how to teach reading effectively yet, but many of the ideas and reading programs we covered in class gave me some good ideas.

Journal Reflection #4

Stages of development v. Common Core Standards v. Curriculum Scope and Sequence v. Hierarchy of skills-which do you think is important when teaching students with a hearing loss? 
In my opinion, the most important thing to start with is the stages of development. These goals are the most in line with how a student will progress. I think that you want to take into account the common core standards and the curriculum scope and sequence; however, when first working with a student start slowly and work your way towards the more demanding goals. Working with a student who may already be delayed, I would think, a teacher needs to focus on what they need to improve on to get them developmentally appropriate. I would try to incorporate the CCS and the CSS, bit by bit, assessing how the student responds to the objectives. As the student progresses, I could incorporate more of what the students at grade level are doing until, hopefully, the student is able to mainstream with ease.

What will be your focus as the student expands and progresses in skill?  
As my student expands and progresses with the skills, I would try to mirror the pace of the mainstream class as much as possible, modifying as needed. Some students may not be able to fully mainstream, unfortunately, but I would hope to have them as close as is appropriate for that student. Statistically speaking, our students are not age appropriate in grade level, becoming stuck at a third or fourth grade reading level. I would hope to break through this "ceiling"; however, helping our students to be successful even if they have a literacy issue seems to be a deaf education staple. I will let the student's needs be my guiding compass and determine my course of action. The ultimate goal for me is to be unnecessary to the student. Having them be successful in a mainstream classroom, as is the trend, or age appropriate in a school for the deaf or private, whatever the case may be.  

Journal Reflection #3

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 school program/school?

The debate on educational placement has been happening for many years. The question at the heart of the debate is whether to place a D/HH child in a mainstreamed classroom with hearing peers or whether  they should go to a centralized program, like a school for the deaf or a program with many deaf students. I believe that both choices have merit and that they both can have consequences. A mainstreamed classroom can be the best place for a D/HH child who thrives in that setting and feels more comfortable with hearing peers or identifies as a part of the hearing world more. A school for the deaf or a centralized program, like CID or Moog, could be better suited for a child who requires more specialized instruction or identifies as part of deaf culture. In my opinion, what is best for the child should hold the most credence when making this decision. I try to imagine what I would do in this kind of situation. Would I be able to send my child to a school where I wouldn't be able to see them everyday? Would I want my child to participate in a mainstream classroom, even if it was more challenging, because it is what they will have to contend with on a daily basis outside of school? No matter what the scenario, the biggest factor is what my child would need or want.

How do you plan to take data? will you take data everyday vs. once in a while? when is it important to take data?

I would hope to take data in many different ways and from different source materials. I would plan to take data everyday knowing that sometimes that will not be the case and that I need to be flexible. I would also want to have a portfolio for each of my students. I think this is a great way to show progress the student is making. Data is the most important when making decisions about the child's current academic levels and also when their placement is being considered. Anytime you have a IEP meeting, data is one factor to helping you make the right decision for the child.

Reflection Journal 2

When planning for assessment of a student with hearing loss, what considerations should you keep in mind? There are many things to consider when assessing a child who is deaf or hard of hearing. The goal of assessment is to find out what the student knows. I would consider language skills of the child, their literacy skills, and the mode of communication preferred by the child. The child’s receptive and expressive language skills would be the first thing I would consider when choosing what assessment would best fit the child.  Secondly, I would take into consideration that child’s mode of communication. Is that child oral? Do they use manual communication? If so, do they use ASL, signed English, C.A.S.E., etc… For an older child, I would hope to have some knowledge of their literacy skills to know where to start from; however, I know sometimes that information isn’t available to the teacher, and may be the reason for assessment. My experience has been with preschool age children, where this information was vital to understanding how to administer an assessment. 

Should you use only tests designed for this population? Why or why not? I don’t believe that you should only administer tests designed for the deaf and hard of hearing population.  There is still important information that can be gleaned from a test that is not normed on D/HH students, even if modifications are needed to assess properly. It would be great if all the assessments normed for hearing children where also normed for D/HH; however, you can still get an understanding of the child even though the test results are not as valid.

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? I think that face-to-face communication is the best for teachers trying to create a rapport with one another. I also think it is important for personal communication when a teacher has never had a D/HH child, and is perhaps apprehensive or unsure. I don’t think that email is inappropriate, and can be a great way to work around busy schedules. I think both means of communication have their appropriate place and time. I would hope to get to communicate with teachers and staff by having meetings or conferences, but I would use email if that were the only means to reach out to another professional. I would hope that any staff I work with would feel comfortable enough to bring questions and concerns to me face-to-face; however, some people feel more comfortable doing that through email. I’m glad that we have that option to further communication. 

Reflection Journal 1

What have you learned about instructional strategies? From the first class, I learned that instructional strategies are different from a curriculum. Instructional strategies are how you implement the lessons. I learned that there are different methods to deliver that information, for instance, direct instruction or interactive instruction. Also, many different ways to engage children, like through games, are instructional strategies as well. What would you like to learn from this class? I would like to learn what kind of instructional methods I feel more comfortable with and what skills need more developing. I need more understanding of the different types of strategies that can be used in a classroom and how I will put my personal touch to them. Also, since I will be most likely work with a variety of ages, I would like to know what strategies are best for specific grades and hearing loss in general.  Research has shown that students with hearing loss often times do not achieve higher than a third grade reading level. What are your thoughts about this and how do you plan to face this? I hope to incorporate the use of visual phonics in my classroom to help give a visual reinforcement to the phonemes and sounds. There are many different types of reading strategies that are implemented in a D/HH classroom and I hope to use many of them, however, I think visual phonics is the most will be the most important addition to my students instruction.