TEL-526: Capstone Written Report
Shahjada (Prince) Islam
June 5th, 2022
TEL-526: Capstone Written Report
PART 1: INTRODUCING THE STUDENT
A. General Information
B. Strengths as a Whole Learner
C. Needs as a Whole Learner
PART 2A: ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE - READING
I. Academic Performance - Beginning of Year Data
II. Academic Performance - Reading Goals
III. Academic Performance - Reading Growth
IV. Academic Performance - Reflection on Student Growth
PART 2B: ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE - WRITING
I. Academic Performance - Middle of Year Data
II. Academic Performance - Writing Goals
PART 3: RECOMMENDATIONS FOR STUDENT PROGRAM
A. Accomodations
B. Supplemental Supports
C. Least Restrictive Environment/Setting
D. Wish List
PART 4: SELF-REFLECTION
A. Role of a Special Educator & Impact on Instructional Practice
B. Future Professional Intent
REFERENCES
PART 1: INTRODUCING THE STUDENT
A. General Information
Lucero is a 12th grader at The American Dream School who is an avid soccer fan. She spends
most of her weekend watching various European teams play one another (such as AFC Ajax in
Amsterdam, her favorite) and is a staunch supporter of the Mexican national team. Lucero
herself grew up in Mexico with her mother until the age of seven (when her mother moved to
the U.S to join her father), then lived with her grandmother for a few years until she reunited
with her immediate family by making the journey to the Bronx, NY at the age of 10. Lucero's
family is really important to her: she states that her parents are her heroes and she loves
spending time with them (she often peruses a host of American movies with her dad in her
free time), and she takes her caretaking responsibilities over her younger siblings (as the oldest
child in the family) very seriously. She views her education and school community as similarly
paramount: she feels grateful for being able to attend a bilingual school which has aided her
English language acquisition, and she feels very comfortable with her peers at the school and
feels well-supported by her teachers. Academically, Lucero considers herself a very curious
student who is interested in learning about all subjects, but she especially enjoys reading and
writing, all the more so when the themes which are the subject of discussion are relevant to
her own life and invite perspective-taking.
Lucero was formally given a "Learning Disability" classification in 2017, toward the end of 7th
grade. She immigrated to the United States from Mexico at the start of 6th grade in 2015 - this
means that she began receiving special education services fairly soon after commencing her
studies in the U.S. (within two years). This is partly due to her teachers' observations of her
lagging progression in the English language in comparison with that of her peers who had
been in the U.S. for a comparable duration of time. Her teachers have also noted that her
irregular schooling during her childhood in Mexico and lack of consistent instruction in her
native language made it more difficult for her to transfer and acquire skills. As a result, Lucero
has been placed in the general education setting and receives Integrated Co-Teaching Services
in ELA, Math, Social Studies, and Science six periods per week, respectively. For testing, she
receives double time and completes examinations in separate locations free of distracting
stimuli in a group of no more than twelve students. She does not receive any other related
services, program modifications or modifications, assistive technologies, etc.
B. Strengths as a Whole Learner
My most recent observations of Lucero lead me to believe that she has a strength in the
domain of attention, particularly in mental energy and the alertness it requires. Examining the
running record of her recent English class reveals that Lucero does a great job tracking the
speaker, be it either of the two co-teachers when they're talking, or whether it's a classmate
called on to respond to a prompt. During my observation of that class, Lucero never seemed to
look away daydreaming, look in a direction other than the speaker, or otherwise appear to be
predominantly concerned with something other than the focus at hand. This strength likely
enhances Lucero's ability to learn new material in the classroom, because she consistently
attends to the instructors when they present the content and to her peers when they build
upon the ideas introduced.
Lucero also appears to demonstrate strong skills in collegiality, particularly in approaching
same-age peers and seeking out social interactions. This presents itself mostly in informal
settings but at times in the classroom as well when an opportunity is available for groupwork.
Throughout her middle school and early high school records, her teachers make positive note
of her sweet and kind personality both toward themselves and her peers. Her teachers have
often leveraged these relationships by having Lucero work in small-groups and learn with and
from peers whom she trusts, knowing that she has the potential to get lost in the crowd when
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in larger settings. Lucero's strength in this regard likely impacts her learning by allowing her to
benefit from her peers' funds of knowledge and utilize their assistance to learn material when
her instructors are not immediately present to support her.
C. Needs as a Whole Learner
Lucero appears to have a need related to study skills which interferes with her ability to take
relevant notes during class and organize materials to keep track of them and access them as
needed. This need presents consistently primarily in whole-group formal learning settings and
across multiple content areas. For example, during her classroom observation in Algebra II,
Lucero does not make any note of the misconception which led her to incorrectly solve the Do
Now problem. Similarly, during her classroom observation in English, Lucero does not make
note of the logistical details her instructor shares in regards to her project completion and
submission. Additionally, during her interview, Lucero states that she doesn't write tasks or
assignments down in a planner or app and tries to just memorize what she needs to do. As a
result of her study skills needs, Lucero likely has greater difficulty processing and fully
comprehending the material shared in her content classes (such as Government & Economics,
which she says has been a very difficult class for her this year), since she does not actively take
notes to help her break down information as it's presented and make it her own, and thus is
also unable to refer to them for future use.
Furthermore, Lucero appears to have a need related to expressive language, particularly at the
discourse level, when it comes to producing extended responses which are sufficiently
organized and coherent. In her IEP, Lucero's science teacher mentions that though Lucero
generally understands the material being taught, her writing often lacks sufficiently in-depth
analysis or nuance. Lucero's WIDA and NYSELAT scores also indicate that her writing abilities
lag greatly behind her speaking abilities. More recently, Lucero scored a "2 - Developing" for
Ideas & Organization on the 6+1 Traits Rubric for her on-demand writing prompt, indicating
that it was a target area of growth for her in terms of writing ability. Lucero's need in this
regard likely negatively impacts her learning by making it harder for her to demonstrate
comprehension and mastery over course material when asked to do so in an extended written
response format, resulting in lower grades on classwork assignments, papers, and exams. In
the long term, this may make it more difficult for her to be a successful student in college (a
stated goal she has shared with me), since collegiate coursework generally places even greater
emphasis on such skills.
PART 2A: ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE - READING
I. Academic Performance - Beginning of Year Data
At the beginning of the year, Lucero read the text Whales and Fish with 90% accuracy at 91
WPM with choppy phrasing and appropriate expression, which approximately placed her as a
Level Two reader on the Qualitative Reading Inventory. On the running record, Lucero
demonstrated her mastery of sight words, root words, and many digraph blends and vowel
teams. One of the most persistent issues which presented itself, however, was the improper
modification of many words: "heads" to "head" (plural to singular), "finds" to "find" (verb
conjugation), "large" to "larger", etc. In general, such errors did not change the meaning of the
text. In addition, Lucero was observed squinting at a couple of points during her reading of the
passage, but didn't make any comments or raise any concerns about anything that was
bothering her. This behavior may have been related to her self-advocacy skills, which governs
one's ability to seek support when needed. Lucero also appeared to be relying heavily on the
context and general shape of words to guide her reading rather than actively decoding each
individual word; this led her to switch around the phrasing of some words ("air through" to
"through air"), change one sight word to another ("the" into "they"), or interchange different
nouns ("flippers" for "fins").
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I believe this data was an accurate reflection of Lucero's beginning-of-year reading ability. She
sustained focus throughout the entirety of the assessment and did not disengage during any
moments, her facial expressions and body language made it evident that she was putting forth
her best effort, and she did not seem to be concerned with the notes I was taking down.
Additionally, her prior knowledge in Marine Biology ensured that she came in with sufficient
background context to be able to decode the words of the text without familiarity acting as a
barrier.
Following the developmental reading assessment, Lucero took the Beginning Diagnostic
Decoding Survey (DDS) and was able to read 37 of the 50 words correctly, mastering all the
"real" words administered other than those in the CVC section, but struggling with most of the
"nonsense" words throughout the survey. She persistently struggled to accurately pronounce
short vowel sounds in both real and nonsense words, preferring to use the long-vowel forms
instead by turning words like "dot" into "dote, "vop" into "vope", "yud" into "yude", etc. This
tendency became even more apparent on the Advanced Diagnostic Decoding Survey, during
which Lucero struggled a great deal throughout and read 10 out of the 30 words correctly. She
was unable to correctly read the majority of monosyllabic nonsense words ("thox" became
"thoxe", "fird" became "feared", etc.). An additional concern to emerge from the Advanced DDS
was Lucero's difficulty decoding vowel teams, some of which she split down the middle as
two-syllable words ("soam" as "so-am" or "soid" as "so-id"), and others which she read
incorrectly for varying reasons such as making a mistake with the initial consonant or reading
the incorrect long vowel sound.
Her scores placed her as a middle of first grade reader according to the survey benchmarks.
Lucero once again demonstrated sustained focus, engagement, and effort throughout this
process and there were no apparent factors which may have negatively impacted her
performance. However, it is important to note that although she certainly didn't seem to be in
a rush, she also did not exhibit much self-monitoring ability, which is a skill that may have
been able to help her decode more words accurately had it been more well-developed.
II. Academic Performance - Reading Goals
In order to leverage Lucero's strengths in reading to target her areas of growth, I set a
long-term goal for the year related to word recognition and then sequenced it into an
attainable series of short-term goals (detailed in the table below).
LONG-TERM GOAL: READING (WORD RECOGNITION)
By the end of the year, Lucero will meet the criteria for independence on the
Qualitative Reading Inventory by fluently reading words in a Level 3 text with 98%
accuracy.
SHORT-TERM GOALS: READING (WORD RECOGNITION)
1)
By January 30, 2022, Lucero will decode one-syllable and one vowel real and
nonsense CVC, CVCe, CCVC, CVCC, and CCVCC words with 90% accuracy in 4/5
trials.
2) By April 30th, 2022, Lucero will decode one-syllable real and nonsense words with
vowel teams (ea, ai, oa, oo, aw, oi, ou, oy), as well as one-syllable VCE words, with
90% accuracy in 4/5 trials.
3) By June 15th, 2022, Lucero will decode compound and multi-syllabic real and
nonsense words with with any two consonant blends, digraphs, and vowel teams
with 90% accuracy in 4/5 trials.
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III. Academic Performance - Reading Growth
In the January re-administration of the Beginning DDS, Lucero read 45 out of 50 words
correctly, which was 8 more words than the first administration, when she only accurately
decoded 37 of the 50 words. Although she struggled with reading out real CVC words in the
first administration, this time she read out every word in that section correctly. In the same
vein, though she had initially struggled to decode nonsense CVC words, she read almost every
word in that section correctly in the second administration. Lucero also demonstrated growth
on the Advanced DDS, increasing her score by 60% by going from a 10/30 to 16/30, thereby
advancing from the middle of first grade reader benchmark to the end of first grade reader
position. Whereas she had previously struggled with words in the "Real One Syllable/One
Vowel" and "Real Vowel + R" sections, this time she correctly decoded about half of the words
in the former and every word in the latter.
However, Lucero had yet to demonstrate full mastery over every word in the Beginning DDS,
producing a smattering of errors across multiple sections: she substituted a "b" for the "p" in
"pond" and read it out as "bond", misread the word "shells" as "ships" in a sentence, read the
word "thid" as "thed" (using the short vowel sound for the letter "e" instead of that for "i"), etc.
Her performance on the Advanced DDS painted a more in-depth picture of target areas for
growth at the time: she was unable to decode the lone VCE word "yume" correctly (reading it
as "yu-me"), only read out a few of the words in the "Vowel Teams" section correctly (often
splitting vowel teams down the middle into two syllables), and demonstrated difficulty with
blending when reading multi-syllable nonsense words (for example, reading "slafnode" as
"samdome"). Her needs related to cognition or social-emotional skills did not appear to
negatively impact her performance on the assessments given.
In response to the middle-of-year data, I made shifts to Lucero's instructional plan, keeping in
mind what I'd learned in regards to pacing and isolation of skills and how adjustments in those
areas in our initial months working together had put her in a better position to succeed in
mastering her first goal with CVC and CVCe words. Thus, I decided to start focusing on one
specific skill or sound per lesson and spread out the lessons over a longer period of time so
the material wouldn't feel confusing or overwhelming for Lucero. Additionally, I removed the
short term goal of working with Lucero on words with r-controlled vowels entirely, for two
reasons: firstly, because she demonstrated mastery over this category of words on the
Advanced DDS and didn't appear to need additional instruction in that area, and secondly
because eliminating that goal would provide the extra time in the calendar necessary to make
the kind of pacing adjustments Lucero needed to master the other short-term goals. My
revised instructional plan provided a couple of more months of foundational instruction with
isolated vowel patterns and then concluded with a synthesis of skills being applied to
multi-syllabic words to round out Lucero's learning over the course of the year.
Lucero's most recent summative assessment data from June indicate progress having been
made in multiple of her stated target areas of growth from the start of the year (especially for
short-term goals #1 and #2). Lucero maintained the level of progress she'd made from the
beginning-of-year administration of the DDS to the middle-of-year administration by
remaining at the "end of first grade reader" survey benchmark for the survey's final
administration (her Beginning DDS score remained constant, and her Advanced DDS score
increased by two words). She also demonstrated growth in overall word recognition by
decoding the Level Three text The Friend (one level higher than that of her beginning-of-year
developmental reading assessment) with 92.7% accuracy at 92 WPM with choppy phrasing
and appropriate expression. Analyzing Lucero's item-by-item performance on these
assessments shows a substantial improvement over the course of the year in her ability to
decode real and nonsense monosyllabic CVC/CVCC/CCVC words, but also reveals a continued
need to work on her tendency to attempt to sight-read based on context rather than break
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down multisyllabic words into component parts (an indicator related to her self-monitoring
ability, which will help her continue to work on short-term goal #3 for the future). Her needs
related to cognition or social-emotional skills did not appear to negatively impact her
performance on the final round of assessments given.
IV. Academic Performance - Reflection on Student Growth
Some elements of my lessons which were helpful for Lucero (typically yielding higher
formative assessment scores) included incorporating skill maintenance (via sight word review
to warm Lucero up for the rest of the lesson), chunking time, isolating then integrating,
sequential skill development (for example, only working with nonsense words after having
looked at real words), and lots of explicit instruction. Additionally, I ensured that Lucero
received plenty of at-bats with new material during practice blocks (and provided her
reference sheets to help her internalize content and self-correct while practicing). I also
noticed in the middle of the year how exhausting it could feel for Lucero to maintain
concentration throughout the entirety of a 60-minute block and I decided to start
implementing a very brief break during our lessons; she seemed visibly more relaxed during
the remainder of the lessons afterward.
Some changes which need to be made to support objective mastery in the future include a
more frequent application of the "make it a game" principle for specialized instruction, since
Lucero has stated that she sometimes feels bored by her academic work (such disengagement
may negatively impact her growth). Additionally, I need to include more non-examples in my
lessons based on what I have identified Lucero's current tendencies are when decoding. For
example, during a recent lesson I noticed that Lucero often read words with the "ea" or "ee"
sounds with the long "a" sound ("greek" as "grake"). An effective response to this kind of
occurrence for future lessons would be to list out some of her common errors and address
them one by one and provide practice with similar words and non-examples until she
demonstrates understanding of the correct distinction which needs to be made.
PART 2B: ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE - WRITING
I. Academic Performance - Middle of Year Data
In the middle of the year, I administered an on-demand writing task in response to the prompt
"Does technology make us more alone?". Comparing Lucero's work with a grade level exemplar
yielded the following analysis.
Lucero earned a score of 2 - Emerging for Organization on the 6+1 Traits Rubric. She went
directly to the point by taking a clear stance on the issue mentioned in the prompt
("Technology yes does us more alone…") in the first sentence of her response. However, she did
not build up any anticipation in regards to the topic or her argument, and did not conclude on
a powerful note synthesizing her different points (she finished simply with "... so yes
technology make us more alone"). Additionally, her sequencing of ideas was not very complex;
she wrote in one sentence bursts which didn't further elaborate on previous points to build a
more comprehensive argument, and she didn't use many transition words or nuanced phrases
to link her ideas together (instead relying on basic connectors such as "but…", "there is…", and
"so…").
Additionally, Lucero earned a score of 3 - Developing for Conventions on the 6+1 Traits Rubric.
Her punctuation and capitalization was mostly spot on - she didn't make many glaring errors
in that regard. However, the grammar behind how she strung words and sentences together
was faulty and made it difficult for the reader to clearly understand her ideas without having
to read between the lines and infer what she was trying to say. For example, her sentence, "But
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technology have us always at our home our places, where there is activity were you can do
outdoors" had to be extrapolated by the reader to mean "Constantly using technology during
our time at home prevents us from spending more time with others outdoors". Furthermore,
her choice and placement of verbs and prepositions was often choppy and made it difficult to
parse through her ideas (she wrote clauses such as "but technology have us always",
"technology it a…", "there is many people that are affect…", etc.).
It was clear from Lucero's response to the prompt given that she is able to formulate several
different angles when providing her opinion on an issue, but has difficulty elaborating them
and stringing them together into a more comprehensive and comprehensible argument.
Lucero's writing sample appeared to accurately reflect her writing ability: any needs related to
attention did not appear to have impeded her performance, because she had her pen to paper
throughout the entirety of the task and did not look around at all or appear to be distracted. I
also made sure to administer the prompt in an environment removed from any possible
stimuli which would divert her attention. However, the work she submitted did appear to be
consistent with needs related to production: she dove right into the task without any prior
planning, and once she started writing, the lack of evidence of editing/revising indicated that
she did not regularly monitor the quality of her work or the effectiveness of her strategies.
II. Academic Performance - Writing Goals
In order to leverage Lucero's strengths in writing to target her areas of growth, I set a
long-term goal for the year related to Organization and then sequenced it into an attainable
series of short-term goals (detailed in the table below).
The long-term goal "Lucero's writing will meet the criteria for 4 - Capable on Organized as
outlined in the 6 + 1 traits rubric" is aligned to Lucero's needs. The host of effective ideas she
was able to generate in a short amount of time in response to the writing prompt
demonstrates that she is a skilled and creative thinker when opining on such issues; Lucero
simply needs greater support in organizing and elaborating on her arguments in such a way as
to make them more comprehensive, comprehensible, and effective. Having this skill in hand
will help better prepare her for the more challenging analytical work she will engage in as part
of her college coursework next year.
To formulate Lucero's short-term goals, I looked closely at the criteria for the subcategories
outlined on the 6+1 traits rubric under the domain of Organization, paying special attention to
the number of tiers she would need to progress from her present levels of performance to
reach her long-term goal, as well as the specific skills and abilities she would need to regularly
and identifiably demonstrate in her writing to meet each criterion.
LONG-TERM GOAL: WRITING (ORGANIZATION)
By the end of the school year, Lucero's writing will meet the criteria for 4 - Capable on
Organized as outlined in the 6 + 1 traits rubric.
SHORT-TERM GOALS: WRITING (ORGANIZATION)
By January 30th, Lucero will meet the criteria for 4 - Capable in Lead & Conclusion
by utilizing clearly recognizable leads and conclusions in her writing, even if
formulaic or obvious.
2) By March 15th, Lucero will meet the criteria for 4 - Capable in Transitions by
regularly utilizing transitions which connect ideas effectively, even if doing so at
times in a formulaic or predictable manner.
1)
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3) By April 30th, Lucero will meet the criteria for 4 - Capable in Sequencing by better
developing her thoughts through logical and helpful sequencing with ideas placed
in an understandable order.
4) By June 15th, Lucero will meet the criteria for 4 - Capable in Purpose & Text
Structure by intentionally structuring the broader span of her writing in such a way
as to work to communicate clear purpose.
PART 3: RECOMMENDATIONS FOR STUDENT PROGRAM
A. Accomodations
Since Lucero struggles to demonstrate what she knows through writing, an effective
accommodation to help her demonstrate her mastery of material is to give her the choice of
project format (options might include creating storyboards and films, making models or
PowerPoints, etc.) This accommodation aligns with Lucero's needs because our work together
on her writing skills this year has revealed her difficulty with organizing extended-form
discourse in writing, and that her struggle in this regard is not due to an inability to generate
ideas or internalize the content she's writing about but rather the act of writing itself. Allowing
Lucero to utilize a project format also opens up the possibility for her to leverage her strengths
in the area of visual creativity (she's a part of the photography club at our school and likes to
take pictures and make videos in her free time). Lucero was able to be successful in my
Statistics & Probability course as a result of this accommodation: her project submissions
repeatedly earned the highest marks in the class as summative assessment grades as she used
the visual format to organize, facilitate, and convey her understanding of the concepts
discussed in class.
Another helpful accommodation for Lucero, particularly when she is unable to read a text
because the words are above her instructional reading level or does not understand content
because a text is too hard, is to strategically group her with others at different instructional
levels so that she can benefit from the strengths of supporting peers. This accommodation
aligns with Lucero's needs because the final developmental reading assessment administration
placed her as a end of first grade reader, so it is highly likely that Lucero will frequently
encounter reading material which is too challenging for her as she continues her academic
studies beyond this year. Strategically grouping Lucero in this way also leverages her
whole-learner strength in the area of collegiality, particularly in approaching same-age peers
and seeking out social interactions. As her teachers have noted in official documentation
throughout the years, this strategy has proven to be an effective approach that has many a time
allowed Lucero to utilize the assistance of her peers to learn material when her instructors are
not immediately present to support her.
Finally, to combat Lucero's struggles in taking relevant notes (she often records too little
information), her teachers should provide guided notes with spaces for her to write down
key words. This aligns with Lucero's needs related to study skills which interferes with her
ability to take relevant notes during class and organize materials to keep track of them and
access them as needed (the need presents consistently primarily in whole-group formal
learning settings and across multiple content areas). This accommodation also leverages
Lucero's strength in the domain of attention, particularly in mental energy and the alertness it
requires, because it will help her capture what she's learning in her guided notes as she
actively attends to the instructor. This is likely to be an effective accommodation for Lucero,
since research indicates that "guided notes are an effective and socially valid method for
increasing note-taking accuracy and improving academic performance, particularly for
school-age students." (Konrad et al., 2009)
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B. Supplemental Supports
Currently, Lucero does not receive any related services, supplementary aids, assistive
technology devices/services, etc. as part of her special education program of receiving six
periods a week of integrated co-teaching Services in ELA, math, science, and social studies in
the general education setting. However, I would recommend a referral for a related service
evaluation for Speech/Language Therapy (Lucero has not had a recent evaluation in this area
by a trained related service provider), because in all three administrations of the Diagnostic
Decoding Surveys throughout the year, I noticed that Lucero would sometimes slur her words
when presented with certain consonant digraphs and multisyllabic words. Her formative and
summative assessment data does not indicate that she is consistently unable to pronounce any
individual sound in particular, but her running records do illustrate a similar tendency to
unintelligibly blend letter combinations together when decoding text at times. It is unclear
whether this is due simply to an uncertainty about how to decode a word, or an actual
physical inability/challenge in doing so, and a trained service provider would likely be able to
provide insight about whether there is a physiological or neurological basis behind this
behavior. Research suggests that my recommendation is not unfounded; a study published in
the British Journal of Educational Psychology notes that, "Decoding difficulties [can] appear to
be caused by problems with phonological (speech sound) processing" (Snowling & Hulme,
2011). If Lucero is found to be a valid candidate for such services, the support she receives can
leverage her whole-learner strength in the area of collegiality, since several of her teachers
throughout the years have noted that she likes to form strong working relationships with
adults and benefits from such relationships.
C. Least Restrictive Environment/Setting
At present, Lucero's educational program places her entirely within the general education
setting. The minimally restrictive nature of this placement aligns with her needs by allowing
her both the academic and non-academic benefits from interacting with nondisabled
students and similar typically-developing peers throughout the day, and because there is no
evidence to suggest a level of severity to Lucero's disability which would preclude the
possibility of full inclusion. In fact, this recommendation is effective in leveraging Lucero's
strong skills in the area of collegiality, particularly in approaching same-age peers and seeking
out social interactions, and this has been documented by her teachers to have been quite
beneficial for her both academically and non-academically throughout the years. The
improved outcomes which Lucero has experienced as a result of full inclusion has also been
corroborated by research; for example, a study conducted by The Center on Education and
Lifelong Learning at the Indiana Institute on Disability and Community at Indiana University
recently concluded that "Indiana students with disabilities included in general education
classrooms do significantly better on Indiana state assessments than their peers placed in
separate special education classrooms" (Fosha, 2019). With all this in mind, I recommend that
Lucero remain in the general education setting for her primary instruction and continue to
receive integrated co-teaching services as originally prescribed, with classroom-based
supports in small-group or one-on-one settings as needed.
D. Wish List
If it were up to me to implement a non-traditional, large-scale change to Lucero's educational
program, I would ask for Lucero's teachers to deliver 90% of content material to Lucero via
technology and mixed media (visuals, audio, video, etc.) and no more than 10% of material via
readings, whereas currently those figures are approximately reversed. It is well-known in
education circles that up until the third grade the academic onus is on learning to read, and
thereafter the focus shifts to reading in order to learn, even though many students struggle
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greatly with the latter. Having witnessed firsthand this year both Lucero's difficulties with
reading as well as her strengths and creativity related to visual and auditory processing, I
believe that reading ability should not serve as an unnecessary barrier for her to understand
content, and that technology and mixed media should be maximally leveraged to support her
content needs instead. Research points to the potential impact of the implementation of this
idea on Lucero's academic outcomes: a recent study conducted by the Maryland Population
Research Center notes that "access to and use of technology are positively associated with
children's academic achievement".
PART 4: SELF-REFLECTION
A. Role of a Special Educator & Impact on Instructional Practice
A key belief which I have cemented as a result of my work in this program is that every student
can thrive as a learner and comprehend material, and that as an educator I always have to
address neurodiversity in the classroom: it's not "better" or "worse" for students to think about
things or be inclined to learn in a particular way, just different. As a result, I now recognize that
it is among my principal responsibilities to devote time and effort to finding different ways of
making content accessible to and understandable by all of my students. The impact of this
belief has been made readily apparent to me through my work with Lucero as I have observed
how the instructional shifts I made and scaffolds I provided to eliminate unnecessary barriers
and leverage her strengths have had a measurable, and often immediate, impact on her
learning outcomes - regardless of how greatly she may have struggled with similar material in
the past.
Engaging with my coursework has equipped me with a repertoire of instructional practices
which I know will be impactful in my classroom moving forward. For example, I now know
that there is no amount of explicit instruction which can be overly clear or detailed - there are
so many assumptions we make about how students will grasp content, and when students
don't have nuances explicitly distinguished for them with definitions, examples,
non-examples, and multiple models, it's easy for them to get lost as a consequence of
ambiguity. Research similarly points to the benefits of utilizing more opportunities for explicit
instruction, with a recent study published by the University of Chicago press suggesting that
"the rate and quality of [explicit] instructional interactions is related to student mathematics
achievement" (Doabler et al., 2015). I now also have an increased appreciation for the value of
increasing at-bats to aid student mastery. Whereas previously I had assumed that students
would be able to fully understand material after just a couple of tries applying their knowledge
(and that spending unnecessary time with more practice than needed would be a waste of
limited instructional opportunity), I now see that students need plentiful practice in order to
be able to really internalize new content, reproduce it, and make it their own- especially if the
student is an exceptional learner. Doug Lemov drives home this principle in Teach Like A
Champion as follows: "Nothing inscribes and refines a skill so that it can be reliably applied
under any circumstances like at bats, so great lessons should have plenty of them. And if it’s
true that people master a new skill on the tenth or twentieth or one thousandth time they do
it, never the first time, it’s important to factor that into your lessons."
B. Future Professional Intent
As much as I have learned throughout the course of this year, I am well aware that there is
much more out there in the way of skills and knowledge that I have yet to develop as a special
educator. Engaging with the modules of the program related to mathematics instruction for
exceptional learners made me think deeply about the way I myself learned mathematics
throughout my K-12 education, and particularly about the role that physical manipulatives and
kinesthetics played in my development of proficiency and how I think about mathematics to
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this day. I am curious as to how I can leverage the physical objects and space available to me in
the classroom to better serve those of my students who are having difficulty understanding
secondary mathematics via the traditional instructional routes, many of whom are exceptional
learners. I will take a two-pronged approach to learning more about this topic: first by
reaching out to both my department chair and special education coordinator for helpful
resources (with an emphasis on immediately applicable practices which I will be able to utilize
as soon as school re-opens in September, rather than theoretical frameworks), and then by
attending the next LIMAÇON (Long Island Mathematics Conference), which I know has
sessions facilitated by fellow mathematics educators who share about the successes they've
had with their students implementing similar approaches as those I'm interested in.
As a result of my studies, I now feel better equipped to execute my classroom responsibilities,
and I look forward to utilizing the tools I've acquired to benefit my students in the coming
years as an educator of secondary mathematics, while simultaneously increasing the scope of
my professional knowledge to become more effective at impacting learners of all profiles.
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REFERENCES
Doabler, C. T., Baker, S. K., Kosty, D. B., Smolkowski, K., Clarke, B., Miller, S.
J., & Fien, H. (2015). Examining the Association between Explicit Mathematics
Instruction and Student Mathematics Achievement. The Elementary School Journal,
115(3), 303–333. https://doi.org/10.1086/679969
Fosha, J. (2019, January 29). IU study concludes that inclusion improves academic
outcomes. News at IU. Retrieved June 5, 2022, from
https://news.iu.edu/stories/2019/01/iub/releases/29-inclusion-improves-academic-o
utcomes-students-with-disabilities.html
Konrad, M., Joseph, L. M., & Eveleigh, E. (2009). A meta-analytic review of guided
notes. Education & Treatment of Children, 32(3), 421-444.
https://www-proquest-com.library.relay.edu/scholarly-journals/meta-analytic-revie
w-guided-notes/docview/202666933/se-2?accountid=134863
Lemov, D. (2010). Teach like a champion : 49 techniques that put students on the path
to college (k-12). Wiley.
Moon, U. J., & Hofferth, S. L. (2018). Change in Computer Access and the Academic
Achievement of Immigrant Children. Teachers College Record, 120(4), 1–26.
https://doi.org/10.1177/016146811812000401
Snowling, M. J., & Hulme, C. (2011). Evidence-based interventions for reading and
language difficulties: Creating a virtuous circle. British Journal of Educational
Psychology, 81(1), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8279.2010.02014.x
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