Jeanne Zeller SPED 405: Dr.

Monda-Amaya 12/06/12

Assignment C
Section 1 Section 1, Case 1 Micha seems to have some sort of Emotional/Behavioral Disorder. The fact that we know that he witnessed such a traumatic event suggests that it could be Post-Traumatic Stress disorder, though of course there is not enough information here to diagnose him specifically. What we do know is that he has a short temper and generally poor interaction with peers, and he has suspicious cuts on his forearm (possibly due to cutting himself, which would suggest anxiety or depression)both common symptoms of multiple different kinds of emotional and behavioral disorders. Another sign of EBD is the fact that he gets into trouble with the law, which is a sign of frequent rule breakinganother characteristic of EBD (Rosenberg, 175). Some important things to keep in mind with students with Emotional Behavioral Disorders are that they typically exhibit low self esteem (which would be further fueled for Micha by his frequent absences and incomplete assignments) and underachieve academically, in addition to having trouble interacting with peers and following rules and social skills. The result is that expectations for his performance (whether his own or other peoples) are absolutely crucial for Micha. It also means that interactions that both his peers and I have with him are also critical in order to make an emotionally supportive and healthy environment in which he can learn. Some important supports for Micha within the classroom would be classroom set-up both physical and social. I would make sure that there is a quiet place for Micha to retreat to when he gets upset, and that he is not sitting by anybody that would egg him on to lose his temper. In addition to physical set-up the classroom, it is critical that there is a consistent set of

Zeller 2 rules for the class, so that consequences (as well as rewards) are understood and predictable. This is especially critical for Micha if he has trouble interacting with other students. Consistency in rules will make goals in a behavior plan much more concrete for Micha, as well. Michas interest in the content as well as his clearly positive rapport with me is a huge asset for choosing an approach to take with him; it provides opportunities for positive reinforcement and interactionstwo things that would help with his inappropriate behavior and poor self-esteem. It would also be important to identify if Michas trouble with interactions with his peers is due to a skill deficit (ie not understanding how to interact with peers), performance deficit (or having the skills but choosing not to employ them for whatever reason, or fluency deficit (due to too few opportunities to practice) (178). Identifying whether the problem comes from a lack of skills or his own choosing to not use them would make a big difference in how I would approach addressing the issueas I would not teach them if he knew them already, and I would not give incentives to use them if he did not know how to use them. In terms of a behavior plan, it would be really important to develop a functional behavioral assessment, in which I could identify triggers for both appropriate and inappropriate behavior, and therefore develop, with Micha and his family, a more concrete plan for how to improvewhether it be a token economy rewards system, explicit instruction on social skills, or working on replacement behaviors (186, 193). Though this behavior plan would be designed to help improve his social skills, I would want to have Micha working with a high-performing student frequentlyespecially since peertutoring is a research-based, effective strategy for students with emotional and behavioral disorders (190). This would also help to catch him up on work missed, in addition to having a

Zeller 3 classroom binder in which notes and assignments from every day are kept, as well as a website I intend to keep online with a calendar of our daily activities. I would also work to keep and develop the clearly already good rapport that I have with him, in order to help build his confidence and desire to come to class, as well as for him to be more likely to open up to me about any other concerning thoughts he may be having, including possible abuse or suicidal thoughts. Referring him to mental health services would also be appropriate at this point, if nothing else to help deal with the emotions of his traumatic experience now that he is in his teens, but also because the cuts on his arms raise reasonable suspicion, as well. Section 1, Case 2 It is clear that Lizzy has a high level of leadership and energy, being both the captain of the swim team as well as involved in photographywhich are both qualities she can capitalize in my classroom. The fact that her listening comprehension is typical but her reading performance is so low suggests that she has a learning disability connected to reading, possibly dyslexia. This would also help explain that she is having difficulty in remembering material after she has read, as students with learning disabilities tend to have difficulties with working memory. For example, Rosenburg et al uses the example, when reading, a student sees a word he does not know, retrieves information from his long-term memory... blends these sounds into a word, and then says the word while retaining information regarding the context of what is being read. Clearly, if Lizzy is having trouble de-coding words and spending so much energy on that, keeping in mind the context of what she read would be extremely difficult. Because of this disability, Lizzy may need more steps within a scaffolding structure than a typical student would, particularly in an English class (159). I should also focus on providing examples in a variety of

Zeller 4 waysaural, visual, and tactileso that Lizzys initial understanding of a topic is not isolated to learning it through reading, which may make her unnecessarily behind in other areas. Because she seems like such a competent student and leader, it is sad that she is struggling with self-confidence, and that it is affecting her performance in discussions. This would be another key area that I would want to focus onperhaps by, before class, arranging specific questions for her to answer during discussion so that she is ready and more confident. I would also possibly partner up to help another student in the class for tasks of which I know she is capable (like helping Micha catch up on notes for classes he has missed)as long as it did not take away from critical time for her to be working. This way, she could gradually build up the critical confidence she needs in order to persist and succeed in my class, and other areas of her life. Section 1, Case 3 Clearly, the two most important things to remember about Susan is that her interest in journalism can be a huge asset to class (particularly my English class), and that her visual impairment will require a serious re-thinking of structuring my lesson, particularly because it involves a power point presentation. It is key to remember as well, that Susans visual impairment should not affect her cognitive abilities (353), and so it would be absolutely to attribute her struggling with a concept to be due to lower academic abilitiesrather, it would be more appropriate to assess my own teaching approach. In order to address lessons so that she would be able to access them, it would be critical to incorporate as many components that require senses other than sight as possible: for instance tactile representations of what we are talking about, or Braille versions of novels that we are reading (so that she can practice her reading comprehension, as well), and even paying attention

Zeller 5 to metaphors that I usethat they are metaphors in which Susan would be able to access, as well. It would be imperative for Susan to take advantage of any technology available to her for reading and writing for English: for instance, Text-to-Speech devices in order to read handouts (unless the school has a Braille embosser readily available for me to make Braille versions of handouts), voice recognition equipment for writing, and screen readers for computer work; American Foundation for the Blinds website has an extensive and informative list of many possible assistive technologies for her to use if the school can access enough funds for them. Also, because the equipment needed for her disability tends to be large, she would need to have a seat in the classroom in which she would have enough room (367). I would also be sure to ask her at the beginning of the year where she would prefer to sit in the room, in the case that there are visual capabilities that we could maximize. Finally, I would invite her to give me feedback about how well I am addressing her needs during the class, at first with specific questions (are you able to understand my explanations during class? Can a particular assignment be put in a different format that is easier for you to access? etc.) in order to help begin working on how she can advocate for herself. I would start prompting her with specific questions myself, with the idea that eventually, she could give me feedback and inform me of her needs on her own initiative. Section 2 Question 1. Why am I learning this? Response in relation to your unit/lesson Because integrating quotes within an essay is an absolute critical skill for making a convincing argument within an argument, whether spoken or written. Students in the class have demonstrated through past work that all struggled with integrating quotes fluidly within their papers, and thus need a little more focused work on it. This will become clear to students through the lesson as I will explicitly state it at the beginning of the lesson plan (it will be included in the initial discussion of integrating quotes).

Zeller 6 2. What am I supposed to learn? Students will learn why they need to be able to integrate quotes within their papers, how to identify when it is helpful to add a quote within a paper, how to write proper introductory and analysis sentences for their quote to properly incorporate it into their papers. Students will know that these are the things that they need to learn for the period because I will run down an agenda at the beginning of the period. 3. What Students have already seen experts at work incorporating quotes into their work do I both in reading essays and reports and watching TV. Students also fluidly already incorporate quotes into their own speech when trying to persuade others or tell a know story. I will show a Colbert clip (in which he explicitly incorporates quotes into about it? his routine) in order to prove that the concept is something they watch people do all the time (if not Colbert, theyve seen somebody else do it in telling a story, or telling the news, etc.) After the clip, we will have a short discussion in which students talk about what Colbert did before and after each quote. 4. What The most important idea is that students need to understand why they must pay ideas are attention to how they incorporate quotes into their essays (so that the quote important? becomes an asset to their argument, rather than unanchored fluff). After they understand that, the next important ideas are specific reasons to use quotes and understanding the quote sandwich (introductory sentence-quoteanalysis sentence). Students will have a lecture notes guide to fill in, so these importance of these ideas will be clearly distinguished. 5. How is The information is organized on the lecture guide notes in the order in which I will the cover it during class (structured for myself and for the class with a Powerpoint informatio interactive presentation for the first 15-20 minutes of class). It will have two n distinct sections, under which everything else is organized: Why do we need to organized? integrate quotes well? And how do we integrate quotes well? 6. How Students are going to use this in their papers for English and every other class am I going during the year and in the future that requires (or could use) writing with quotes. to use it? They can also incorporate these skills into their everyday languagewhether trying to enhance the humor in a story (as Colbert does) or trying to be persuasive to their parents (using a direct quote from a teacher or administrator about a homework assignment). The use for papers will be abundantly clear through the power point as well as the writing activity after, though I plan on striving to use examples of everyday use while teaching to expand students perspective on its significance. 7. How am The most technical part of the lesson is the Quote Sandwichand provides a I going to useful image for remembering the information: the meat is the quote, and the two remember buns an introductory sentence and analysis sentence. I may even bring an actual it? deli-meat sandwich to drive the point home. The quote sandwich is a term we will use extensively during this class and continue to use it throughout the year, particularly during paper writing, so repetition will help extensively, as well. 8. Where Throughout the lesson, I will have examples prepared of uses outside the class (a am I going letter to the principal about the need to change school lunches quoting a nutritional to use it? article, explaining to their parents how I, as a teacher, am totally ridiculous, and using and analyzing my quote that they will use this for the rest of their lives as

Zeller 7 evidence, etc.), but solicit examples from students as well. This will hopefully drive the point home, that they will never escape the need for this skill. 9. When These skills are critical skills to hone in order to become a better writer, speaker, am I going and communicator in general. Most immediately and explicitly: they will use it in to use it? paper-writing. More significantly: they will use it to make their voice heard more convincingly when they have something to say that theyre passionate about (be it college applications, letters to politicians or school administrators, a girlfriend they are trying to impress, a speech they need to give, etc.). 10. How Students should know by the end of the lesson that they should and can apply this do I apply whenever they want to make an argument stronger, or even a joke funnierit is a it? device used by the strongest of communicators, no matter how professional. The most clear time they will apply it is when they have a paper to write, and there is no avoiding integrating quotes (ie, it is a specific requirement). Any time they integrate a quote into speech or writing, they should provide the context that comes with a quote sandwich, and have a specific purpose for using that quote so their signal for knowing when to apply it is when they either have a requirement to use a quote, or they want to make something they are saying stronger.

**See Lesson Plan Attached at End of Paper** Section 3 Section 3, Case 1 Fortunately for this lesson, the topic is very much stand-alone so it would not be specifically contingent on class or assignments before this; he may be behind in writing skills if he has missed school like this for years, but the lesson is designed to catch students at every level due to high use of scaffolding. To further scaffolding for Micha, I would adjust the original plan of my lesson for students to work independently, and instead pair them up to work with one partner. I would intentionally pair Micha up with a high-performing student. My rational for this, other than the fact that more levels of scaffolding is, by nature, helpful for struggling students, but that peer tutoring has proven to be a highly effective general classroom technique specifically for students with emotional and behavioral disorders, and would be especially helpful for Micha if he is behind the rest of the class in writing skills to begin with (190). I would also give Micha

Zeller 8 the option to take notes and do the writing activity on a computer, as, in addition to peer tutoring, completing assignments on a computer is another helpful technique for students with emotional and behavioral disabilities, and could help him stick through the lesson if he gets discouraged (190). If he has a high interest in the content of the class, I want to do everything in my power during the lesson to prevent discouragement from affecting the drive that that interest could supply. Another way I would want to help battle a low self esteem would be to do the same as I would with Lizzy, and organize before class a couple questions that I want him to be ready to answer during class. I would meet with him sometime before class in order to do this (so it wouldnt depend on him being there two days in a row). My rationale for this would be that he would have the opportunity to succeed in front of his peers during class, and therefore feel better about himself in the classroom environmentand possibly not feel the need to be so defensive when interacting with his peers. Two more accommodations I would include for Micha would be guided lecture notes, so that he could follow along and know exactly what he needs to remember from this class, as well as have something to take away with him and review when he does come to school. As discussed in section one, he would also have access to the binder of assignments and past lecture notes every day, and I could give him points for doing assignments that he missed. Due dates for these assignments would be arranged between the two of usbut he would never get a zero if he did the assignment. My rationale for this is that the most important thing is for Micha to get caught up on work that he has missed in order to keep up with the class, and be ready for his junior year. The absolute worst thing that could happen is for him to leave my class even more behind.

Zeller 9 Finally, because this lesson is very socially oriented, with both whole-class and partner discussions, it would be critical to address Michas social skills. The first accommodation I would want to have already in place is the development of a Functional Behavioral Assessment, as this would help me to identify what are the triggers for Michas behavior, as well as brainstorm possible replacement behaviors to instate with him. As Rosenburg et al explain, Students who employ disruptive and unproductive behaviors typically require guidance in seeking alternative ways, or replacement behaviors, to address their legitimate social and academic needs. (186). Though the best way to develop a replacement behavior for Micha would be through a fully conducted FBA, a possible replacement behavior for Micha when he gets frustrated with peers would be for me to cue him to take a couple minutes in the quiet corner that I have already designated in the classroom. He could also practice taking a short walk outside and then return to the room. Self-monitoring worksheets, including spaces to record the use of these sorts of replacement behaviors, could be incorporated into the plan and be utilized during this lesson, in particularparticularly during partner work, as I may not be monitoring him as closely as I could during the whole-class discussion. By coming up with a productive replacement behaviors and self-monitoring techniques, Micha would not only gain the potential for smoother interactions with other students, but help develop healthier relationships with those around him. Healthier relationships could motivate Micha to come to school more often, help develop better influences for him (addressing his frequent problems with the law), and make Micha feel better about himself, in general (addressing his possible depression).

Zeller 10 All in all, with these accommodations, this lesson has the potential to not just be productive in acquiring writing skills, be extremely productive for Micha in a lot of other areas that he struggles with. Section 3, Case 2 In order to address her lack of participation during lecture, I would arrange specific questions with Lizzie before class for her to address during lecture. I would also arrange with her that as a signal that I am going to ask her a question, I would approach her desk in order to give her warning. The questions I would ask her then, of course, would be questions (particularly at first) that I know she could answer. As she gained confidence from this over periods of weeks, I would gradually ask more and more challenging questionsthat way, she would gradually build confidence in participation during class. For this lesson specifically, I will just assume that we are just beginning this process, and so I will meet with her before class in order to tell her the two specific questions that I want her to answer during class. The reason this would be an effective method to aid not just in her confidence and frequency of participation, but also in instruction, is that she will have the opportunity to engage in the material more thoroughly during class, and thus, get much more out of it. As Rosenburg et al states about students with learning disabilities, . As many students with learning disabilities progress through school, they are faced with increasing difficulty in successfully completing school tasks and making passing grades; and this may result in avoidance of academic activities, frustration, behavior problems, and, ultimately, disengagement from school. Thus, maintaining student motivation becomes a key issue in ensuring that students with learning disabilities continue to adjust to school and make adequate academic progress (149).

Zeller 11 It is clear that Lizzies confidence is hindering her engagement and therefore, practice, and so it is critical to address this need for her continued success. In order to specifically address her learning disability with reading, my main instructional accommodation will be ample scaffolding as according to Rosenburg et al, Mediated Scaffolding is one of the six principles guiding effective curriculum and instruction for students with learning disabilitiesand all students (155). The structure of the lesson uses Vygotskys Zone of Proximal Development to guide the scaffolding, in which I explicitly teach the class about integrating quotes while pulling on prior knowledge of the students (students learn to do something with a mentor), the class corrects examples of integrating quotes together (students learn to do something with peers), and then each student constructs their own sentences, helping each other when they have questions. I will also be walking around the room, checking students work and answering questions as they ariseLizzy will be one of the students that I will pay special attention to, helping her when she seems to need it, and letting her work on her own when she is ok. As Rosenburg explains, Effective teachers have support available for students as they need it and withdraw the support when it is no longer necessary (155). For Lizzy, Ill monitor her progress during class, but concentrate on not interfering when it is clear that she understands. I also intend on using two other principles of effective instruction, Big Ideas and Conspicuous Strategies by providing an image (conspicuous strategy) as a way of remembering the biggest idea for students to get out of the lesson: that they should always include an introductory sentence and analysis sentence when they quote something. That image, of course, is the quote sandwichwhere the meat is the quote, surrounded by the bun of the introductory and analysis sentence. Another conspicuous strategy to support the big ideas of the lesson is the use of a lecture guide, in which Lizzy and other students who want it, can fill in

Zeller 12 notes on a sheet with pre-written prompts to guide their listening. The last conspicuous strategy I will supply for Lizzy (as well as her classmates), are simple formulas to follow as guidelines for writing introductory and analysis sentences, so that she will have a concrete idea of what to write when she is writing it on her own. This will help prevent her from getting stuck right away when writing, as well as provide a jumping off point for me to help guide her if she does get stuck. Conspicuous strategies like these are effective for all students to remember the concept, but especially effective for Lizzy, who struggles with remember what she has read, and may have difficulties in coming up with strategies for remembering on her own. Indeed, Many adolescents with learning problems do not automatically produce strategies as they address novel tasks. Thus, these strategies must be explicitly taught (158). As Lizzy has some sort of learning disability, she may benefit even more than a typical student from the use of a specifically taught strategy for remembering the important concepts of the day. Two other areas in which students with disabilities in particular can benefit from in instruction is judicious review and strategic integration of old information with new information. The nature of this lesson is that it will be repeated over and over again throughout the year because it is such a critical skilland so review of these concepts will be distributed over time, rather than isolated to this day for Lizzy to be responsible to memorize (161). By being able to review this information again and again throughout the year, Lizzy will be more likely to remember it than if we worked on the concept only one day. The lesson, with imagery like a quote sandwich, sets itself up for judicious review by providing class terms to use in the discourse of writingin other words, it sets up concrete words and images for Lizzy to remember each time we talk about writing, and therefore, makes it much more likely that

Zeller 13 repetition of these words and images in future lessons will help with understanding and remembering. It sets the class up for strategic integration of these concepts in future lessons. Also, during this lesson, we will be using transition words as part of the formula for a quote sandwich, which came in part of the lesson a few days before. This will help result in explicit combining of what has already been learned with new learning so that the relationship between old and new learning is clear and results in more complete or new knowledge (160)or strategic integration of prior knowledge, another very effective strategy for instruction for students with learning disabilities. Finally, because the sheet of quotes to choose from for the writing activity includes many quotes, and Lizzy may lose valuable time just trying to read each quote in order to pick one. Therefore, I will choose two quotes with simpler vocabulary from the list of quotes for her to choose from instead. This way, Lizzy will be able to focus her energy on the most important skill of the lessonintegrating quotesand not be bogged down by simply trying to choose a quote to write abouta decision that is not critical for the purposes of this exercise. Section 3, Case 3 The biggest struggles Susan will have for this lesson is gleaning information from the Power Point, understanding the Colbert clip without the visuals, and reading and writing for the writing activity at the end of the hour. In terms of the Power Point, as I go through the slides, I will be sure to read all of the content out loud, and several times if it is a key idea, or part of what I want the students to work to correct. I will also either give Susan a copy of the Power Point presentation, so that she can use text-to-speech software to read it later, or, if I have the resources, I will give her a copy typed in Braille, so that she can read the slides alongside

Zeller 14 everyone elsethat way she has an opportunity to gain benefits from the information on the slides in the presentation. In terms of the Colbert clip: the point of showing the Colbert clip is that he explicitly uses and analyzes quotes from a memo, and I thought it would be a good clip for students to watch because it highlights the quote on the screen as he reads it out loud, making it very clear where it begins and ends, and thus, how he introduces it and analyzes it (what our lesson is about). Obviously, Susan is at a disadvantage because she cannot see the quote on the screen, and so misses the cues when it begins in end. To address this, while showing the clip, I will say as a cue at the beginning of the quote, Quote, and signaling the end by saying End quote. The rationale for this, of course, is so that Susan will be able to know what parts of what Colbert is saying is part of the quote, and what parts are the introductory and analysis sections. For the writing activity, I will have a computer available for her to use with screen reading software and talking word processors, so that she can read and compose her own sentences. I will also have the sheet of quotes to choose from, like the power point slides, available in Braille, a regular copy with which she could read with whatever helping software available (text-tospeech, speech synthesizer, etc.), or a file that she could pull up on a computer, in which she could utilize a refreshable Braille display. When students gather in groups or partners to share their work, I would partner her with someone to help her with moving around the room, if need be. To address developing her own self advocacy, I would continue my process of asking her if she has everything she needsencouraging her to give me feedback, as well, at how well I accommodated instruction. I would do this so that she would realize the amount that she is entitled to in a classroom, so that she knows what she can ask for in concurrent and future

Zeller 15 classes. I would continue to encourage her to tell these same things to her other teachers, also, and offer to go with her if she wants support. Section 4 Section 4, Case 1 The most basic assessment for the acquisition of material for all students will be reviewing their work on the writing assignment that I will collect at the end of the hour. For Micha, I would monitor especially how much he was able to get done in the time allotted, because this would tell me how productive it was for him to work with a partnerif he has too little, than he was probably not able to get much out of working with a partner; if he has an extraordinary amount at an unusual quality, I would question how much of the work he did himself. Both of these would tell me things about who he was paired with, as well as how good of an approach it is to work with a partner. Because Micha will be on a behavior plan, another part of his assessment will be how well he did during class interacting with peers. There will be two parts to this assessment: his own self assessment, and my assessment of his performance. Each week, or every other week, we would have a meeting outside of class to discuss his progress in his behavior, and both his and my evaluations would be used to discuss specific instances of strength that he displayed, as well as room for improvement. This lesson would certainly provide plenty of opportunities for performance that would be discussed in a meeting like this. Appropriate behavior for this class period would be a balanced amount of participation during class, and productive, calm interactions with his partner during the writing activity. Another example of good behavior to look for would be instances where he was able to use a replacement behaviorlike taking a

Zeller 16 couple minutes of quiet to calm downinstead of yelling at others. If these accommodations and strategies are working, each meeting should have an upward trend. Section 4, Case 2 For Lizzie, in addition to assessing from her writing if she is understanding the lesson as a whole, I would monitor specifically how much she was able to get done. If she is far behind the rest of the class while she is working, it could be a sign that my accommodations adjusting for her reading difficulties could have not been enoughbecause for this assignment, her reading should not be getting in the way of accessing the material. I would also monitor the kinds of errors she was making, and if they were very different than other students, it could also be a sign that my accommodations for her reading disability did not effectively even the playing field. Finally, I would stop her as she was walking out of the class and ask her how she felt about the material. The reason I would want to do this in person is to assess her body language, as well, in how confident and good she feels about her work. A large part of my accommodations aimed at improving her self esteem in her work, and it is an important element to assess at the end of the class because it could affect her motivation and drive in future assignments with this topic and in general. As with the rest of the students, I will be able to assess her understanding of integrating quotes after this lesson through more writing in future lessons. Section 4, Case 3 For Susan, my assessment will be very similar to Lizzies. I will place a heavy emphasis of my assessment on how the lesson went for her by grading her writing piecelooking for discrepancies in the kinds of errors that she makes and what the rest of the class makes. If she is making very different kinds of errors in her work than the rest of the class, or does not make

Zeller 17 comparable progress during class, than my accommodations can be improved. Because Susan has no known intellectual disability, she has the potential to produce the same quality of work as the rest of the class. It would also be very important to assess how confident she is in advocating for herself, and how critically she is thinking about what she needs. The first step would be to assess how confident and open she is in telling me her needs, and giving me feedback for the class. The second step would be to assess how open she is to the idea of advocating for herself in other classes, as this requires much more initiative and courage than me approaching her. In the end, the goal is for her to feel that she is capable of both knowing and advocating what she needs in order to reach her full potentialand believe in reaching her full potential, as well. My assessment would surround making sure that she is feeling more comfortable every day with communicating these needs, and believing in her capabilities in my class.