Observe and Answer Question Responses

I am in a first-grade classroom in an agricultural community. My practicum class is on the smaller side

with 20 students. Out of the 20 students there is one child with a disability. The child has Waardenburg
syndrome and as a result she wears a hearing aid. As for the whole grade I am unsure, there are only
two first grade classrooms in the school since it is a smaller school.

There are three children in the classroom who we have that can be challenging. One student often blurts
out and has trouble focusing in lessons or on tasks at hand. This student often doesn’t turn in homework
and does take a bit of time to do his work because of his trouble focusing. Another one fidgets and gets
overwhelmed very easily, but for the most part can be refocused and gets his work done. There is also
one more student who usually doesn’t join the class for whole class instruction and very often gets over
whelmed or becomes defiant. The student is oppositional defiant so this does create a challenge at
times.

All three students who are a challenge are still very sweet and do not have trouble making friends or
interacting with classmates, their classmates also welcome and include them regularly. In this classroom
there are a lot of leaders. The students all seem to get along well. I’ve noticed they are supportive and
keep each other accountable. They are all eager to answer questions and love to share in class as well.

There isn’t much needed for the students in the classroom with IEP’s and 504 plans. The student who
has a hearing aid is very independent and manages well. When we are in the computer lab the student
will go get her own head phones. One of the boys with a 504 will have a meeting about it in May, but a
lot of what’s on it doesn’t come up in class and does not require accommodations or modifications.

Our ELL student sometimes asks clarifying questions and we do our best to make sure he understands
what we are doing. In writing the teacher will sometimes help him sound out the words he wants to
write or give him a post it. Our ELL also doesn’t have to write as many sentences when doing journal
because he has his own goals to work towards.

For our oppositional defiant student we work with him separately or there are certain pages he will
complete and things we will look for in assessment to accommodate his needs. This student can become
very overwhelmed, anxious or defiant, so he usually does not join in on whole class lessons, but he does
listen and absorb what is being taught. He can usually finish assignments asked of him with little to no
help and complete them correctly, but he does not usually choose to do so.

There are a few students who get pulled for speech during the day. From my observations they
get pulled occasionally and work on things in the morning or afternoon. We also have students get
pulled for title reading in the morning. They usually got for most of our reading lessons and then come
back from some whole class instruction in reading or writing before recess.

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