CCSD FIELD OBSERVATION 1

CCSD Field Observation

Jade DeLile

College of Southern Nevada

EDU 203
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CCSD Field Observation

The school that I shadowed is John C. Vanderburg Elementary School, and the

teacher I shadowed is named Ms. Laurie Barkemeyer. She is a Specific Learning Disability

(SLD) educator and has students from grades 3-5. During my observations, I was able to piece

together what we learned from Chapters 1-15 and how it related to the special education

classroom that I shadowed. Luckily for me, I observed a general education classroom last

semester (Fall 2018) which had IEP students, so I can somewhat compare the two as well.

Lastly, I got to sit-in two IEP meetings during my observations, so I got to experience what that

was like and how they fill out IEP forms and the process. Overall, I gained invaluable

experience from my observations and learned a great deal about special education and what

teachers, students, and staff experience daily in the classroom.

In Chapter 1, we learned about identifying children with disabilities, learning about the

related services available to students with disabilities, and the difference between service

delivery teams. There are many pros and cons of labeling a student with a disability, and in this

case, it helped the children who have a learning disability, as it was beneficial for them to be in

an SLD classroom rather than a general education classroom. It's also important to label these

students so they can go into the right type of special education classroom. During my

observations, I noticed that one student couldn't do the work that was given and struggled to do

basic things such as writing her name, and she's a fifth grader. I know that Ms. Barkemeyer

explained to me that this student would benefit from being in a special education classroom

catered to those with intellectual disabilities, where the student will learn the basics such as

hospital signs, etc. that they can use in the real world. Chapter 1 helped me identify the different

disabilities that students have in the classroom I was shadowing. Lastly, I was able to recognize
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the various methods of presenting instructional content that Ms. Barkemeyer used, which Table

1.6, Chapter 1 provided (Bouck & Gargiulo, 2016, p. 29). There were many assistive technology

programs (Chapter 5) that the students used during their free time to help aid in what they were

learning that day, such as using the MobyMax program.

During my observations, I had the opportunity to observe a couple of IEP meetings,

which Chapter 1 immediately helped me identify, and the team was an interdisciplinary team.

Chapter 2 allowed me to understand the IEP key components that the team used as a guide for

the meeting. Also, I got to see first-hand on how they adjust IEP forms during an IEP meeting.

Chapter 4 was an excellent guide for me during my observations as Ms. Barkemeyer

explained to me the importance of working with the parents of the students, especially when it

helps the students meet their IEP goals. During the IEP meetings that I saw, I saw some

potential family life cycle issues that were in Table 4.2, Chapter 4 (Bouck & Gargiulo, 2016, p.

115), such as the parents having issues with establishing routines.

While I was observing the class, I noticed one of the students not being able to keep up

with their peers and I realized that she showed signs of having an intellectual disability (which

Ms. Barkemeyer later confirmed). Knowing the different levels of support that Chapter 6

explained, I realized that she had extensive support as she had a one-on-one assistant and a tutor

at home for afterschool every day (Bouck & Gargiulo, 2016, p. 171). During my observations of

the student, I noticed several attributes and features of those with intellectual disabilities that the

student displayed from Table 6.4, Chapter 6. The student had issues staying on the task at hand,

difficulty ignoring distracting stimuli, having a short-term memory, had a difficult time applying

knowledge or skills to new situations or tasks (Bouck & Gargiulo, 2016, p. 171). She also has

language development issues, exhibits difficulties in arithmetic and reading, and lacked in social
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competence during recess time. I honestly was surprised that she was in an SLD classroom,

rather than a functional curriculum that instructs pupils with life skills, where Ms. Barkemeyer

and I thought she would flourish.

In the book Special Education in Contemporary Society, Chapters 7-11 helped me the

most during my observation since the class strictly had students with learning disabilities.

Chapter 7 gave a guide on the different types of learning disabilities which enabled me to

identify the type of disability that each student has. When I was observing the students, I noticed

that many of them had issues with reading comprehension, which in turn, made it difficult to

solve problems such as mathematical word problems. Also, I noticed that many of them had

difficulty attending to tasks, and some had excess movement and hyperactivity behavior. Ms.

Barkemeyer used both direct instruction and cognitive training. In the morning, she had the

students work on the "number of the day" which they would figure out math equations and use

the fake currency that would equal to the number of the day. Every day she had the same routine

for them, as she found that children with learning disabilities need that structural routine. She

would then do direct instruction by working with numbers and how they can manipulate them to

equal to the number displayed on the board. Once she finished with the morning direct

instruction, the students had a short recess with snacks before moving on to the cognitive training

portion of the class. Since the classroom has students from grades 3-5, Ms. Barkemeyer found

that splitting them up into groups by the grade level work they belong to work best. In these

small groups, the students have math worksheets that they work on individually and try to solve

the problems themselves.

Chapters 8-11 go more into detail on the different types of learning disabilities,

specifically, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), individuals with emotional or

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behavioral disorders, those on the autism spectrum, and individuals with speech and language

impairments. These chapters helped me during my observations since many of these students

has these disorders. According to Bouck & Gargiulo (2016), students with ADHD educators

should give assignments one at a time to avoid work overload, provide short breaks between

assignments, praise compliant behavior, and provide reassurance and encouragement (p. 268-

269). I noticed Ms. Barkemeyer use these recommendations in her classroom, which was

worked well with the students, especially those with ADHD.

This observation helped me learn a lot about the special education program and the

different teaching strategies and learning about the students themselves. Even though I'm

planning to be a general education teacher, this learning experience will help me in my future

classroom since I might have IEP students. I realized that students with learning disabilities

work at a different pace and it's important for general education teachers to stick to the IEP plan.

I learned that creating a routine for students with a learning disability is crucial for their success.

I didn't know much about the special education classroom, especially one with students

from multiple grades and all of the students has a learning disability. Going into the

observations, I wanted to learn different strategies on how to teach students with various types of

disabilities and what works well with the students. I felt that Ms. Barkemeyer provided me that,

and I will use it in my future classrooms, such as using cognitive training activities and direct

instruction. The IEP meeting that I got to observe was a great experience as it's something that I

might be a part of one day.

Although I learned a lot from my observations, there's still a lot that I need to learn. I

want to learn how to balance the IEP students with general education students, and how to

provide the attention that IEP students need to have them reach academic success. Lastly, I
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didn't get to see a lot of assistive technology used in the classroom, so I would like to explore

those options as well.

This observation confirmed that I want to become a teacher. I like the concept of SLD

education, and it piqued my interest. I understand that it's a lot of work, but the rewards are

worth it, especially seeing those with a learning disability achieving their goals. I hope to

become a well-rounded educator where I can teach both students with and without a learning

disability, and hopefully, I can lead them to reach their goals.

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References

Gargiulo, R. M., & Bouck, E. C. (2016). Special Education in Contemporary Society: An

Introduction to Exceptionality. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.