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Jason Atilano-Lopez

Introduction to Special Education 203

Observation experience

Wed. 25th, 2018

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Field observation experience

This is my second time going to a field observation, the experiences from both do vary

and are unique in their own way. This is the first time that I was allowed in any sort of special

education classroom. When I first walked in I had a young child open the door and greet me. He

was very friendly and energetic. He asked for my name and he told me his name was Joziah. I

then greet the cooperating teacher and she gives me a run down of what the class is working on

and different stations in the classroom. I notice that the class is very small, only about four or

five kids in the classroom. She tells me that it is different, but she enjoys it very much. The class

was a Specific Learning Disability (SLD) class. For the time I was there the children were being

tested on computers with different images and auditory one on one. The cooperating teacher

would always have all of her attention centered on them and made sure they were doing fine and

did not get stuck on any questions.

I also notice that the students have a very close relationship with the teacher. No students

get left out or isolated by the teacher. I also notice that there were some other teachers in the

room at different times. They help out certain students, in other words they have their own task

on specific students. There were also a few times that the students would have tantrums or did

not want to do their work. The cooperating teacher would give treats to those students that were

on task and use them as an example of how to act, this was a behavioral consequence. The

cooperating teacher had the same attitude as any regular education teacher. The techniques were

the same and she showed genuine support for her children in and outside of the classroom. Ms.

Dunn showed me some of her lesson plans and some websites she uses for assessment and

individual progress, she also showed me how she makes IEP and she explained to me what an

IEP is and how it is used for in the classroom. She told me that student progress is also evaluated
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based on them. I found the number of students in the classroom does actually affect the way that

lessons are presented. In the SLD class the students receive all of the attention they want, while

in a regular education class some students may not get all of the attention that they wish for. I

noticed and observed a boy named German in my SLD class. He would get distracted extremely

easily and would stop doing his work. He would also start to cry because he gets told to get back

on task. There was a pattern with German, I noticed that he was really into cars. Every time that

he would get off task it would be because he would be watching cars. I thought to myself, “what

would I, as a teacher, in this situation?” I think that I would use cars to help him with his

learning, since cars seemed to be his only interest, why not use them to count or to read, write? I

felt good to know that I am paying attention in the way different children learn in a classroom.

These children have more than one class to attend. When I was observing I noticed that

they have different schedules, although Ms. Dunn is their primary teacher, they also have other

teachers to keep track of the students’ learning. My cooperating teacher also showed me that the

students have different jobs in the classroom, they know how to turn on computers and log into

different learning/educational sites. This was very impressive and new to me. Even though they

have some sort of disability, they still know how to navigate the web and get to their destination.

This experience with children in special education classes made me very happy. They are

just like any other kids, they want to get ahead and learn new things as well as progress through

school. Experiencing these types of things really makes me happy that I chose to become a

teacher. I think that another advantage an SLD class has on a regular education class is the bond

that the teacher creates with the children. I don’t think that it is nearly as strong because there are

many kids in a regular education class. These field observations give us a deeper understanding
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of what it is like to be a teacher and even puts us in “what if” situations. I am excited for future

experiences in the classroom to learn even more about the profession.