Field Observation 1

Field Observation

Corey Sharpe

College of Southern Nevada

5/10/2019
Field Observation 2

Having known nothing about the field of special education and what it takes to be a

special education teacher, I was very enthusiastic about this course. Just like when I took

elementary education a few semesters ago, I was looking forward to going into the classroom to

get a first-hand view of what a day in the life of a special education teacher was. Before I even

took this class, I had a vague idea of what special education was, but never really gave much

thought about going into this specialized field. “It would be too difficult,” was the thought that I

had before taking this class. However, I found that special education can be just as fulfilling as

teaching in a regular classroom.

I was pretty nervous on my first day at Patricia A Bendorf Elementary, the school that I

selected to observe at. When I got to the school, the teacher that I was going to be with was busy

with SBAC testing so they had me sit in with another teacher, Mrs. Towers. We were able to sit

and talk about special education in which she told me that she had been teaching for twenty years

and couldn’t imagine doing anything else. She asked if I was going to become a special

education teacher which I told her that I was thinking about it and that by taking this class, I

would be able to get a better understanding of the field. She told me that she hoped that I would

continue in the education field, whether it be regular or special education as there need to be

more male teachers. In fact, at Bendorf Elementary, there are only two male teachers in the

whole school, a second-grade teacher and the PE coach. After about an hour spent with Mrs.

Towers, I got to go be with Mrs. Flores for the rest of the afternoon.

Mrs. Flores teaches is in a resource room, and is very well liked by everyone. She told me

about her life and how she has a 13-year-old who is autistic and had actually been at an IEP

meeting that morning. She had me sit with her at her computer and went over how to fill out an
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IEP. She told me how important it is to make sure you discuss everything with a parent and spare

no details when it comes to their child’s IEP.

As we talked, she told me that being a special education teacher can be challenging but

rewarding. She said that there are many qualities that a special education teacher should have

such as patience, understanding, and most importantly, a special education teacher should always

be consistent. She said one of the biggest problems she sees is that some teachers go through the

motions, and that is the last thing these kids need. They need teachers who know what needs to

be done and how they can be most effective.

Because of the SBAC testing, the schedules for the kids were in disarray so Mrs. Flores

was floating around, helping other teachers and covering for them. We ended up in Ms.

Bezama’s Intermediate Autism class, which was going to be the class that I would end up doing

most of my observing in. Ms. Bezama wasn’t there so her support aid, Ms. Sue, asked if Mrs.

Flores could come in and help during the end of the school day. As we went into the classroom, I

was introduced to the few kids that were in there and took a seat. This is where I got my first-

hand experience of what it’s like to be in a self-contained classroom.

The first thing I noticed was how warm and calm the classroom was. There were eight

desks set up in the center of the room, connected together to make a “U” shape. The classroom

has a bathroom, along with a sink and a drinking fountain. I noticed that other students from

other self-contained classes would come to use the bathroom or get a drink from the fountain.

The thing I found most interesting about the classroom was a spot over by the teacher’s desk that

was labeled as the “Take a Break” area. I was informed that this area is used by the students

when they are feeling overwhelmed or they are getting their emotions put in check. There were
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also iPads and computers for the children to use, as well as toys that the children could play with

if they completed all their work.

After reading about different assistive technologies, I got the chance to see some of these

put into action. One of the students is nonverbal and has difficulties with writing. He has an iPad

which has a program which will tell you what he wants. It was fascinating watching him

communicate with it. He would hit a button that would say, “I want,” followed by pressing

another button on the screen which would say what he wanted. At the time, he was wanting an

iPad to play on so he would hit the first button indicating what he wanted, followed by a button

that said, “iPad.” Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t allowed to play on an iPad as he wasn’t

finished working on his worksheet which resulted in him crying and hitting the “iPad” button

over and over.

I saw another piece of assistive technology at work. The young man who is nonverbal

worked on worksheets consisted of letters for him to trace, but instead of having multiple copies

of the paper for him to trace on, his worksheets were slid into a piece of plastic where the marker

could easily be erased. I watched as he did his tracing and he was pretty spot on.

When I was observing this student, the support teacher, Mrs. Nazzal, pulled out a laminated

sheet of paper that had velcro on it, along with little tokens that had the connecting piece to the

velcro. When the young man would start acting up, Mrs. Nazzal would show the paper to the

student and tell him that if he started yelling, he would lose one of his tokens. When he would

behave and do his work, she would show him the piece of paper and put another token on it,

telling him he is doing a great job. I asked about the token sheet and was told that it is a

motivator that is used to help some of the students keep on track. Whenever the young man

would fill out his token board, he would be allowed to have five minutes with an iPad. I was told
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that this was an effective tool to help motivate some of the children who would often lose focus

or would give up trying to do their work. In the book it states, “Motivational factors are crucial

for understanding the discrepancy that often exists between an individual’s performance and his

or her actual ability.” (p.182)

My first full day in the classroom, I took notice of the ethnicity of the children in the

class. I remember the book talking about a disparity of ethnicities in special education

classrooms. In Ms. Bezama’s class, there are eight students. Seven of those students are male and

one female. What I found interesting was that out of the eight children, there was only one white

child. Four are African-American, two are Hispanic, one is Asian, and then one Caucasian.

Another thing I noticed about Ms. Bezama’s class, and other self-contained classes is that there

are two teachers in the classroom. In Ms. Bezama’s class it is her and Mrs. Nazzal. From what I

saw they work by having one teach, who is Ms. Bezama, and Mrs. Nazzal supports the students.

This is the “One teach, One Support” model found on page 26 of the book.

During my time in the classroom, I observed one of the children while everyone in the

class was working on different worksheets. The child I observed was a young boy who, at times,

could be very erratic with his movements. He would get distracted by something and would stick

his tongue out and run his fingers quickly across his face while making noises. Out of all the

children in the classroom, Ms. Bezama noted that he was one of the more severe kids in terms of

autism. When he would speak, he would speak in a tone as if he was a toddler and I was told that

he had a set schedule for when he needed to go to the restroom so they could avoid accidents.

While observing this student, he kept complaining that he was having a difficult time. He would

often comment, “Too much work!” Ms. Bezama sat down with him and showed him how to

work out the problem. She used a lot of positive reinforcement and assured him that he was
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capable of completing the worksheet as long as he sat in his chair and focused on the paper. At

times, he would fidget and roll around in his chair. This would prompt Ms. Bezama to tell him

that he needed to focus on his work and if he completed the worksheet, he would get to play.

About ten minutes later he brought his worksheet to Ms. Bezama. Not only did he finish his

worksheet, he also answered many of the questions correctly. Ms. Bezama let him know how

proud she was and asked if she could hang it up on the wall to show how well he did. He lit up in

excitement because he was able to accomplish something that he thought was going to be too

difficult. Ms. Bezama told me it’s all about being on top of them and knowing what they’re

capable of.

Reading and studying the chapters this past semester was a good starting point; however,

nothing can beat actual classroom experience. This is something that both Mrs. Flores and Ms.

Bezama expressed to me. As educators, we must find what works best for us so that we may be

successful in the classroom. That means making sacrifices and dedicating a lot of time after

school, and sometimes weekends, in order to make sure we can provide these students a way to

succeed. It isn’t always going to be easy, but after being in a classroom and observing these

wonderful children, I can see that it can be very rewarding.

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Reference

Gargiulo, R. M., & Bouck, E. C. (2018). Special Education in Contemporary Society: An

Introduction to Exceptionality. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications.