Taylor Dody

VTFT Instructor: (Mrs.) Jennifer Nardelli

Frank W. Cox High School

2425 Shorehaven Drive

Virginia Beach, Virginia 23454

Executive Summary

Face-to-face special education students, along with virtual special education students, are all

learning how to navigate virtual education, just like mainstream students and teachers. Frank W.

Cox´s first ever virtual field experience journey for special education students in collaboration with

regular education students was one that pushed the boundaries of virtual education and opened new

doors.

Students in our self contained special education classroom are extremely passionate about

just about everything they do. This includes their work study program which they were able to

participate in pre-Covid. Unfortunately, they were unable to participate in so many activities they

normally take part in- especially work study and other field experiences that teach life skills. For this

reason, I decided to create a virtual learning experience for these students that could perhaps fulfill

some of what they were missing. Through research, I discovered the benefits of virtual experiences

such as no capacity or size limit and the fact that it takes away the threat of students getting lost,

posing no threat to the child's safety (Mitchell).

While brainstorming for this virtual event, I chose to pick local organizations that the students

could potentially become involved with as they graduate. Most of their field experience occurs in the

restaurant industry which is why I chose Shorebreak and Hot Tuna for one of our virtual field trips.

These are local restaurants. I also added the Virginia Beach SPCA since SPED students can work

and volunteer at the organization and most are also animal lovers. Several students have pets or will

be adopting pets in the future so informing them on how to do so and take care of an animal is

extremely important as the SPCA’s motto is “Adopt- Don't Shop.” Another virtual field trip included

the local fire department which taught the students about safety and community. Finally, Botanical

Gardens zoomed in to speak to the students about the environment and we were actually able to help

the students plant seeds!

 Due to my school’s new 4X4 term schedule my Virginia Teachers for Tomorrow II course

started at the beginning of February which left me a small amount of time to plan and implement this

project. I had the help of my amazing teacher and VTFT II classmates to help facilitate this event.

Thankfully, all of the organizations were more than eager to help. Throughout the planning stages, I

learned a great deal about professionalism, including how to send formal emails, follow up with these

organizations, and delegate tasks to my peers. Although I am a senior in high school, emailing is not

my first choice of communication. Learning how to professionally compose and send emails and

organize this event taught me how to compose myself in the real world.

With each virtual field experience via Zoom, we also integrated a hands on activity such as

adopting stuffed animals (SPCA), handing out t-shirts (local restaurants), and even securing a

sponsor for one of the Zoom meetings that brought over food and firemen hats.

Juggling this project along with my other classes and work showed me how much I was truly

capable of and how much my classmates really cared about my project and were willing to help in

any way possible. I realized how fortunate I was to start working at the age of 16 without any

complications or difficulties. Our SPED students work extremely hard to complete tasks such as

working a cash register or speaking in a polite manner to customers, that may have taken me a day

to learn. It is a unit that they study in the classroom which is why these virtual field trips truly benefited

them. Although this project may have been a great learning experience for our SPED students, it was

also an amazing learning experience for myself as it taught me so much about life outside of the four

walls of my school.

Background
Covid-19 has impacted so many people, including students such as myself. I always believed

that my education was lacking due to Zoom calls in virtual settings. My first day back face to face, I

took a step back and realized that the special education students were suffering due to the current

educational state we were experiencing much more than anyone else. I had worked with the special

education students before in a club called “Buddies Helping Buddies” and I wanted to help. Special
education has always been a passion of mine since the fifth grade when during our “Free Fridays,” I

would visit the special education classrooms and read books to the students. I knew how passionate

the teachers in the special education program at my high school were about their jobs and their

students. It was important for the students to get field experience before graduating high school- even

if it was in a virtual world.

Because of Covid-19, the students who were in person were not able to leave the school

building. Their work study is imperative for their development in social settings along with creating a

steady work ethic for them. I myself work in the restaurant industry where I learned the importance of

a good work ethic and I also learned a great deal about customer service. Our SPED students are

very passionate about work study and were extremely disappointed when they found out they could

not participate due to Covid.

Over the course of a week, I lined up a series of Zoom calls from groups such as the Virginia

Beach SPCA, two very popular family oriented local restaurants, the Virginia Beach Fire Department,

and the Botanical Gardens. All of these fields include some sort of customer service or community

outreach.

Currently, Zoom and Google Meet have the monopoly on education mediums. Taking that into

consideration, along with reflecting on my previous knowledge of special education students and

some research, I knew that these tools could be beneficial. I recognized the fact that some SPED

students have a difficult time straying from their regular schedules, leaving school to go on field trips

or their work experience, and some have difficulty even leaving their own classroom. These

challenges can be major stressors for this population of students. Each student has their own

process. Although Zoom calls only recently became the educational standard and a main way to

deliver instruction, I knew that utilizing these tools for virtual field experiences could really benefit the

way SPED students learn in the future.

Project Description
 When beginning this project, I reflected on the current needs that our special education

students needed during these challenging times (Covid, hybrid classrooms, constantly on a

computer). I was somewhat aware that SPED students are already learning at different levels. Taylor

Elise, a special education teacher in North Carolina, explains, some special education students are

more mentally advanced than others, and some students can read and reflect on articles as some

struggle identifying their letters. The virtual atmosphere has made things even more difficult for this

population (Winkie).

As I had worked with this group of SPED students before, I knew how important face to face

work study was to these students, not only because they have fun, but because it helps them develop

social skills that they are unable to develop in the classroom. As I'm also very passionate about

working and feel as though a good work ethic can take you far in life, I knew these students could

have some sort of social connections with authoritative figures and learn what it is like to work in

different fields and see how others contribute to the community.

With a shortened time span- due to my school's 4 X 4 semester grading periods- I had to

immediately start brainstorming ideas. With the help of my VTfT teacher, I eliminated ideas and

modified others until we came up with the Virtual Field experience that I executed. I wanted the

project to be perfect for these very special kids so I sat down and committed to writing emails for

afternoons at a time. I had many days where I stayed after class and after school in order to discuss

project details with the special education teachers and my VTFT ll teacher. This project took me well

over 40 hours to complete including composing emails, calling companies, arranging specifics with

the special education classroom, planning and implementing ideas, figuring out Zoom logistics, and

discussing all of it with the teachers from the special education classroom along with my VTFT

teacher.

Since experiencing this pandemic, the Virginia Beach community has grown closer than ever

and I knew many would be more than willing to help. I brainstormed about ten different groups /

companies and narrowed it down to which would be the most beneficial for the students and also the
most entertaining. Although we wanted this to be an educational experience, I was also aware of the

different types of learning styles I was dealing with. Some of the SPED students needed a hands on

connection to the activity. Keeping that in mind, I landed on the companies: The Virginia Beach

SPCA, local restaurants Hot Tuna and Shorebreak, The Virginia Beach Fire Department, and the

Norfolk Botanical Gardens.

Creating an activity to correlate with each of these Zoom sessions proved somewhat difficult. I

wanted each student to feel as though they made a personal connection to each of these virtual

experiences and that this knowledge could benefit them once they graduated.

The first virtual field trip was with the Virginia Beach SPCA. Each of these students had some

love or connection with animals, so I picked up some stuffed animals for each student to ¨adopt” so

they would have something tangible. Although not all of these stuffed animals were animals you

could adopt at the SPCA, each student had fun choosing and adopting his or her animal, giving it a

name, and also learning its birthday and how old it was from the name tag on the animal. While on

the SPCA Zoom, Mrs. Kate from the Virginia Beach SPCA spoke about her day-to-day life in the

animal shelter. She went through the adoption process along with the fostering process. The

students had a chance to ask questions, such as which animals they accepted, and why it is

important to ¨adopt not shop.” Having the SPED students go up to the Promethean Board and ask

Mrs. Kate questions made them feel as though they had a personal connection with Mrs. Kate. The

students were also able to see a fourteen year old cat and an eight week old puppy.

For our second virtual field trip, Riley Street and JB Mass, managers and part owners at local

restaurants Shorebreak and Hot Tuna, told the students all about customer service, the jobs that they

offer at these locations, and why they love customer service. To keep the students excited and

engaged, Riley Street from Hot Tuna kindly donated shirts to each student. At the beginning of the

Zoom call all of the students were so excited about their shirts that they ran up to the camera and

showed Riley. The timing of the Zoom call could not have been more perfect, as the students were

studying customer service in the classroom. While the students were able to ask fun questions about
the game room at Shorebreak and how they make the pizza dough, we also received information

about what each position entails in the restaurant. We mainly focused on the hostesses and the

servers. They did an amazing job explaining to the students why each job in the restaurant business

is so important. They even received a tour of the kitchen and the arcade!

Our third virtual field trip was with the Virginia Beach Fire Department. I have to admit, I was

struggling to find an activity to go along with it. My VTfT II classmates and I brainstormed and we

decided to reach out to Firehouse Subs and see if they would sponsor our event. Firehouse Subs

was more than happy to help us out but donating fire hats and subs for each kid! When the fire

department first joined the call, it was a few firefighters sitting at a table answering any questions that

the students had. I personally believe that the SPED students were looking forward to this field trip

the most as some came with a list of questions on paper front and back.

Once the students had all their questions out of the way, firefighter Taylor Jones, one of only

ten female firefighters in Virginia Beach, took the students on a tour of a fire truck. The students

jumped in and asked questions about the fire truck and fire safety. Firefighter Taylor Jones was also

kind enough to have the lights turned on so the students were able to see what the lit up fire truck

looked like. They asked questions about fire safety and what day to day fire calls were like. The

students also learned a great deal about the difficult process it takes to be accepted into the fire

department. Towards the end of the call< firefighter Taylor Jones even suggested that when Covid

restrictions loosen up, they would be willing to bring a firetruck to Cox High School so the students

could see it in person!

Finally, we had a virtual field trip with Botanical Gardens. Students learned about how seeds

grow into flowers from an educator at the Botanical Gardens. Students planted their own basil plant

and listened to the story of The Hungry Caterpillar. They then were able to create their own “hungry

caterpillar” with stencils and stickers and we taped them outside of the classroom in the hallway. They

learned about becoming a gardener and they had a great time with these activities.
 Although this project had a shortened time stamp and an abundance of work with the help of

my teacher and classmates I truly believe we helped these students learn a little differently than they

would have in previous years.

Reflection

Throughout this project I learned an immense amount of information related to time

management, as well as having faith in others to complete the tasks they say they will do. All of my

VTfT II classmates were more than eager to help with the activities such as passing t-shirts out or

creating name tags for stuffed animals. Not one of my classmates let me down and I honestly feel

like this project brought us closer together.

I think this project was so successful because with the virtual field experience, there is no

need to leave the school and no pressure from any outside variables. Although some students didn't

speak up as much as the others did, they were all engaged and listening to their classmates'

questions.

This project benefited the special education students at my high school more than any other

population but it certainly taught me a lot of life lessons. I learned that whatever I'm struggling with,

there is always somebody out there struggling a little bit more than I am. During the pandemic, I

thought that my senior year was being destroyed through virtual learning, but in reality I really saw

how much our SPED population was suffering. I learned how to research and modify activities to fit

specific student needs. This project proves that we do not always have to leave the four walls of our

school to experience life and take field trips which requires tons of paperwork and jumping through

hoops. Learning can take place virtually and can be interesting for everyone involved. I know that

these virtual field experiences will continue year after year and our SPED students can really benefit

from them! The impact on my life along with the students' lives who participated will forever be

remembered.
 Works Cited Page

Mitchell, Corey. “Bridging Distance for Learners With Special Needs.” Education Week,

Education Week, 15 Jan. 2021.

Winkie, Luke. “A Special Education Teacher Explains Why Virtual Learning Is so Hard on Her

Students.” Vox, Vox, 15 May 2020.