Applied Behavioral Analysis

By Seneca Barker 


As soon as I decided I wanted to become a Special Education teacher, I knew I also wanted to specialize in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). 

Picture source: www.cronkitenews.azpbs.org

As described on the Autism Speaks website, autism is range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech, and nonverbal communication. Signs usually appear between 2 and 3 years old, and because autism is a spectrum, no child is the same.

Because this is the area of my teaching focus, I wanted to learn a little bit more about the best way to teach a child with autism. 

While scrolling through a PDF from Autism Speaks, I leaned a lot about Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA), which is one of the most common techniques. ABA is an approach that assess and evaluates behavior, then applies interventions to alter or end negative behaviors. The website said, "The principles of analyzing behavior to understand its function, controlling the environment and interactions prior to behavior, and adjusting responses by using positive reinforcement are all important ABA techniques." 

Studies have shown that approximately 50% of those with autism that receive ABA before the age of four show great increase in IQ, verbal skills, and social functioning. 

I had no idea the success rate for ABA was so high before I researched this topic. I hope to someday be able to use these techniques in  my classroom, and watch my students as they progress and achieve more and more. 

Maybe We Do Need Sleep?

By Seneca Barker


I'm sure we've all had a teacher that, at one time or another, said, "Make sure you get a good night's rest!" before a big test.

Which I never listened to, and most of the time I stayed up way too late on school nights. So I was usually in class like...

Picture source: www.buzzfeed.com

However, an article I stumbled upon got me thinking, maybe I really did need that sleep?

Scientists are now linking higher amounts of sleep to higher test scores. After an large study of 621 Freshmen at Ghent and KU Leuven University in Belgium, they found that student who generally got a good night's rest preformed better on exams.

The grades of students who slept seven hours or more each night had test scores of, on average, ten percent higher than those who didn't. That's huge, that could've meant the difference between a 4.0 and a 3.0 for some students.

But why is this? After reading this article I learned that new knowledge is integrated into our existing knowledge while we sleep, so the longer we rest, the more we soak up.

So I guess I'll be that teacher telling my class they better get some rest!

New Cultural Experience

By Seneca Barker


A few weeks ago I got the opportunity to sit down with Madeleine, an exchange student at MSU who is visiting from the Philippines. She is here to study nutrition and health, and hopes to apply her credits to a medical degree once she goes back home. While we were meeting we discussed many of the educational differences between the two of us. Here are some of the differences I found most interesting:

• She started school at 7 am and went until 4 pm
• In high school they have 8 classes a day, not 6 like I had
• Their program is not K-12, it stops at 10th grade then they graduate 
• They don't take the ACT or any equivalent
• To get into college they don't submit test scores, they take an entrance exam 
• She would take up to 11 tests each week
• Students don't have a job during the school year to make sure school is their top priority 
• Professors in the Philippines don't like technology used in their classrooms 
• All of her papers were hand written
• She shared that the dorm rooms in the U.S. are much nicer that the ones in the Philippines 

Picture source: www.wikipedia.com

I thought learning about a different culture was such a neat experience, especially one so opposite of my own. I also think that one of the coolest things about MSU is that people from all over, with different backgrounds, all end u at the same place with the same goal, to receive a great education.

As a future teacher, this was a fantastic learning opportunity. It made me realize that once I have my own classroom, it with be filled with a wide range of students. Every student has their own background and culture that they identify with, and as an educator, it is very important to take that into account. Diversity is what makes education great, being able to learn new things from the people around you. I hope to always promote that in my classroom. 

Music in the Classroom

By: Megan Ross 

I always find myself listening to music whenever I'm simply hanging out in room, walking to class, in the shower, at the gym, and doing homework. So basically, I listen to music for a good portion of the day. In middle and high school some teachers would play classical music in the classroom claiming that it helps the brain. Whenever I want to buckle down on a lot of school work, I usually reach for a coffee and my headphones, and I get to work. I certainly think it helps me to block things out and get all my work down so I decided to look further into it. 

I came across this article from Johns Hopkins, and what I found was really interesting. According to the article, music helps students to learn better because among many other things it creates a desired atmosphere, energizes learning activities, increases attention and improves memory. I agree with all these things because I know when I listen to music while doing my homework or studying, that I am more interested and focused. 

They also give suggestions about the best way to implement music in the classroom. The article suggests that the best times to play music in the classroom is during teaching new information and memorization. Furthermore, since music is a personal expression, it offers a pathway to creativity and reflection. The article goes further into depth about the orgins of music and learning, the science behind it all, and more ways to use this technique. 

I'm glad I looked into this topic a bit more because when I become a teacher I know there are going to be times when I play music in my classroom, and after reading I know it is a positive thing for many students. 

Media Sources: 
https://news.usc.edu/files/2014/12/studying.jpeg-824x549.jpg
http://education.jhu.edu/PD/newhorizons/strategies/topics/Arts%20in%20Education/brewer.htm

I Don't Really Get My Summers Off?! (Prompt #1)

By Seneca Barker



After hearing different stories from people in the field of Special Education, watching teachers first hand, and listening to my peer's opinions, I wasn't exactly sure what I was in for. I, like any other student at Michigan State, had a few preconceptions of the major I was about to begin pursuing when I started my freshmen year of college. Some of which included:

I would have my summers off and they would be work free
I am the main person in charge of my students' education
Every student that needs services will get them

Picture Source: amazon.com

When I was first deciding my career, I thought being on the "teacher schedule" would be a large perk of the job. Being out of work by the late afternoon, weekends off, winter break, spring break, and a summer to do whatever I wanted. However, that is not the true "teacher schedule" at all. After reading the first few chapter of this book, I realized I was sadly mistaken. It depicted the vast responsibilities of being a teacher and the added tasks of a Special Education teacher. I quickly learned that teaching is not an 8-3 job that ends when you walk out of the door. It's grading assignments, forming lesson plans, contacting parents, writing IEPs (individualized education plan), and much more. The breaks are nice, but they are not as relaxing as I imagined. The first textbook I was assigned to read at MSU was Special Education by Marilyn Friend, and after digging deeper into it, I realize my preconceptions were not completely accurate. Chapter 4 of Friend's textbook is all about an incredibly important part of teaching, collaboration. That means working with parents and other professionals to ensure your students get the help and resources they need to succeed. Especially as a Special Education teacher, I am not the one solely responsible for my students' achievement. I'm a large part, but not the only part. It involves occupational therapists, speech therapists, general education teachers, paraprofessionals, and more. Student success also largely relies on parent involvement, their support is crucial. Students succeed when everyone on the team works together. I read a lot about IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), IEPs, and 504 plans throughout this book, learning a lot of information I didn't know. I used to think that any child that seemed to be struggling in school, and was in need of Special Education, would be given the needed services. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. Achieving a diagnosis and obtaining services is not always as easy as it should be for some students. It's often a long process and can become quite frustrating to everyone involved. I'm very glad this was the first resource I was introduced to that applied to my major. I found each and every chapter of the textbook helpful and filled with information I didn't previously know. I would recommend reading this to anyone going into the field of Special Education, or teaching in general.

Issues Hurting the American Educational System

By: Jessica Lusky

I came across an article that discusses the three issues that are hurting the American educational system. I was shocked that someone would recognize the first topic as a problem considering how dreadful school can be for some students. First, they discuss the amount of time students spend in school. Thirty states require schools to have a 180-day calendar, two ask for more than 181 school days, and the rest ask for between 171 and 179 days on the official calendar. Only one state, Minnesota, has no minimum requirement. This means that in states with the lowest day requirements, students are out of school for more days they are in it. President Obama was in favor of more time in the classroom so it will be interesting to see what Trump thinks. There has been a lot of pushback since from two major groups. First, from parents who believe their children are already under too much pressure at school and need every single say off they are allotted. Second, from teachers unions who want to know how educators will be properly accommodated for the extra time spent in the classroom instruction.

The next issue affecting the American education system is the lack of respect individuals have for the

teaching profession. According to the Pew Research Center, Americans have a decreasing interest in education. The economy, job creation, and terrorism are the public’s top priorities which are all very important. However, what people do not realize is that some of these priorities are related to the quality of education. One interesting fact is that if the U.S. could boost its average PISA scores by 25 points over the next 20 years, it could lead to gaining $41 trillion for the U.S. economy. The lack of respect is not only deteriorating to the individuals trying to pursue a career in the education field, but also causing the U.S. economy to suffer.

The final issue is the lack of regard for arts education. An estimated six million children have no access to arts education, and another six million have minimal exposure. The arts are not always considered as important as math and science, but it is actually very important for student engagement and learning. A school in the lowest income district in all of New York participated in a four-year arts integration program that took students from almost no arts learning to multi-subject lesson plans with arts involved. After this, there was an 8% improvement in Language Arts scores and a 9% improvement in math scores.

Why You Shouldn’t Be Turned Away

Written By: Andrea Thanos


Now I know this is something we have talked about continuously throughout our blog, but I am going to touch on this topic as well. There are people in life who will listen closely after they ask your major and when you respond with “education” they will seem confused. They will claim it is so easy to do, and more oftentimes than not ask you “why?”

The first time I heard the saying “He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches.” was when I was in middle school. At first, I don’t think I fully understood the meaning of it, until well I did. It hit me and it kind of hurt because this was the first time I had heard someone publicly question the value of teaching. So many people throughout my life who have been my biggest motivators, and who have influenced my life in the greatest ways have been educators. Some of these people include my swim coach who has been my coach since the age of seven, my mom and my aunt and I was insulted for them after hearing this.

All of these people who have shown such a great light on my life are so capable and so respected. Not just anyone is able to put in the amount of patience, care, and passion in their professions as teachers are able to. To spend one's life dedicated to helping others isn’t something that young learners should build a learned negative connotation towards. It is something that should be looked at with great respect.

So, when the next person asks you “Why?” I hope you can look them straight in the eye and say “Why not?” Why not care for others success in the way I care for my own? Why not put in extra hours every day perfecting lesson plans so that my students get the most out of each lesson? Why not teach?  

Disabled Student Opportunities

By Seneca Barker

While scrolling through the top stories on Facebook the other day, I came across an article that caught my attention.

This piece was written by Lauren Appelbaum, the communications director of Respectability, a nonprofit organization. Their aim is to fight stigmas and advance opportunities for people with disabilities.

Picture source: www.vanatgemobility.com

The article stated that the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of higher educational standards for children with a disability.

The case of Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District argued how much educational benefits public schools must provide to these students.

Appelbaum explained, "They ruled unanimously (8-0) that schools must do more than provide “merely more than the bare minimum” education for students with a disability and instead provide them with the opportunity to make “appropriately ambitious” progress."

Picture Source: thepolitic.org

Lauren went as far to call this, "One of the most important education cases in decades" I completely agree.

As someone that has a brother with a disability, as well as a cousin, this is so important to me. Everyone deserves the same, respect, attention, and education.

"There are roughly 6.4 million students with disabilities between ages 3 to 21. Roughly 13 percent of all American students are students with disabilities, making this case important for a wide group of students."

As a future Special Education teacher, it will be my main focus to provide the best education possible to these students.

I learned from this article that the number of students with disabilities is increasing, and as teachers, we need to be aware of that. There should be no reason for a student to receive poor education because of any disability.

What Type of Teacher Would You Like to Be?

By: Madison Brosky

Many people ask me “What is the type of teacher you want to be?” For awhile it was hard for me to answer that question until a few years ago when I saw this video of a Special Education teacher who starts every morning off by complimenting each student. Some of his compliments include “I love having you in my class. I think you’re very funny. You’re a great soccer player. Everyone in here loves you,” each comment is simple but makes each kid feel important and good about themselves. Chris Ulmer a special education teacher in Jacksonville, Florida has truly been an inspiration to myself.

Ulmer’s students have diagnoses ranging from autism to traumatic brain injury, and all arrived in his classroom after being segregated from general education students, Now, he says, “they’re participating in school activities, dancing in front of hundreds of other kids and in the debate club.” Not only does Ulmer make sure each of his kids knows how important they are he has also written a book about each and every one of their stories. Ulmer’s has had the same kids in his class for three years, which has really helped him build this unbreakable bond with them.

After reading about Ulmer I knew that I wanted to structure my classroom similar to his, I want to make sure each and every student I have knows how important they are to me and the world. I plan to implement this same type of starting off the day with a complement so that each and every day no matter what was wrong before the student walked in the room they always knew someone thought of them highly.

How Ryan Helped Me Find More Of Myself

By: Riss Willwerth

During my Junior and senior year of high school, I took a class called connecting. This class was a placement style course where we would spend four days in another classroom throughout the district and one day (usually Fridays) in the classroom learning about special education related topics. I worked in the high school classroom with a girl with a physical and mental disability for one trimester. I was unsure at first about how working with someone my own age would be but I ended up loving it and I think that experience was the first big step in getting me into special education.

First trimester my senior year in Connecting II, I struggled with finding a placement. My photography told me that there was a student in his Graphics class that was struggling and did not have a para-educator helping him when he should have one. Long story short, I ended up working in my favorite teacher’s classroom, helping with this student, Ryan.

When I first met Ryan, he was very shy. It took a few weeks for me to figure out how he worked and how to get him to respond to what I was saying. He has a lot of quirks so I quickly caught on to those as well. A lot of what the kids were doing in graphics, Mr. Rodriguez the teacher, and I quickly figured out that he would have a hard time doing. With his focus and slight autism, it made it hard for him to understand some of what the class was about and the purpose. I worked hard with Mr. Rodriguez and on my own to create new projects and lessons that would keep Ryan entertained and busy and learn something. We talked a lot about things Ryan liked, I pushed him to really think when he could not think of anything. We looked up photos of the things he liked and had him draw them similarly to how the other kids used a special computer software to draw things they liked. One of the big projects that Graphics does is make a t-shirt with a design the kids create on it. I worked with Ryan to come up with a design and draw it out together for his shirt. I had him trace the design once I got it printed out for him. I had a lot of fun with Ryan and we made a very goofy and unique connection. We would have fun days where we would go for walks when he got a little too talky and sometimes made popcorn together as a treat for behaving well and not disturbing the other working students.

We laughed a lot and I miss him endlessly. He taught me a lot about changing lessons to fit an individual student. He taught me that the connections I was building with these placements in Connecting were crucial to my future as an educator. Every experience is something I can take something away from and the more experience you have with kids, the more comfortable you’ll feel in a classroom. I am lucky that I had so much experience going into college because it will definitely help me in the future.

When I worked with Ryan I had to show a lot of patience and attention. I didn’t originally think of myself as a para-educator when I worked with Ryan but so far after learning more about the real definition of it, I would say I fell under that category. A para-educator is defined as an educator who works under the direction of a teacher to help deliver services for a student with disabilities (Friend p.42). This is what I was doing with Ryan. The experience I had with him was one that really pushed me even farther to go outside my comfort zone and really try to change some curriculum to fit him and his learning style. It was a challenge I was excited to take on and from that, I learned a lot.

Blog Prompt #4

Written By: Andrea Thanos

One of the first blogs that came to my attention while beginning to formulate this blog was the blog titled “Edudemic.” Once I started scrolling through the blog so many different post titles caught my eye. There were ones titled “Which Learning Style Works for You”, “Don’t Weep For Public Education Just Yet”, and so many more enticing names. The article I chose to focus on was titled “10 Skills Modern Teachers Need.” As a future educator I immediately found myself scrolling through the blog post with curiosity. The post was so easy to maneuver through with its bolded point headlines that were numbered off one to ten. This blog post was aimed towards people similar to me, who are going into education, but also people who are already in the field. This blog itself is not only for educators, but for students as well. This blog teaches students about ways they can improve their learning experiences, as well as different outlets that will enhance their learning experiences.





The scholarly article I read was an article written by Geneva Gay of the University of Washington, Seattle and was a part from her book Culturally Responsive Teaching: Theory, Research, and Practice. This article is titled “Preparing for Culturally Responsive Teaching.” Here Gay discusses essential characteristics to being a culturally competent educator. Beneath the article there is an extensive list of sources that highlights the author's credibility. Each paragraph educates its readers on experiences necessary to teach in a way that is culturally responsive, and techniques to put into play while teaching.



Between the two they differ in many ways. One is a fun quick read that allows its viewers to just get the main jist of what one is saying, while the article goes way more in depth on the matter at hand. Both the blog and the article are very educational and fun to read, but I was definitely able to gain more from the article. Blogs are a great way to get information out quickly and are nice fun reads. If I was looking for a few pointers on education I would most likely go in the route of a blog if I was low on time. I would also trust the article with the long list of sources below it backing up all of its claims, rather than an opinion based blog post. Each of these sources of information are aimed at similar audience members, but it just depends on what the reader is looking for that day.

What Students with Learning Disabilities Want to Say to Their Teachers

By: Megan Ross

      
A few hours ago I was scrolling through my Facebook feed when I came across this video. Normally, I scroll past a lot of videos shared by my Facebook friends, but I saw that this one was a "message from students to their teachers" and I watched it. It was really interesting to me because I have not dealt with learning disabilities myself so it was intriguing to hear what the kids had to say. I've definitely been in a classroom where a teacher has told a student to stop rocking in their chair or slouching, or even given a long set of directions.
    
 I think it is a prominent issue in schools today because many kids have various learning disabilities. However, I think it is hard for teachers to recognize and individualize the struggles of various students, because every kid is dealing with something different from the next. For example, if one student can focus better in class when he is rocking in his chair, like a student in this video said, I'm sure a teacher would allow him to do so. But what if the rocking is creating a distraction for another student? What I'm trying to say is I believe it is a very difficult issue to try to cater to the needs of every student. I don't think it is dealt with very well in schools today.
    
 When I'm a teacher, I hope to do the best I can to try to accommodate my students. I want to be understanding and have strong communication with them so that I can understand each and every one of their strengths and weaknesses. If you haven't had much experience in the learning disorder field, I suggest watching this video because I definitely learned a lot from this short two minutes. I truly believe teaching is all about understanding, patience, and effort. When teachers come together to try to form bonds with their students, I think we can be one step closer to helping students with learning disabilities.