Morgan ClottEducational Portfolio

Northern Illinois University Masters of Special Education- LBS1

Class of 2016

Philosophy of Education 1 Vocational and Gen. Ed. Inclusion Hands On Learning Communication Program Differentiated Lesson Plan Classroom Environment

Philosophy Behavior Management 8 Behavior Management Techniques Positive Behavior Charts Video Modeling Behavior Management Techniques

Rationale for Data Collection and Analysis 10 Classroom Jobs Log Student Driven Data Literacy Assessment

Test Scores 12

Lesson Plan, Curriculum, and Technology Experience 13

Table of Contents

Philosophy of Education

My philosophy for teaching students with IEP’s most clearly circles around what is appropriate for them. Like all other students, they desire to be in a safe and pleasant learning environment. They wish to be respected, listened to by their teachers and fellow students, and included in classroom activities. As their teacher, I believe I owe them the chance to participate in such a welcoming classroom. Therefore, my philosophy entails providing students with the opportunity to grow and learn, both academically and socially, while simultaneously providing them the supports they need in order to be successful. Students who are eligible for an Individual Education Plan are entitled to the same free and appropriate public education as are all other students, as stated under national legislation Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Students who have been diagnosed with a special need can be placed in several possible classrooms: the general education classroom, a resource room, or a self-contained classroom. Children with any disability should be taught in the least restrictive environment appropriate for their needs. It is my classroom goal to provide an environment that encourages students to learn to the best of their abilities. Although due to their learning challenges, they present unique educational needs and require detailed planning from their teachers.

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Vocational Skills & Gen. Ed. Inclusion

To teach work ethics and vocational skills, students run their own coffee

shop, which is open two hours out of the school day. Students are

responsible for cashiering, cleaning, preparing beverages, and serving

customers. This in-school expereince provides them with invaluable job

experience and builds confidence in independent activities.

(Right) Students practice vocational skills, such as sorting silverware, in

the classroom as part of life skills curriculum.

Students worked as a team with same age general education peers for this science experiment to observe liquid densities. The activity inlcuded sensory stimulations, practice of the scientific method, and students took home their own lava lamps.

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Example of job log developed for student self-assessment as well teacher data. The log teaches accountability by

holding students responsible for chores to prepare them for the everyday

duties of employment. Students take pride in seeing how

their self-evaluations compare to the teacher’s assessment.

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Hands On Learning

Students with sensory processing disabilities combine two substances to observe the reaction and to feel the difference before, after, and during the process.

Students gain confidence in their reading fluency with help from Chester the Therapy Dog during GiGi’s Playhouse End of Quarter Celebration.

Chester the Therapy Dog visits were coordinated and facilitated as part of my role as the Literacy Coordinator at GiGi’s Playhouse.

As part of my duties as the Education Coordinator at GiGi’s Playhouse, I created the Dance With Morgan program to share my passion for dance with my students , while teaching them a new way to improve their gross motor skills, core strength and balance, and express themselves.

The program inspired parents to get their children involved in other dance and performance programs.

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Communication Programs

I created the class, curriculum, and materials for Steps to

Communication from scratch for GiGi’s Playhouse in Rockford. GiGi’s

Inc. based their nationally taught, LMNOP program on the Steps to

Communication Program I designed.

The goal of the Steps to Communication program was to

give families basic signs to reduce their child’s frustration while trying

to communicate. The course covered benefits of teaching sign language,

total communication and other communication options, step-by-step

25 day program with materials, and tips and resources for parents.

(Upper right) Steps to Communication Program Calendar

(Lower Right) Leading a Steps to Communication class for parents and

children 0-3 years old.

As Education Coordinator at GiGi’s Playhouse, I created a peer tutoring program called Homework Hoopla, to give students a constructive, fun environment to work on homework and build relationships with same age peers. (Below) Students practice written communication, team work, and empathy while making Valentines for senior citizens in a local nursing home.

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Classroom Environment5

To improve students sight words and reading fluency, a wall mounted matching exfercise is a bi-weekly Friday activity.

The sensory sight word wall utilizes sensory memory to improve word recognition.

Student work in a safe, engaging learning environment using a multi-modal teaching approach.

Differentiated Experience Current Event Lesson

Provided with current event curriculum from the school, shown below, differentiated lessons were created to include the higher and lower level functioniong groups within the class. Students read about Chinese New Year, completed an activity about Zodiac signs and personality characteristics on Monday. On Tuesday, they split into two groups to read about Mardi Gras. The lower group completed worksheets that focused on number recognition, patterning, and visual matching. The higher group completed a vendiagram comparing and contrasting the two holidays.

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On Wednesday, the lower group worked together to sort images from the two holidays and discussed tradtionals. Meanwhile, the higher group completed a sensory writing activity about Chinese New Year celebrations (example below). To wrap up the week, students made fruit sushi and practiced eating with chopsticks. The summary activity was fun for the students and also worked on their sensory needs and fine motor skills.

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Philosophy of Behavior Management

I want my students to feel that they are part of a community of learning, that they feel safe, and that their academic progression is a priority. Clear and concise classroom rules are in place to enable students to be productive members of the classroom and prepare them to become productive citizens of the community. Following the classroom rules, instills students with a sense of self-respect and pride, while teaching them proper social norms for outside the classroom. Behavior management is prioritized by handling small classroom issues immediately by me or my assistants. These issues can usually be avoided by the pedagogical practices of proximity control, praise, and a system of rewards. For individual behavior plans, students are responsible for maintaining their own data sheets and self-evaluate, in addition to receiving feedback from myself. I use a variety of behavior management techniques in our classroom. Some techniques work for some students, while some may not work for others, so it is important for me to have a wide range of tools and techniques to fall back on in the classroom. One of the techniques I use is praise. The most basic way to give students’ behaviors in the classroom is giving recognition and positive attention. The important factor with praise is to focus on the behavior that the student is performing and not the student him- or herself. This technique works wonderfully if a specific behavior is supposed to be eliminated or encouraged. A functional behavior assessment can help to determine the behaviors that may benefit from this technique. The use of visuals is also a beneficial classroom technique. When visuals are used appropriately, they can have a huge impact on a student’s’ behaviors. The visuals are used with and without verbal directions attached, depending on the student and the situation.

The best situation is for no verbal direction to be added so that it gives the student the opportunity to process and the teach to handle the behavior and the direction independently. Another behavioral technique I have used in the classroom is in relation to motivators and rewards. This technique is great because it can be something very simple, and it is also something that can easily be adapted into different classrooms, as well as at home if desired. The trick to making this effective is having rewards and motivators that are actually rewarding and motivating for the specific students in the classroom. Each student is different, so it may take some tweaking, but once the motivators are found, it can be very effective. Lastly, I implement selective ignoring and proximity control. Both of these techniques do not consist of much, but can have a big effect on the students’ behaviors. Selective ignoring works best when the undesired behavior is ignored while the desired behavior is praised. It is also important for the teacher to cease ignoring if the behavior is causing harm to the student, other students, or staff. Proximity control is a quick and easy way to let the student know that the teacher is aware that something is going on and that the student is being watched. Just the proximity of the teacher to the student will force the student to be more aware of his/her behaviors. Those are just a few of the behavior techniques I utilize in the classroom, I integrate others as we see fit based on the classroom environment. It is important for teachers to be flexible and change their techniques and strategies on the fly, so my classroom has ample amount of techniques from which to pull.

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Below are examples of hourly charts used tomonitor student’s behavior, students are responsible having the chart filled out. Students are rewarded for positive and safe choices throughout the hour. Rewards are either given at home by parents or accumulate for increased priviledges at school.

Video modeling is a tool to help a student understand the difference between safe and unsafe behaviors and understand the consequences.

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Philosophy of Data Analysis/ Collection

Collecting data on each student’s academic progress benefits everyone in the classroom. Collecting data on the student’s academic progress benefits me because it can help direct instructional planning. It allows me to see if the teaching strategy is either helping the students or there needs to be changes in the instructional planning. Also, it is a quick way to show what students’ strengths are and with what they are struggling. Looking at graphs is especially helpful to quickly see if students are progressing or not. It encourages me, too, when students are progressing. Seeing the students’ progress is motivating and rewarding.Collecting data on the student’s academic progress also benefits the student. The data guiding instructional planning for me enables the student to have a better learning environment, as I am able to cater to students’ needs. The data collection also can help students see their own progress and motivate them as they do better and better. It also can show the student what areas they need to work on too. Having a visual graph or data on paper brings the progress to life. A student may think he or she is doing well, but then realize by looking at the data that he or she may need some extra assistance.

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Data Collection:

Start time

Steps Prompts Verbal Prompt (VP) Gestural Prompt (GP) Hand over Hand (HOH)

Independence ( + -)

Communication (+ -)

Student Review

Drive to locker Open locker Unzip coat Ask for help

with coat

Hang coat up Ask for help

with backpack

Unzip backpack

Empty backpack Hang backpack Close locker Drive to

classroom

This form will be used every other day for 6 days, data will be collected 3 days. The start and end time will be recorded, for each step the type of prompt will be recorded or if K was able to do the step independently. The communication piece is to record if she asks for help in an appropriate and polite way. After she is done we will spend a few minutes to see how she thinks her morning routine went.

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Created as part of the Morning Routine Lesson Plan, the Daily Log allows the teacher to monitor the type of prompting the student needs and identify the best way to fade the prompting levels.

Written on the fly for data collection to aid a student struggling with impulse control. The student is rewarded with extra motor room time for every five smiley faces collected.

Test Scores

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Lesson Planning, Curriculum, and Adaptive Technology Experience

Lesson Plan Types Utilized:Overall Weekly LessonsIndividual Core Content Lesson PlansInstructional Program Lesson PlansFormal Lesson Plans for Para EducatorsCollaborate with general education teacher to adapt and write lessons for students

Curriculum Types Used:Unique Learning SystemsNew to You Current EventsDistrict Provided, Modified Gen. Ed. CurriculumTouch Math and MoneyWordy Worm Jolly PhonicsVisual PhonicsMenu MathTime for KidsNumiconReading A-ZRazkidsAccellence Computer

Disabilities Experience:CPDiGeorgeAutism Spectrum DisorderDown SyndromeADHDWilliams SyndromeCognitive DisabilitiesEpilipsyHydrocephalusBipolarEmotional/Behavior DisabilityStutteringDeafLanguage DisordersPhonological disorders

Certifications:CPIDance TherapistASL 0-5 Teacher

Adaptive Technology Used:

High Tech:Picture Exchange Communication SystemNovachatDynavoxProloquo2goSymbolStixBoardMakerIntellikeysSmart BoardVideo Modeling Auditory DevicesHearing Aids Motorized Wheel Chair

Low Tech: Weighted VestBody SocksCompressionSlant BoardsRaised PaperWeighted pencilsPencil gripsVisual schedules