Growing up in a small town, I was not exposed or recall being exposed to the variety of learning abilities that I have been exposed to while teaching. We did not have any co-teaching within our classrooms or have small group instruction, everything was done as a whole class and students were pulled out for services. As a young child, I was one of those students that was pulled out of the classroom to receive services. I was pulled out of my general education classroom on a somewhat daily basis and sometimes twice a day. I remember how much I did not like to go because I either missed out on fun things that were happening in the classroom or I would come back to my general education classroom and have a pile of work waiting for me on my desk that I was expected to make up since I was gone while the class did it. Having to play "catch up" with my work caused me to miss out on more time with my class. From what I can recall, I only had pull out services for a couple years and were mostly one-on-one sessions, but they left a lasting impression on me.
When I moved to La Crosse and started attending the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, I started learning about different learning disabilities, but still did not really have any exposure to different abilities. I am sure there were students in my college courses that had learning disabilities but I never noticed classmates having testing accommodations or having learning modifications. The only course I had during college that focused on disabilities was a general special education course that all education majors were required to take. This course exposed me to different disabilities but it was more of a general overview rather than applicable information. It was not until I started having field experience within schools that I started experiencing and noticing differences in learning abilities. Through these experiences, I learned a lot about special learning needs and how to adapt lessons for each. Now in my four years of teaching, I have had all different types of learners in my classroom. It is one thing to learn about students with disabilities as an undergrad, but it is a completely different thing to have actual experience with various learners in your own classroom.
Prior to taking this class, I thought co-teaching was only taking place when two teachers plan and teach a class together or when two classroom teachers share a group of students that switch between their classrooms. During this course, I learned that there are six different types of co-teaching models by reading several articles about co-teaching. I was able to deepen my understanding of how co-teaching can be used to best support all students in the classroom and how much extra time it can take to fully implement some models. The one co-teaching model I associated co-teaching with was team-teaching, which is the co-teaching model that requires the most time and commitment. After completing the Co-Teaching Plan assignment (see Artifacts page), I learned that I have been a part of many co-teaching models without realizing that I was co-teaching. Most of these co-teaching models I have participated in were during my field experiences and student teaching in college. Realizing this made me realize how easy it is to put co-teaching into place when you have the personnel available.
Also prior to taking this course, I did realize that students needed to be taught self-advocacy skills. I have always thought that if students need something or need help, they will speak up and ask for it, but that is not the case. Students need to be taught how to advocate for themselves, identify their strengths, and create goals for their learning. The only person that really knows what a student needs to be successful is the student him/herself. Even though my students are only at the elementary level, they still have the ability to have self-advocacy. I have spent a lot of time teaching and working with my students on how to be responsible and organized, but not how to ask questions or ask for help. I just assumed my students knew how to do this without considering their age or that they might not have been taught those skills. It was just my expectation of them.
During EDUC 605, we learned and worked with the Universal Design for Learning, or UDL, framework and principals to create a lesson/unit plan (see Artifacts page). I have had UDL training prior to this course but it has been a few years since I have done anything with it, and I honestly forgot about it until we started learning and talking about it during this course. In this course, we focused on how to apply the UDL principals to our everyday lessons in our classroom. We were given resources with a vast amount of suggestions as to how to incorporate UDL into our lessons and what principals and modifications align with certain disabilities and difficulties. The resources helped identify areas of need and how those needs can be met through UDL. I also learned how the concept of UDL benefits all of the students in my classroom since the modifications and accommodations made for some students can benefit many others beyond the intended students.
In the future, I will put one of the co-teaching models in place when I have an extra adult in my classroom, whether it is another educator, volunteer, or high school or college student. I will evaluate the amount of time the adult spends in our classroom and how often. After I narrow down which co-teaching models I believe would work best, I will sit down with the adult and develop a co-teaching plan with them discussing the co-teaching model options and what we are both comfortable with. I believe doing this will produce the best experience for my/our students and the other adult.
I will also be incorporating the Universal Design for Learning principals within each of my lessons allowing students more choice. I will do this by providing more movement breaks, having assessment choice, flexible seating options, using technology whenever possible, and much more. I want my students to feel more in control of their learning. By giving them the responsibility of making academic choices, my students will increase their ownership over their work and learning and be more motivated. This will relate to the students developing self-advocacy. By having choice, the students will have more of a sense of self-advocacy by choosing how they learn best and what they need to be successful active learners. I will also spend time with my students explicitly teaching them how to ask for help and how to make choices that are best for them. My students and I will have active discussions about identifying their strengths and goals, and reminding them that asking for help should not be viewed as a negative thing but another opportunity for learning. I believe that having my students identify their own strengths and goals and developing strategies for how to achieve their goals will allow them to see themselves as advocates for their learning. This work will be especially important for my students with disabilities and difficulties, but it will truly benefit every child that enters my classroom.