Competency 2

Special Education (Click on the link!)- A synthesis of everything learned in the EDES 4006 course during the 2015-2016 academic semester. It consists of summaries of each chapter of the book: Foundations, Processes and Practices of Early Intervention Services and Special Preschool Education, which served as reference during the mentioned course. In addition, a brief description of the field experiences of each member of the group, what methodology they would used to evaluate, what was used to teach the different areas of specialty to exceptional students and a final reflection.

Reading strategies (Click on the link!)-The document discusses ways in which students' comprehension and memory in the English class can be improved. The objective is to provide a set of strategies and methods, linked to a set of theories. These tools will lead to better education and destroy the box that limits educators. This work was done for the EING 4018 (Reading) course with the aim of acquiring knowledge about the different strategies that can be used in classrooms with students of different cultures, communities and needs. This work was presented to the students of the aforementioned course.

Manejo del Tiempo (Click on the link!)- This presentation was created for college freshmen to help them create a good routine and create good time management habits during their academic and social transition.

Revista informativa- Educación Especial (Click on the link!)- Educational Magazine created for the EDES 4006 course offered at the UPR-RP, College of Education. It was created to broaden the horizon of knowledge and creative research in which the student puts into action all that he/she has learned and presents it in a creative way.

Seating charts - Seating chart to improve the interaction with the students and their diverse needs created for the EDES 4006 course and used in other activities throughout the semester in EING courses (English Education)

Desórdenes emocionales y de conducta (Click on the link!)- Strategies so that teachers can assist students and build a better classroom environment by making some adjustments.

Observación: Pre-escolar niños sordos (Click on the link!)- In this field experience I observed the interaction, education, behavior, methodology and strategies of the Special Education classroom, specifically the preschool for deaf children in the UPR Elementary School. It reflects very well the principles of Special Education because the educators use good strategies, carry out inclusion, there is mutual respect and the curriculum is adapted to the student. Doing this field experience was really motivating and enriching. The observed students were highly motivated and involved. At all times they seek to learn more and improve their skills. As a future teacher it filled me with great happiness and pride to see these children interact and learn every day.

Mental Health First Aid (Click on the link!)- Training certification that enables participants to detect signs of a mental health disorder such as depression, anxiety disorders, psychosis and substance use disorders so that they can provide initial help and refer the patient to the appropriate professional services.

Interest Inventory:

• The interest inventory is a simple tool to help teachers acquaint themselves with their students. When creating this tool, the educator must consider what he/she needs to know about his/her students in order to effectively teach them.
• As my interest inventory, I first did a short activity called "Same, Same, but Different". In it the students name differences and similarities between the two volunteers selected. Every time a difference is mentioned they step away from each other, later on, similarities will be mentioned and they will take a step closer. This represents how we all have differences but somethings will always bring us together.
• Later on, the teacher will hand in a Diversity Inventory sheet in which the students will fill out information about themselves such as: name, likes, dislikes, family composition, hobbies, celebrated traditions, country in which they live or where they are from.
• The teacher will discuss her Diversity Inventory and use it as an example. The assignment is in the form of a puzzle, when the students finish, they will color it and cut it out and as a group they will put the puzzles together, seeing how their differences don’t separate them, but bring them together to create diversity in a community.

Individualized Education

As part of special accommodation I provide individualized education, recognizing the needs of the students. This treatment is applied based on the specific need: ADHD, Autism, and ADD. This is very important because not every student learns different and its's essential to understand how and address it.

Volunteer Show and Tell

When a student brings something (Information or an item) related to the topic, he or she is permitted and motivated to present it in class and explain how it relates to the topic at hand. This relates to the 2nd competency because I am able to know about the students and am able to assess in more ways.

Pre-assessments

The task of assessing is used to determine what the students know and what they need to know, it will also give you a hint on what is the best way of teaching that student. A pre assessment determines what they already know from prior experience, while a post- assessment informs us what the students has learned in the process.

As part of the UPR elementary School fourth grade English class, I did two pre-assessments and two post assessments. The first was for the unit Story Elements, the other for the unit of Sentences. For story elements the pre-assessment was and interactive activity using a dice and instructions where they had to define each element of the story, the students were chosen randomly, most participated, because even though ONE was called out, the others had to help. As a post- assessment they had a quiz about story elements, based on the story Gonzalo. For Sentences, the pre-assessment was a written composition, where they had to write 3-5 sentences about things that they learned about China throughout the unit. Afterwards, they had a test about sentences as a post-assessment.

Pre-Assessment: Sentences

The students were divided in groups and had 10 minutes to create as many sentences as possible. This would demonstrate that they can work as a team and how much knowledge they have about sentence construction.

Pre-Assessment: Paragraph