Community Engagement Journal

Part A
There school where I am doing my Community Engagement placement is Vaucluse
Public School. This is a mainstream K-6 primary school, with an additional support unit
containing three classes where children with special needs are catered for. Out of the
three classes, there are one junior and one senior IO class with seven students in the
former and nine students in the later, and the third class is an autism class with three
students. In the two IO classes the students have a moderate intellectual disability, and
some students additionally have autism. In the autism class students do not necessarily
have an intellectual disability, instead the purpose of this class is to cater for children
from mainstream classrooms that struggle because of their autism. Thus they can
transit to this class for about 3 year before they need to go back to a mainstream
classroom. In all three classes there is one teacher and one school learning support
officer.
Part B Reflective journal
Monday 18/11/13 It was a very interesting and educative first day at VPS. I will be
spending the first week in the junior IO class, where students have moderate
intellectual disabilities and some have mild autism. There are seven children in this
class between stages K-2. What initially struck me positively, was how these childrens
school experience are quite similar to mainstream childrens experiences, just tailored
to their ability and needs. They study the same curriculum and do very similar activities
in the classroom as any other child, working at their desks, reading etc. I did guided
reading with some of the children, and was very positively surprised about their reading
levels- although most of them struggle with pronunciation, their word recognition was
very impressive. A negative experience was how I found it a little worrisome as to how I
should interact with the children, as although they need to follow rules and listen to the
teachers, there could be things that I as a teacher do or say that could possible upset
them since I am unacquainted with their needs and regular behaviors. I understood very
quickly that the teacher had different strategies for different children, in terms of how
she gets them to follow rules and how she interacts with them- and I found myself
closely observing her and staying as objective as I could with the students. I feel like I
have a lot more to find out about the students and teaching strategies, and I have also
realized the importance of catering for different needs in our society and what inclusion
and integrated experiences can do for these children.
Tuesday 19/11/13 Today I saw the children having recess and lunch outside, as it was
raining yesterday. I was unsure as to if the children would eat and play amongst the
other students, and was happy to see the special education children playing and
interacting with the other students without any problems. I was positively struck by how
all the mainstream children did not treat them any differently compared to their
classmates. A negative experience today was when an autistic boy in the class got
stressed and upset during library time, and I felt very helpless as to how I could calm
him down. I did seek support from the support teacher, who taught me some strategies
to help him out; some signs to communicate with him and that I can push/squeeze his
arms, hands and fingers to settle and calm him down. A question that arose for me
today is how long do the children need with an adult to trust and listen to them, and
what the adult/teacher does to build trust and a good relationship with the children. I
can definitely see a difference in the degree of obedience with their teacher and the
support teacher, and this is probably due to the fact that the teacher is the one that set
the rules and follow through with consequences and rewards. Today I have learned the
vast importance of routines for these children, and how they constantly need to have a
visual outline of what is happening throughout the day- which the teacher is reinforcing
in the morning every day and as the day goes, and this seems to really help the
children mentally.

Wednesday 20/11/13 Today I got to learn and experience that the children are
integrated into certain curriculum areas with the mainstream class of their age, such as
PE and Creative Arts. I went with the Stage 2 children to gymnastics, which was very a
positive experience. Although the special education kids involved a lot of managing and
keeping on track, the other children did not seem to be bothered that they acquired
much attention or that they did not follow the rules properly. I have come to an
understanding that this integration is not only very important for the special education
children, but also for the mainstream children as it broadens their view of society, that
people are different and that we need to respect and acknowledge these differences. I
find it hard to know in some situations what to do and say, and you need very specific
strategies for each individual child. I learned today that this individual way of
communicating is also reflected in the children work tasks, the classroom is highly
differentiated, and that all the children have their own individual learning plans and
tailored to their ability. This is very interesting, and I have a lot to learn here, as I
believe that differentiation is important in any classroom and you do not see much of it
in mainstream classrooms. During the afternoon today the children was with a casual
teacher, which went surprisingly well. The teachers got to go off and work with an
occupational therapist to help them improve areas of their teaching and develop
activities for the children, particularly in literacy. The teacher informed me that they
frequently engage in professional learning with psychologists, OTs, speech pathologists
etc. to improve.
Thursday 21/11/13 Toady I got to come along to another integration experience, music
with the Kindergarten students. I found that this class was not as understanding as I
had seen before. The younger mainstream children stared at and asked why one of the
autistic children was making noises, and could not fully understand why they had to be
quiet and listen and not him. Today it was reinforced to me how important routines are
for these children. I had a negative experience with one boy in the class. During lunch
and recess this child goes with the Senior IO class instead of his own, which I forgot, and
when I told him to come with me and his own class he got a little stressed out. At one
point today the two IO classes worked together for a while planning an art gallery for
the end of the term, and I noticed that some children do not cope that well in large
settings and become slightly disobedient and stressed. It is clear to me now that what
one child can find very exciting and fun, can at the same time affect another child
negatively. This was also evident during assembly, which is every Thursday, where
some children loved it and other had to leave. I am learning that you need to be very
patient and that you cannot have the same rules of all the children- a behavior can be
accepted in one child, but not in another.
Friday 22/11/13 Today all the three classes in the support unit spend almost the whole
day together, planning an art gallery which will be presented to their parents. It is
interesting to see how for some students this is really exciting, and for other students it
is stressful being so many in one classroom and it triggers their negative behaviors. It
struck me today how much time and effort the teachers put into visuals in the
classroom to help students learn and behave. They have individual token charts,
individual behavior charts with pictures of desired behaviors and in general visuals all
over the classroom. Moreover when presenting something new to the students, there is
always an accompanied PowerPoint presentation, outlining the information in picturesand this seems to really aid the students understanding. After speaking with few people
of the staff today, including the principal, I am learning the vast involvement of various
parts of the community in caring for, including and maximizing the special education
students experiences in society. It takes very much effort from many different people,
professionals and associations, including; helpers, drivers, funding and local councils to
mention a few, and this is very important in terms of inclusion and striving for the
common good. I believe that all people needs must be catered for and everyone needs
to be given the opportunity to participate in the community according to their own
level- and what I have seen at VPS so far is great example of such inclusion.

Monday 25/11/13 This week I am spending with the senior IO class. Today was a very
difficult, but interesting day for me, as the childrens classroom teacher was away the
whole day and they had a casual. Their teacher warned us that one boy in specific
would most likely be disruptive and not follow rules. I have learned today that for this
boy everything is about control, and if something changes for him this can cause harm.
This boy has a his own good choices visual board that the teacher holds up when he is
not following rules and where he have 5 pictures of privileges on the front, which he can
loose if not behaving. I found that this worked to a certain extent with him, but he still
disobeyed regularly throughout the day. He hit other students, touched and moved
things in the classroom and ripped a teachers necklace off, and ripped cables out of the
computers. I found it very difficult as to how I should approach him and get him to
follow the rules, when his visual board did not work, as this boy is in year 5 and quite
big which means you cannot get physical with him as I have seen teachers be with
other children to calm them down. What struck me very negatively was when this boys
father came to pick him up at the end of the day. It seems as though the childrens
home experiences are very much reflected in how they behave in the classroom. The
dad showed up bite marks on his arm and the boy did not listen to him. Most likely the
boy would get away with negative behaviors at home without consequences, and I
believe this is not good for the child or the parents.
Tuesday 26/11/13 Today was not a majorly eventful day, in terms of what happened in
the classroom. I am realising by know how though amazing the teachers are working
with the special education students. It requires so much planning, patients,
commitment, and constant reinforcement and effort and trying out new strategies. They
are constantly reflecting on how they can improve, help and extend these children,
which of course many teachers to, but I have not seen it to this extent before. After the
school hours today the teachers attended a two-hour professional development session
with a psychologist about behaviour management and strategies, which unfortunately I
was unable to attend. However I did get to have a conversation with the principal in
regards to what she is looking for in her teachers and the emphasis she places on
helping them becoming better teachers. It struck me often the special education
teachers, especially the unit coordinator, got to go off to conferences, development
days and engage with specialist staff- which made me realize how much of a reflective
process teaching is and that you constantly need to change and learn to improve the
students.
Wednesday 27/11/13 Today was the first day I got to see the children work at the
desks for the major part of the day, it positively struck me how good of a job they did.
Most of them were able to concentrate for much longer than I expected, however some
children need much more help than others and in a way take up all of the teacher and
teachers aid attention and time. This leaves the higher ability students with little
teacher support. Hence, today the classroom teacher got me to work with one high
ability student for the entire session, and she explained to me that when she has an
extra pair of hands she normally let the helper work with this student to help extend
him further. Another thing that further struck me positively again is the individualized
and differentiated work children do, and it is great to see everyone working according to
their ability and needs. There is one boy in the senior IO class, which is very much of a
handful, however not aggressive at all; he does not participate in activities, does not
talk and most of the time does not listen. I wondered for a while what the teachers can
do to keep him on task and include him, and today I found out that he has a severe
intellectual disability, not moderate as the other students in the class. The teacher told
me for his own best he should not really be there, but be in a specially catered school,
however the mum wants him in there which is quite interesting. The teacher informed
me that parents have the right to choose which school to send their child to, and that
you as a teacher need to be very passive and careful of what you suggest to parents
and always keep in mind the best interest of the child.

Thursday 28/11/13 A few questions arose for me today, and one of them was whether
some of the children have a very good speech ability, and some of them almost do not
speak at all. There is also a big difference in pronunciation, where some children have a
great vocabulary, but cannot pronounce the works very well. I have realized today how
much the students in these classes thrive on repetitive work, like of course all students
do, but to a much greater extent. What I learned is the students want to keep their work
and routines the same, and some students even get upset if something change,
whereas what I have seen in mainstream classrooms is quite the opposite- where
although the students need repletion, they love change and working in different ways.
What struck me negatively today was how students that are often disruptive and
deviant can in a heartbeat go from having a really good day, to making all the wrong
choices and behave badly. I saw this today at the very end of the day, with about 30min
left of the day, where the boy with the visual behavioral chart was told to put his timers
in his back and totally snapped- chasing the teacher with his bag and being aggressive.
I did not get to see how she resolved it, as she took him away from the rest of the class,
but I will find out the consequences tomorrow.
Friday 29/11/13 Today was a bit sad as it was my last day at VPS, and I feel that
despite the short time there I have built a relationship with the students and the
teachers. The classes spent most of today working towards their art galley, and I went
with the teacher of the autism class for most of the day to take footage of the children
at different parts in the school. It sis struck me how difficult it is for some children to
take in and remember new information and concentrate, especially in a new setting.
Even articulating and remembering a simple line like where will you be? some
children were unable to do, which is very interesting, as some student are very capable
of speech. After school today I got to observe the teacher discuss the boy who behaved
very defiantly yesterday with his father. This was consented by the father and the
teacher did make a comment about not passing any information on. It was very
interesting to see how sensitive and understanding she was, but at the same time vey
insistent on how the boy needs to be shown cause and effect at home, where there are
consequences for his actions, if there are to be a positive change in his aggressive
behaviour. Apparently the teacher meets with this father quite regularly, and they also
have a two-way diary, which they can use to communicate about the students learning
and behvaiour.