Field Experience 1

Field Experience Project: An Interview and Observation with a Special Education Teacher

Tyler Scott Vido

ITL604

National University
Field Experience 2

Explanation of Assignment

For this week’s Field Experience project I interviewed a middle school special education

teacher. Ashley Stein works at Standard Middle School located at ​1222 N Chester Ave,

Bakersfield, CA, 93308. The telephone number for the school is 1-661-392-2130, and her email

address is astein@standardschools.net. ​ For the interview, I asked ten different questions that

focused on the use her experiences in a special education classroom. I observed her class for four

hours and saw her teach a variety of subjects. The first part of this paper will be a transcript of

the interview. Following this, I will provide an analysis of my observation with what I learned

from the interview and being in the class.

Field Experience 3

Interview

Question 1​: What is your current position?

Response 1: “​My current position is 6-8th grade special education teacher, moderate to severe”

:​Question 2: ​What are the ages and grade levels of your students?

​Response 2: “​The ages of my students are 10 years old to 13 years old, 6th through 8th grade.”

Question 3: ​What student information system do you work with?

Response 3:​ “I use the SIRAs system to run IEP meetings and input data. This is where I create

goals for my students and write up their progress reports. I also use Infinite Campus to input

grades and take attendance. This also gives me immediate access to student information.”

Question 4:​ What data is collected for teacher use?

Response 4:​ “In the moderate to severe setting I use DTT (discrete trial training), progress

monitoring on individual goals, STAR testing for reading and math, and formal and informal

aid.”

Question 5: ​What are the assessments used in the process of early screening and/or

identification?

Response 5​: “I use the Brigance Comprehension Inventory of Basic Skills II and the Woodcock

Johnson to screen students and determine eligibility for special education services. I also use the

assessment to see how students perform at the beginning of the school year compared to the end

of the school year.”

Question 6​: What are the most important legal mandates a general education teacher should be

aware of regarding services for students with special needs?

Field Experience 4

Response 6​: “I think the most important legal mandate for general education students to know is

that we are held accountable by law to ensure every student is given a free and appropriate public

education (FAPE). Another legal mandate to follow is staying up to date on each student’s

individual accommodations and adaptions to stay in compliance with state law. These are listed

in the students’ IEP, which a copy should be shared with them by the special education teacher.

Due process rights ensure that no changes can be made in the child’s program without prior

notice to the parents. Lastly, the general education teacher needs to understand Least Restrictive

Environment (LRE). This means that when possible, children with disabilities must be educated

with students who do not have disabilities and should attend the school that is closest to their

home.

Question 7​: What are important insights for a general education teacher regarding issues related

to common medications administered to children and adolescents?

Response 7​: Students with medical issues are usually ‘flagged’ within the school system to have

such conditions, what medications are to be administered at school by the nurse, and protocols to

follow in case of emergencies. Special education students’ medical needs are written within their

IEP and each general education teacher that works with that student will have copies of not only

the IEP, but also the medical protocols and procedures. If in doubt with any concerns, always

contact the nurse and they can walk you through the procedures or answer any questions you

may have.

Question 8: ​What is your experience implementing UDL in your teaching practices and / or

collaborating with other teachers.

Field Experience 5

Response 8: ​My experience with implementing ULD is trying to balance the exposure of grade

level curriculum while also working on each student’s individual goals. It can sometimes be

exhausting to differentiate instruction or scaffold instruction down from the child’s grade level to

their academic abilities. I like to expose the class to their grade level curriculum as a whole

group and then break off into small groups, based on grade level and ability, and work more one

on one with them to enhance the goals in which each child is working on. It is always good to

collaborate with grade level general education teachers to help keep you on track with what they

are using within their classrooms and then taking it back to your own classroom and scaffolding

it down to your students’ ability levels.

Question 9: ​Do you use any sort of technology during the special education classes?

Response 9: ​I use the AVERMedia camera to teach students during whole group instruction so

that students can focus on the material and follow agong as we work together. I also use

chromebooks in my classroom to implement prograns like STAR reading and math, Lexia, and

other educational sites. This also gives them real world practice on how to navigate a computer

and practice typing.

Question 10: ​What sort of group work do you use for special education?

Response 10: ​During whole group instruction, I usually lead the class in discussions and ask for

each child’s input. I will randomly call on students to make sure they are paying attention and

often times will reward students with a small piece of candy or ‘super hero bucks’ for my token

economy to help keep them motivated and engaged. The token economy uses a fake money

system in which students earn ‘bucks’ for staying on task, good behavior, and following

classroom rules. The accumulate bucks over a weekly period and buy items off a teacher made
Field Experience 6

list during ‘Fun Friday’. The students may save their bucks to buy higher priced items for

exchange their money each Friday for less expensive items. They are exposed to the value of

money, money exchange, and are held accountable for their behavior as well as saving the

money themselves.

Analysis of My Observation

This was my first experience in a special education classroom and it was pleasantly more

calm than I had expected. I, for some reason, had a conception that special education classes

would exhibit a lot of behavior issues, but it was not exactly the case with this class. The

behavior problems that I did see were seemingly caused by the unfortunate disabilities these

students face and were not caused by a want or need to be noticed or be disruptive (i.e., they

were not intentional) the way you may see in a general education class. I really enjoyed seeing it

in person and I really could see the kids were really sweet and were trying to learn. It really

changed my perspective of what special education is and I felt a personal want to help these kids

who I have never seen before.1

The most behavioral issue I saw while observing the class was that of a lack of attention

span amongst most of the students in this class. The teacher in this class was very good about

addressing each student by name until she caught their attention and getting them back on track.

This was a constant effort by the teacher, as it took her doing so multiple times for each student,

1
Before I go on to describe what I observed, I think it is appropriate to say that there were always 6 to 8 students in
the room during my visit (some were regularly removed from the room for other activities). The students all ranged
greatly in their abilities, e.g., two of the students had Down’s Syndrome, two had severe learning disabilities and the
rest were moderate in their disabilities (e.g., they could read and answer most questions whereas the others could
not).
Field Experience 7

but in the end what needed to be done got done. The teacher showed a lot of patience and the

students showed a drive to get the work done with the proper push they needed. One thing most

all of the students had problems with were answering questions such as “what would happen if

____”. They really needed direction from the teacher to answer these questions. The teacher did

not give them the answers, but only, so to say, the pieces of the puzzle for them to put a coherent

response together. Positive reinforcement seemed to work really well, with the giving awards of

candies or classroom currency. Doing this really improved attention span and enhanced the

quality of the responses the students were giving.

The student--student interaction I saw was mostly good. The higher functioning kids

always wanted to help the lower ones, and this was encouraged by the teacher. When help was

offered from one student to another it was during group lessons and usually the help would

consist of reading and writing help. Some of the kids also tried to check the another student’s

behavior from time to time, “hey please be quiet”, for example, and this seemed to have a good

effect as well. The students being asked to stop or to do something usually responded very well

to this.

The biggest challenge I saw for the teacher of the class was finishing all the work in the

timed scheduled to do so. Given the big gaps in terms of student ability in the class, finishing in a

certain amount of predetermined time is difficult. I saw the time that was allotted for each

assignment or area (which was 51 minutes) often needed more time for every student to finish.

The teacher and aids had to pay attention to mostly every student in the class to ensure they were

working toward the goal. Another challenge to completing assignments on time was trying to

stop students from disrupting or arguing with one another (I suppose this is the case with most
Field Experience 8

classrooms). However, the teacher did a good job at presenting the information that needed to be

presented and helping the students to work toward the goal. Work that was not finished was sent

home as homework. I think what struck me the most about the effectiveness of the teacher was

that she was willing to engage the students in conversations that were not assignment related

(e.g., a conversation about Pokeman) because that is what they cared about at the moment and

that conversation was used as a segway for getting them back on track.

Overall, it was a pleasant experience observing this class. I found the kids to be really

sweet and very much trying to complete their work. That I had never been in a special education

classroom before, I am pleasantly surprised by how well the teacher and the students did their

jobs. I believe the purpose of this assignment was more than fulfilled with my experience

observing this class and I look forward to future observation assignments in the future to further

expand my realization of how actual classrooms work.