IDEA & Assessment

EDUC 350
In class this week we discussed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. We are switching gears and going to start focusing on laws that govern public education. We got to read about what the definitions of certain disabilities are and the 13 categories of disabilities. I found it very unfair how before IDEA came to be there were many children who did not have access to education because of a disability.  We learned what the 4 levels for LRE are; Inclusion, resource, self-contained and separate setting. There is also monitoring which involves an EC teacher coming to check the students progress. We learned that you have to modify instruction to be able to meet the needs of EC students. That goes directly with NCTCS 2d which states " Teachers adapt their teaching for the benefit of students with special needs". As teachers we have to make sure we are meeting every students needs if that involves changing an activity you had planned so a student with a disability can participate then you have to do it. I will use what I learned in class and take it with me to my future classroom. I will know what each disability is and learn how to spot it so that I can get my students the help they need. I will make sure each lesson incorporates things that every student can participate in and make every child feel accepted. For my outside research this week I tried to look up some tips for how to work with EC students, this article has a couple tips just to give a head start on how we can behave with these students.
 http://www.friendshipcircle.org/blog/2012/10/15/8-important-tips-for-working-with-a-special-needs-child/

EDUC 410
In class we talked about rubrics. Rubrics are not something I thought of as an assessment tool until today. We learned that rubrics are very beneficial to both teachers and students. They help teachers be less biased, grade faster because they already know what they are looking for. It helps students to have that guideline of what are the expectations for the assignment. One of my classmates pointed out that it also helps to avoid a student saying that they were graded unfairly because you can look at the rubric and point out what they are lacking. I think our seminar was full of good thoughts. One of the articles talked about tips for creating rubrics and something that really stood out to me was that we should reflect what skills we are teaching onto the rubric. I know i hated when my teachers would put something on a rubric that we had not even discussed in class yet and those were the parts that I ended up doing bad at it because I had no idea what she was referring to. Using clear language that students understand is also very crucial they have to be able to understand exactly what you want. Use words that are in their appropriate age range. This directly comes from the NCTCS 4g which states "Teachers communicate effectively". I will use what I learned this week in my future classroom to ensure that I am clear and precise with my expectations from students. I will use rubrics to assess learning by comparing all my students and seeing what I need to address.