William Denny

Professor Dudley

UWRT 1101

11/24/16

Special Education

I have been highly involved in the autism and special needs community since I was young.

As a student in high school I was president of a club that focused on mentoring and assisting

students with special needs. I have created friendships throughout my life with kids with special

needs and I believe to have a good understanding on how a majority of them think. However one

thing that has always complexed my mind is the relationship special need students have with

their teachers and their teachers assistants. I wanted to understand how the classrooms worked

and how teachers were able to teach these students and develop them socially.

I would sit in a special needs classroom at Ardrey Kell High School. I was there for a two

hour period that consisted of instruction, silent work, group work, and a break. I then passed out

a survey to the students. These questions were focused on the atmosphere of the classroom and

the relationships inside. Finally I interviewed the teacher with similar questions as the survey to

understand her perspective. The goal of this was the understand the relationships between

teachers and special needs students and how learning happens in the classroom.

The classroom was set up with 20 desks in 4 columns and 5 rows all facing the front. At

the front there was a promethean board and a normal whiteboard. I decided to sit in the front left

corner of the class. This let me see all of the students faces as well as the teachers without being

too much of a distraction. When I first arrived to the class every student was present and in their

seat. The class had not yet started however one could of easily thought it had. Soon after the
teacher started the class by giving the students a worksheet to follow along with. She pulled up a

similar worksheet on her promethean board and they began simple spelling exercises. I noticed

that the students seemed very engaged despite it being fairly early in the morning. I remembered

how I had struggled through my first block every day and wondered how everyone was so

awake. When the teacher asked an individual student what letter came next or what the final

word was, other students were supportive throughout the student trying to answer. I noted that in

several occasion other students would even offer assistance when the student was struggling or

give compliments when the correct answer was given. The teacher used a soft tone when reading

the worksheet and regularly asked does everyone understand She also seemed supportive of

the students giving the correct answer but allowed them to figure it out between themselves and

their peers. I figured this was to also teach independence to the students.

The students then moved to silent work, which was a reading section with questions. I

watched the students faces as they read and noticed a majority of them seemed to mouth along

the words when they read in their heads. I also noticed that almost every student was extremely

focused on the paragraphs. I saw the teacher and the assistants talking quietly in the back of the

room before offering help to a couple students. They changed their approach with almost every

student, leading me to believe that they must know how students think differently and whats

best for them. I overheard several questions such as how do you say that, What does that

mean, and other questions about the text.They were also able to get personal with the student

and I noted several quiet students to be most productive and involved during this time. I heard

the teachers answering students questions with a supportive and positive tone. When the last

student was done reading and answering the questions they looked forward and waited for the

teacher to return to the front. About half of them turned to other students and started
conversation. I noted how the conversations consisted of afterschool activities and what they

were doing that week. The teacher finished helping the last student before returning to the from

and going over the answers.

They then broke into three groups to complete the final part of the worksheet. The teacher

and the two assistants each lead a group. I noticed how the teachers group seemed to be the quiet

students who needed more assistance. It seemed that she was having a harder time getting the

students to participate than the two assistants. She often asked students please pay attention

and What do you think. The students in the other groups almost all answered each question and

seemed extremely engaged in the conversation. Students helped each other with finding answers

to questions in the text and understanding the story. After around an hour and forty minutes

working on different worksheets and in different environments they had a break.

The students and the teachers went for a walk outside on a trail that went around the

school. The teacher and assistants seemed to be evenly spaced through the group of students. The

more social ones were in the front talking to each other and eager to walk. I heard them say

things such as What are you doing this weekend? and talking about their favorite tv shows. At

the back of the group were the less social ones, they walked at a slower pace than the ones at the

front and werent as talkative. They also didnt seem to be as happy as the others. I noticed how

the teacher in the back seemed to be trying extremely hard to cheer up the ones in the back. This

eventually worked when we arrived at a pond and all the students were very excited to see the

ducks. I starting seeing the relationship between the teacher/assistants and the students as more

of a friendship than what it commonly is. When we returned to the classroom my final

observation was that the students seemed more energized and talkative than before we had gone
outside. The relationship between teachers and special needs students must be more active for the

students to learn.

To discover how students and teachers felt about the classroom environment I passed out a

survey. I passed the survey to the students to understand how they felt of the classroom. The

questions were to find out what students thought of school and classwork. The survey consisted

of the following five questions.

1.) Do you enjoy school?

2.) Are you friends with your classmates?
3.) Are you friends with your teachers?
4.) What is your favorite part of a school day?
5.) What is something you do not like about school?

The responses I received from this survey were extremely similar to each other. Of the 18

students in the class sixteen of them answered yes for the first two questions and all eighteen

answered yes for the third. The answers I received for question four consisted mostly of lunch,

Outside time, Art class, and even a when its over. Finally answer five was a resounding

collective agreement that quite reading wednesday were boring and not fun. These answers

came back showing that most students were comfortable in the classroom and enjoyed coming

every weekday. A couple jokester students even put jokes in their answers similar as to what I

would do when I was forced to answer a survey in class. The answers also revealed that the

students had a good relationship with their classmates and their teachers. This was also very

evident when I was observing the class.

I interviewed the teacher, Mrs. Shaffer, to understand her perspective of the classroom.

The interview also consisted of five questions to understand her thoughts of the classroom.

1.) Why did you become a special education teacher?

 My little brother was born with autism when I was in high school and I enjoyed helping him

and felt that was my purpose.

2.) Do you enjoy the work you do in class?

Very much, I love seeing the growth of my students and the moments that they're able to

overcome the challenges their disabilities present.

3.) Can you describe the relationship you have with your students?

Yeah, uhm, we all are very close and I would say that we have a type of friendship with them.

We go to things outside of class together every now and then, like festivals and autism speaks

events. We still keep the authority that a general education teacher would have but we are all

very close to our students.

4.) How do your classes differ from the classes for the other students here?

The structure of the day is very similar to the other students school day. We want them to

develop responsibility to succeed after they graduate. The classes themselves though are a lot

more simplified material that is taught at a slower pace. We also have more help available for our

students so teacher-student one on one instruction is more present.

5.) How does your job differ from other teachers jobs?

For the most part I do the same work. Like grading and planning are very similar to other

teachers. The part thats different is the instruction. I have to make sure the students with be

active in class which comes into deciding the activities we do and when we do them. Its also a

lot more personal than other classes where I will sit down with one or two students to make sure

they understand the material. I have a lot more work to get the students to participate in class

also.
 The interview allowed me to discover the teachers perspective of the class. The teacher

loves her work and enjoys seeing the students progress. She cares about their education and

wants them to succeed. I also learned that her job is extremely intensive and involves more

personal instruction with the students.

Observing a special needs classroom, passing out a survey to the students, and conducting

an interview with the teacher taught me how the classroom works. The observation let me see

exactly how teachers interact with students and how instruction works. I learned that the

instruction is more personal, intense, and supportive than other classes. I saw how the students

were friendly with each other and enjoyed the class. A special needs classroom has a supportive

and caring environment.