Service Learning Project

Lily Kanefield
SERP404
The University of Arizona

*Pseudonyms have been used to keep students identities protected.

 SLP Reflection #1
This semester I will be working in a 4th grade EBD classroom at Rivera

Elementary School in the Sunny Side School District. In this classroom there

are eight children with a wide range of emotion behavioral disabilities,

learning disabilities, and personalities. I will be focusing on one child during

my stay at Rivera, named Anthony*. He is 10 years old, he is currently

performing at the academic level of a 1st grader in reading, about a 2nd grade

level in math, and about a 2nd grade level in writing benchmarks. The teacher

in this classroom is Claire J; she has been working with students with EBD for

over 40 years. She is a wonderful and encouraging mentor and has giving

me a lot of independence in this study that I will be conducting. In the

classroom there will be 8 students, 2 Para-educators, Claire, and myself. In

this classroom the students work on challenging but fulfilling content that not

only makes them better students but better people. The students in this

class often times have emotional outburst, sometimes have to be

constrained (due to violent behavior toward themselves or other people),

have school counselors coming in and out, and have reported to their

teachers many cases of abuse and other harmful situations. However, most

of the time these students are just your typical 4th graders trying to get

through the school day. Anthony is a particularly interesting student,

although he is in the EBD classroom, he experiences very few emotional

outbursts, he has never been constrained, and he is not diagnosed with any

*Pseudonyms have been used to keep students identities protected.

emotional problems, he is in this class because of his little progress in school

and quiet and unusual behaviors.

Anthony is diagnosed on the Autism scale; however, his teachers and

aids believe there is more going on with him that is undiagnosed. I have

been invited into this classroom to analyze Anthonys schoolwork, test him

on different achievement test, and study his behavior. Her goal for me in

this setting is to gather information on Anthony in hopes of discovering new

information to be presented at his reevaluation. Anthony has not been

evaluated on IQ or other academic achievement tests since Kindergarten and

his aids and teachers believe that his diagnoses is incorrect and not

benefitting him in the classroom any longer. The goal for the students in this

class is to learn about regulated and appropriately expressing behaviors

while also following all content standards for a 4th grade class in the state of

Arizona.

My individual goal for this project is to learn about students with

emotional disabilities, study Anthony and his work in order to draw some

conclusions to help his future, gain experience in an EBD classroom, and

challenge myself to help with Anthonys school work and behavior

management in hopes of helping him move on to 5th grade next year. I hope

to get to the bottom of what is holding Anthony back from being the best

learner that he can be. This will be done by analysis of his work, testing,

research, and observation. My goal is not to have a label for Anthony when I

finish my research, but it is to hopefully have some more information that

*Pseudonyms have been used to keep students identities protected.

will help his teachers re-evaluate him, adapt his work, and hopefully get him

to a better place academically.

I am very excited to be in this classroom and working one on one with

a student. I think that I will gain a lot of knowledge through experience and I

hope that I can make a difference in Anthonys education. When I decided to

become a teacher it was because I wanted to create a space where students

grow as students and grow as people, that is the environment that is created

in this classroom and I am so excited to be a part of it.

*Pseudonyms have been used to keep students identities protected.

 SLP Reflection #2

When I reflect on my time thus far in the 4th grade ED classroom at

Rivera elementary I see that there are a lot of cultural misconceptions that I

have made myself, and that many people would make if they were looking in

on the classroom as an outsider. The first thing that I noticed in my

classroom is that there are 8 students, 4 of which when you look at them

many would call white. That, however, is not how any of my students

identify. All my students identify themselves as Mexican or Mexican

Americans. One day in class we were actually discussing the presidency and

many of my students became afraid that if Donald Trump was made

president that they would be kicked out of the country. Claire, however,

informed them that they are all legal citizens and that no matter what they

will not be removed from America or their homes. Another misconception is

that since my students are in special education that they are dumb or do

not perform at grade level. My students are all labeled with ED, therefore,

many of them perform at grade level and some of them I actually believe to

be advanced in many areas. There vocabularies, due to exposure with many

adults throughout their lives, is very advanced and above average for a

fourth grade. The last misconception that I think that my students

(specifically the student I am focusing my project on, Anthony*) go though is

that just because they are labeled with ED means that they are always

violent or do not understand emotion. Anthony* is actually extremely aware

of the emotions of people around him, whenever I sigh or look tired he will

*Pseudonyms have been used to keep students identities protected.

pat me on the shoulder or ask to give me a hug, when he is frustrated he will

hit himself on the head or bang him his hand on the table. He is very aware

of what feelings are and how to read them; the only thing that he is trying to

work on as far as his emotions now is how to control them. Over the past two

years that Claire has had Anthony* on the classroom, however, he is the only

student whom has never had to be put in a constraint.

My job in this project is to try and look through Anthony*s work, test

him, and observe his behavior to try and help the teachers find better

learning techniques and plans for him. The other day I gave Anthony* a QRI

assessment and found that he is only working at an individual level in level

of word identification, level of oral word reading, and level of oral reading

comprehension, at a first grade level. When it got to more complex passages

for high grade levels, he was reading at a frustrational level, which means

the material was way too challenging for him. This means that he needs

some direct instruction in reading and should be reading leveled readers

during silent reading instead of reading 4th grade level books with the aids

(which is what he is doing now). That information is not only way above his

reading level, but it is also way above his comprehension level at this time. I

took it upon myself to try and work with Anthony* during math while in the

classroom, however, I had a little bit of a challenging time doing so as I

noticed the aid who usually works with him was a little bit upset and hesitant

to give that responsibility to me. I decided it was needed even though the

confrontation with her was a little awkward, only because I notice she is not

*Pseudonyms have been used to keep students identities protected.

very encouraging or challenging with him, she often finishes his work for

him. When I worked on math with him I noticed he needed a lot of reminders

on the steps for rounding and calculations such as subtractions and

multiplication, however, I think that he is very able to complete his grade

level work, he just needs extended time and definitely needs some cue

sheets to guide him through the problems he is working. I also am just

curious is Anthony* needs to be evaluated by a psychologist of some sort, he

always tells me people are screaming at him, he often talks to himself, and

he gets very emotion (overly happy and sad) at very random points. He is a

wonderful kid, but he is very hard to figure out.

I have had a lot of new experiences while working in this classroom.

One of my students was removed from his foster home and placed in a new

foster home, and therefore had to switch school districts. This news was very

hard for me to handle because I felt like the student was just starting to get

comfortable in our classroom, and now he is being moved across town to a

new classroom and has to start all over again. I also was very sad because

my class put on a poetry slam, and only two parents showed up. My student

Anthony* was so nervous about reading in front of the audience, and we

practiced his poem over 15 times that day. He expressed that he was excited

to read because his parents have never seen him read. However, his parents

didnt show up and he was obsessively drinking water right before his

performance because he was so upset that they didnt come. Overall my

classroom is just the polar opposite from how I grew up and the elementary

*Pseudonyms have been used to keep students identities protected.

school that I went to as a child, and its just making me really appreciate how

involved my parents were, how many resources my school district had, and

how dedicated my teachers were. I think I want to work in schools like Rivera

when I start my teaching career, I feel it is more fulfilling working in cultural

diverse classrooms where you really have the chance to make a difference

on a students life and hopefully provide a safe and happy place for them to

be that may be the best situations they get to be in all week.

*Pseudonyms have been used to keep students identities protected.

 SLP Reflection #3

As I reflect on my experience in Claire Js, 4th grade ED classroom this

semester I think that one of the biggest challenges that I had and I think I will

continue to have as a special educator is leaving the job at work when you

leave work. I loved working in this classroom so much, I found the job so

fulfilling and at the end of my experience I not only feel like the work I did

actually had an impact on the students, specifically Anthony*, but I also feel

like my presence in the classroom was a nice change for the students.

However, it was very hard for me to hear things like students getting taken

from their foster homes, students parents being in jail and them never

seeing them, students struggling with, in my opinion, neglect, and other such

issues. I truly believe that if you are not the kind of person who gets invested

enough in these problems to feel sad and want to make a difference than

you are in the wrong field, because it is our job as educators to be an ally for

these students and make them feel safe and cared for in our classrooms,

however, I truly struggled and would stay up at nights emailing back and

fourth with Claire about the students, as I was overall concerned and looking

for any way to help them. I also think that this problem carries over to an

issue I will have leaving students behind year by year and not knowing where

their education will take them. Its hard to get so emotionally invested with

students just to realize that once you are finished teaching them its up to the

next educator to take over.

*Pseudonyms have been used to keep students identities protected.

 Something that I feel I learned a lot about this semester is that there is

always room for growth and that your attitude as a teacher has a huge

impact on how your students behave. When working with Anthony, there

were many opportunities that I could have thought negatively about his

situation, he is very uninterested in improving as a student and in school in

general, however, no matter how uninterested he was in activities I planned

for him, and no matter how little growth he showed I always made sure to

celebrate the little victories with him, and even though he didnt show it, I

think he noticed this and really felt cared for. The idea of positivity in this

field is probably of the most important things you can show your students.

When you are positive that emotion rubs off on them and they feel more

positive about being in your classroom and about learning in general.

This experience was one I will never forget. I learned so much about

myself, grew a lot as an educator, and really felt that my presence in the

classroom made a difference, which made me very excited for my future as a

special educator. I think that the work that I did with Anthony will have a

good effect on his education and even if it only makes small enhancements

to his experience, that little difference (and the fact that I might have had

something to do with it) is such a wonderful reward. I am really going to

miss my students and Claire; she is a wonderful role model. She is strong,

quick to act on situations, extremely knowledgeable, loving, and the biggest

supporter in every single one of her students lives. I hope that when I have

been teaching for 40 years (like Claire) I am half the educator she is. I owe

*Pseudonyms have been used to keep students identities protected.

my new found love of working with students with ED to her, and I am so

grateful that I got the privilege to work alongside her.

*Pseudonyms have been used to keep students identities protected.

 Journal Reflections/Log
Monday, September 26, 2016

Today was my first day working in this classroom specifically with

Anthony. I was very excited to start this part of my project as I had previously

worked in the classroom, however, this was a very new experience working

solely with him and trying hard to help figure out what specifically is holding

him back academically. Today I performed a QRI on Anthony, reviewed his

math worksheets from the entire semester thus far, and tried to take

detailed notes on his behavior as he was just working naturally in the

classroom. The QRI was the first thing I did with Anthony, and he was very

upset. During the QRI I noticed that he was obsessively drinking water

throughout the process (something he does often, when hes nervous or

upset). He was sighing a lot and kept mentioning that he was extremely

tired. I felt a little bad that I was making him do this testing, however, once

Claire informed me that all the students would be doing a QRI in the next few

weeks anyways I didnt feel as bad. I allowed him to take breaks in between

each reading, and he seemed very down, however, when I asked him if

everything was okay, he was hysterically laughing saying that Life is

awesome. I found this behavior of going from extremely down to extremely

happy a little odd, however, I couldnt decide if he was just so off task he did

even realize what I was asking, or if he was thinking about other things and

therefore thats what he was talking about when he was laughing and saying

he was happy. The results from Anthonys QRI indicated that he is working at

an individual level in level of word identification, level of oral word reading,

*Pseudonyms have been used to keep students identities protected.

and level of oral reading comprehension, at a first grade level. More complex

passages for high-grade levels, led him to a frustration level, which means

the material was way too challenging for him. His math worksheets showed a

lot of confusion, incomplete assignments, and discontinuation with math

concepts and basic calculations.

Friday, September 30, 2016

Today I was greeted with a big hug from Anthony. Something he has

never done to me, or any of the other teachers before, this was a wonderful

beginning to the day. We had a new student join our classroom today, we will

call her Jamie. Jamie is very interesting a very quiet, in some ways she

reminds me a lot of Anthony, and clearly they think so too, for the first time

every Anthony played with someone on the playground and the two seem to

be immediate friends. However, when we gained this new student I also

found out that we lost a student. One of the little boys in our class Fernando

was removed his foster home, as the foster parent had 19 other children and

was not providing necessary things to them, and wasnt making them attend

school. This was really hard for me to digest I felt very helpless in this

situation and really wanted to reach out to the student, however, I had no

means or rights to do so. This was very upsetting because I felt like I was

starting to really develop a relationship with him, however, Claire explained

to me that the life he was living was not only unhealthy, but that he has

been moved to so many different homes, that at this point he is almost a lost

cause. I hate that she said that, but it was in some ways true. Instead of

*Pseudonyms have been used to keep students identities protected.

feeling depressed about he situation all day, I decided to try and be positive

and focus all my attention on the students who were in class and how I could

help them. That being said, I had a wonderful experience with Anthony when

we were reading together during silent reading. There are a few students

who read aloud during silent reading, as they need help with more than half

the words that they read and also need encouragement to stay on task. After

reading I was sitting talking with Anthony while he worked on his story that

he was writing at the time. We would be in the middle of a conversation and

all the sudden he would just start uncontrollably laughing, when I would ask

him what was so funny, he would have rather odd responses, making

comments about, men doing funny things, the people are fighting and the

guy just hit him over the head, or even talking about people inside him. I

discussed this with Claire, when the students were on a break and she

expressed the same concern, saying shes unaware if he is off day dreaming

and just not in the moment at all, or if he may be experience some signs of

schizophrenia.

Monday, October 3, 2016

I went to school today for my students poetry slam, which was the final

project of their poetry unit. They were all so excited, however, with

excitement come a lot of emotions. Many of the students were crying

minutes into the performance when their parents didnt show up, when they

thought they didnt perform their best reading their poem, or when they got

nervous before the performance. Anthony was doing his normal nervous

*Pseudonyms have been used to keep students identities protected.

habits, drinking water every 15-30 seconds minutes before he read his

poem; he was also getting into a fast blinking motion before and during his

performance. I practiced his poem with him all lunch and during specials, so

he felt very prepared, and he did amazing. Although he read slowly and

rather quiet, he read every word perfectly and even put a little emotion into

his voice (which is not the norm for him). At the end of the performance he

let out a big sigh, and said, I did it as he slowly walked back to his seat. His

parents were not able to make the performance, which I found to be quite a

shame, as I think they would have been very impressed with what he

accomplished, I was very proud of him.

*Pseudonyms have been used to keep students identities protected.

Monday, October 31, 2016

Today was Halloween and I was truly a little nervous to go to school, I

thought my kids would be very hyper and excited for the evening and not be

able to focus at all. However, when I got there Claire informed me that both

the aids were out sick that day so it was only going to be the two of us in the

classroom. At first this worried me a lot because I am not CPI trained, so, if

there was a situation that required a restraint, Claire would have to do it, so I

would be in charge of the rest of the class. When I got there I was pleasantly

surprised with how calm, respectful, and smoothly the day went. Without the

two para-educators there, there were not power struggles with the students,

everyone was working together so nicely, and Claire and I had complete

control over the class, which I really enjoyed. Today was a very up and down

day with Anthony. During math he was working on a measurement worksheet

and he got to a page where a line was being measured on a ruler, however,

instead of starting at 0, the line started at different parts of the ruler so you

had to do some extra calculations to figure out how long the line was. This

was extremely difficult for Anthony and he couldnt grasp this idea. He got so

frustrated that he began to cry and call himself stupid. Claire and I were so

sadden by this and provided him with lots of encouragement and threw out

the worksheet. Besides that this was an amazing day with Anthony, he has

been working on a few books that he self illustrated and wrote, although the

content was focused a lot on killing and other interesting messages, he was

so proud of his product, and I have never seen him so outgoing. Claire let

him read his book during read aloud and he read it perfectly, and was so

*Pseudonyms have been used to keep students identities protected.

proud. It was an amazing experience for me and I couldnt hold back my

tears. I was so proud of him, not only for the amazing work he did, the

wonderful performance he put on, but also for how happy he seemed when

all the students told him how much they loved his story.

Monday, November 14, 2016

Today was a very interesting day in the classroom. One of my students

Dom*, had a huge tantrum in the classroom that put him and the other

students in physical danger and caused a very traumatizing scene for the

students. Dom did not want to go to music, so he was given a zero on his

behavior chart. This would have been okay, however, one of the students

was taunting him about this, which caused Dom to get very violent, he was

chasing one of the students around to room saying, You want to fight me

bitch? He was pushing her shoving desks, and ultimately knocked over a

table. Claire put him into a constraint, however, he is a very strong child, and

so we called the office for back up, as she is unable to hold him down alone.

While in a constraint he was crying and screaming, saying that Claire wasnt

allowing him to breath and that he was hurt. This was just so that she would

let go, however, she was doing everything correctly and being watched and

assisted by two other adults. During this loud and some what intimidating

scene, the other students in the class were suppose to be doing silent

reading. None of them could focus, all very upset about what was happening

in the back of their classroom, except for Anthony. He had zero emotion or

reaction to the situation. When Dom would scream and cry louder, Anthony

would just raise his voice a little bit more while reading aloud to me. After

*Pseudonyms have been used to keep students identities protected.

Dom was done with his tantrum and was let out of the constraint we talked

to the kids to make sure that they were okay and not too upset. When Claire

and I asked Anthony how he felt, it was almost as if he had no idea what

situation we were even referring to. He said he was hungry and ready to take

a nap when he got home. We were concerned, but no surprised it seems that

Anthony can block any outside noise out and this must be the reason that he

seems to always be in his own world. Other than that tantrum, today was a

pretty typical day in the classroom Sam and Jamie are now very close friends

and seem to even like each other as more than friends. On the playground

today one of the para-educators told me that some of the kids were making

fun of them for being together so much, and telling them to kiss, although it

seemed to bother them in the moment, they didnt seem to care and

continued to play alone and enjoy each others company afterwards.

*Pseudonyms have been used to keep students identities protected.

*Pseudonyms have been used to keep students identities protected.