Jessica Bukkhegyi Rebecca Agosta English 1101-019 November 18, 2013 Inside A Special Education Classroom An EC classroom is a place

of learning for students with severe disabilities. These disabilities may range from being a student not being able to function on their own to a student who can walk and move around but cannot speak nor learn as another student would. The EC classroom at Cox Mill Elementary School is a home for five students which include two boys and three girls. The classroom is very diverse in ethnicity and the needs of the students. Most of the students cannot feed themselves and two of them have feeding tubes, only two out of the five students can walk, and only one out of the five has the ability to communicate with words. Also, the classroom is not set up like the other classrooms at the elementary school. There is a SmartBoard, television, one long table, a teachers desk, different equipment for the students, a play area, a ball pit, and a bathroom inside the classroom. There are also special chairs and standers that are adapted for the students needs. They also have their own adapted playground outside of their classroom. Every aspect of the classroom is adapted to fit each students personal needs in order for them to succeed in school. Lexis According to John Swales there are six characteristics to a discourse community. One of them is lexis. Lexis is a shared and has specialized terminology through the development of

community-specific abbreviations and acronyms. In the classroom there is a specific lexis that the teachers and students both use (Swales). Some of the words the teachers use to communicate to parents and other members of the classroom include IEP goals, trip trap chairs, switches, adapted, feeding tubes, and pureed. IEP goals are goals that are determined by the teacher and physical therapist for each individual student. They reflect what they should accomplish in a certain amount of time. For example, a goal could be for a student to feed him or herself without assistance. Another goal could be to sort colors and shapes into different categories. Instead of a curriculum, this is what determines what each student should accomplish within the school year. A trip-trap chair is a special chair designed for a student who does not sit still and needs to be able to while doing work. The chair has a harness as well as a seat belt like strap that goes across their lap. The student can still move their arms and legs their torso is just stuck in place. When the students have lunch or snack time all of their food is pureed. They cannot chew or eat on their own so it makes it easier for the food to digest and go down their throats. Also, two of the students have feeding tubes. These tubes are used to put pureed food directly into their stomachs. The students have these tubes because they are unable to keep the food down in their stomachs themselves and they have a habit of choking on their food as they try to eat it. A switch is used for the students to communicate with outsiders of the classroom and the teachers because they are all unable to communicate. These switches include a button in which a person can record what they want the student to say. Then the student pushes the button and the switch plays the recording. The switch allows the students to feel independent and lets them know that their force can be heard as well. There are many other examples of this communitys lexis but these were just a few examples. A Day in the Classroom

At exactly 8:15AM the bell rings at Cox Mill Elementary School. The students in the EC classroom usually arrive around 7:50-8:00ish. When the students first arrive they come in and they get settled in. They watch the school news at around 8:30. Then, it is breakfast time! The lead teacher, Mrs. Sherrill, stated the first lesson of the day: helping the children learn how to eat on their own. Breakfast lasts however long it needs to in order for all of the children to eat. There are not set times for anything, it just lasts for as long as we need it to (Sherrill). Once everyone is cleaned up from breakfast they do morning circle which consists of activities on the SmartBoard. These activities include the day of the week, what the weather is outside, what kind of therapy they have for the day, and different songs that help them wake up! As I discussed before, the children use the switches in order to participate in all of these morning activities. After morning circle, their day is pretty inconsistent. Each day there is a different order. What we do depends on the mood of the children (Sherrill). Sometimes they do daily lessons, have therapy at some point during the day, go to adapted PE, music, or art, and have nap time. They have a different kind of therapy throughout the week. Sometimes it is speech therapy or physical therapy. Either way a specialist comes into the classroom to work with the students and help them accomplish their specific goals. Nap time is always included during the day no matter what. It usually falls right after lunchtime. The children do not necessarily learn math or writing. They learn different life skills such as eating, walking, sorting shapes and colors, and other items like that. The school day ends at about 3:00PM and the students get on their buses to go home. The day is very hectic but I would not change it for anything in the world (Sherrill). Goals In a discourse community John Swales stated there must be common goals within a group for it to be considered a discourse community. Inside a special education classroom there are

several different goals each of the children share as well as children having their own independent goals. An example of a common goal would be for the students to receive an education. It should be every childs goal to obtain a high school diploma. These children are no exception. They work hard every day of the school week to master certain tasks. Even though these students are allowed to stay in school until they are twenty one, they will all eventually graduate with a diploma! Another common goal the children share would be to enjoy life. Mrs. Sherrill emphasizes to have fun and enjoy life. It is very important that these students realize life is awesome and we should live it up every day! (Sherrill). The students even on their bad days, are usually smiling and having a great time in the classroom. The third common goal is to work hard and then have fun. This is one of my favorite mottos and I want the children to learn by it. (Sherrill). Since it is the middle of the school year the children have realized that if they do all their work and do it right they will get a reward. The reward is to usually play with games or objects around the room. It is very important that the children get these breaks because it is hard for them to focus for long periods of time. Method For my research I went to the elementary school for an entire morning and a little bit of the afternoon. I arrived at the elementary school around 8:45AM and departed around 1:00PM. I took notes as well as interact with the students. Since I am an insider of the group I was aware of how they went about different things throughout the day. I helped the students make a pumpkin out of a small jar and marshmallows, I helped out during lunchtime, and I was able to assist with bathroom and nap procedures. I rarely sat down so I took notes as I was doing the activities as well as take mental notes in which I wrote those down later. During the pumpkin activity I helped the students squish the marshmallows down into the jar. This helped them with doing a

simple activity without touch assistance. Even though I was helping them complete the activity it is important for them to at least try to do it by themselves and then they get praised for their hard work. When it was time for lunch I helped a student with his meal. Again, it is important for him to do it by himself I was just there for support. After lunch was finished I helped with getting nap time underway. Once all of the children were laying down I headed back to school. When I arrived back to my dorm room I wrote all of my mental notes down and I just thought about how everything went at the elementary school. I did not actually start to write my paper until the following day.