Title: Introduction to Inclusion Service Learning Date: Fall 2012-Spring 2013 Description: Assisting middle school students, including

g 6th, 7th, and 8th graders, with school work in the general classroom as well as in the special education classroom. My artifact is a letter of hours completion from the Platteville Middle School Principle. Wisconsin Teacher Standard Alignment: Standard three of Wisconsin Teacher Development and Licensure Standards states: The teacher understands how pupils differ in their approaches to learning and the barriers that impede learning and can adapt instruction to meet the diverse needs of pupils, including those with disabilities and exceptionalities. This artifact addresses Standard 3: Diversity-Teacher Understands That Children Learn Differently because being able to work closely with students who were struggling in the traditional classroom gave me a closer look at the approaches that I may need to take when I have students with disabilities or in the classroom. In a classroom I may not get the chance to work on such a personal level with the students that really need the help. Having to figure out whether the student needed me to read the question, explain the question, help them find the answer in the text, or maybe just some motivation, or possibly a combination of the above allowed me to focus on how to adapt classroom instruction, lessen the impeding barriers that the pupils with disabilities faced, so that they could learn and understand their classroom work. Without comprehension the students began to lose focus and become hardened to learning in general. Paying attention to the little things pays off in the end because fewer students are likely to slip through the cracks. Not just for students with disabilities, but also for students with exceptionalities. I have found on several occasions an exceptional/gifted student not applying themselves in the classroom because they already know the material. When the material comes easy to a student I need to be able to adapt my teaching towards them. Often times what works best in this situation is to let the student take charge of their learning pace; student based learning projects and individualized curriculum allows the students to push forward in their learning while the rest of the class maintains the in class assignments/projects and pace I set for the class as the teacher. They need to have work that will challenge their minds and use a higher level of thinking. It was phenomenal to see the students grades increase with each week that I spent with them. On a certain occasion I was forced to find a new approach to help a 7th grade boy with his weekly reader projects he was struggling with. He became so frustrated with his lack of success and was ready to dismiss it all together and accept a failing grade each assignment. I found that he was reading books above his reading level and did not comprehend the words on the page. Rather he was reading each word but not compiling the words in his mind to tell the story. By working with him to read a page aloud to me, I would read the next page back to him; we found that he could concentrate better on what the story meant. Being able to hear when he stumbled on a word I was able to help him pronounce the word and then give him a definition and synonym so he could make sense of it. After we were done reading each story we took an online quiz about the book together. Being able to read him the questions aloud helped me to hear his thought process and we could rule out the obvious incorrect answers. His scores jumped rapidly and he went from reading a book per month to finishing one in a just a few days! UW-Platteville School of Education Knowledge, Skill, Disposition Statement KSD3.e.

This artifact best aligns to KSD3.e. : Demonstrates Flexibility and Responsiveness which states: The candidate has the ability to make appropriate adjustments to his/her instruction and accommodates students questions and interests while being aware of student differences and difficulties, and can use a wide range of resources and strategies to meet all the students needs in the classroom. This aligns with this KSD because certain appropriate adjustments needed to be made in instruction between the general classroom and the resource room with special education students. I was becoming a resource for the students to use and they could ask questions and also tell me how I could best provide for them. To fulfill my purpose as being a resource and a guide in the right direction, each question or interest was addressed individually to accommodate certain differences and difficulties so that each students needs were being met. There is a certain point where you can tell that a student is beginning to grasp a concept; through their eyes and the way they begin to approach the questions. After talking and explaining the problem the students would tell me they got it, in a way that was also a cue for me to stop talking so they could work. Many times all it took was for the question to be read aloud and then maybe one or two key words defined and the students would be able to go off on their own and answer the question. Secondary Alignments: KSD2.a.: Creates an environment of Respect and Rapport Reflection About Teaching/Learning: Learning is perceived in many different ways and with that comes different attitudes toward learning. There are some students who seem intrigued by everything and yearn to know all that is possible to know, others know that they have to learn so they try to, and there are also some students who do not realize all of the knowledge that they need to possess for life and therefore are unable to use their schooling to its fullest potential. I must pay attention and spend the time learning the best way to teach my students and work at finding ways to get around the impeding barriers that make it difficult for my students to learn. A student is more likely to gain confidence in the material when they are able to explain something in their own way. Getting students to understand what they need to be doing is half of the battle, but once they understand that they can begin to study the course material. As a teacher it will be my duty to make sure that I do not lose any students in translation because if that happens I will be unable to be an effective teacher. Reflection About Myself as a Prospective Educator: Approaching each of these students was a challenge and also a personal learning experience. Where I struggled the most was trying to help a couple of energetic 6th grade boys with their social studies and science classes. Focusing was an issue for the students with ADD, ADHD, and LD so we dealt with homework in small sections so that it would not become overwhelming. Approaching the homework sections through different teaching methods made it more interesting for the students as well. With multiple choice questions students would either read the questions out loud or have me read them and then we would walk through each possible answer and collectively decide on the best answer. For short answer questions we would discuss the answer and then write it out on the board so everything would be spelled correctly and be in a full sentence. For math homework it was best to have the students work their problems out on the board. If one student completed the problem before the other I would have the student who was finished explain how they worked the problem because that allowed the students to connect with each other. With other students I would just need to read a question aloud in order for the students to comprehend what was being asked of them. Once a subject, topic, or formula is taught it is usually understood further than it would be just from hearing or seeing it.