Towson University

Kelsey Gilgannon

Evidence of Student Learning

March 28, 2018

Description of School and Classroom__________________________________

For my five-day internship, I was placed at Pine Grove Middle School located in Carney,

Maryland. The middle school has about 900 students and is made up of roughly 52% white

students. (greatschools.org/) The classroom I am currently teaching in is a Communication and

Learning Supports classroom with six students. The students range from 12 to 15 years old and

are in this type of classroom for four years. The classroom also contains one para educator and

two additional adult supports. The additional support in the classroom is greatly needed to meet

each students needs.

Each student is diagnosed with Autism and/or Intellectual disability. There are three boys

and three girls in the classroom. One girl, named Amber, is Caucasian. Another girl, named

yThien, is Asian. The third girl is African American and named Nnenna. There are two boys,

named Aiden and Luke, and they are both Caucasian. There is a third boy named Clint and he is

Asian. Nnenna is in the same classroom with the other five students, except for two periods of

the day. Nnenna takes an additional Language Arts class while the other students are in Physical

Education. She also takes her Physical Education class while the other students are in their Skills

subject. All of the students are well behaved individuals, but may become anxious at times. An

example of a trigger for anxiety may be if they are asked a question they do not understand or

can verbally say. yThien becomes anxious when coming up to the board often and will pull at her

hair, sometimes pulling chunks of hair out of her head.

Each student receives adult assistance in the classroom through para educators or other

adult support. Yet, each student receives this help through different periods of instruction. To aid

in each of the students growth in speech, each student receives a shape index card. These cards
are used throughout the day in order to have a fair amount of conversation in the room. These

index cards allow each student to speak in the classroom, strengthen their enunciation, as well as

expand their vocabulary.

The five students in this lesson express their exceptionalities through various types of

activities and receive help as needed. Amber is the student who receives the most help in the

classroom. Amber’s Individualized Education Plan does not require a one-on-one with her, but

one adult in the classroom will either sit with her during each subject or will be in close

proximity to her in order to keep her on task. Amber also needs step-by-step instruction and

needs directions repeated two to three times. When she is given directions, I have to give her

directions one at a time. For example, if she is coming into class in the morning, the first thing I

will tell her is to unpack. From there she takes her backpack off and starts to unzip her jacket.

She will look at me for reassurance, so I will tell her to take her jacket off. Once the jacket is off,

I will have to tell her to put it on the back of her chair. From there, the steps continue as she

empties out her backpack. When it is time for Amber to read, she receives a pacing board for

speaking and making sure each word is said. To aid in her fluency and comprehension, Amber

works well with visual prompts in reading. yThien is an English Language learner. She has

difficulty with her enunciation, so repetition helps her when she is reading and learning new

vocabulary. To work on her English, I give her puzzle pieces that are put together to form words.

Once she has connected all of the pieces, we review each word that has a corresponding picture.

To keep yThien on task, she receives preferred seating which is close to the board. To aid in her

understanding of what is asked of her, yThien is shown cue cards for certain tasks, such as taking

out scissors and glue. I have learned that yThien works well with positive reinforcement, so a

smiley face board or a high five is given when she does a good job on a task. To aid in yThien’s
fluency, she receives a pacing board and visual prompts for reading. Aiden needs assistance on

enunciation, so when he learns a new word it is helpful to say the whole word first and then

break it down with him. To aid in his comprehension, he also receives visual prompts with

reading. While completing worksheets, Aiden may use a highlighter to mark certain words that

help him identify what he is specifically looking for. For example, if he is trying to find the

missing word in a sentence, he may highlight the words that come before the missing word on

both the worksheet and in the text. Aiden also works well with positive reinforcement, but too

much reinforcement will make Aiden restate why he did a good job. Clint has very clean

enunciation and can comprehend simple requests. During instruction Clint may sometimes need

redirection. Luke may become overactive at times and needs to be reassured and redirected.

While in reading, Luke benefits from visual prompts. Luke also works well with positive

reinforcement, but too much positive reinforcement will cause him to become overactive.

Classroom Lesson__________________________________________________

For the unit lesson, I wanted to work on a particular skill with my students. Before this

lesson, I would give the students certain commands in the hallways such as ‘stop’ or ‘slow

down.’ I realized that my students were able to understand what I said, but I wondered if they

knew the signs that went along with the commands. From there, I talked with my mentor about

certain signs around the school and community and if the students knew what they meant. I was

told that the students are used to routine and they know where to go, but not visually what the

sign tells them to do. For example, my students all know where the bathrooms are because we go

to them every day, but when I pointed to the restroom sign and asked yThien and Amber what

the sign was, they were unable to tell me what the sign meant. There is also a sign on the doors
by our classroom that says “Emergency Exit Only.” One day I had Aiden ask me what the sign

meant, so these interactions with my students gave me the idea to create a community safety

signs lesson.

To connect to the Maryland College and Career Ready Standards, I looked at grades

Kindergarten through third grade. I looked at these grade levels due to the range of my students’

levels of knowledge. The students in my classroom require prompting and support, so most of

the standards come from the kindergarten framework.

For the three days of the lesson, I had connected with kindergarten, first grade, and third

grade standards. Specifically, I focused on English and Language Arts standards which included:

Reading: Informational Text

o Key Ideas and Details

 CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.K.1 (grade K): With prompting and support, ask
and answer questions about key details in a text.
 CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.K.2 (grade K): With prompting and support,
identify the main topic and retell key details of a text.
 CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.1.2 (grade 1): Identify the main topic and retell
key details of a text.
o Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
 CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.K.7 (grade K): With prompting and support,
describe the relationship between illustrations and the text in which they
appear (e.g., what person, place, thing, or idea in the text an illustration
depicts).
 CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.7 (grade 3): Use information gained from
illustrations (e.g., maps, photographs) and the words in a text to
demonstrate understanding of the text (e.g., where, when, why, and how
key events occur).
 CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.1.8 (grade 1): Identify the reasons an author
gives to support points in a text.
o Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity
 RI.K.10 (grade K): Actively engage in group reading activities with
purpose and understanding.
I focused on Informational text due to the fact that the information given in all three of my

lessons was information that my students could use as they go through life. The knowledge

gained in these lessons was essential information that will keep them safe.

Instructional Goal___________________________________________________

Throughout the three lessons I taught, I had one instructional goal for my students to

accomplish. This goal was that, “Students will be able to identify what a specific sign is as well

as the meaning for that specific sign.” In order for my students to accomplish this instructional

goal, I had to consider how my students learn, how they interact, and what I needed to do in

order to accomplish this lesson. By looking at the Maryland College and Career Ready

Standards, I was able to find common threads in what is already done in my classroom.

For all three days of my lesson, the first Common Core state standard I focused on was

within Key Ideas and Details for an Informational Text. This standard was CCSS.ELA-

Literacy.RI.K.2: “With prompting and support, identify the main topic and retell key details of

a text.”(Maryland State Department of Education, August 2014) Before the lesson began each

day, students would be asked what we talked about the day before. During this time, I held up a

classroom poster that had multiple signs on it. This assisted students to think back and be able to

retell me what we talked about. All of the students benefit from prompting and support to aid in

their comprehension and fluency. Prompting during this lesson included stating ‘yes’ or ‘no’

after a specific question was asked to a student, giving visuals that went along with the text

features, walking around the classroom and asking individual students questions about what was

read, and also giving the first sound of a word to aid in their reading.
 Two other common core standards that were focused on during these lessons were in the

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas Section. Because my students range in reading levels, I

included both Kindergarten and third grade standards. The standards were CCSS.ELA-

Literacy.RI.K.7 (Maryland State Department of Education, August 2014) and CCSS.ELA-

Literacy.RI.3.7(Maryland State Department of Education, August 2014). The CCSS.ELA-

Literacy.RI.K.7 stated, “With prompting and support, describe the relationship between

illustrations and the text in which they appear (e.g., what person, place, thing, or idea in the text

an illustration depicts).” The CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.7 stated, “Use information gained

from illustrations (e.g., maps, photographs) and the words in a text to demonstrate

understanding of the text (e.g., where, when, why, and how key events occur).” The RI.K.7

standard was done throughout the duration of the lesson. I would have certain students read a

sentence or two and then give students some sort of visual representation to reiterate what was

just stated. Sometimes I would ask a particular student what a particular sign was that was on the

screen. If they did not know, I could restate what was read as well as go into more detail. For

example, on the first day of my lesson there was a sign in the video that said, “Caution. Wet

Paint.” I asked a student what the sign said and he told me, “Paint.” From that statement, I was

able to restate what the sign said, what color the sign was and why it was that color, and then tell

my students why the sign was there. After the students were told that information, the video

continued to play and it showed that the person got wet from the paint. The way that I was able

to tell and retell the meaning of that particular sign also correlated into the next scene in which

the person was shown with wet paint on them. This style of teaching was able to go hand in hand

with both the RI.K.7 and RI.3.7 standards. The RI.3.7 standard was brought into this lesson

every day with the consistency and reiteration of the same signs, similar visuals, as well as text.
Throughout the three day lesson, the students were also able to comprehend and identify signs

we had talked about in the classroom and around the school building. I walk my students to

specials every day as well as the bathroom. On the last day of the lesson, the students were able

to identify signs around the classroom and school with minimal to no assistance.

A main goal of mine throughout the semester is to always focus on my students’ fluency,

so my final standard was from the Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity section. I

chose RI.K.10: Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and

understanding(Maryland State Department of Education, August 2014). I chose this standard

because I always want to make sure my students are alert and paying attention throughout the

lesson and if they are not, I need to think of what I can do to change that behavior. This standard

was well put together with the help of the shape index cards. These index cards allowed me to

actively keep my students engaged because they knew that their card could have been shown at

any time during the lesson. When their card was pulled, my students seemed engaged and ready

to read and answer a possible follow-up question. The index cards also allowed me to use a

similar teaching technique to Round Robin Reading, but not as structured. Instead of going from

one student to the next, I was able to utilize the shape index cards to choose a student who was

going to read. During the second day of my lesson, I also used miniature signs in a brown paper

bag to promote student engagement in our reading. These miniature signs were on popsicle sticks

and two students each had the same sign. The two students with the same sign would read about

their sign on a particular slide. This offered my students a fun and interactive way to stay

engaged because they didn’t know what signs they had in their paper bag until they pulled one

out.

Objectives_________________________________________________________
 The unit plan I created had a single instructional goal, but each day students had slightly

different objectives based on the information they were receiving that particular day. On the first

day, besides the pre-assessment, the students had one main objective. This objective was:

- Students will be able to identify and explain what specific signs are within the

BrainPop Jr. video.

The first objective was based off of the Brain Pop Jr. video we spent the lesson period going

through. Periodically, the video would be paused and students would be able to read the text in

each pause frame. The video would be paused at specific spots in order for my students to

receive pertinent information. With the help of the video, students were shown miniature signs

such as a stop sign, a yield sign, a stop light, and a one way arrow. The miniature signs were for

students to see what the signs looked like in person and not on video or photo. To close the first

lesson, I was going to go over the pre-assessment with the students, but the lesson didn’t finish

as I planned. Due to unforeseen circumstances, the closing of the lesson had to be changed at the

last moment. Instead of seeing how students could complete the pre-assessment together to close

the lesson, I created a roadway on a large table and had my students “drive” a bus. When the

students came across a community sign, I asked them what they should do. Students were able to

show me that they understood what to do at a stop sign, a one way sign, a crosswalk sign, as well

as a stop light. This closing activity showed me that my students successfully understood the

objective.

For the second day of the lesson, the objective for the students was:
 - Students will be able to connect visual prompts with text related to community

signs.

On the second day, the students were presented information via a PowerPoint. To encourage

participation, the students were each given a brown paper bag with two to three signs inside.

These signs were created in order to choose who was going to read a particular slide on the

PowerPoint. Each slide had two to three bullet points, so each student would each read a bullet

point. These signs were used as an incentive similar to the shape index cards. Once all of the

slides were read, the last slide was a review. On the left side was the six signs we had read about

along with their picture and on the right side was the meaning of each sign. To review and check

for understanding, I used the shape index cards to call on a student to connect one sign of the left

to the meaning on the right.

Left Side Right Side

On the third and final day of the lesson, students participated in a classroom scavenger

hunt as well as their post assessment. The students had two objectives for the third day and they

were:
 - Students will be able to locate the eight community signs around the classroom

with minimal to no assistance.

- Students will be able to independently identify the community signs on the

worksheet.

The scavenger hunt consisted of six printout signs as well as the classroom’s exit sign above the

door and the school’s caution wet floor sign. Both the printouts and physical signs were used in

the scavenger hunt to see if the students would recognize the signs because they weren’t print

outs. Four out of five of my students were able to find all of the signs, both printouts and actual

signs, with no assistance. Amber had adult support walking with her because she needed

assistance for checking off the signs once she found them. The adult with Amber gave her

minimal support while walking to find the signs. Once the students found all of the signs, they

went back to their seats. To review where the signs were located, the shape index cards were

used in order to choose a student to find each sign around the room. Once the students each had a

turn, they were handed a mini story to review the signs before the post assessment. Using the

shape index cards, I had each student read a page. Each page had two sentences on it. Once the

students read each page, I would go over what was read on the page so they could comprehend

what the other student had just read. These mini booklets were not allowed to be used for their

post assessment. Once the booklet was read, the students were strategically placed around the

classroom to facilitate their post assessment independently.

Assessment Plan____________________________________________________

Pre-Assessment
 Being that my students are in a Communications and Learning Supports classroom, I

decided to do a skills unit lesson plan based on community safety signs. I thought it was vital for

my students to understand the importance of safety signs and what they tell us to do around our

community. I chose to focus on six to eight signs each day based on my students prior

knowledge on signs. For their pre-assessment, students were given a worksheet where they were

given ten pictures. The worksheet included a visual to go along with the written text below it.

There were seven community signs on it and three other objects. The point of this worksheet was

for students to circle all of the community signs that they could find. Students were asked to

circle the visuals because they do not have the ability to state what exactly each visual is. Having

my students write for their pre-assessment would have fostered student anxiety and it would be

something that the students are not used to. My students are used to circling activities and cut

and paste activities. We rarely do written work in the classroom. Here is a visual of the actual

worksheet.

Aiden, Amber, yThien, and Luke each

received this kind of worksheet. These students

received this worksheet because they require the

support of a visual as well as the written text to

correlate with.
Clint received a similar type of worksheet as the other students, but he did not require the written

text underneath the visuals. Clint did not receive the same worksheet as the other students

because he is able to identify what the symbols are without needed the support of the text.

Formative Assessments

Throughout my unit, I had very simple formative assessments. Within each lesson, I

would ask my students questions about the text such as, “What are the colors of a stop sign?” or

“What does a stop sign tell us to do?” These types of questions throughout my lessons showed

me what my students comprehended, what needed to be clarified, and what necessary

information needed to be added to the lessons.

During the BrainPop Jr. video, I was allowed to pause and reflect on student learning.

Because the video was in our introduction lesson, I was figuring out what my students had

previously learned as well as what they should know. I noticed that three of my five students

were able to identify what certain signs were, but not what they meant. Throughout this

introduction lesson and into the other two days, I introduced hand motions for particular signs.

For example, if a stop sign or a red stop light was shown, I would put my hand out signaling that

this meant that you need to stop. Another hand motion I created was pushing my hands down

towards the ground two times for a yield sign. I pushed my hands towards the ground two times

for a yield sign in order to show my students that the sign meant for us to slow down. Later on in

my lessons, I would show a picture and do the hand motion and all of my students were able to

repeat the motion as well as tell me what the sign told us to do. I believe this hand motion was a

good way for my students to remember because we use some simple sign language in the

classroom as well.
 Another formative assessment was during the PowerPoint. At the end of the PowerPoint,

I had my students come up to the board and complete a review based on what we talked about.

This type of assessment allowed me to see what my students understood from the PowerPoint

and if what I was teaching was being taken in by the students. During this formative assessment,

I would use the shape index cards to call on a particular student. I would then go in order down

the slide of signs and say, for example, “This is a restroom sign. A restroom sign tells us to…”

and then I would read through the choices to the right side of the screen. My students had to first

say what the sign tells us and from there, the student would connect the specific image with what

they were verbally saying. Before students could come to the board and make their connections,

they had to tell me what the sign meant. If I saw my students having a challenge with all of the

choices read to them, I would then give them smaller choices. Giving yThien and Amber two or

three choices was a simple way for me to adjust to their level of understanding. Once I gave

fewer choices to yThien and Amber, I noticed they were able to identify what the specific sign

meant. The review slide looks like this.

 On the final day of the unit, I was able to create an activity where I could also incorporate

a formative assessment. My formative assessment was the scavenger hunt around the classroom.

I was able to see if my students were checking off the correct sign on their worksheet once they

found it in the classroom. I was able to observe my students making these connections between

the papers they held with the signs on it to the actual signs they found around the room. Once the

students had independently found the signs, I redid the scavenger hunt as a review. One by one,

the students were called upon and asked to find a certain sign. Once they found the particular

sign, I knew that they were grasping the concept of what a sign was.

Post Assessment

My post assessment was the same worksheet as the pre assessment. I did this because I

had certain students who circled every image in the pre assessment as well as students who

didn’t circle all of the correct signs. I gave my students the same worksheet for two main

reasons. I wanted to see if my students would be able to identify and circle all of the signs while

at the same time not circling or crossing out the other pictures on the worksheet. Giving Amber

this post assessment was a little different than her pre assessment. During her pre assessment, I

noticed that she was having trouble circling and registering what the directions had asked her to

do. For her post assessment, I gave Amber the same worksheet as Aiden, yThien, and Luke, but I

gave it to her verbally. For instance, I would ask her to find the stop sign and once she pointed to

it she was able to circle it. I was specific to ask her only once to find a sign and if it was

incorrect, then I knew she wasn’t grasping the concept. Yet, Amber was able to find all of the

signs the first time I had asked her. My summative assessment was the post assessment because I

wanted to see how my students grew and if I needed to review any type of material the following
week. To my surprise, all of my students circled the correct signs and didn’t circle any of the

other images on the page.

Instruction_________________________________________________________

Prior to creating this lesson, I worked closely with my mentor teacher to find out what

my students should have already known about signs. I was told that most of the students know

what to do when they are told what to do, but cannot put a sign to match the command. For

example, my students go as a class to the bathroom every day, but if I were to ask yThien or

Amber what the restroom sign means, they would not be able to respond with an answer. From

this discussion with my mentor, I was able to choose a few signs around our school and the

community that my students would see daily. From there, I had to create activities and lessons in

which my students could prosper from.

On the first day, I had introduced students to the new lesson by showing them a

classroom poster that was on our door. The poster consisted of common signs the students might

see out in our community. I told my students that for the next three days we were going to be

learning about community signs. As I said that statement, I was motioning to the picture in my

hand. I mentioned that this poster shows some safety signs. Mentioning to my students what

signs looked like allowed them to put the verbal word “signs” to a visual. The poster was a

useful tool to visually introduce my students to the concept prior to the pre-assessment. My

students all benefit from visual and audio prompts, so I decided to introduce my lesson off with a

Brain Pop Jr. video on safety signs. The students are familiar with the characters and they are

able to follow along with the text to speech feature located at the bottom of the video.
 At the beginning of each lesson, I would retell the students about what we did the day

before as well as what we were going to do that particular day. This was my way of telling my

students the objective in a way that they would comprehend instead of reading the objective on

the board. My students work best with repetition and routine, so retelling the students about our

lesson was a key factor in my instruction.

In my classroom my students do a lot of choral reading, so I wanted to make sure all

three of my lessons incorporated reading and went along with a similar routine that they are used

to. Instead of showing videos the entire lesson, I needed to create lessons that were going to be

creative in one aspect or another. For the second day of my lesson, I incorporated miniature signs

instead of the shape index cards for each student to promote participation. This was a fun way for

my students to become active in a PowerPoint. For my kinesthetic learners, having my students

come up to the board was a way to get their bodies moving while they still learned. I had my

students read off of a video as well as a PowerPoint the first two days of my lesson to reach all of

my students needs. If I noticed a student was not giving me their fullest effort sitting down, I

would have them come up to the board and read. I had to do this with Amber on the second day

of my lesson because she would slouch in her chair and not enunciate as well as she would if she

were standing. While my students were up at the board, it also gave me a chance to hear them

more clearly and give them help on enunciation. During the students’ time at the board, I also

was able to assist the students with their vocabulary as well as ask them deeper questions. For

example, I knew Aiden knew what a stop sign was due to his pre-assessment and asking him

questions through the lesson. So, after he read off of the PowerPoint, I asked Aiden if he knew

when we would see a stop sign. Aiden was able to tell me “in a car.” This was another type of

discussion I used with my students to deepen their understanding.

 For the final day of the lesson, I noticed my students had grown tired of reading and I

wanted my students to put their knowledge to the test. This is where the scavenger hunt came

into play. The scavenger hunt was a way for me to assess my students without them completing a

worksheet. Having a scavenger hunt was also building their skills for independence, following

directions, increasing the previously learned concept, and it exercised their body and mind. My

students were able to walk around the entire classroom and locate each sign and were excited

when they found a particular sign. I also noticed my students looked at me for reassurance when

they found a sign. In creating the scavenger hunt, I thought mainly about my students and how

they visually see objects. I had to strategically think of where I could place the signs in order for

them to recognize them in the classroom as well as if it was a reasonable spot to put a sign. For

example, I wasn’t going to put the wet floor sign on top of a table just to help my students. I

needed to place the wet floor sign on the floor so they would understand that the floor is actually

wet. I also thought about my students using the information from the illustrations and previous

work that was read and then created the scavenger hunt from that. I decided to bring in both

posters as well as use signs in our classroom in order to have my students look for the actual

objects instead of pictures. This allowed me to relate the scavenger hunt to real life because the

physical signs were signs my students saw every day.

Analysis and Instructional Decision Making____________________________

My pre and post assessment were the only types of material I decided to grade. My

students complete most of their work as a class, so giving them a lot of independent work would

have promoted anxiety and confusion. To decrease anxiety, most of the activities were based on

reading as well as the scavenger hunt.

 To grade my pre assessment, I based the grade off of the total amount of community

signs and not the actual amount of pictures on the paper. So, if a student circled all of the

community signs as well as one or two of the other images, those would be deducted from the

total grade. For example, Amber circled all seven of the community signs on her pre assessment,

but also circled two of the three other pictures. Those two images she circled were deducted from

the total of seven points. So, Amber received a total of five points out of seven points.

Amber’s pre assessment

If students circled some of the community signs but not all, then that would also be deducted

from their grade. For example, Luke circled four out of the seven signs but also circled two other

pictures, so Luke received a two out of seven. When I saw Luke’s answers I wondered if he was

every introduced to the other signs on the paper like the walk and do not walk sign because he

crossed them out. I wondered if it was introduced in class because Clint and Aiden circled all of

the correct signs. yThien circled every single image on her paper, so I knew that she did not

understand the concept of signs as well as my directions. yThien and I may have had a

misunderstanding because she is an English Language Learner and the instruction on the paper
was a barrier for her. I noticed that when I gave her the worksheet, she looked around attempting

to see others work, but was unable to copy off of them. Because yThien suffers from anxiety, this

confusion and miscommunication may have triggered this anxiety which made her circle all of

the images.

yThien’s pre assessment.

After seeing the inconsistency in each students work, I knew that I wanted to review the missed

signs on the pre assessment throughout the lessons. So, I had two students that completely

understood my directions and received a seven out of seven. I had one student who found all of

the signs but also circled two other pictures, so she received a five out of seven. I had another

student who didn’t find all of the signs and also circled two other images, so he received a two

out of seven. Then, I had a student who circled every item on the page, regardless of directions,
so she received a zero out of 7.

Pre Assessment Date

7 out of 7
5 out of 7
2 out of 7
0 out of 7

For the post assessment, my students received the same worksheet as the pre assessment.

They were also strategically placed around the room to facilitate individual work. My students

seemed more at ease during the post assessment as they were reassured that it was okay if they

were unsure on what were the correct answers. Being that I didn’t go over the pre assessment, I

thought that using the same worksheet would be a good indicator to see what my students

understood throughout my three lessons. To my surprise, all of my students received a seven out

of seven. This was a joyous moment for me because I knew that what I taught stuck in my

students’ memory.

Aiden and Clint, who both received a seven out of seven on the pre assessment, also

received a seven out of seven on their post assessment. They did not have an increase in their

achievement, but throughout my formative assessments they were able to give me more

information about signs as the lessons progressed. Clint was able to identify more signs that were

not on the assessment, but were talked about briefly in class. He was also able to describe the use

of the signs that were on the post assessment. Aiden was able to identify the signs on the
assessment with more ease. Instead of describing the signs to Aiden, I was able to ask him what

the signs tell us to do. For example, during the post assessment I would point to the walk sign

and I would ask him, “What do we do when we see this sign?” and he was able to tell me that we

walk.

During yThien’s pre assessment, I noticed that she was unsure of what to do, so for the

post assessment I decided to sit with her so she would feel more comfortable with the worksheet.

Before yThien would circle an answer, she would point to it and attempt to say the word to me,

so I would correct her and she would circle it. I believe me sitting next to her during the post

assessment put her mind at ease and she was able to relax while completing the worksheet.

yThien was able to identify each sign with my sitting next to her and she never mentioned the

other images to me. yThien also received a seven out of seven on her post assessment. This was a

100% increase from her pre assessment. After the lesson was fully complete, my mentor teacher

suggested to me that I should give the post assessment to yThien again because she may have

memorized the spots in which the signs were located. So after the weekend, I decided to change

the pictures around for yThien. With me sitting next to her like with the post assessment, she was

able to identify all of the signs independently. She did not point to any of the pictures and look at

me for reassurance. This showed me that I was able to teach yThien a lesson and have her still

remember information three days later.

Here is yThien’s post assessment. The worksheet on the left is the original post assessment. The

worksheet on the right is the one that was given to yThien on Monday.

Amber was given the post assessment verbally. I asked her to find all the signs one by

one and she was able to identify each sign the first try. Amber also did not identify or point to

any other image on the page. Amber received a seven out of seven on her post assessment. This

was a 28.6% increase from her pre assessment to the post assessment. Luke made a vast

improvement within the three day lesson. Luke was one of the lower scoring students on the pre

assessment with a two out of seven, but he had a huge success with the post assessment. Luke

had a 71.5% difference from his pre assessment to his post assessment.
 Pre to Post Assessment Chart
8
6
4
Pre assessment
2
Post Assessment
0
Pre assessment

This improvement from the pre assessment to the post assessment showed me that my

instructional goal was achieved. My students were able to identify what a specific sign was as

well as the meaning for that specific sign. My students were also able to comprehend the

objectives given to them each day and display their knowledge throughout the lessons. The

MCCRS standards helped my students and I create a learning environment in which everyone

thrived and became better learners.

Reflection and Self-Evaluation________________________________________

After conversing with my mentor, I was able to see that my students showed growth

throughout the lesson, especially yThien. I was quite nervous on how I was going to provide the

information to her in a way that she would understand. With the help of my mentor and my

experiences thus far, I was able to reach each students needs and assess the effectiveness of my

lessons.

I was able to look at each students pre assessment after the first day and rework the other

two lessons in order for my students to comprehend what exactly a community sign was and

what it meant when a community sign was visible. I saw that yThien had circled every picture on
her pre assessment, Luke had circled a shoe and a hamburger as well as community signs, and

Amber also circled a shoe and an apple along with her community signs. From noticing that

while collecting the pre assessment, I knew that when I went into the BrainPop Jr. video I had to

point out items that were not a community sign. Instead of me pointing out what the signs were, I

had to show both what a sign was and what a sign wasn’t.

When creating the lessons, I decided to focus on the community signs that we see every

day around the school and school community. These signs would also be signs that they will see

in the future when they get a job and they will need to follow the signs properly. Based off of our

school community, I decided to focus mainly on a stop sign, a stop light, a yield sign, a

crosswalk sign, a hospital sign, a restroom sign, a walk and do not walk sign, and an exit sign.

Periodically throughout my lessons I would display other community signs that were important

to see, but because they weren’t around the specific school, I decided not to focus on them as

deeply.

The second day of my lesson was when I focused on the core of what I wanted my

students to remember. I did this by giving signs as manipulatives as well as using them to engage

my students in reading comprehension. I came up with this idea based on the shape index cards

we use daily in the classroom. These signs were able to engage the students both visually and

physically because they had to find the sign in their bag as well as identify what sign it was

without prompting. When the students picked a sign from the bag, they were to identify the sign

and then the other students had to look in their bags for the same sign. While I was teaching, I

noticed that my students had more success holding the signs in their hand and saying what the

sign was rather than just seeing in on the overhead. I was able to notice this by hearing the
students respond quicker when they held the signs and by the amount of correct responses from

students when I asked them what sign they were holding.

The third and final day of the lesson was when I saw the most growth. Most of this lesson

was done independently, so I was able to see who understood which signs were which. I noticed

my students running towards a sign when they noticed it in the room and then looking at their list

to see what they had found. When I noticed my students rushing towards a sign, I would ask

them what sign they found and they were able to identify the sign correctly. I noticed this in all

of my students, besides Amber. Amber needed assistance throughout all three days of the lesson,

but she needs that assistance daily regardless of what we do in class. When I gave her the post

assessment, I realized that I did not want the adult supports in the classroom to help her like they

usually do. This was when I had to think quickly on my feet and give her the post assessment

verbally. I gave her it verbally by asking her to find specific signs. For example, I would say,”

Amber, find the hospital sign. Circle it.” If she got it right, then I would count it as correct. I felt

accomplished when Amber found the signs on the first try. This gave me the excitement that, if I

had reached at least one student, then it was enough to make me happy. Seeing all of my students

work and seeing that they each made progress from three days prior was an extremely exciting

moment for me as a teacher because I taught my students something they could carry with them

for the rest of their lives.

If I were to redo any part of my lesson in the future, I would want to incorporate more

hands-on activities. I know I stayed within my students comfort zone and routine, but I am a very

hands-on learner, so if I created activities in which my students were able to manipulate items on

their own, I think that the lessons could have been more interesting. I noticed after the first day

that my students sit in their seats a lot. They don’t fidget or become frustrated, but I noticed that
they don’t move around a lot. So after my first lesson, I wanted to incorporate more movement in

the classroom, which is why I created the miniature signs for the students to come up to the

board and created a scavenger hunt. I believe that having my students walking around will keep

them awake and more focused. They also tend to become less anxious when standing up and

doing an activity. I also awoke their bodies when I was going over motions for certain signs like

stop and slow down. It was simple arm movements, but it was getting their body parts moving

while learning.

Collaboration is very important in this classroom. For this lesson I collaborated with my

adult support in the classroom, my mentor teacher, as well as another intern. Ashley Payne

comes into my classroom the next period after my lesson, so we were able to take my scavenger

hunt idea and make it bigger. Ashley took a tour around the school with my students and

introduced them to the signs that they had learned about in the classroom. I collaborated with

Ashley so she knew what signs they were learning about and what signs they did not learn about.

I also wanted to make the wet floor sign seem more realistic, so I told Ashley that it would be a

good idea to put blue paper all over the ground and then the wet floor sign, so the students

understood that the sign only goes out when the floor is wet and not when the floor is dry.

Because Ashley is the lead instructor during the class after mine, I just assisted her with the

students individually. For example, if Ashley was asking my students an unclear question, I

would clarify it and simplify it for my students. I collaborated with the adult support so they

would understand what I was teaching and then they could figure out how to help my students

within the lesson. Before each lesson, we would discuss who would sit with Amber and what we

were going to do during that lesson. Having extra hands in the classroom also meant that I had

extra insights. So, if I didn’t notice a student paying attention but another adult did, they would
call on that student and ask them a question based on what I was just talking about. For example,

I was looking at the board as a student was reading and Clint was looking at the wall. One adult

was able to call on him and ask him what was just read, but he could not retell what was just

read. This showed me that even if it looks like my students are all following along, one may not.

Having this type of ongoing collaboration within the classroom can help me with my

future instruction because it will keep my brain working as well as give me more creative ideas.

My mentor and the adult support has been in this classroom much longer than I have, so they

know more about what my students have done, mastered, and need more work on. Collaborating

with other special educators in the future will also keep me up to date on recent research or

information because, as a teacher, I want to continue to grow. While collaborating with Ashley,

we were able to run through and think of ideas based off of my last lesson. This is where we got

the idea for the scavenger hunt around the school. I think that if it were nicer weather outside, it

would have been interesting to collaborate with other special educators to see how safety signs

impacted my students when they weren’t in the classroom. This could have been done with a

field trip to a park or store. On the field trip, we could have looked for similar signs that the

students learned about, see where they were located and why. Working with other educators

would be beneficial for this because more ideas would have been brought up about what to do on

a field trip. This is why collaboration in my field would help me grow and change my future

instructional activities.
 References

GreatSchools.org.Explore Pine Grove Middle School in Baltimore, MD, 26 Mar. 2018,

Retrieved from www.greatschools.org/maryland/baltimore/423-Pine-Grove-Middle-School/.

Maryland State Department of Education. Maryland College and Career Ready

curriculum Framework English Language Arts.August 2014. Retrieved from

http://mdk12.msde.maryland.gov/share/frameworks/CCSC_Reading_Literature_grk-2.pdf