Artifact Link:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gU4ORbDVI4Ao3jzIY-S2lwmHVBpMw4oscb4mVkfJP9c/edit

Standard 5:

    Beginning special education professionals select, adapt, and use a repertoire of evidence- based instructional strategies to advance the learning of individuals with exceptionalities. 

Artifact Description:

    This artifact is a Case Study on a student named Jacob.  The student struggles to perform to the expectations in the classroom environment. The parents and the school struggle to compromise on goals for Jacob and how these goals will be executed. The parents stated that he performs better with certain needs however the school provided the needs but they are not what the parents wanted. They insist that the school should pay for outside needs, however the school has provided Jacob with support and accommodations needed for academic and behavioral success. Testing has been done again to make sure his needs are being fulfilled by the school district. 

Connection to Standard:

    Standard 5 supports my artifact through instructional planning and strategies. Standard 5 states teachers will select, adapt and use a repertoire of evidence based instructional strategies. This supports my artifact because through the play based assessment that was used the teacher and staff within the school was able to come up with accommodations and support for Jacob. The students’ individual abilities were assessed in a way that would engage him. This was the teacher being able to select the right testing for the student to get the best results from the testing, adapting these accommodations into her curriculum and lesson plans by using differentiation and targeting the student goals and using evidence based instruction from the testing results in her classroom. The teacher was able to understand the students interests through the assessment since it was play based and knowledge of what enegaings the student compared to a formal assessment which Jacob does not perform well on or engages with. As well, learning environments were taken into consideration. The material used in the assessment was targeting Strengths and weaknesses in a safe  inclusive environment with materials he had worked with before. Understanding the family’s wants and needs for the student were talked about before the assessment as collabor as working with a team to make sure the student is having their needs met with feedback. From the assessment the teachers are able to make adaptations of learning experiences for the student. When instructional planning it is important to understand what each student needs to be successful in the classroom and through assessment and can be done to develop appropriate accommodations to support the student. We want to support the assessment and planning the accommodations to develop individual goals. Standard 6 as well states use of instructional strategies to advance the learning of individuals with exceptionalities. This supports my artifact because through the assessment Jacobs was tested on communication skills, social interactions skills, cognitive verbal and non verbal skills and his mother skills. Once the play based assessment was performed the IEP was calculated to provide Jacob with the tools he needs to meet his targeted goals such as speech and language therapist, occupational therapist and school psychologist. This allows for tests to provide feedback and ways to support Jacob through accommodations and support. This supports standard 6 because through the evidence based assessment the teacher and staff of the school were able to come up with accommodations to advance the learning of the individual. This was through collaboration with the team, family and individuals to develop and implement a variety of different ways to support the student in different settings. The teacher will be able to use these planning and strategies into their own differentiation and support within their classroom so the student can meet their targeted goals. This will ensure the enhancement of the students skills and development of new skills. This will also provide support for the teacher to use in her instructional strategies for planning and delivering accommodations, assessments, worksheets and other instructional materials through clear communication. The teacher will be able to focus on the individual skills while promoting generalization of learning, the teacher can teach cross- disciplinary knowledge and skills through the use of their accommodations and supports. 

Reflection and Connection to career:

    This artifact connects to standard 6 through understanding how to use instructional planning and strategies within the classroom environment. It is very important to be inclusive in your classroom and adapt to different students’ needs. Teachers need to be flexible and understand each student has different needs which includes using different supports for each student. When planning for instructional strategies and planning lessons it is crucial that we understand our students and how to support them within our classroom environment. There is no point in teaching a lesson if the students will not gain anything from the lesson. We want to make sure we know all of our students strengths and weaknesses to provide them with the appropriate education. We can understand our students’ progress through testing to be able to provide them with appropriate accommodations and support. This connects to my future career because I want to make sure my lessons are beneficial to each student. Working with different students will mean I will have to adapt to different interests to engage the student, understand what environment they work best in, ways they need to reach individual development through targeted goals and ways to support my students. Use of different systems, language and assessment like technology will help develop and implement plans to help the student. As well I will be a part of collaboration to insure feedback and plans for the student to be successful through cross- disciplinary knowledge and skills. The instructional planning and strategies I will use in my future classroom will help students become more independent, motivate students, help them focus through engaging lessons, organization and monitoring and assessing learning all through their supports and accommodations to help them be successful in the classroom environment.