Week 2

Educational Placement
Educational placement of a student is one of the most important decisions that parents will ever make for their child. It is something that requires a lot of thought and research and it is our job as educators to provide parents with all of the options available to them. There are many things that factor into the educational placement of a child such as the degree of hearing loss, the mode of communication used, whether or not the child uses amplification, and many more. If parents decide that they wish to have their child mainstreamed in the regular education classroom the great "Push-in/Pull-out" debate arises. How often should a child be in the regular education classroom with his/her peers? How often should the child be pulled out of the regular education classroom to receive direct instruction from the deaf educator? This is something that I have only recently began to learn about and hadn't given much thought to before beginning this class. However, from the information I have gathered on the subject so far, I think that I will try to "push-in" as much as possible when I become an educator. I feel that it is very important for a child to get the same experiences as his/her peers whenever possible no matter what the child's disability or difference is. I also feel that it would be best and less confusing for the child if he/she was taught the material in the same way that the other students were taught. For example, if I were to pull a child out of the regular education classroom to teach him/her about long division there is a chance that that child might return to the classroom and be dividing differently than his/her peers were taught. This is because I would not know how it was being taught in the regular education classroom and teach it the way I was taught to do it. I am afraid that the more a child is "pulled-out" the more disconnect there will be between the child and his/her peers.

Attention Span in the Regular Education Classroom
Keeping a child's attention during instruction is a difficult task in and of itself. When that child is deaf or hard of hearing and the mode of communication being used is not his/her first language it becomes even more difficult. This child is having to pay twice as much attention than the other children because he/she must try to gather all the information they can auditorally from the teacher and then look to the interpreter for any information that was missed. This would be difficult for an adult to do all day let alone a child. I think it is important for the regular education teacher to be able to spot when a child is losing attention. This would be a good time for the class to take a drink or bathroom break or maybe just stand up to stretch. This short break might give the child the rest his/her mind needs to continue to take in the information. This is not something that I have had much experience with but I would love to learn techniques to draw a child's attention back to the lesson.

Week 1

I have learned so much about instructional strategies just in the first class alone. One thing that really stood out to me during the first lecture was the video we watched. In the video the point was made that no one instructional strategy is the strategy that should be used by all teachers. The strategy is not what is important, the results are. If you are using a strategy that is not producing the appropriate results then it is time to try something new. This sounds like simple logic but it was honestly something that I had never heard before. There is so much we are learning in these last few years of our education that it is difficult to know when and where to insert our own teaching style, especially when we are still discovering what that is. I feel that there is so much left to learn before we start our student teaching. During this class I would really like to learn how to give appropriate feedback to older students. I mentioned in class that this is a fear of mine because it seems so much different than giving feedback to young children. I would also like to learn how to deal with behavior from older students. Again, it seems so much easier to reprimand younger children and redirect them. I am excited for what is to come in CSD 764 and to gain knowledge that will carry me through student teaching and eventually my career as an educator of the deaf and hard of hearing.

Research shows that often times students with a hearing loss do not achieve greater than a 3rd grade reading level. This is devastating to me. I have always believed that the only thing that people who are deaf cannot do that hearing people can is hear. This means that there should be no academic gap but sadly, there is. This is a statistic that we have heard throughout our educational career and it is something that discussed in many classes. I think one thing that I would try to do to remedy this situation is provide direct phonics instruction. I would also incorporate visual phonics into the curriculum to be used as a reading tool and to teach letter sound correspondence. I would introduce comprehension strategies very early on and read to my children often so that they can apply these strategies. As deaf educators this is a problem that we need to take very seriously. In order for our children to be successful adults and go on to get a higher education I believe they must first be competent readers and successful writers.

After reading the first few chapters in "Classroom Instruction That Works" I have discovered several ways in which to provide feedback. These four guidelines were listed for providing appropriate feedback:

1. Provide feedback that addresses what is correct and elaborates on what students need to do next.

2. Provide feedback in appropriate time according to student's needs.

3. Provide criterion referenced feedback.

4. Involve the students in the feedback processes.  

 

In these chapters I also learned how to appropriately reinforce students. These guidelines were given in the reading:

1. Teach the relationship between effort and achievement.
2. Provide explicit guidance.
3. Have students keep track of effort and achievement.

After completing the reading I believe both tangible and verbal reinforcement have there place in the classroom. I think that if tangible reinforcement is used too often then it loses its effect but it can serve as a useful tool when used periodically. I think the most important thing about providing a child with reinforcement is that they understand it is directly related to effort. We must always praise a child for doing the best that they can. It is our job to guide them to the correct outcome but it is their job to first do all that they can do to arrive on their own.