CEC+10.+Collaboration


 * 10. COMMUNITY **


 * CEC Standards: **

__**10. Collaboration **__

//**a. Special educators routinely and effectively collaborate with families, other educators, related service providers, and personnel from community agencies in culturally responsive ways. **//

Special educators need to learn the importance of constantly being in touch with parents and families, making sure they are a part of the collaboration process, as well as working with other educators, service providers, and community agencies, being culturally responsive to all. “Families are going to have the most lasting and powerful influence on the development of the students with whom we work” (Johnson, Pugach & Hawkins, 2004, p. 1). In the field of education, not only will we as teachers be working with colleagues and students, but also one of the most important contributors to the children’s well-being: their families. In order to be effective in the student’s life, I believe in putting forth much effort to have positive relationships with the student’s family and parents (Blue-Banning et al., 2004). As a teacher I actively strive for equal partnership with parents by educating them providing them with resources, keeping in touch with them, respecting their visions and ideas, and empowering them throughout the long, collaborative process (Blue-Banning et al., 2004) (10.a.1). Special educators cannot let parents feel like they are on the outside of their child’s education, so I will keep them informed on how to be a part of it and offer them information about available services that might be of help, as well as my time and communication. The IEP process can be very complicated for parents and children, and I will help them both learn how to advocate for the child. I plan to call home and establish good relationships with the families right at the beginning of the year, and then offer them opportunities to get involved and keep updated about their children’s progress. It is important that I keep cultural differences in mind as I collaborate with them. Parents and families have so many additional responsibilities, and I will acknowledge that while knowing that whatever duties they have outside of their child’s education, they still love their child and of course want the best for him or her. Additionally, it is important that I collaborate with other stakeholders involved in the child’s educational process. Each person that plays a role in the child’s education is someone with whom I will routinely collaborate (10.a.2). During my student teaching placements at SWW and East High, I collaborated with many different people. I have had experience working on interdisciplinary expeditions with other members of the SWW staff, as well as co-teaching with Kaitlin. It was a very good experience for me to be able to have that extra mind working with mind and coming up with double the amount of ways in which we could creatively present information to students. For example, we came up with a stations activity for students on adaptations, which they were learning about (10.a.3). The students worked in pairs, and were able to gather ideas off of a picture, discuss it, and write or draw their answer about what characteristics or adaptations they thought the animals had just by looking at it, that helped it survive. This allowed students to take on different roles within the group, work closely with another individual, it was a very structured activity where they only had a set time to work, and the prompts/questions were very brief and easy for all learners to understand and make sense of. All perspective and views about the child’s goals, progress, concerns, or needs are things that we all must work together on in order to organize and plan an effective solution. Working together can provide more resources and opportunities to foster change in the best interests of the students.

//**b. This collaboration assures that the needs of individuals with ELN are addressed throughout schooling. **//

By collaborating with parents, colleagues, related service providers and community agencies, the student has a very large support network that will help him or her get services to meet his or her needs and make sure the goals are in reach. By collaborating, all of those stakeholders are in agreement to work toward a common goal and share resources and ideas of how to make this process the best it possibly can be for the student (10.b.1). With such a wide support network, the needs of the individual are able to be addressed throughout schooling, and his or her needs can also be observed or assessed when needed. To assure that the individuals with ELN are addressed, CSE and IEP meetings are held with the stakeholders, including the parent and student, to go over the student's progress or any other concerns or changes that can be made to the current service he or she is receiving. Even with the struggle that may come to getting parents to attend meetings or be involved, one should never assume that the parent just does not care. As important as it is to have the parent there, sometimes there are situations that the parent has to attend to first before being able to make it to a school meeting. Teachers have to be understanding of that and still make sure that even without the advocacy from the parent, that they are still advocating for the student to assure that his or her needs are addressed throughout the school day. During collaboration, it is important to listen to everyone's view points and opinions and try to reach the goal of finding the best decision to make for the child. The special educator, being one of the experts on the child's IEP and knows the child very well, as well as the parent who is the expert on the child, need to share their visions of what the child's education will look like, and the child needs to agree that that is what is best for him. By talking to the student and surveying how they are doing, and making notes and observations of progress they are making, one can assure that their needs are being addressed throughout schooling (10.b.2).

//**c. Moreover, special educators embrace their special role as advocate for individuals with ELN. **//

Special educators choose their profession because they are dedicated to helping students with ELN. When a child is learning to advocate for him or herself, the special educator must also be advocating for the student, since they are usually more knowledgeable than the parents and often have access to many more resources. I will therefore need to be responsible for knowing their rights and needs, and do everything that I can to effectively work with them, their families, and all stakeholders, to ensure that they are provided with the resources and services they need to succeed (10.c.1). By knowing the student's strengths and needs, according to IDEA, the special educator can determine how much the student is able to participate in the general education curriculum to the extent that it is beneficial. In other words, the student has a right to be in the least restrictive environment. The teachers have to be aware of the different resources and materials that are available to the student, so that they can advocate for their use, if it is something the student and other stakeholders believe will benefit the student. Often times, the special educator will even have to advocate for the student to administration in order to assure that certain equipment or services are accessible and can be provided to the student as soon as possible. Every student and every student's family wants to make sure that that child can have everything he or she needs in order to do the best he or she can possibly do. If that means extra time, if that means assistive technology, if that means a speech and language pathologist, then the special educator needs to advocate to make sure that those services are offered to the student. Schooling is all about helping students learn and succeed. If people are withholding resources that can allow someone to learn or succeed, then that is beyond unfair and it is keeping them from their right to learn. In order to stick up for students or parents who may lack some knowledge in the process, the special educator must voice what is fair and what must be done for the student.

//**d. Special educators promote and advocate the learning and well being of individuals with ELN across a wide range of settings and a range of different learning experiences. **//

 Special educators must be prepared to act as advocates for the learning and well being of students with ELN, across a wide range of settings and experiences. Knowing the special education laws and rights that each child and family have, special educators are responsible for conveying this information and using their knowledge to fight for the rights of those individuals (10.d.1). For example, if it is decided that a student needs assistive technology because it would provide a better quality of life to the student, then it is imperative that the special educator ensures that the assistive technology arrives when it should. Also, if it is noticed that something is not going well, or something another teacher could change needs to occur, then special educators need to speak up in order to benefit the child. There were times at SWW when I recognized that things could be made much simpler for the students, asking the same exact question just in different wording. I talked with the teacher to see if that could be done. Another time, the teacher separated the students with special needs to work on busy tasks to keep them quiet, while the other students were doing more educational work. Again, I had to talk to the teacher and fight for their right to learn, to have a fair education where they could learn the same content as their classmate. Often times, special educators also have to make an effort to talk to other teachers to be sure they are using certain strategies that can involve all the students. As I read in an article in ED 451 called How Students with Autism can benefit a literacy class, is students are not given the chance to equally participate, voice their opinions, and work with others, than the class is not a truly inclusive class. Just having a student with a disability sitting in the classroom does not make it inclusive. It is the type of practice that is used that matters, and the amount to which every student can participate and be a contributing member of that classroom. One way that educators can teach these individuals with ELN, as well as every other student, is through interdisciplinary collaboration. During my ED 446 class we presented an idea for arts and science integration. Through this process we found that arts and science can be integrated in various forms that include such things as using science to protect works of art, using science to make art, and using art to answer science (10.d.2). This idea just shows one way that collaboration between disciplines and teachers in those disciplines can be used to benefit all the students and their learning process.

//**e. Special educators are viewed as specialists by a myriad of people who actively seek their collaboration to effectively include and teach individuals with ELN. **//

Special educators hold the training and knowledge of how to best design and implement strategies that can be used in a classroom with students with disabilities. Even if there are not students with disabilities in the classroom, differentiated instruction is such a wonderful benefit to the classroom because all students learn and understand in different ways. Therefore having several ways to explain the same concept, or having different options for engaging in the material, whether it is visually, with groups, through different literacy forms, auditory, or kinesthetically, each one of these could benefit a student who also does not have a disability (10.e.1). Successful collaboration involves both parties working towards a common goal and sharing equal responsibility and accountability in the process. Everyone who seeks to work with a special educator must respect the special educator and they shall have respect in return as well in order to foster successful and effective collaboration. Whether it is through co-teaching, consultant teaching, or being a push-in, there are many ways that the special educator can benefit the instruction that occurs in the classroom by helping differentiate for all children. With their certification and thorough understanding of how to tailor to the needs of the diverse students in the classroom, special educators are a great resource for all of the other teachers, staff, school psychologists, and speech and language pathologist who work with the children (10.e.2). Special educators should always be part of the instructional planning team in order to ensure that the child can have educational success, so that modifications and accommodations can be discussed. Not only is it important to have knowledge about different teaching strategies, it is important that the teachers also know the student as an individual and have worked with their strengths before. It is great when teachers are able to collaborate about how to work best with a student after knowing him very well, knowing his preferences, interests, needs and strengths, so that everything they develop can be keeping those in mind. Keeping the communication open between each other can assure that new ideas, and accommodations can be put in place, or anything else that will assist the student until he can gain more autonomy. During my student teaching placements I had the opportunity to collaborate with Kaitlin where we were able to give extra support to the students with disabilities and be sure to break down the information with them and for the rest of the class. We also made sure to ask students what might help them better, and since we had one girl who would stop and take a ruler and draw lines on her paper before she could answer her ticket out the door, we started printing lines on the paper for everyone. Along with my instruction at SWW and East High, many things were introduced visually, auditory and through many different lab activities and demonstrations. I collaborated a lot with my CT and inclusion CT who had known the students for a long time and knew what helped them learn best and what methods of teaching might help them. When it came time for assessments, students were given much choice on how they wanted to present their understanding. For a nature of science activity at SWW on "what do you think of when you think of a scientist?" students were able to share their thoughts in writing, drawings, a rap, skit, poem, etc. There were some amazing products that the students put together (10.e.3). At East High, students were often given choice as well, for example, their last assignment on acids and bases gave them a set of questions in categories, and they could choose a question in each category to answer in order to satisfy the objective. Then they could represent their answers to those questions in any form such as drawings, letter to a friend, poster, etc. Some wonderful comics and posters were designed by the students, and through assignments where students are given choice, they are so creative and truly enjoy doing it (10.e.4).

//**f. Special educators are a resource to their colleagues in understanding the laws and policies relevant to Individuals with ELN. **//

 Just as a math teacher is usually the teacher who is most knowledgeable about math in the school, the special educator is the the one who is most educated about special education and is expected to share that wealth of knowledge with the rest of his or her colleagues. It is my duty to make sure the other staff in the school are working in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act as well as IDEA and NCLB, and know how to refer students and how long it may take them to be evaluated and for interventions to be in place. All students with disabilities are entitled to the same rights to education as all other students, making sure that they receive the best possible education and that they have all the services and tools that they need to succeed. During the Depression, children with disabilities were institutionalized, and it took a long time for the rightful treatment of people with disabilities to go into effect. During the 1950's there was more support offered to students with disabilities, as well as funds for their schooling, but even today there is still some discrimination as we works towards being truly inclusive of all students. In the mid-1970's, Public Law 93-380 and the Education for all Handicapped Children Act required a complete education for students with disabilities, with fair evaluation and same opportunities. A free, public education was then also provided. Over the years the parents role was deemed to be more and more important, and after the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act was passed, IEPs and transition goals were also required in order to help students with disabilities. Amendments to IDEA required that special educators be involved on the IEP team, and that parents be involved in the process of making and agreeing on the IEP. Special educators, knowing this history and current laws of the required education of teachers and the ways in which they must provide fair services to those who require it, need to share this information with colleagues (10.f.1). Colleagues must learn to understand the rights of their students and their families, and be providing students with the appropriate instructional strategies that they need to help them and benefit their education and life. General educators also need to be aware of the chance of being on the IEP team and attending CSE meetings with the stakeholders, parents and student, in order to help share about the student's progress and make decisions on goals and plans to reach them.

//**g. Special educators use collaboration to facilitate the successful transitions of individuals with ELN across settings and services. **//

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">Successful and smooth transitions are one of the most difficult and important times in an individual's life, as they make the transition into the "real world" from school. For my journal article critique in ED 452, I critiqued an article that expressed the importance of creating a transition plan for a student, and the ways in which to do so effectively (10.g.1). In order to have a good transition plan that will carry out successfully, all stakeholders need to be involved in it's creation and implementation. Above all, the transition plan needs to center around the student, allowing the student to voice his or her preferences, interests, needs, and strengths. Without collaboration, I know that this transition process can be very difficult for the student and the family. The people involved need to be the special educator, general educator, school psychology, other relevant staff, and people from community places that can help involve the student. With all of these people communicating and working together toward a common goal for the student, the student can have a successful transition. By facilitating this process, special educators can make the students and families aware of VESID and other programs that can help students with the transition process. It is important to keep in mind that the student has to be the center of these meetings and this process. The student needs to be on board and in agreement of the goals and plans for transition. If he is doing things that he enjoys and wants to do in the future, it can be very successful. It is important that students are asked their hopes and dreams so that they can set these goals for themselves when they are young. For the parent presentations at Horizons, Carli and I gave a presentation on Transitions, and the parents really enjoyed the discussion we had with them, wishing that parents found out about this earlier in the process (10.g.2).

[|DSC07611.JPG] || SWW Adaptations || || ED 446 Reflections on collaboration || || Lesson Plan - Inclusion section + Reflection || [|photo_(7).jpg] || Arts and Science Integration || [|20100330-EastHighIU#5&6-MSaunders.doc] [|20100327-EastHighAcidRainLab-MSaunders.doc] || Differentiated Instruction Plans || [|DSC07611.JPG] || SWW "Who is a scientist?" Assessments || [|DSC00433.JPG] [|DSC00437.JPG] || East high - Acid rain assessments ||
 * **EVIDENCE #** || **EMBEDDED OR LINKED OBJECT** || **DESCRIPTION** ||
 * 10.a.1 || [[file:20100729-ED446Response3-MSaunders.doc]] || ED 446 Reflections on collaboration ||
 * 10.a.2 || [[file:20100805-ED446ProfCollabPlan-MSaunders.doc]] || ED446 Collaboration Plan ||
 * 10.a.3 || [|DSC07607.JPG]
 * 10.b.1 || [[file:20100722-ED446Reflection2-MSaunders.doc]]
 * 10.b.2 || [[file:20100327-EastHighAcidRainLab-MSaunders.doc]]
 * 10.c.1 || [[file:ISR_NY_PBT_31081822_20100717_20100811.pdf]] || CST Inclusion ||
 * 10.d.1 || Reference 10.c.1 || CST Inclusion ||
 * 10.d.2 || [[file:20100805-CollaborationInSchoolsFinalPaper.doc]]
 * 10.e.1 || [|20100331-EastHigh-MSaunders (2).doc]
 * 10.e.2 || Reference 10.a.1 || ED 446 Collaboration Plan ||
 * 10.e.3 || [|DSC07607.JPG]
 * 10.e.4 || [|DSC00419.JPG]
 * 10.f.1 || Reference 10.c.1 || CST Inclusion ||
 * 10.g.1 || [[file:Saunders art crit.doc]] || ED 452 - Journal Critique - Transitions ||
 * 10.g.2 || [|photo_(6).jpg] || Horizons Transition Presentation ||

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