CEC+9.+Professional+and+Ethical+Practice


 * 9. PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE **


 *  CEC Standards: **

__** 9. Professional and Ethical Practice **__

//** a. Special educators practice in multiple roles and complex situations across wide age and developmental ranges. Their practice requires ongoing attention to legal matters along with serious professional and ethical considerations. **//

 As a special educator, I am an advocate for all children who have special needs, as well as for their parents. When it comes to legal matters, there are many things I need to consider, as often times I am one of few people in the school in charge of special education services for our students and must know what they qualify for and the services for which they are eligible. Special educators need to be aware of how to work with other faculty, staff, and teachers, as well as doing their best to get parents involved, and making sure the student has a say and that everything is focused around his or her preferences, interests, needs and strengths. It is imperative to be very well educated about laws such as IDEA that give parents the right to be involved with creating the IEP and must pass off on any decisions (9.a.1). They must also know how to go about helping parents get help when they do not agree with the student’s IEP. After all, it is the parents who are closest to the child and should have the final say.

 Special educators can practice in multiple roles and must be prepared and knowledgeable about how to deal with complex situations involving students of various ages and developmental ranges. For example, a special educator could act as a teacher who pulls students out of the classroom to give them extra attention and support. They could be a one-to-one in a classroom, helping a specific students with a disability, or if there are multiple students with disabilities in the class, they could act as a push-in. Collaboration models allow for special educators to plan and teach alongside the general educator. If they are simply consulting with teachers, it is their job to have studied the students IEPs, met with the student, parents, and various stakeholders, know the student’s goals and interests, and inform the general education teacher about them. Having extensive knowledge on how to differentiate, the special educator can share instructional and assessment strategies with teachers that will help them meet the needs of all of their students. They must consider the ages of the students as well as their developmental level to decide upon which strategies and methods are appropriate for them and can cater to their strengths.

 It is extra important that special educators give much consideration to the legal matters that go along with serious professional and ethical considerations. If a student is having trouble in school he or she may be referred for special education. It is important that the correct diagnosis is made so that the child has the options of receiving services that he or she must be offered and provided with by law. Another important consideration is to determine who pays for the service, and determine whether it is a medical or academic need. Special educators must be dedicated to their students, doing whatever they can to get the services and technologies that can help the student have a better quality of life.   //** b. Special educators engage in professional activities and participate in learning communities that benefit individuals with ELN, their families, colleagues, and their own professional growth. **//

 There are many ways for special educators to get involved in professional activities and participate in various activities that benefit everyone involved in special education. Special educators should attend all staff meetings and meet with colleagues in order to collaborate and share ideas about strategies, or what may work and be successful for specific students. It is crucial that special educators reach out to colleagues to share resources and help them gain different perspectives on how to reach each person in their class, and how to take into consideration each student’s goals which are on his or her IEP. Parents must be involved in the process, regardless of how much time they have to participate in meetings and so forth. Of course it will always be difficult to get parents to attend meetings at hours in the middle of the day, or for them to make a meeting after school if they work another job, but as a teacher one must reach out to the parent. Showing up at the door, sending an email, making endless phone calls are also acceptable ways to communicate and stay in contact with the parent. This is important for allowing the parents to stay up to date on their child’s progress, needs, or changes to the IEP which they should be taking part in. Ways for special educators to benefit parents is to keep learning about special education and keep sharing with parents the rights that they have, and providing them with resources that can be helpful. They can meet with the students, get them to create their goals, and help them learn how to self-advocate. Assisting them in creating a transition plan can help students get on board with their goals and allow them to be prepared when they enter the real world. To help one’s own professional growth, it is important to meet with parents, students, and colleagues to gain new perspectives and ideas on how to build off of the students’ strengths and offer them support, accommodations, and modifications if they need them.

 In ED 446, we also talked about different professional learning communities that special educators and their colleagues can take part in. These include different group meetings such as book clubs, literary circles, or even learning circles. Our group took a close look at learning circles, recognizing that they can be used for teachers to improve their practice, or find solutions that could help certain students (9.b.1). In learning circles, a small number of teachers, from 6-10 of them, set a goal which they work towards, whether that be improving a specific practice or strategy, involving the community more, or perhaps finding a way to better help a student with a disability adapt to a new classroom. With different roles, the teachers are responsible for coming to the meetings where they is open discussion and everyone has the equal right to participate and share ideas.

 Two other activities in my UTL seminar as well as a related activity in ED 446, were problem of practice and creative problem solving. Both were collaborative problem solving strategies, that allowed a group of teachers or professionals to come together to reach a common goal of helping a student in the classroom, or even to benefit the group of colleagues as a whole. Some of the problems identified were how to come up with how to be more inclusive of a boy who was very disruptive and eliminating the physical separating he had from the class. The other was coming up with a solution to getting all colleagues on task and doing what they should be doing during planning time with the team. These structured activities allowed time for discussion to generate ideas of how to improve our practice for the students, or improve the relationships and time management during team meetings.

//** c. Special educators view themselves as lifelong learners and regularly reflect on and adjust their practice. **//

 I am a lifelong learner, dedicated to constantly learning more about education and especially ways to meet the needs of every student whether they have a disability or not. I know that each student has their own interests, preferences and needs, and even a student without a disability can struggle at their schoolwork or not do well on an assessment. Whenever I see a student struggle or not understand something, I look at my own practice and never blame the student. There is a way for me to reach each and every single one of my students, and often times it just takes a little while to brainstorm different approaches, look closely at each student’s IEP, make things culturally and age relevant, and consider the collective class and the strengths they bring that can complement others. For each one of my formal lesson plans written for Warner, I wrote a reflection to go along with it based on how I felt the class went. I talked about things that went well, what the students liked about it, what the students had a hard time with, what I learned about my students and myself, and what thing I could do differently next time to improve the class. There were many times where I was observed and my observers had recommendations of things I should try and do differently. Whether it was talking more slowly, going over skills as a class before making a graph, providing more wait time, or being sure to always have an agenda visible to the class, I was constantly taking suggestions and critical feedback and trying to implement it into my practice. One class students were given trends to graph from the periodic table, having to figure out the patterns of the elements on their own with a partner, and then graph the trends. Many students looked uninterested, bored and lost with what they were supposed to be doing. Had I properly assessed their prior knowledge, I would have recognized that they understood the material, just not what they were supposed to do and they were unsure of how to set up the graph. The next day when we looked at the graphs again and tried to interpret them, students were given time to finish. This class I had explicitly gone over directions, and left and agenda and checklist up on the board so that the students could refer back to the steps they needed to take and how much they needed to have completed by the end of class. Also, I asked them how many of them would prefer to set up the graph as a class, figuring out axes and what integers to put and so forth. Most of the class needed help creating the graph. A volunteer came to the board and the whole class attentively discussed how to best set up the graph so that all of the points and data could be included. Once they collaborated and collectively came up with a way to set up the graph, that set the foundation for their activity. From there, the students could follow the agenda on the board and gather their data and construct their graph by plotting the points (9.c.1). Adjusting my practice and using my assessments to guide me with that helped me to better help my students.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;"> Recently after having learned about how to resolve misconceptions in EDU 434, Kaitlin and I came across a misconception of many students when we were co-teaching. On their ticket out the door, students were getting confused between adaptations and survival needs, saying that water was an adaptation, probably meaning to say that an elephant had a long trunk to GET water. Without making assumptions, however, and after seeing this mistake on several papers, we decided to address the differences between adaptations and survival needs the next day and class. By seeing photos of animals and describing characteristics they needed (adaptations) to get something they needed to survive (a survival need, like water) students were understanding it and deconstructing their misconceptions (9.c.2).

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;"> I know there are more things I can always learn about in order to better my practice, especially being a first time teacher. Given the opportunities to have a teacher or a peer observe me and give me feedback is always helpful. During the STARS after school program, we were observed during one lesson and came up with “pluses and arrows” about that lesson. Those arrows, things we wanted to improve on and ideas of how we could make that change, were implemented in our Series of Three unit that was presented during our first student teaching placement. Later, we presented to our Warner class and teachers how we were better able to design our lessons and adjust our practice to meet our goals that were triggered by those three previous arrows from our STARS lesson. Having additional opportunities to learn about AT in the classroom and at BOCES were wonderful experiences to help me learn more about how to use those tools in my classroom. Also, being able to talk with a parent of a child with autism, and an individual with autism himself on skype, gave me the chance to learn more about autism and the experiences of people with autism, right from their own voice and perspective. Asking “what could teachers do to help” and then hearing their opinions, really made me think of how much of a positive impact we as teachers can have if we are constantly trying to improve our practice for the best interest of all our students.

//**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;"> d. Special educators are aware of how their own and others attitudes, behaviors, and ways of communicating can influence their practice. **//

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;"> I am very aware of how my attitude, behaviors and ways of communicating, as well as others’, can influence my practice. I believe it is important to have a positive attitude when dealing with students, parents, colleagues, etc. When working with students of disabilities, I have come across other teachers who do not believe in their potential and therefore do not hold high expectations for them. With little belief in these students, these teachers are hurting the students by not letting them believe in themselves. I believe that it is imperative for special educators to have positive attitudes and hold high expectations for students. Without these high expectations, if students know little is expected of them, then that is what they will do, which is called the self-fulfilling prophecy. Negative attitudes should not exist in the classroom, especially by a teacher. There is a difference between being negative and being strict when the time calls for it. Negativity encourages no one, and does not foster good behavior or help the students learn. Even if you want a student to stop doing a specific task or action, you give it a positive twist by saying “Please do this” rather than “Don’t do that.” I know that when I was student teaching, I would be conscious of how I would say things in class. Other teachers would yell at students and tell them to "stop acting up". When working with parents, special educators must recognize that parents might have just found out their child has a disability, might still be in disbelief, may not know what to do, and they may not see it lining up with the “vision” that they had for their child’s life. Therefore, when approaching parents, educators must be cognizant of their behavior and attitude, being very calm, informative, and understanding of what the parents are going through. If they are able to show that they care, and communicate that they will work through it together, being sure the child receives what they need to have the best possible life and most success in school, then parents are more likely to feel more comfortable and have someone to count on.

//**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;"> e. Special educators understand that culture and language can interact with exceptionalities, and are sensitive to the many aspects of diversity of individuals with ELN and their families. **//

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;"> There are often a large number of students who come from different countries and are just learning English for the first time, or may know it but are not fluent. Too often, these students are labeled as having a learning disability simply because they have not yet grasped the English language and therefore are not doing well in the classroom. Oppositely, there are sometimes ELL students who are not considered or recommended for special services because people may overlook a disability and assume they are having trouble simply because they do not know a language. Not understanding English could definitely be part of that, but additionally, students still could have a disability, and it is during these times that it can be difficult to assess whether or not they do. This is an example of how language can interact with exceptionalities.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;"> All students bring with them unique experiences, and a personality unlike anyone else. Many of them come from diverse backgrounds with different belief systems and different values from the teachers and from each other. It is necessary that teachers are considerate of these different values and honor the family’s way of doing things and respecting their culture. Some students may not feel comfortable in certain social or academic settings or physical classroom arrangements because of the way they were raised and what they and their parents believe. Some families might also speak with different dialects and teachers often disregard the fact that it might be the way their were raised and that language is part of their culture. They may tell the student that they are not speaking “appropriately” when really what does “appropriate” mean because their parents may even speak that way.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;"> Additionally, there is a problem in special education where there is an overrepresentation of minority students (9.e.1). I believe that special educators must realize the reasons for this and take action against it. Teachers must make sure that what students are learning is culturally relevant so that they can make connections to it, understand it, and see the purpose in learning it. If something does not fit with their culture or beliefs, it might not carry personal meaning with it. People say that today’s curriculum is catered towards the beliefs and values of White, middle class men. It is important that special educators recognize the significance of helping students find their culture and beliefs in what they are learning, and style curriculum and activities to pertain to their interests and values. By making information and material relevant to students lives, they are more easily able to grasp the concepts and engage with the ideas.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;"> Teachers must also be sensitive to the fact that many students come from different families and socio-economic statuses where a parent may be working more than one job. Therefore, it could be extremely difficult for them to make meetings, yet of course they truly do care about their child. Also, one must realize that the child and parent have so many different duties and responsibilities outside of school, that their life cannot be expected to revolve around their child’s life at school if they simply do not have the time or the means to do so. Therefore, it is important that teachers are constantly aware of all the other things that go on in a student’s and family’s life and be very considerate of the things they experience, whether it is out of their control, they do because they need to in order to earn money to live, or they do it because it is part of their culture or religion. Whatever it is, teachers have to be considerate of different values, accepting of them, and give students the chance to be included in a safe environment where their difference of disability is celebrated and their peers can learn from it.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;"> One article that comes to mind is one about how everyone can benefit from having students with autism in a literacy class, which we read in ED 451. It talks about how the inclusive environment can benefit the student with autism by helping her with social skills and giving her an opportunity to interact with peers who can teach her different things. It helps a teacher by forcing him or her to look at their practice and strategies and come up with new ways to differentiate. It helps the non-disabled peers by letting them see different perspectives, becoming more sensitive and accepting of differences, and learning how to force themselves to clarify their ideas and become more direct and deliberate with what they are trying to say, in order to help the student with autism. They also have a chance to possibly learn a new form of communication, and be aware of new symbols that a student uses, or play a larger role in helping to determine how to better address the needs of the student with autism. For example, their teacher asked them for ideas on how to better include their non-verbal peer. They students had the idea of passing her simple notes in class that would ask her a question and to check yes or no. The student with autism felt more included in the daily activities of her peers, and as she got more involved in this passing of notes and would communicate back and forth with them with “yes or no,” the special educator developed a yes/no board for the student so she was able to communicate better in and out of the classroom.

//**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;"> f. Special educators actively plan and engage in activities that foster their professional growth and keep them current with evidence-based best practices. **//

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;"> During my time at Warner I took part in a vast collection of activities that fostered my professional growth in the field of special education. These opportunities provided me with experiences to work with other professionals and learn from them, as well as gain insights into more evidence-based best practices. First off, to learn from my peers about how to better work with students that have ADHD, we did a “problem of practice” in one of our UTL seminars (9.f.1). Here, in a very formal fashion, we presented a problem that we were faced with and the group asked questions, learned about the situation and the student, and tried to come up with ways to approach the situation as well as decide on a solution. The problem I presented dealt with a sixth grade boy who was in the class I was observing each week. Unfortunately, due to his ADHD and violent behavior towards the other students, the teachers were always yelling at him, and separated him from the class, putting him at the back of the classroom by himself. He had to be monitored closely, and I believed that this extra spotlight on his behavior was not helping the situation, his behavior, or his work academically. The group agreed that, If I had the option to do something, it would be wise to sit him with the rest of the class, give him a role or responsibility, and also make him monitor his own behavior throughout the school day. This was an interesting discussion done with my peers, and they also went around and presented their own problems they were having in class, and we were able to brainstorm all together on ways to alleviate or resolve issues, making them better for the children. Having this opportunity to construct ideas as a group for better practices in the classroom acted as a very helpful professional development.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;"> During my time student teaching at East High School, I was able to attend a CSE meeting for one of my chemistry students. I was able to meet her mother as well as the rest of her support group, and speak of her progress in class. This was a great experience for me being able to see how these meetings are run and the kinds of things that are discussed. At both of my student teaching placements, my inclusion CT’s were very good about getting me the students’ IEPs immediately, so I was able to review them with my CT or my co-teacher, which I considered an activity that I engaged in that definitely benefitted my instruction in the classroom because I was better able to provide them with strategies I knew would be helpful and tailored to their needs. Additionally, I was able to observe the special educators in my class or in other classrooms in my school, and speak with them about instructional methods that would be helpful for the students. Even just speaking to the student about what helps him or her, I found to be extremely educational. Sometimes the students do not quite know what they need or why they are not doing well, but often times they do understand what it is they need, or that something is too long, too loud, they do not have enough time, that cannot break down the paragraph, or the page is too distracting, etc. Engaging in conversations with peers and students kept me up to date on what could best help them.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;"> In ED 405 I was able to administer my first achievement test to a student from Brighton High School, and in doing so learned a lot, so it allowed for substantial professional growth in that area. I had time to get to know the student, administer 4 sections of the test, learn how to score it, how to enter the scores and determine her age/grade-based percentage, and give her my own authentic assessment that I made that I thought would better exemplify her knowledge in one of the 4 topic areas (9.f.2). Also in this class, I was able to work with other teachers and peers to develop an interdisciplinary assessment that we were able to share with the class. Working with others and gaining different perspectives enabled us to practice designing an authentic assessment that we thought could cater towards every students needs and interests, based on the vast number of choices that were involved.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;"> In ED 451, I engaged in many activities that fostered professional growth and helped me to learn more about special education and how to put ideas and strategies into practice. First off, I had the chance to go on a professional noticing walk around the Freedom School neighborhood that allowed me to get a sense of where my students live, the good and the bad they were seeing everyday, as well as the remarkable changes that were being made because of the dedicated individuals of the neighborhood that were fighting for and creating change (9.f.3). Also, I had the opportunity to volunteer at Horizons over the summer, which opened me up to a wider range of years and backgrounds, helping me to be more creative and think of different ways to make things relevant to younger youth. The book club that we did in ED 451 brought us together as a group of peers who real the same book and were able to discuss it and its implications for the classroom. After reading Freedom Writers and participating in the book club, we were able to collaboratively reflect on practices that worked for the youth in the book, as well as open our eyes to their experiences, and learn how to better their lives in and out of the classroom. The activity we did in class that gave us time to play around with the different forms of assistive technology was also very beneficial to our practices, and will be tools that I will constantly think about getting and using with my students. The presentation at BOCES on the different technological forms of assistive technology was also a great way to engage with the computer programs that assisted typing and writing, as well as being able to read back text to the writer.

//**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;"> g. Special educators know their own limits of practice and practice within them. **//

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;"> Special educators must understand their roles and be sure to meet them, but also not step on others toes. It is the special educators job to understand all of the special education laws to be able to share them with other stakeholders, parents, and students (9.g.1). Special educators have the responsibility of identifying the long and short term goals for the student, with all stakeholders involved in the process. They are to also give an up to date progress report of the student, acknowledging strengths and additional things to work on. The special educators get to know the student and the student’s IEP well, helping instruct the student, giving them extra support, giving colleagues ideas for differentiation, using differentiation in their own practices with the students, and being a strong advocate for the student and any services he or she may need. It is also important to keep in contact with the parent and keep them involved in the process as best as they can. The special educator also has to be aware that the representative from the local education agency is the one who supervises the specially-designed instruction for the student, or even possible the principal. It is also good to note, once again, that the special educators but be very respectful of the parents and families’ wishes. It is their child we are dealing with, and the choices they make for them override what a teacher might say. It is always important to do what it best for the child, and we can explain out case and reasoning, but with IDEA in effect, all parents are involved in the IEP process as they should be, and it is our job to help them with their vision for their child.

[|photo_(4).jpg] [|photo_(3).jpg] [|photo_(2).jpg] [|photo_(1).jpg] [|photo.jpg] || ED 446 Learning Circles || [|DSC07611.JPG] || SWW adaptations || [|photo_(10).jpg] [|photo_(9).jpg] || ED 405 - WIAT Brighton HS ||
 * **EVIDENCE #** || **EMBEDDED OR LINKED OBJECT** || **DESCRIPTION** ||
 * 9.a.1 || [[file:ISR_NY_PBT_31081822_20100717_20100811.pdf]] || CST - Inclusion ||
 * 9.b.1 || [|photo_(5).jpg]
 * 9.c.1 || [|20100326-EastHighIU#3-MSaunders.doc] || Graph making (lesson plans) ||
 * 9.c.2 || [|DSC07607.JPG]
 * 9.e.1 || [|447finalpaperEthnic.pdf] || ED 447 - Ethnic disproportinality ||
 * 9.f.1 || [[file:UTLdescripreviewanaly.pdf]] || UTL Problem of Practice ||
 * 9.f.2 || [[file:20100628-ED405Part3-MSaunders.doc]]
 * 9.f.3 || [|20100711-ED451Response2-MSaunders.doc] || ED 451 - Freedom School walk ||
 * 9.g.1 || Reference 9.a.1 || CST - Inclusion ||

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