Throughout my time in the Special Education/Elementary Education dual-endorsement program, I had a lot of experiences that affected the way I viewed disabilities, disorders, and the classroom environment. Here are some examples:
Intro to SPED
In this course, I learned about DDA, IDEA, and other policies that protect the rights of individuals with disAbilities. I also had the opportunity to research adaptive equipment and organizations that assist this community.
Teacher and the Social Order
Here, were read many articles and chapters on the history of American education and how it was defined by politics. After each reading, we wrote in journals about that controversy made us feel. I also had a community service project to complete. For this, I volunteered with Rebound of Whatcom County's Flying Colors program as a tutor (before the program closed, that it).
Educational Psychology I & II
Throughout my entire time in the Education Department, these were by far my favorite courses. Truthfully, if I wasn't a Human Service major, I would have double-majored in Psychology and Sociology.
Practicum I
During this course, I worked as a chaperone/volunteer in a Life Skills classroom at Shuksan Middle School. While there, I engaged with the students, educators, and staff at the school and within that particular community.
School Practicum, Interventions for Classroom Management, and Effective Teaching
I learned how to create effective lesson plans:
Lines, Line Segments, and Quadrilaterals
Parallel, Perpendicular, and Line Segments
Parallelograms, Rectangles, Squares, and Rhombuses
Communities Change Over Time/Community Comparison
I wrote a social story:
My Social Story
A Social Story Lesson Plan
Lines, Line Segments, and Quadrilaterals
Parallel, Perpendicular, and Line Segments
Parallelograms, Rectangles, Squares, and Rhombuses
Communities Change Over Time/Community Comparison
I wrote a social story:
My Social Story
A Social Story Lesson Plan
Families, Professional, and Exceptional Children
Families are an important part of our personal systems. Because of this, we were given the task of defining what a "family" was to us. Because this course was all about collaboration, we did many collaborative projects and activities. One such example was a presentation and essay that I created with a group of students. Our focus in this project was to combine all of our interests and figure out how they could all work together. While studying in this course, I was also given the task of submitting an article to a database online. The topic I chose was about art therapy's benefit in a special education setting. While my article was not taken, it was an amazing experience and you can view my article here.
Physical Education for Elementary Education
This class was very engaging, physically demanding, and a lot of fun. Some of my projects in the class included:
Developing a physical education activity
Showcasing a warm up/ice breaker
Creating a "Nugget"
Developing a physical education activity
Showcasing a warm up/ice breaker
Creating a "Nugget"
Integrated Arts for Elementary Education
This class involved visual, musical, and performing arts. Many art projects were created as well as drum circles and dramatic performances.