Task 2: Assessment and Data Collection Contextual Factors McCormick is a rural town located 30 minutes south of Greenwood.

The population is approximately 10,000 residents. McCormick has elementary school, middle school, and high school, all housed within the same building. The high school has 255 students in grades 9 -12. McCormick spends $12,558 per pupil. The student to teacher ratio is 5 to 1 in core subjects .The dropout rate for the McCormick School District is 4%. In the McCormick School District, 11% of students have an IEP. 90% of students in McCormick receive or reduced lunch. McCormick High School employs 21 certified teachers and 6 non-certified employees. There is little major business in McCormick. The major manufacturing industries in McCormick are Milliken and Logging Companies. The average work commute for the McCormick resident is 25 minutes. The average median income in a household in McCormick is $40,600. This is about $10,000 less than the United States Average. McCormicks poverty rate is 41.6% compared to 22.4% for the rest of the state. McCormick County School District is considered to be one of the poorer school districts in the state of South Carolina. Taxes are very low on all properties in comparison to other residential locations. McCormick has churches of all different denominations. There are many small local businesses such as restaurants, clothing stores, hair salons, and construction companies. McCormick is best known as a tourist town and has many recreation areas. Many retirees make McCormick home in the Savannah Lakes community.

Characteristics of Students There are a total of 11 students in the class in which I am completing my student teaching. The ethnic makeup of this class includes 7 African American students, 2 Caucasian students, and 2 biracial students. Of these students, 8 are male and 3 are female. This is a high school self contained classroom. These students typically only leave for related arts classes, such as art, Physical Education, and JROTC. All academic subjects are taught in the self-contained setting for the majority of students. All students have IEPs. The teacher follows each students IEP, enabling him or her to learn at each students highest potential. Three students are classified as learning disabled. One student is classified as other health impaired. Six students are classified as mildly intellectually disabled. One is classified as moderately intellectually disabled. The teacher has one teacher aide in the classroom, who also shadows the moderately disabled student. This class works in small groups and as a whole group. They are a very outspoken group. The students seem to have a relatively firm grasp on basic living skills. All the students are quite low academically. The teacher manages student behavior in order to best facilitate a productive learning environment. The level of student attentiveness and involvement varies from day to day. Each student in this class will need some form of assistance for the rest of their lives in living and/or job skills. In order to best accommodate for students individual learning needs, I will be modifying and adjusting lessons on a consistent basis. Student 1 is a 10th grade male

student participating in the self-contained classroom. At first glance, student 1 appears to be a typical high-schooler. The young man has a learning disability that hinders him from participating in regular education environment. He is mainstreamed for his activity classes, however, assignments still must be modified to meet his educational needs. A few of the lesson modifications I have made to meet his needs include: -

Including examples that are specifically relevant to his lifestyle and goals
Providing opportunities for movement around the class. Overlooking grammatical and/or spelling areas in assignments Providing written instructions in conjunction with oral instructions Implementing the use of visual aids frequently.

Student 2 is a 10th grade female whose disability is labeled as other health impaired. This students struggles academically and socially in the classroom. Some days she will stay engaged in the assignments, but other times she chooses to do very little and can be disruptive. In my teaching experiences, I have noticed if allow her to have a certain amount of control, she is less likely to be disruptive in class and is more likely to participate. Therefore, I have chosen to modify her lessons in the following ways: I cue the student by calling his/her name before asking questions. I keep sentence structure simple for the student to understand. I highlight and repeat important information

Reflection on Whole Group and Focus Students My focus lesson was The Life Cycle of a Plant. This lesson captured the attention of the students right away. The first topic we focused on was looking at different kinds of seeds. We spent time labeling the different seeds in class. The students enjoyed discussing the different appearances and textures of plant seeds. Then we begin to discuss how seeds grow. I explained the germination process with students. Germination was a new vocabulary word for students, in which we discussed repeatedly. Students focused on the items that a plant would need in order to grow properly. Student had a very basic of understanding of the essential needs of plants. For example, students did have an awareness that plants need sunlight, water, and air in order to grow. Many students have experienced growing plants with parents or grandparents who garden. As a result, many students had first hand experience with growing and caring for gardens. This topic was something that all the students could relate to due to the rural environment of McCormick county. Many students took a lot of pride in planting their own the watermelon seeds. This was one of the assessments that I chose to do with students. Students would keep a daily journal of the progress of their plant. Student 1 was allowed to use pictures in his journal. He had a very thorough understanding of the life cycle of a plant, but struggles with written expression. Therefore, I encouraged the participation of student 1 in open ended classroom discussions. This student was always given the class notes a day ahead of time. Student 1 was one of the better students during this lesson. Once the lesson was modified and student felt comfortable with the assignments, he felt comfortable in sharing some of his knowledge with his classmates. Within this unit, student 2 was instantly interested and took on a leadership role. Because of her level of interest, she was given specific duties throughout the unit. This motivated her in that she felt as if she had some level of control. She was given the task of

ensuring everyones plants were watered daily. She also ensured that the plants were given enough exposure to sunlight on a regular basis. Student 2s notes on the unit were in a very simplified form with 3-4 word definitions and simple diagrams.

Task 3: Designing Instruction for Student Learning This lesson was planned with the strengths and weaknesses of the class as a whole in mind. Knowing that students are all exceptional learners, special care had to be taken to ensure that all students had the ability to comprehend the lesson and complete the activities involved with accommodations. The learning theory I used in planning was Banduras Social Learning Theory. This theory states that behavior is learned through the process of observation of ones environment. Humans are seen as active information processors and think about the relationship between behavior and consequences. This lesson follows this theory in that students are asked to learn through experiences. Through completing the activities and documenting outcomes, students can experience the process of the plant life cycle. By the conclusion of the lessons, students had a more concrete understanding of the vocabulary words presented, leading to a deeper understanding of the plant life cycle. Focus Students I altered the lesson plan in several ways to differentiate instruction for Student 1. Because of his learning disability, I recommended that he include pictures with his sentences in his journal to help him apply a visual aid to his experience in applying the life cycle process to his journal writing. I also acted out each step students were to take to complete their assignments. Student 1 was also given a specific role in assisting classmates in gluing their

seeds to the poster. I also altered the lesson plan for Student 2 in order to provide for the most meaningful learning experience possible. Student 2 was allowed to use strictly illustrations in her journal to accommodate for her difficulty in writing. She was also given a leadership role in which she passed out and collected journals for her classmates. She also kept time for journal responses. Analyzing the Lesson This lesson was a very productive learning experience for these students. Based on the checklist assessing the measured objectives, students did very well in following procedures and completing the expectations. They started with a very general understanding of plants, however, by completing these hands-on activities, they broadened their knowledge of plants and the processes they go through in their life cycle. Focus student 1 successfully fulfilled the expectations of the assessment checklist. After the instructions being repeated twice and clarified, he was able to classify the seeds without any retries and plant the seed quickly. He also helped other students who needed assistance. Student 2 also successfully fulfilled the assignment expectations. She did show some hesitation during the seed sorting activity and second guesses, however, she was able to complete the activity after receiving some guidance. Student 2 was also able to plant the seed without any problems. Reflection Overall, the students seemed to genuinely enjoy this lesson and the hands-on aspect of exploring the life cycle of plants. Students were excited to classify and plant their seeds. All students were able to participate in the assignment with few accommodations despite their disabilities. Through observing the students interact with seeds and plants and hearing

them use the related vocabulary out loud, I feel as through this lesson was quite successful. Students were engaged and actively participating. They helped one another and were even competitive to have the most successful plant. Students seemed to be proud of their plants. I feel as though this lesson was very successful. If I were to teach this lesson again, I would have students work in partners in classifying the seeds to eliminate the need for students to be crowded around the class poster. I would also slow pictures of the life cycle process for the specific seeds we used.