BRANDON HORTON SPED 2100 CLINICAL

OBSERVATIONS

Throughout the semester, I had the opportunity to observe for 10 hours in a

special education setting in Cabarrus County Schools. The observations that I had
were all interesting, informational, and rewarding. I had the chance to observe
students with special needs on 4 different occasions between 2 different schools,
and I observed students in all elementary grade levels of K-5.
Observation 1: 3/19/14 WM Irvin Elementary School
During this observation I was placed in a resource room where the teacher I was
observing has a variety of kids that he sees throughout the day. He sees a group of
students at different grade levels for different subject areas like math, reading, and
writing for usually 45 minutes a day. Some kids come once a day, and some kids
come more than once a day, depending on the kids needs.
The first group of kids I saw were 5th graders doing a readers theater lesson. There
were 6 kids in the small group, and they read a play, and then followed up with a
group discussion. From my observation, you would never know that these group of
kids had a disability, but these kids are generally pulled out because they are below
grade level in reading.
The next group of students were 3rd graders, and they did a lesson on comparing
and contrasting. At the beginning of the lesson the teacher asked each individual
kid what comparing and contrasting is. There were 8 students in this small group.
What I found interesting was that instead of having one kid explain what comparing
and contrasting is, the teacher had each individual kid repeat back what comparing
and contrasting means, using this repetitive teaching technique to make sure
students understood the concept. The teacher utilized smart board technology to

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read a story off of to the group of students. Afterwards, he reviewed comparing and
contrasting with the students using a chart on the smart board, and then he broke
his students into pairs to work to do a worksheet with comparing and contrasting
relating to the story that they read.
What surprised me the most during this observation was that these students all
seemed normal, and you would never think that these students were special needs,
but I did later learn that their reading levels were very low; the reading passage
they read was at a 2nd grade level. After working in pairs they got back into large
group to discuss their findings on the worksheet. I think balancing the independence
and group work was great and helped engage the students with their reading. Most
importantly, I believe the small group setting helps to meet the need of these
students, who are struggling with literacy. Another interesting thing that got my
attention was one girl in the class was not focusing during the reading, and so she
was sent to what the teacher calls the think about it corner, where there are think
about it posters, and the student has to think about what they did wrong
Observation 2: 4/4/14 Beverly Hills Elementary School
During my second observation, I was again placed into a resource room, where the
teacher has a variety of students ranging from grades 3 rd-5th who come in during the
day at different times for help in writing, reading, or math.
During my observation, it was Friday, so I only observed test taking, which was still
beneficial. The first group of kids I observed were 3

4 th graders. They had a

reading assessment to take. The students were well accommodated. They are
allowed extra time for the assessment if needed, and the teacher always asked
them the question take your what?. The answer was of course time. The teacher

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also accommodated the 3 students by spreading them out far apart in the room.
The particular group of students of course had a disability and hard time in reading;
I observed 1 child crying at one point because he may have been struggling, but he
later pulled himself together and did the assessment. The teacher ignored his crying
and let him get himself together. One of the other things that the teacher pushed
so strongly towards all her students in reading was using the strategy of reading the
questions before reading. Before the teacher would let a student start the
assessment, she would go over with each student that they needed to read the
questions first, and then go and read the passage. Later 6 other students came in
to take their assessment, and she went over with them 4 steps, write your name
and date on the paper, read the questions, read the passage, and then answer the
questions. The students were rewarded with computer time after finishing their
assessment and making an 80 percent. She would tell students how many
questions were wrong, but she wouldnt tell them which ones were wrong, and to go
back and correct their test. This really surprised me, but I think its good to do it this
way, so the students have to take the reading more serious and critically think
about the questions and their answers.
Later students came in to take their math assessment. Again the beneficial thing
that I saw here was that the students were in a very small group; they were in a
calm and quiet environment; they were given any extra time if needed, and the
teacher strongly reminded them to take their time. The extra support provided I
think is very effective and helpful.
Observation 3: WM Irvin Elementary School

BRANDON HORTON SPED 2100 CLINICAL

OBSERVATIONS
During this observation, I was in a K-2 classroom with students in the learning
connection program, which is a special curriculum program for high functioning
autistic children of this age group. The classroom that I observed in had 6 students
and 2 teachers, and the students remain in class all day doing lessons in reading,
math, writing, spelling, and specials, along with recess and lunch. I was able to
observe for 4 hours with this group.
During my observation, I also learned and saw that this group of kids have a
speech therapist that comes in to work with them a bit during the week. The class
utilized a smart board in the morning to watch videos on that taught character
education. One of the things I saw again here was small groups. Half the kid would
work with one teacher on spelling and math, and the other half with the other
teacher on reading, reading aloud from a book and doing different worksheets. After
students were done with work, they were allowed to have some free time, even
getting 10 minutes to play on 1 of the 2 Ipads; they could play on the computer,
and also play in the toy area. What I liked about this was each kids got to use the
IPad, then play on the computer, and then play with toys, rotating and taking turns.
The use of IPads in the classroom really surprised me. I thought this was such a
fantastic resource to have in the classroom. Overall during the lessons and small
group work in reading and math, I concluded that this class was well set up to help
these kids succeed because it allows for a small student to teach ratio, more 1 on 1
help, and things move at a slower pace. I also observed that the teachers provide
good feedback, like praising students when they do a good job.
Finally, I saw during my observation that some of the kids were provided with
grippers on their pencils for writing, which I assumed was to help accommodate
these students better.

BRANDON HORTON SPED 2100 CLINICAL

OBSERVATIONS
Observation 4: 4/16/14 WM Irvin Elementary School
During my final observation of the semester, I was placed again in a resource room
similar to the ones I had been in before. The teacher sees students throughout the
day for different subject areas like reading, math, or writing. The groups of kids are
about 6 to 8 kids. I observed one group of 5 th graders doing reading and writing.
They worked in a small group setting, so it was more one on one, and the students
needs could be met. Later I observed a group of 1 st graders doing some writing.
Then they did some math. During the math lesson the teacher put some problems
up on the board, and then allowed for them to actually solve the problems by
writing them on the table in dry erase markers. I thought this made the learning
more fun for the kids. From the two groups of students I observed, again, I would
never have known that any of these kids had disabilities. Im not even sure exactly
what their disabilities were, but its good to know that these kids are receiving
services in areas they need it, whether it be reading or math.
One of the final things that I observed during this observation was the teacher that
I was shadowing went to another class during my observation to help a couple kids
during a test. She went into a 5th grade general education class to help with testing
accommodation of 2 students. The 2 boys and the special education teacher sat at
a table in the back of the classroom, where she sat there to assist where needed, to
help guide them with questions, and to help read directions on the test. Just by
observing the 2 boys, I could conclude that the testing accommodations that they
were provided with, helped them do well on their test, and they were assured of
their support, and they were more calm knowing someone was there to help them if
needed.

BRANDON HORTON SPED 2100 CLINICAL

OBSERVATIONS