Running Head: SERVICE LEARNING RELFECTION

Service Learning Reflection

Samantha Sharkey
Education 101
Professor Barbra Wylie
Ivy Tech Community College

SERVICE LEARNIG REFLECTION

Standard #9: Professional Learning and Ethical Practice - The teacher engages in ongoing
professional learning and uses evidence to continually evaluate his/her practice, particularly the
effects of his/her choices and actions on others (learners, families, other professionals, and the
community), and adapts practice to meet the needs of each learner.
Title of Artifact: Service Learning Reflection
Date: April 27th, 2015
Course: Education 101
Description: I chose Standard 9 because it covers how something someone does can have
an effect on others. It also mentions adapting practice to meet the needs of each learner. This
relates to my Service Learning because these are things I saw happening in my classroom.
Rationale: Special Education is all about adapting the lessons to each student. Each student
is different from the other and I will have to be able to help each one in a way that they
understand. I can use my experiences to evaluate how I will fit into the role of a special
education teacher.

SERVICE LEARNIG REFLECTION

This semester I had the opportunity to volunteer at Carmel High School in Mrs.
Lawrences Special Education classroom. Mrs. Lawrence has been working at Carmel High
School for many years now and I even had the pleasure of getting to know her while I attended
school there. Her students disabilities range from mild to moderate autism, Downs syndrome,
and some learning disabilities. The special education program at Carmel High School splits their
classrooms by the degree of the disability. There is a FIATS classroom, which has students who
have severe disabilities. The students in that classroom usually are wheelchair bound and nonverbal. There is a Life Skills classroom, which has students with moderate disabilities. There is a
FAP class, which has students with mild disabilities and they are higher functioning in
comparison to the other classes. There is also a Resource class, which has students with slight
learning disabilities and emotional problems. The FAP class is the one I volunteered in. I got to
know the students very well and I definitely learned a lot through this experience.
One day during my EDU 101 class, we talked about providing a safe environment for our
students and how important it is to do so. Mrs. Lawrence was really good about providing a safe
environment for her students. She made sure they all felt supported and all felt like they could
say what they want. She let them know when they crossed lines, but she didnt set so many rules
for them to feel constricted. Its important for students with disabilities to feel safe in their
classrooms, because they need to feel free to open up. It is vital that the students open up, so the
teacher can get to know them and cater to the needs that they have with their disabilities.
During my Service Learning there were many times when Mrs. Lawrence would sit back
and let me do stuff with the class as a whole. There were many reading classes, where I would
find a clip to show before we read, picked a book and even prepared some questions. Mrs.
Lawrence allowed taking control of those classes and they were very beneficial for me to see

SERVICE LEARNIG REFLECTION

how I preform in front of a class. It also challenged me to adapt some of the information I
prepared for the students who needed help in understanding the lesson. In many of the math
classes, I helped students review with flashcards that I made and helped them with their
homework. I would also come during SRT sessions, which are basically study halls. In SRT I
would help the students with homework they had in other classes or we would run errands for
Mrs. Lawrence. I worked one on one with a student named Christian a lot. He has mild autism.
Mrs. Lawrence used a lot of pictures and visuals with him when he would get upset or say
something out of line. She encouraged me to use them with him when we worked together and it
was really neat to see how the images affected him.
Something I noticed overall about the classroom was that even in each disability the
students were all very different. There were many students with autism but it was crazy to see
how different their disabilities affected them. This goes to show that as a special education
teacher its vitally important to be flexible and good with adaption. As a future special education
teacher, I am fairly certain that those qualities will be easy for me to have because of the
experiences I have had in the classroom this semester. From Mrs. Lawrences example, I have
also noticed that it is important to show you care for you students as a special education teacher.
Mrs. Lawrence was really good at showing her students that she is supportive and caring. She
also had to be stern at certain times just so her students would understand what she was trying to
communicate when they were doing something they werent supposed to. I am really glad that
Mrs. Lawrence allowed me to volunteer in her classroom because she set a perfect example for
what it means to be a successful special education teacher. She has made me really excited about
my future career in the special education field.

SERVICE LEARNIG REFLECTION

I plan on continuing my relationship with the students and Mrs. Lawrence by

volunteering still. I had a really great experience in Mrs. Lawrences classroom and I learned a
lot about myself and why I qualify to be a special education teacher. This time volunteering at
Carmel High School was really reassuring for myself and my future, because I believe that I
thrived greatly in that classroom and I am really happy with everything that happened and how I
learned from it. I am beyond ecstatic to begin my special education career now.