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Two students' descriptions for Self-Contained Classroomin High School …
Two students' descriptions for Self-Contained Classroomin High School
(Bradon & Yoojin)
Description of two students
Yoojin's classroom
Bobby
HS Boy
(9th grader)
He has ADHD and had been homeschooling for a long time with his mother, his academic performance is far behind compared to his peers. Even though he is a 9th grader, his math level is 5th or 6th grade level. He has a good grade in English. When he is anxious and has stress in the regular classroom, he yells at his peers and even at teachers.
He meets a school psychologist twice a week and he needs a big support for behavioral issue and academic fall in self-contained classroom
Behavioral issue
When he shows shaking his legs and biting his nail, it is a sign for him to need a break. To mitigate his behavioral issue, we need to check his sign.
Academic support
He needs one on one math support to learn and understand the basic math concepts to catch up high school math level.
Sydney
HS Girl
(9th grader)
She has Autism Spectrum Disorder, and she does not speak out at all. She has been diagnosed by doctors that she has no problems with speaking and listening. She is a twin with her sister. Her sister has a good relationship with her friends and has a high grades academically.
Behavioral issue
It is hard for her to have collaboration or group work in the classroom as she doesn't say anything to her peers in the classroom.
It is hard for her to join a normal classroom as she doesn't speak out anything, she needs a special support in self-contained classroom.
Academic support
She needs additional support for Biology and Algebra I. Even though she is a little bit behind academically, she is smart enough to understand the concepts when the special education teacher explains step by step.
Bradon's classroom
Student 1
HS Boy
Non-Verbal
Has speech device to give the student a 'voice'.
Has trouble focusing
Need to watch body language for cues that it's time to take a break.
Anger issues at times
Needs to work on anger. Very important to watch him for triggers. Need to watch body language closely.
Student 2
HS Boy
Verbal
Student speaks well, but has trouble staying on HS appropriate conversations
Students use technology well, computer work is simple for him.
Has trouble focusing
Need to watch body language for anger triggers. Will redirect easily if not angry.
Anger issues at times
Needs to work on anger issues. Seems to be improving. Can be calmed down majority of the time.
Both students will need work with special education therapist or school psychologist. Incremental improvement has been observed in both students.
Self-Contained Floor Plans for High School
for student 2 in Bradon's class and Bobby in Yoojin's class
Routines and Procedures
Morning Meting
Students will choose a way to greet the teacher and one another.
Check in and determine who is in school and who is at home that day.
Write the date on the board together and check the date's schedule including the meetings with the school psychologist.
Move to a personal questions, like emotions.
Restroom use: Students raise their hands whenever they need to go to the restroom. Then when teacher permit it. They should get back to the classroom no more than 10 mins.
Break time: Students can get a break time whenever they need, but they have to get a permission. They can get our of classroom and listen to the music with earbuds.
Bobby and Student 2 need break time to clam their minds down when they are irritated or get anger issue.
At the end of the day, check in with the special education teacher for assignments and something they have to do for that day after school.
Bobby has the lack of attention, so it is better for the teacher to remind what he needs to do after school at home.
Meetings with the school psychologist: They have meetings with the school psychologist on a regular basis.
Both Bobby and Student 2 need meetings with the school psychologist as they both have an anger and emotion control issues.
Technology, Strategies, and Teaching Approaches
Technology
Under the pandemic, the teacher can offer the instruction via virtual school using such as Zoom or Google meets.
Bobby and student 2 seem comfortable to join a zoom class.
Use the videos which are related to the real life when they struggle for the concepts and feel bored.
Bobby and student 2 love playing games. The teacher can use Kahoot and Quizzes app for Math review and formative assessment. Also using Desmos and Geogebra would be effective than using a board when the teacher teach functions and polygons.
Strategies
Developing a real relationship with your students:
They need to believe that their teachers are invested in them and that you know them. It goes beyond smiling and welcoming them, although important. Teachers need to find a way to make a connection with every student.
Bobby and student 2 both fond of playing video games, so if their teacher ask them what they love to play and let them tell how it goes and the game rules. It might be helpful for the teacher to start conversation with them and the teacher can have deeper conversation when they open their mind to the teacher.
Positive learning environment:
It’s so important for both special education teachers and students to remember that everyone is good at something. And if the teacher is struggling with a student, the teacher needs to focus on their strengths. This is also where having a relationship with them comes into play.
Bobby and student 2 think they have a lot of problems, and that's why they are separated in the self-contained classroom. They both have negative self-image. So instead of focusing on their misbehavior, focusing on their strengths will make them feel they are good at something. Bobby has a great math skills and student 2 has a good knowledge of world history as he was interested in history since he was a little kid.
Greet students at the door: Welcoming the students at the door with a smile and positive gesture. When the teachers are the door of your classroom, offer students an enthusiastic, sincere greeting and greet them individually, it does several important things.
The teacher sees Bobby and student 2's face and interact personally with them. As the teacher gets to know them, the teacher will know right away if they are having an off day and can be prepared for it. The teacher can also use their specific social strategies to counteract a potential problem right at the beginning of the day.
Behavior specific praise:
Instead of focusing on the negatives that might be happening in the self-contained classroom (and this can be challenging, for sure), focusing on the positives will be more effective.
For Bobby and student 2, the more responses and reactions they get from their teacher for negative behaviors, the more negative behaviors they will give the teacher. Inversely, the more positive reactions they get from their teacher, the more positive behaviors the teacher should see.
Ignore:
It will be challenging to ignore, there’s no doubt. But when the student realizes they might not get the feedback or reaction they were trying for, eventually it’s likely they will comply and do what is asked of them. Then give the student positive feedback for other things and all the cue and reminders.
This will be good for Bobby and student 2 as they are defiant when they are pointed out what they have done wrong when they are upset. But when the teacher give guidelines when they are calm down, they are willing to accept it.
Optimize my seating plan:
As teachers, you know that if you let your students choose their seats, then they might not make the best choices. Yet, the more ownership you give students in the self-contained special classroom, the more likely they will be to comply.
Bobby will need separate seating. He will even appreciate it. Maybe they need to be separate because it provides him a place to work with fewer distractions or stimuli.
Teaching Approaches
Provide different levels of books and materials
Bobby and student 2 are in different reading level even though they are both 9th graders. The special education teacher will communicate with a general classroom teacher on a regular basis.
Working with short attention spans:
Break assignments into smaller pieces to work on in short time period.
This teaching approach will be effective to both Bobby and student 2 as they tend to be easily distracted and lack of attention for a long period.
Challenges
Bobby does not trust anyone. So building a good relationship with him is quite important to the teacher. In order to start and build a good relationship with Bobby, the teacher should use the the strategies which are described above.