Service Hours

For my service hours I went to the Special Needs Extravaganza which was three hours but counted towards my hour hours. I was fun to see and to help hang up the artwork that they have created this semester. 

I thought the Talent show was so fun. It was great to see all the effort they put into the program. The best was seeing their reaction to the applause and the energy from the audience. You could just see the joy that they felt in accomplishing their part in the program. My favorite was the first performance where one of the guys got up to do his talent and they were playing the wrong version of the song that we was going to sing to. While he was on stage waiting for the song to start singing he was totally confident up there and didn't let the fact that it was the wrong thing phase him at all.

Pre and Post Tests

I think that there is a lot of value in testing students. Testing can help you tell if a student knows the material you are teaching them. While there is a value in testing I feel like you must have a purpose in testing and if you do not have purpose then you are wasting your time and your students time. You do not need to test for every little thing.

Service Hours

For my service hours I completed 4 hours and went to the Special Needs Extravaganza. It was a really cool experience. I went there early to set up. We hung up the artwork that they had worked on throughout the semester. There was also food that was set up and chairs facing the stage to get ready for the talent show.

There were a lot of people that showed up. It was a great event. I loved the talent show. Each one was able to get on stage and share one of their talents. I loved how brave there were and how happy they were when they got cheered on from the audience. There were a lot of them that decided to sing. A couple of them danced. One of them that was pretty funny was a guy who gave movie quotes.

There was another guy that did magic tricks. I loved to just see the happiness on their faces as they accomplished going up on stage and showing everyone their talent. After that they played games and they ate the little snacks. It was nice to talk to them and tell them how good they did. It was a great experience to be able to go to and support. I am so glad that I chose to go and use this activity for my service hours.

Service Hours

      I went to the Life Skills spotlight night and it was such a blast! I went early to help set up and all I was doing was helping display the artwork of the students. I ended up hanging rockets in the entrance which took the full hour because there was not enough scissors to go around haha. I actually had no idea that it was going to be such a fun night, there was a talent show and minute to win it games.
     The talent show was beyond amazing. It was worth it just to see their faces light up on the stage and they were great performers, they really knew how to work the crowd hahaha. I especially enjoyed the two boys that danced to Michael Jackson. All of them had a really good sense of humor though.
     After the show there was a transition to games where we could talk to the performers and eat some light snacks. It was fun seeing the students smiling and one of the boys came up out of no where and gave me a big hug! It made me smile and told him he sang my favorite song, (Taylor Swift: Shake it Off).
     I then went to go look at the other artwork and was by the hand tree. Michael the magician was also there and wanted to tell me about the hand/leaf he decorated. He was so funny, he told me, "This hand is my life story. See here, these swirls mean that I appreciate intricate artwork, these spikes mean that I like a little bit of danger, and this one means that I like pie. Do you know what kind of pie?" The drawing he pointed at was yellow so I said, "Banana? (no) Lemon?" he then told me that he liked the 3.14 kind of pie hahaha. It was great talking to him, he had really good sense of vocabulary and a good sense of humor.
     After the activity I helped clean up and then went home. I am glad that I was able to volunteer and attend this activity. It was awesome and I really liked being involved with the students. I had never been to something like that before, or really interacted with people that had mental disabilities, but it was a great experience.

Pre and Post Assesments

What would you tell a teacher who says that doing pre and post assessments is just time wasted that could be used for instruction?

A teacher who thinks that pre and post assessments are a waste of time are probably right in their situation. A pre and post assessment has to be done with purpose. If a teacher thinks that they are a waste of time they are probably not using them correctly. To use them correctly you have to do them with purpose. If you do a pre and post assessment then your teaching should change in some way. If your teaching does not change based off of pre and post assessments, then yes they are a waste of time. 

Testing

What would you tell a teacher who says that doing pre and post assessments is just time wasted that could be used for instruction?
I think that this is a very good question. I can see where the teacher is coming from but then I can also see the benefits of both a pre and post assessment. When doing these tests you will be able to know what level the students are at before you give them instruction and then you will be able to learn how well they mastered instruction after. i think this is very important because it lets you know how well you are doing as a teacher in teaching a new concept and really helping the students learn what they are supposed to. You can make changes based on the pre assessment so you know where each student stands and you also know after the post assessment if you need to review the concept again or if there are only a few students that need help understanding the concept more. 

intrinsic motivation

Intrinsic motivation is the way we should live are life, that when we do something is should be based on this type of motivation. As I thought about this my mind directed me to the scriptures specially in the bible. As we all know that Jesus Christ came to mortality and with him he brought to earth a higher law which stop the practice of the lower law or Mosaic law which was base on rewards and punishment, but his higher law was based on are agency the individual choice. Now compare these laws to intrinsic motivation vs extrinsic motivation one is based of individual's motivation and other is based open doing thing based upon reward and punishment. I feel in class rooms we need to set up rewards and punishments, but that though out the year we need teach are students the importance of rules to the point were individual student will began to do things not based upon punishment and reward, but because individual understands the need choose to do it.           

pull out

I think pull out is the must effective way for special needs students. For one reason kids need be around their peers. They need to be able to learn how to work with and socialize with their classmates. The one of the biggest reason for school is to educate people on how to grow up in be part of a growing society. Which part of that is to work along side people as a unit for a common goal. For me student need to be in the regular class room as much as they can, at the same they still need help for their specific needs.

Pull Out

If I had a choice to which school I would want to work at, I would choose a pull out school. These schools keep students in regular classrooms, but pull them out at certain times. I think this is important because many students with special needs need that extra attention and care they can receive in a pull out method school.

Pull-out vs. Push in

After considering a lot of different things I have decided that I would rather do the pull out program. I feel like this is the best option because the students needs that time in the classroom where they feel like a normal student.  Socially I feel like pulling a student out for a little while during the day would effect them less on the social level than having a paraprofessional by their side at all times in the classroom.  I also think the pull-out program would be better for individualized instruction.  You can focus more on what that specific student needs. Lastly, I feel like student would be more apt to gain learned helplessness when they have a paraprofessional with them in the classroom.

"Pull out" or "Push in" Program

I can see the benefits and the draw backs of each of these programs in the school. I feel like with the push in they may not get all the one on one time with the teacher and instruction that they need but they will get to learn life skills with their peers. With the pull out they may be able to master the content that they need quicker. I think that really the decision should be made based on what the child does best in because no two students learn the same way.

"Pull out" or "Push in"

This is a very hard question that has really made me think. There are a list of pros and cons for each. There is a little boy in my classroom that I help teach at who has Down Syndrome. He has a Paraprofessional in the classroom with him but he is not able to do all of the things that the other students do inside the classroom. During math time she takes him to the back of the room to do math and literacy on the computer. Sometimes she takes him to the back carpet to do his own projects. He also leaves the classroom a lot with her to do testing. It is hard to say which one I would choose. I think it also depends on their amount of disability. I think I would probably lean more towards the "push in" options so that they can be around their peers and learn many life experiences that they may not be able to learn in a "push out" situation.

Wheelchair

Today I did my wheelchair thing. I spent 2 1/2 hours in the wheelchair. It was hard my arms were super tired just going from the Hinckley to the Ricks I can't imagine going uphill in a wheelchair. On the way to the Ricks I went downhill which was kind of fun but then I thought I was going to kill myself. I tried to slow down and it kind of gave me a rope burn on my hands if that make sense at all. I thought that the elevators were really small for the wheelchair and one of the elevators was filled with a stack of chairs that was just left there and that made it harder. Opening doors were also hard I struggled with those a lot. I didn't have to ask anyone for help if people saw I was struggling they were more than willing to help. Some people in my class were so concerned that I had hurt myself and asked what happened.

Visual Impairment Blog

This experience for me was a little strange. I felt like I got a lot of..."What the heck?" Looks from students on campus, and that's fine because I know I gave people the same looks wearing the masks when I didn't know what they were for. I don't think my pack had all the masks in it because it had one that was not blind at all and one where both the eyes were blacked out. I used the black out one and just went from totally blind, to blind in only the left or right eye by just peeling back the paper and tape. There also wasn't any instructions with the pack so I was really confused with how long to wear each mask, what I was supposed to experience with each mask, or which masks should be included in my pack.

Totally blind: Being blind was not so hard because I was just sitting in a lecture class and listening to the teacher. The thing that really shocked me was how good it felt to actually be able to see again when it was time to switch the mask up.

I kind of related this (and I don't really know at all), to babies that are deaf and then they can hear. They are not necessarily upset, but when they can hear it is just such an amazing experience for them.

http://youtu.be/UUP02yTKWWo

(above is the video of when the baby hears for the first time...if you haven't seen it you really should, it is so tender)

Half blind: For some reason it was weirder seeing out of only my right eye. I felt I had to turn my whole head a lot more to be able to see people or things and that was strange. With both my eyes though it was rather easy to see on the desk in front of me and to take notes, but looking at the board or reading the overhead projector was rather hard. I tried only a couple times and my vision was really blurry and I started to get a little headache so I stopped.

My Experience in a Wheelchair

As most of you know, I have a one year old little boy, his name is Eli. As I was going to rent the wheelchair I decided I would go around campus with him riding on my lap. My mom has been in a wheelchair her whole life and I am not sure how she did it with me and my two sisters! She told me  she would put us in laundry baskets cushioned by blankets and place the laundry basket in front of her and scooch us around the house when we were too little to walk/crawl. She also told me that when I was a little older she had to use a baby leash when we went on walks because she could not keep me safe without it. Well, my son has met my mom and would get little rides from her like you see me giving my son so I thought it fitting to do the same. I felt a lot more people smiled at me when I was in the wheelchair, but maybe that was just because I was carrying a cute baby and they were really smiling at him haha.

Here's even a picture of me getting a ride lol I was a funny looking baby

Well...now onto my experience! I had A LOT of embarrassing moments, but it was really an eye opening and beneficial experience for me.

1. Go to the restroom, enter a stall, and transfer your body from the wheelchair to the toilet. Reverse the process and return to the wheelchair.

- This was so hard! I had to like pull vault myself over the arm rest of the wheelchair while my son ran around in the stall haha, but I did it. Getting back into the chair was really difficult though because I had to touch the toilet seat some (EWW) and the chair kept bouncing up and down from my weight. A girl even asked, are you okay in there? hahaha I sheepishly said yes!

 2. Get a drink from the drinking fountain. 

- This was...just...ugh. I was so thirsty but the water kept dribbling down my face and onto my shirt! After I went to check my shirt, I noticed it had unbuttoned half way!!! So my garments, bra, and cleavage were all out for the world to see...must have been because of my son bouncing around or something, I hope he covered it and no one saw hahaha

3. Go another building on campus and ask for directions/assistance (e.g., Kimball Building information desk). 

- I asked where the bathroom was... I don't really know how this related to being in a wheelchair, it wasn't bad at all.

 4. Ride an elevator. 

- This was fine for me, I did have some trouble getting all turned around in there though! 

5. Go up and down a hill by yourself. 

- First, the wheelchair I had was like one of those stupid carts at the grocery store! I was so annoyed because it kept veering off to the right and it was really uncomfortable. Also, it was hard to go slow down a hill and very hard to even go up a hill at all.

6. Go through a door without using the door opener. 

- This was hard to do without using my legs! I kept wanting to prop the door open with them, but I resisted and ended up launching myself through the door frame with my arms haha

7. Go through a door using the door opener. 

- This wasn't so bad, but the door openings were very tight and I barely had enough room for all of me and the chair to get through the door.

8. Ask for assistance to navigate a tough spot. 

- People offered their assistance to me and that was nice. A nice man offered to push me up a hill, it wasn't steep at all haha but I must have looked like I was having a hard time (because I was). Also, I was trying to get into my car from the wheelchair without using my legs and this guy asked me if I would like him to hold down the chair for me. I said yes (because the chair kept bobbing up with me) and I regretted it! haha I had to launch myself over the arm rest again and I went way to high and hit my head and neck on my car door frame. Well, let's just say he was embarrassed and I was embarrassed and he said do you want me to just fold it up for you? With a rather strained look in his face like..."Oh my gosh...did that just happen? What do I say?" Well, I broke and told him it was just a practice for my special ed class and that it was harder than it looked and we both laughed and then he left.

Being in a wheelchair must be such a hard thing because a lot of the world isn't specifically made with people in wheelchairs in mind, but we shouldn't look down to those in wheelchairs because they are people just like us, only with more physical struggles in this life. If anything we should be nicer to them out of admiration, but never out of pity.

Intrinsic Motivation

Really looking deeper into intrinsic motivation I am not sure whether it is real or not. I do believe that sometimes I am excited to do things on my own, like a project I can get creative with...like when I can incorporate baking into a school project I usually have fun haha. I feel to get someone to be intrinsically motivated to do something they don't necessarily want to do on their own can be very hard. Like readings for class...I almost never do them unless I know we are going to talk about it in a group, or I am even more likely to do them when I am going to be graded on the readings.