Tucker Chapter 2

I have been working in the public school setting for about 5 years now.  I have seen great teachers that include students with special needs and accommodate them as necessary and I have seen teachers who just give the student something easy so that they can say they have adapted the curriculum.  As more and more students with special needs are becoming included in regular education classrooms, the regular education teacher must be verse in dealing with these particular students.  Adaptations are a must, but they should be fun so all students can get something out of it.  Even if there is one student who is not special needs, but they are a fast learner, it may help the special needs student learn from their peers.  The activity realm is endless for teachers, and should be used at any given time, whether it is for a special education student or a regular education student!

Tucker Chapter 1 & 13

Mathematics is a tool that is used in everyday life.  Teaching students to understand the concepts of math, can sometimes be a difficult task, especially if the student has a disability.  I think that we as educators need to use the assessment tools that are available to us but also we need to continue to dig to find those assessments and activities that make the students learn from practice.  Learning how to add, subtract, multiply and divide is not all there is to math, and teachers have a tough job sometimes when it comes to incorporating classroom activities for all of their students, not all of them are on the same level.  This is hard when it comes to teaching word problems because word problems are things that the student should have already learned.  I think that assessment activities are a great idea, it makes the child demonstrate what they have learned in a way that we as educators can see.  We can see if there may be a problem somewhere along the way, which would be a good way for us to help the student build on those skills needed.  Practice after practice is a great way for students to learn.  For example, one student may learn better from using manipulatives while another student may learn better by watching their peers demonstrate the concept.  Whatever it may be, all children learn differently. 

Chapter 13 Effective Practice
There are so many ways that an educator can incorporate learning into any lesson.  If the activities are strong and fun, students do  not even realize that they are learning, they think that they are playing a fun game.  What is most important, is what they pull away from the activity.  And when you incorporate the game aspect into learning, it allows those that may be struggling to "catch up" in areas that others are not.  Hands on practice lends to be one of the most effective strategies for teachers, especially if they have well thought out plans and an abundance of materials that go with them.  This may also help struggling learners develop those more concrete concepts that are hard to learn. 

Gipe Chapter 8 & 9

I believe that being fluent in writing is one of the most valuable things that can be learned or taught. Writing is connected to reading and the more writing we can do with children, the better readers we can make them. Some children may or may not be able to make grammatical connections, but they may be able to express their own feelings in their own way, without judgment. By letting students write about their feelings or things that may be of importance to them, may help them interpret reading better and the teacher can give them more positive feedback. Reading and writing go hand in hand, not everybody is good at both, but we can try to teach our students to better themselves in both subjects.