Journal Entry

Why Today Was Special

Today was a special day because after reading the
story of the week, from Reading Street book, about a visit
to Washington D.C, I had the collective experience with the
students of seeing a special needs student's profound
success with reading progress.
There is a routine that I used when working with the
class on their weekly story. First I would read to the
students. Then the students would each take a page to
read aloud, and I would direct the reading for the class by
calling on individual students. Then the students would
read the selection with a partner. Usually, they would
reread the story two times with their partner by alternating
reading every other page. Finally, we would reread the
story as a class. I would call on one student at a time to
read, and we would go through the reading
comprehension questions in a very detailed way.
On this day, the class reread the story with their
partners and did the final rereading of the story as a class.
I did not know when I picked a partner for the special
needs student that this partnership would be so
successful. I thought I was picking a student that would

work well with him, but I had no idea how well the two boys
would actually work as well together as they did. As I
walked around the room, and listened to the groups, the
students were on task as this was part of their routine.
When I began listening to the two boys, the on-level to
slightly above level student was reading one word at a time
and having the special needs student repeat one word at a
time. This is how I sometimes read with the special needs
student in class to help him participate. The special needs
student who frequently does not appear to be engaged in
classroom activities, was very excited to be reading with
the 'helper' student. The 'helper' student, I could tell, felt
very good to be the helper. The two boys were so involved
in the reading. I just observed and continued on with my
observations around the room.
Then, when the class re-read the story altogether, and
the special needs student raised his hand to participate, I
walked over to his desk so he could read one or a couple
words at a time by repeating after me as I tracked the
words on the page for him. Amazingly, the special needs
student surprised everyone by hearing the first word or
couple words in the sentence and the saying the entire
sentence. He did this for the full paragraph. When he
finished reading, several children said, "way to go, (his
name)!" The boys in his row and the row behind him

spontaneously came over to give him a high five. It was a

very touching moment, and this moment was the highlight
of my teaching experience.
It was so moving to see how caring the children were
towards this student who looks normal, but has a brain
malformation. The students' disability greatly affects the
way he learns and processes information as well as delays
his motor skills. The students are all aware that this
student doesn't have to do the same work and doesn't
have to participate in the same way as the rest of the
students participate. They were so excited to see him
reading. I believe that this student had memorized the
story from listening, but to the students, he was reading
just like they can read. I was impressed that by listening
and reading with a partner that he had retained so much.
To me the experience made me think of a metaphor. I
was thinking about how this student's brain is like a
vacuum cleaner that doesn't work very well. The teacher's
at the school where I did my student teaching, had to
vacuum their own rooms after snack. When I helped with
the vacuuming, I saw how many times I had to go over the
crumbs to pick them up. Most of the crumbs eventually
came up with repetition of vacuuming those spots. I was
amazed that the vacuum eventually got the crumbs up. I
think the brain can be like the vacuum. Sometimes, as a

teacher, you don't know how the information will be picked

up. Even through repetition, you don't know if some
students will ever be able to pick up the information,
process the information and store the information. Seeing
how the student clearly picked up the information made
me think that this 'vacuum' which is a metaphor for the
brain picks up and holds more than I realized. This brain
just works in a different way.
This experience showed me that as a teacher, I can
never predict the results. The results may be better than I
expect, just what I expect or not as good as I expect.
On this day, the results exceeded my expectations
and the expectations of the entire class. Because of this
experience, the boy with special needs had an increase in
confidence. On the last day of my student teaching, when
the children had time for picking a book to read
independently from the class library, the boy with special
needs pointed to the word 'the' in his book and told me,
"This says 'the.'" He was so proud of himself, and this
progress, I feel, was a direct result of getting the positive
feedback from the students when he read and because of
the structure of the lesson.
Domains Affected

In the Planning and Preparation Domain, the planning for

learning and review contributed to the students profound
success.
In the Instruction Domain, the delivery of the lessons as
large group and small group contributed to the success of
the special needs student.
In the Classroom Environment Domain, because I give lots
of positive feedback to the students, my example
encourages students to continue their already kind and
helpful attitudes towards their classmates.
In the Professional Responsibilities Domain, I collaborated
with Kelly Carroll, my cooperating teacher, to plan the
routine for teaching the weekly story.

The Effects for Students

The effect for the students was they saw their special
needs peer as having potential and abilities beyond what
they thought was possible for him. While this student
would likely do well in a special environment that caters to
his individual needs, by being in an environment with

typical developing peers, the typically developing students

learn to be patient, caring understanding and accepting of
someone who learns in a different way.
What I Have Learned from this Experience
What I have learned from this experience is that all people
can be patient, kind and understanding if they are exposed
to the kind of environment where these traits are
encouraged. If patience, kindness and understanding are
modeled, and friendships develop as a result, students will
be more likely to behave in this positive way in the future. I
will always ensure in my classroom that there is an
environment where I am kind and I encourage others to be
kind to one another.

Goals I Have Set For Myself as a Result of this Experience

As a result of this experience, I will have the goal to not
pre-judge what I think a students capabilities are. I will
make sure to see the student in a variety of learning
environments, and simply observe how a student works
best, and to gradually determine what teaching methods
and learning experience suit each student.

I will continue to have the goal to have a positive

classroom environment that fosters kindness and
friendships.
I will have the goal to create a variety of learning
experiences for students to create the best possibly
outcomes.