Running Head: INTRODUCTION TO SPECIAL EDUCATION 1

Introduction to Special Education: Field Observation

Kylie Mirjanian

Professor Hudson

Fall 2017
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Field Observation: Summary

I observed a Primary Autistic classroom at Harriet Treem Elementary School with special

education teacher, Mrs. Margolis, for 10 hours. Within this classroom, I was able to observe the

behavior of the students, see the varying degrees to which they were able to respond, participate,

and understand, and observe how the teacher and co-teachers taught, supported, and interacted

with the students on a personal and intellectual level. This experience helped to put into

perspective how children with disabilities might be taught in a special education classroom and

how they can be encouraged and supported to rise up and become independent and intelligent

individuals.

The days began with the main instructor, Mrs. Margolis, going to pick up half of the class

from the side door of the building. These were the students being dropped off by their parents.

One of the co-teachers went out to the busses and picked up the students that came by the bus. I

went with Mrs. Margolis, where she opened the side door and invited the three or four students

that were waiting there with their parents. Mrs. Margolis greeted the child and then the parent.

She would discuss something exciting or interesting that might have happened the day before

and then the parent would discuss if there were any specific problems that Mrs. Margolis would

run into with the student that day. The exchange was productive and inviting, giving the parent

and the teacher a basis to start the day off well. Throughout the exchange, Mrs. Margolis would

interact with the child, giving them a hug, rustling their hair, asking how they were doing, even if

there was no response from the child. Then, the exchange would end and Mrs. Margolis would

tell the child to say good bye to their parent, giving encouragement and praise. This included

such phrases as, “nice looking,” to encourage making eye contact and acknowledging the other

person, and encouraging a wave or a hug until the action was completed and assistance in
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moving the arm or moving them toward their parent if the student was inattentive or

unresponsive.

After the exchange with the parents, we walked the students back to the classroom. This

consisted of encouraging walking in a line, placing a hand on the back of the slower-paced

students or holding their hand, and positive praise and encouragement. Mrs. Margolis was happy,

interactive, and constantly attentive to her students. We got back to the classroom and the

students were helped to get their backpacks off, which were left outside of the room to limit

distractions, and told to sit in the “circle”, which was just a semi-circle of chairs positioned

around the teacher’s chair and the interactive touchscreen whiteboard. The rest of the students

joined us and the students were brought to the cafeteria for breakfast and brought back to the

classroom. There, they began with having the students move their pictures to the picture of the

location they were at (school or home). They followed that by playing a song called “good

morning” and had the students do simple actions, like patting their lap repeatedly, patting their

head, clapping their hands, and stomping their feet. The teachers would encourage activity and

responses from the students throughout the activities. They also used a website called Starfall for

activities that they could use the whiteboard for, including a math game for the more advanced

students.

The students were a mesh of varying degrees of severity in terms of learning disability.

There were a total of seven students. Three had a greater severity and showed difficulty in

comprehension, interaction, and overall classroom attention. The next three were better able to

understand much of what was going on but had difficulty in certain areas, like pronunciation of

words, simple mathematics, keeping full attention on the class, and other areas. The final student
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was there for only a small amount of time for speech assistance and small corrections but was

otherwise in general education.

At any point during the day, the students would be picked out by a third co-teacher and

taken aside, either by themselves or in a small group, and did speech therapy. The students

would be split into groups of similar level; the more advanced students worked on counting with

each other and by themselves while the less-advanced students worked on activities that could

hold their attention (example: the teacher read a story with pictures and required the students to,

throughout the story, pick up Velcro images that mirrored those in the book and Velcro them

together with the same image in the book. This kept them entertained and moving throughout the

story). The different lessons for the different-leveled students allowed the class to continue and

was effective for every level.

There was a clear classroom goal geared towards achieving independence for all the

students. The teachers, when asking for a specific action from the student or when asked for help

with something by the student, would respond by grabbing the student’s hands and moving them

to complete the action themselves. At breakfast, the students would ask for help opening their

milk. The teacher would take their hands and show them where to grab on the carton and show

them how to open it. If the teacher asked for them to clap their hands and they did not receive a

proper response from the student, they would grab their hands and move them into a clapping

motion to show them how and try to let them do it on their own. If the student needed to get a

spoon for their yogurt, the teacher would have the child stand up, telling them that they need a

spoon, and lead them to the spoons and have them grab one, using the child’s hand if they don’t

follow through with the action. Some students were more independent than others but all needed

help at some point.

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The teachers were not afraid of embracing their students, giving them attention by high

fiving or tickling to get them happy. They also weren’t afraid to work hard with them,

encouraging them to do more and more. The class was productive and well-developed, with

attention to the individual and their ability to be able to do things on their own. The three

teachers balanced work between them and were able to support all the students and keep them

working hard throughout class time. They also worked to just wake the students up and make

them excited to learn or to be there. They used toys, games, and candy incentives to get them

interested to do more and to create a more hands-on interaction with the students. The class was

very interesting to observe and certainly a different experience than a general education

classroom.

Observation Packet: Assignment 6 – Observing a Student

The single student I decided to observe during my observation hours was named Max. He

was probably around 5 or 6 years old and he was very consistently inattentive to the lesson. His

actions almost made it seem like he was just day dreaming as he never became fully attentive.

When walking through the hallways, he would walk slowly and couldn’t stay in a straight line.

He would often feel the need to touch the wall or stop at interesting things along the way. He had

to be guided and encouraged and didn’t seem to mind that either. He did not talk and grunted or

made an urgent humming noise when he needed help or wanted something. He needed much of

the teacher’s assistance for many things and they were very excited when he did something on

his own.

In lessons, Max often sat there, looking around calmly. For the good morning song that

they sang, he clapped his hands once without the teacher physically helping him and they were

very excited. He was interested in the toys occasionally but not very involved, as he held them in
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his lap. Throughout every lesson, he was led through things physically, with the teacher guiding

him to do the things they asked. He didn’t ever really act up but just seemed very disinterested.

The teachers were interactive with him. Mrs. Margolis would give him hugs and she even

tickled him in his seat until he smiled and she would play with the fidget spinner and try to get

him interested. They were constantly repeating simple actions, “Max, do this,” “Max, put this,”

and they assisted him every time he didn’t respond on his own. But, they made sure to encourage

him to do the work on his own. He was a very sweet child but needed much assistance and

benefit from being in the special education classroom.

Field Observation: Reflection

These observation hours gave me an incredible opportunity to observe a classroom held

specifically for students with disabilities and to interact with these students. I was able to see

how they learned and witness firsthand how their behavior differed from other students their age.

It also gave me the opportunity to witness how a special education teacher handled her classroom

and the tactics she and her co-teachers used in order to catch and hold the attention of the

students and to encourage a continuous and positive learning environment.

I saw how the teachers used key phrases, including, “Hands down,” “Nice listening,”

“Nice looking,” “Do this,” and used continuous repetition as a tactic to encourage the expected

response. I witnessed the behavior of the students and how one student might have trouble

making eye contact when asking a question or have difficulty fully forming certain words, while

another might not even be aware of anything around him and need hands-on assistance to

understand the actions being asked of him. The varying levels that the students were at proved

how difficult it could be to give every student the needed amount of attention and the teachers

were able to work together to handle the workload and give the best help.
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The experience altogether was enlightening and brought much of what I read in the book

into reality. I think it was valuable time spent in a real situation and I was glad to be given the

time with the teacher and the students and to add that knowledge to my tool box. I hope to be

able to witness many more special education classrooms and see how differently they are run.

The in-person experience is invaluable and gives an in-depth lesson for what a teacher does for

their students and how much they work to make the progress they need to make. I’m glad for the

experience.