Assignment: Observe six different students with identified disabilities for thirty minutes apiece. (Total of three hours of active observation). Place bulleted examples of difficulties in the following areas in the appropriate category. You will not necessarily observe characteristics in each of the areas over the course of your 30 minute observation.

Student #1 - Arthur: This student is labeled as "Serious Emotionally Disturbed", and has extreme difficulty in all academic areas. Most of his time is spent fantasizing about certain acts of violence, and he cannot keep his hands out of his pants. This observation occurred between 8:00 and 8:30 a.m., on a Monday morning.

• READING: The class began with a review of Alphabetic Phonics’ phoneme and grapheme cards. While the rest of the students reviewed, Arthur rocked in his chair and seemed to be daydreaming. The student-teacher attempted to re-focus Arthur 5 times within a 5 minute period, but was unsuccessful. After this review time, the class then practiced their handwriting skills by "sky writing" all of the letters and sounds reviewed. Arthur seemed a little more interested in this because he got to stand up. While the teacher walked through the room instructing each student, Arthur made some of the letters in the air. At other times he was making "rude" gestures and/or comments to students standing around him. When the teacher approached him, for some one-on-one instruction, Arthur tried to change the subject. The teacher tried, but was unsuccessful, at showing Arthur some of his areas of weakness. At this point, the group sat down together at the Reading table. They were reading a story orally from the Lippincott Reading Series, Book E, Story 3. Arthur did NOT appear to listen or follow along as the other students were reading. However, when it was his turn to read, he knew exactly where to begin. He pronounced all of the sight-word vocabulary correctly, and used phonetic skills for sounding out unfamiliar words. He was able to answer all of the comprehension questions directed at him, but did not appear to listen to anyone else’s responses. When the story was completed, the students went to the computers to take a test over the story. Arthur completed his test within 5 minutes, and scored 80%.

• WRITTEN LANGUAGE: Following the computerized test, Arthur was asked to complete a workbook page about the story that was read. He took the workbook, sat down at his desk, and began to daydream. He fidgeted in his chair, made unusual sounds (quietly), and eventually ended up with his hands in his pants. The teacher walked over to Arthur, instructed him to put his hands on his desk, and to pick up his pencil. He just sat there. She then threatened to call his mother, so he picked up his pencil. However, he did not write a single answer. He just sat there, staring into space. When the teacher went back over to his desk, and read the first question to him, Arthur answered the question orally. However, he refused to write the answer. Even after the teacher pointed to the appropriate answer - which he had given her orally - Arthur just sat there. He seemed to want to be removed from the room, and excused from doing anything academically.

Student #2 - Joe: This student is labeled "Specific Learning Disabled", and receives services in Reading, Written Language, and Math. He was very quiet, and shy - almost lethargic - throughout this entire observation. He was observed from 9:00 - 9:30 a.m., on a Monday morning.

• MATHEMATICS: The student teacher presented a lesson from Touch Math. The students were instructed to practice "skip counting" orally with the teacher. They reviewed 2’s, 3’s, 5’s, 4’s, 6’s,

• and then 7’s. Joe participated quietly with the class. His voice could not be heard above the rest of the class, but his mouth was moving and he seemed focused. After the oral practice, the class was instructed to write down the numbers from the board. Joe began his writing assignment, but then began to loose interest. He seemed to stare at the board for long periods of time before attempting to write anything on his paper. When I walked over to Joe, and glanced at his paper, he had only written 3 numbers (after approximately 5 minutes) - and the handwriting was SO small I could hardly read it. I noticed that Joe is left-handed, and that his pencil grip was "odd". The pencil seemed to wobble in his hand, and thus the writing looked "shaky" on the page. The teacher stood next to Joe’s desk to encourage him to finish the writing assignment. He seemed to stay on task while she was there, but as soon as she walked away - NOTHING! The rest of the class completed their board work, and went on to their individual assignments. However, Joe never even completed the board work. He had to take his individual assignment with him for homework. (I’ll be interested to see if he returns this work completed.) The entire class Joe seemed sad or depressed - his face was sullen, and unexpressive.

Student #3 - Chris: This student is labeled "Other Health Impaired", and receives services in Reading, Written Language, and Math. He has had 5 open-heart surgery’s, and is on his 3^rd pace maker. His learning delay/disability supposed occurred during a surgery at 18 month’s of age, when the anesthetic was too strong and caused brain damage.

• WRITTEN LANGUAGE: The class began with reviewing all of their "jingles" from Shurley English. Chris loved this lesson. He seemed to really enjoy participating orally, and singing with the class. His voice was loud and clear. When the jingles were completed, the class went directly into the "Question Answer Flow". Chris participated actively in all of the sentences. He was then chosen to lead the Question Answer Flow for sentence #4. He was all smiles. He led proudly, with a loud voice. He did present some speech problems, including "s, and t" - with a type of lisp - and some of his words sounded like "baby talk". However, he maintained a constant flow - and the class participated while he was leading. While leading for this sentence, Chris was required to write on the over-head projector. His pencil grip was distorted, and his writing was very large. I had difficulty discerning what letters he had written above the words, but the class seemed to know exactly what he had written down! At the end of this oral portion of the lesson, the class was instructed to write and "code" the sentences individually. Chris’s paper was turned at an odd angle, and again his pencil grip was "off". When I approached his desk, I noticed that his writing was very large and messy. It was very dark, indicating to me that he was pressing hard on the pencil. I noticed that he stopped periodically and shook his arm, as if to relax tense muscles. He did complete the assignment within the given time period, but didn’t have any time to spare. He proudly turned his paper in to the student teacher, and returned quietly to his desk.

Student #4 - Leonard: This student is labeled "Specific Learning Disabled" and receives services in Reading, Written Language, and Math. He has numerous behavioral problems, as well as academic deficiencies. He was arrested 2 years ago for selling marijuana on the school bus, and both of his parents are drug addicts. He is quiet, and respectful, but appears dirty and unkempt.

• READING: This group of students went directly to the Reading Table. They began reading a story orally from the Lippincott series, Book G - story 4. Leonard was the first student asked to read orally. He read very slowly, and deliberately, and seemed to struggle. He knew some of the sight words, and tried to sound out unfamiliar words phonetically. However, is the word was over 2 syllables, he would stop until someone offered assistance. He was unable to recognize or pronounce the sight word, "said". He missed this word every time it appeared in the story - even when he was

corrected by the teacher or another student. (He seemed to have a mental block about this word.) At the end of each page the teacher would "re-cap" that page. Leonard seemed to pay close attention to what the teacher said, as if he didn’t really understand what had been read until this explanation occurred. When the story ended, the teacher began asking comprehension questions. Leonard eagerly raised his hand to attempt an answer, but didn’t always have the correct answer. However, as soon as the teacher gave an explanation, he seemed to understand - and remember. At the end of the question period, the teacher instructed students to get out notebook paper. She then asked questions, to which students were supposed to write responses. Leonard wrote his answers and seemed focused. However, when the teacher looked at his paper she could not read what was written down. Leonard then had to re-write the paper. He sat quietly at his desk and completed this portion of the assignment. He turned it in before the period was over. I looked at the 2^nd paper and compared it to the first. The handwriting was some improved, but spelling was atrocious! The writing was small and jumbled, but could be deciphered with some concentration by the teacher! He seemed to be misspelling the same words that he had trouble reading! The words he knew were the ones that were spelled correctly.

Student #5 - Spencer: This student is labeled "Severely Orthopedic Impaired", and receives services in Reading, and Math. She is also visually impaired, and wears glasses. She must use a special, large-print paper, and red, blue, or black ink pens for writing. (So that she can see what she writes.) This observation occurred between l0:30 - ll:00 a.m. on a Monday.

• MATHEMATICS: The students (1^st graders) were given a set of plastic numbers to put into counting order from 0 - 10. They were also instructed to separate out all of the math signs - +, -, =, etc... Spencer had a difficult time manipulating the plastic numbers, but worked very hard to get them into order. When all of their numbers were in order, the teacher presented flash cards with addition problems on them. The students were instructed to make this problem with their plastic numbers. Spencer seemed focused on what she needed to do, but she just couldn’t get the plastic numbers in the right spot. The teacher helped her find the "top" number, and the "bottom" number. After a couple of minutes, Spencer got her numbers in the right places for the problem. Then the teacher asked her what the answer to "3 + 2" was. Spencer looked intently at the numbers, and eventually gave the answer. She seemed to struggle with the processing of the problem, but was confident in her answer. She was all smiles when the teacher patted her on the back for accomplishment. The class proceeded with the problems, and Spencer correctly answered each one. She had trouble organizing the numbers on each problem, but always got them in the right spot - even if it took her some extra time. From this, the teacher then had the students begin to write their numbers on paper. Spencer had her special, large print paper and her ink pen. The plastic numbers were carefully arranged across the top of her desk so that she could refer to them. However, she just couldn’t look at the plastic number and then transfer it to the paper. Eventually, the teacher had to write the numbers on her paper for her in red ink, and allow her to trace them with blue ink. Once the numbers were on her page for her to trace, Spencer did fine. Her writing was much neater, and she seemed more confident. She just didn’t seem to have a "mental" picture of the numbers; thus, she couldn’t write them down on her own. Spencer completed writing the numbers, 0 - 10, during the remainder of the observation. The other students finished this part, and went on to their individual Math papers. Spencer did not, but she worked the entire time, and seemed focused on what she was doing. Her pencil grip was correct, but her hand seemed weak. The pen seemed to wobble in her hand, and she seemed to have to re-adjust it while she was writing. I also noticed that she turned her head at an angle when she was looking at her own writing. She was obviously trying to focus so that she could see what she needed to write down.

Student #6 - Bobbie Gean: This student is labeled "Hard of Hearing" and receives services in Reading and Math. She wears hearing aids, and has an Auditory Trainer. Her speech does not seem affected by her hearing impairment, but she receives services for Language Therapy. This observation occurred between 9:30 - l0:00 a.m. on a Tuesday morning.

• READING: This group of students began their lesson by reviewing the Alphabetic Phonics phoneme and grapheme cards. Their new sound for this week included "digraphs ch, sh, and th". Bobbie Gean understood what digraphs were, and was able to write the sounds as the teacher presented them orally. The teacher focused on "digraph th" and whether it was voiced, or unvoiced. Bobbie Gean correctly identified the voiced and unvoiced "th" each time she was called on. The teacher instructed all of the students to put their hands on their throats to "feel" the vibration. IF it vibrated, it was voiced. This was a wonderful explanation for Bobbie Gean, because she couldn’t actually HEAR the difference in the sound. She was able to FEEL the difference in the 2 sounds. She was all smiles, and I could tell that she understood. After the initial explanation, the students were asked to give the teacher words that started with "digraph th". Bobbie Gean contributed 3 words to the list - 2 were voiced and 1 was unvoiced. She clearly understood the difference. The students were then asked to copy the list of "th" words and to use each word in a sentence. Bobbie Gean began immediately, and was finished first. Her handwriting was messy, and very small. BUT all of the words were spelled correctly, and were used correctly in sentences. When the class finished, each student read their sentences orally. Bobbie Gean read 2 of her sentences, and the class listened carefully. Her sentences were then "evaluated" by her peers. They all concluded that she had used them correctly, and that the sentences were complete. The teacher then had all students turn in their work for a grade. Bobbie Gean turned hers in first, and seemed to understand all that had gone on it the lesson that day!