Special Education Teacher Essay Example for Free

Special Education Teacher Essay Abstract This paper reflects on the teacher candidate’s observations of the student â€Å"Junior† and the various accommodations that were made for him in various classroom settings. It also discusses different accommodations that could be made in general education classes and special education classes. The paper discusses the need for high school students to be self-advocating or self-determining and learning to make decisions on his or her own. TEACHING FOR EXCEPTIONALITIES 1 SPE-226 Educating the Exceptional Learner Benchmark Assignment: Teaching for Exceptionalities. Students with exceptionalities are a breed all their own. Each student has individual strengths, weaknesses, and individualized education programs/plans (IEPs) tailored to those needs. There are many resources, accommodations, and settings for these students to help ensure their academic success. One particular student, herein called â€Å"Junior,† is a mixed bag of interesting. Junior’s cognitive abilities are on par with his classmates. However, he needs help with reading, writing, and other social and behavioral skills. He likes to engage in discussion, enjoys music, and is diligent in his work. Observing him, his teachers, and other various special education classrooms has given valuable information to increase my teaching strategies. Inclusive Math Class Junior’s first period class is Algebra 1-2. It is an inclusive class and is co-taught by Meinen and Geigas. Meinen, the special education teacher, is there to help students and provide assistance services to Geigas’s teaching. However, all of Geigas’s classes have some form of inclusion. Consequently, Geigas’s teaching strategies differ from regular education teaching strategies in order to appeal both to the inclusive students and regular students. For instance, Geigas uses different colored pens for different the different steps of a problem when he is teaching and doing problems with the class. He is also willing to create copies of the class worksheet for any student who needs it, not just special education students. The accommodations for Junior’s quiz were highlighting the directions for him and writing the different formulas, like point-slope form and the equation for finding the slope of a line, on his paper for easier access. Highlighting the directions for Junior’s quiz was successful. He knew what was expected of him, and what he needed to accomplish with the quiz. He did not TEACHING FOR EXCEPTIONALITIES 1 need to have the directions read to him or explained to him. In addition, writing the formulas on his paper helped keep him on track. He only needed help with one graphing question, which could be a difficult question for any student. Because Junior only missed two questions due to minor mistakes, I believe the accommodations were very successful and do not need to be changed. Furthermore, I would review the minor mistakes with Junior, have him explain where  he went wrong, and give him half-credit since he had the major concepts correct. Many other technologies or other instructional supports exist that could enhance the learning for Junior and his classmates. In the math classroom, there are white boards and a document scanner. The document scanner is what Geigas and Meinen use to do the problems together with the students. Two major benefits to having the document scanner are having a hard copy of what work was done in class and being able to go back if necessary. If the class were only using the white board, each problem would have to be erased in order to move on to the  next problem. If a student needed to go back, this would create a lot of wasted time redoing work that was previously done. Another good technology tool that students could use is Khan Academy, a website with videos and exercises to help anyone learn skills and concepts at their own pace (Khan Academy, 2013). It also tracks all data inputted and shows the user’s statistics over time. This information is private to the user, but it can be shared with teachers and coaches, so teachers can use the Khan Academy classroom in their own physical classrooms (Khan Academy, 2013). While Khan Academy is a good resource, the classroom only has one teacher computer available, so any type of technology is extremely limited. Self-Advocacy and Self-Determination Junior is just one student of many. There are many other special education students in the inclusive classrooms that could need more help. Because these are high school students, they TEACHING FOR EXCEPTIONALITIES 1 need to be taught the idea of self-advocacy or self-determination. This is the idea that the student’s ability to â€Å"consider options and make appropriate decisions and to exercise free will,  independence, and individual responsibility† (Hardman, Drew, Egan, 2009, p. 92). Therefore, many of the special education students in the inclusive classes must ask for the bigger accommodations. For instance, if a student needs to go to a separate room with less people and/or have the directions read and explain to them aloud, they must ask permission to do so (A. Geigas, personal communication, November 4, 2013). â€Å"Since self-determination skills are most effectively learned and developed by practicing them, students with disabilities should be given  ample opportunity to use their self-advocacy, decision-making and socialization skills well before they leave high school to prepare themselves for working and living in their community† (PACER Center, 2013). Allowing this type of openness is actually beneficial for the students. It allows the students to become more independent while in the safe, closed environment of the classroom. Additionally, effective self-determination teaching can increase positive transitional outcomes in moving from high school to adult life (Hardman, Drew, Egan, 2009, p. 92). For these reasons, many accommodations are not expressly given to students. Self-Contained Special Education Class When it comes to special education classes, there can be more focus on the individual student and his or her needs. In Junior’s special education behavior class period, the class focuses on what is expected of him and his classmates in social situations. They were planning a field trip to a symphony during the week, so the teacher discussed examples of the types of behaviors that would be expected of them and what behaviors would be unexpected in the given situation. As for Junior, he likes to be engaged in class, which leads to him shouting answers. In some classes, it is acceptable, and others it is not. He had to be reminded that he needed to raise TEACHING FOR EXCEPTIONALITIES 1 his hand, and be acknowledged in order to speak during his turn. Michelle Garcia Winner gives a good accommodation or lesson that can deal with this kind of behavior: I encourage teachers to keep their eyes focused on who they were talking to, hold up the palm of their hand in the direction of the blurter and say to them I was looking at this student (say the students name), I was talking to this student, I am not talking to you right now. By doing this, the teacher provides cognitive information about the process of communication that helps the student learn how to avoid blurting. (2012) On the other hand, Junior did well in understanding why certain behaviors would be unexpected, offensive, or rude while at the symphony. Given this observation, one can tell that Junior only has mild or moderate problems with social behaviors. As a result, this self-contained class was geared more towards his classmates in the room. This is a prime example of how the accommodations of special education teachers differ so greatly between rooms, classes, and  students. Conclusion Observing and talking with Junior’s teachers, special and regular education, has given me a plethora of information that has increased my teaching tools and strategies. Observing a range of classrooms and situations has given me a deeper understanding of the kind of scenarios that may be presented in my future. Overall, Junior is a very bright, engaging student. Spending time with him and observing a multitude of different classrooms has given me valuable insights into the world of teaching students with exceptionalities. TEACHING FOR EXCEPTIONALITIES 1 References Garcia Winner, Michelle. (2012). Social Thinking at School. Retrieved 13 Nov 2013 from https://www. socialthinking. com/what-is-social-thinking/-social-thinking-at-school Hardman, M. L. , Drew, C. J. , Egan, M. W. (2009). Human Exceptionality: School, Community, and Family (10th ed. ). Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning. Khan Academy. (2013). A free world-class education for anyone anywhere. Retrieved 14 Nov 2013 from https://www. khanacademy. org/about PACER Center. (2013). SELF DETERMINATION. Retrieved 13 Nov 2013 from http://www. pacer. org/tatra/resources/self.

Terrorism - Domestic Bigots More Dangerous than Foreign Terrorists :: September 11 Terrorism Essays

Domestic Bigots Cause More Damage than Foreign Terrorists    As the federal government preoccupies itself with fighting the war against terror, it must not neglect the terror that Americans can inflict on one another at home. At the same time, we should be circumspect about our rhetoric as we affirm our commitment to the ideals of freedom by debating our government's policies. The recent spate of hate crimes across the country - about 1000 incidents, some of them fatal - calls for two responses. Congress and the president should pass and sign national hate crimes legislation. On the local level, each of us has the obligation to refrain from provocative remarks that embolden and reinforce the bigots' view that we are engaging in a war against a particular culture or religion.    Whatever contributions economic or political injustice may have on the support for terrorist regimes, those organizations ultimately thrive on a zealotry borne of group thought. This is evident in the terrorists' calls for all people of a certain group to take up a jihad against the 'infidels' who cannot claim the same group membership. In contrast, the battle that the United States is now waging is not directed at any group except for the people who commit mass murder under the influence of group identity. Americans are individualists at heart. We eschew the politics of racial division and ethnic pandering. We abhor discrimination, which violates another's individuality by ascribing to him a group identity and subsequently mistreating him. We are especially appalled when the maltreatment escalates into assault, battery and homicide.    Thus, in the 1993 Supreme Court case Wisconsin v. Mitchell, the justices unanimously upheld Wisconsin's hate crimes statute, which imposed additional penalties for perpetrators motivated by animus toward another's race. The Court reasoned that judges and juries routinely consider a perpetrator's motives as aggravating factors. For example, premeditated murder is punished more severely than random killing. Considering the criminal's bias in sentencing is consistent with our juridical principles. However, it is not enough for a handful of states to consider bias as an aggravating factor in sentencing. We need to express the nation's consensus that, as a liberal society, we condemn the illiberal thoughts that inspire hate crimes. Treating people differently on the basis of perceived group identities, which derive in turn from superficialities like physical appearance, is the greatest unfreedom. While an orderly society cannot tolerate crime, a free society simply cannot tolerate crimes borne of ignorance and group thought.

Describe the Work of One Entrepreneur

Describe the work of one entrepreneur. What innovations did he/she bring to the world? What were the risks involved? What were the difficulties? What failures did he/she encounter? How did he/she react to the risks, difficulties, and failures? What are the major lessons to be learnt? Richard Branson is a very unique entrepreneur as he is known by his humorous characters and as he is the founder of the Virgin Group which has more than 400 companies underneath nowadays.Today, Branson is the fourth richest man in the Unites Kingdom with his billions of wealth. The road to success for him is extraordinary due to his own characteristics which makes him so much different from other entrepreneur. Branson started his business in the music industry as he set up Virgin Records which was a chain selling records at the very beginning. Later, he started to expand his business to different fields like airline, telecommunication, trains and even food industry.He as the founder and the chairman of t he Virgin Group has displayed a very bold character in making business decisions and what he had done may seem silly or unbelievable from the eyes of the public or other entrepreneur as he may have depart from ordinary routine. Back in the early days, the Virgin had done something bold and somehow rebellious – signing the Sex Pistols which was a controversial rock band in the UK at that time while other companies did not want to sign them. This act might seem foolish to people at that time.However, the Sex Pistols turned out to be an iconic band with huge impact to the world and the Virgin had helped the public to expose to such extraordinary music and culture. After his groups of companies became successful and on the track, he did not stop being creative and bold as he set up a space tourism company in 2004 aiming to offer space travel experience for customers. With his wealth and fame, he did not solely pursue profit maximization as he started to invest in research for env ironmentally friendly fuel and tried to offer cheaper and environmentally friendly fuel to the general public.As a successful entrepreneur, Branson had fulfilled his social responsibility by bringing changes to the society. One the other hand, Branson is good at promoting the whole Virgin Group brand image. He made himself like a star by having cameos on television show to increase his own fame. Moreover, he even had his own television reality show called The Rebel Billionaire: Branson's Quest for the Best to get himself more exposure to the public. His is very successful in making himself the soul of the Virgin Group as people equal Branson to the Virgin Group in their minds. He has started a brand-new and unique way of marketing strategy.Despite the huge success of the Virgin Group, there must be risk involved especially the Virgin Group involves hundreds of companies. Branson admitted that big and creative ideas also mean big risks. For example his business ventures in train indu stry and space travel industry includes huge risks. However, he is very bold and is willing to take risk because he believes that you can gain nothing if you don’t venture. With all these risks includes in his ventures which may bring him millions dollars of lost, he is still very bold in taking risk nowadays despite his failures in the past.Of course he has failed a lot in the past as the Virgin Group has attempted in entering almost every industry in the world, and some may not work out. In a sharing session, Branson recalled that his subordinates panicked after knowing that he wanted to enter the airline industry as the Virgin Group was only a record label at that time. However, ‘To be a true entrepreneur you’ve got to take bold risk throughout your life’ he said during the session which explains his frequent attempts in expanding his business in different fields.But, of course, he did not blindly take any risk and lost million dollars as he added †˜But you’ve got to make sure you protect the downside. ’ As a risk taker, Branson is also a risk manager as he has set 300 separated limited companies as firewalls between companies in the group to prevent catastrophic consequence if one of the companies has problem. Thus, he has sound system within the groups of companies to prevent a company with disaster to bring down other companies.He suggested that people have to prepare for failure before taking risk and also learn from mistakes made otherwise it will be insane to do the same thing over and over again and expect something different. He sees making mistakes as an important step leading to success as he can learn things from them. Thus, failures did not stop him from venturing but help him build up success instead. In addition, Branson may sometimes engage in some challenges that seems to be unachievable. This is because he believes that there may be a chance for achieving it if he strives to transcend his own li mit.He gives every risk he takes a meaning so that he said ‘Every risk is worth taking as long as it's for a good cause, and contributes to a good life. ’ In the early days of Virgin Airline, there was a hard time for Branson to keep this airline company to survive in the market as there were many obstacles and difficulties waiting for him to tackle. At the very beginning, he needed to fight against the British Airways which was already the market leader at that time which was a very keen, difficult, long and costly competition.Unfortunately, there was an incident happened during the government certification flight as there was a bird flying into an engine which led to explosion. This incident had got the airline into financial crisis as the repairing cost was very high. In the meantime, growing fuel price and economic downturn had made it even harsher for Virgin Airline to survive. As a result, Branson had to sell the Virgin Music Group in exchange for the survival of the Virgin Airline to get through the hard time.Branson as the chairman of the company had shown the conceptual in-sight of a successful entrepreneur to make the right decision in the face of difficulties and adversities. Not only did he face difficulties before being successful, but also after his success. In an interview, Branson mentioned that he tried to bring business leaders in the world to think of not just profit maximization but also social responsibilities. He thinks they can use their power to help solve different problems in the world other than the business field ones in order to make a better world.He is more and more concerned about problems happening in the world and is trying to help tackle them. He is especially concerned about global warming as he had even hosted a meeting concerning global warming at his own island. He gathered world leaders and celebrities including Tony Blair, the former Prime Minister of the UK, together to discuss the matter. He tried to brin g the issue under spotlight to arouse people’s awareness on this matter. However, he has encountered some difficulties while doing this. He is criticized by people saying that he is insincere on his environmental awareness and care as he is running an irline business which is the most pollution-producing industry. Yet, he stated that the company is using every profit to invest in research of environmental-friendly and clean fuel and the research is in full swing. If the research is successful, more people would love to travel by Virgin Airline and the aviation industry can experience a revolutionary change by using clean fuel and emitting less and even no greenhouse gases. In this case, this would be a win-win solution for the company and the general public.Richard Branson as the legendary founder and chairman of the Virgin Group displays what is a good and successful entrepreneur. His success is not coincidence but his constant endeavor and learning over years. And he is wil ling to share his way to success and inspire many people. He advocates people to break the rules and think out of the box which make a person different by dare to think and do something different from others by using creativity. One of his beliefs that inspire me the most is that you have to be bold to take risk and get something done other than sitting there all day and just think due to the fear of failing.And his love of his work is also another great inspiration as people should be passionate about what they are doing to be successful which is applicable to works in all fields. At the end of the essay, I would like to end with one of his most inspiring quote of Branson – ‘You don't learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over. ’ Reference: Richard Branson: Knight of Big Ideas – Disaster: Big Ideas Also Mean Big Risks http://www. inc. com/leigh-buchanan-and-andrew-maclean/richard-branson-risk. html James Thomson. Richard Bra nson on risk. Entrepreneur Watch. July 8, 2011. http://www. smartcompany. com. u/entrepreneur-watch/20110708-richard-branson-on-risk. html Jeremy Hobson. Sir Richard Branson on solving the world's tough problems. Marketplace Morning Report for Friday. April 27, 2012. http://www. marketplace. org/topics/business/sir-richard-branson-solving-worlds-tough-problems-0 Mary Vinnedge. Richard Branson: Virgin Entrepreneur. SUCCESS magazine. 2009. http://www. success. com/articles/712-richard-branson-virgin-entrepreneur | | The Chinese University of Hong Kong| | | | Academic Honesty Declaration Statement| | Submission Details| | | | Student Name| | NG, Yan Yee (s1155033748)| | | Year and Term| 2012-2013 Term 2| | |Course| GEYS-1010– Entrepreneurial| Spirit and Social Responsibility| | Assignment Marker| Professor KWONG Kai Sun Sunny| | Submitted File Name| Describe the work of one entrepreneur. docx| | Submission Type| Individual| | | Assignment Number| 1| Due Date (provided by student )| 2013-03-15| Submission Reference Number| 667298| Submission Time| 2013-03-14 17:39:06| Agreement and Declaration on Student's Work Submitted to VeriGuide VeriGuide is intended to help the University to assure that works submitted by students as part of course requirement are original, and that students receive the proper recognition and grades for doing so.The student, in submitting his/her work (â€Å"this Work†) to VeriGuide, warrants that he/she is the lawful owner of the copyright of this Work. 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The Civil War - 1295 Words

It is quite obvious that there were many goals to achieve during the Civil War. But discovering the true meaning and vision of the Civil War is the concept that is still researched today by the people of America. In the prologue of Blight’s Race and Reunion he states: (Three overall visions of the Civil War memory collided and combined over time: one, the reconciliationist vision †¦ two, the white supremacist vision †¦ and three, the emancipationist vision†¦) All three of these visions are extremely important, however, I mainly want to stress the importance of the white supremacist vision and the emancipationist vision. An obvious form of the change for the meaning of the Civil War through the period of Reconstruction is through the eyes of emancipationists. Emancipationist’s visions are mainly seen through African American’s eyes as they remember their freedom through the Civil War and Reconstruction. They see the Civil War as a new construction f or the liberation of blacks through citizenship and Constitutional equality. It seems quite obvious that the Blacks did indeed earn more rights as Reconstruction progressed but, there were disagreements of the rights for Blacks. The white supremacist vision did not want the Civil War to be seen as a war fought for the freedom of Blacks and Blacks rights. They wanted the Civil War to be envisioned as a defense of Southern rights as their â€Å"property† (slaves) was soon to be taken. Both of these ideas and interpretations still live on inShow MoreRelatedThe War Of The Civil War921 Words   |  4 PagesThere are no doubts that acts of war can have a negative impact on the individuals involved. There are countless stories of the soldiers’ experiences in the war, and how it affected their lives, families, and attitudes. However, there is a large demographic that is hardly accounted for: children, specifically during the Civil War era. 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