Tri-State University and Western Michigan University
For my freshmen year of college I decided to attend a small school in Indiana called Tri-State University. This is a private school with roughly 1,000 students. The school itself is a lot like Marcellus High School, where everybody new your business. Since I played basketball, a lot of the writing I found myself composing had a lot to do with basketball. I had to come up with plays, drills, goals, etc.
We often had study tables twice a week for basketball. These study table sessions were mandatory, you had to go regardless if you had homework. As a freshmen, I was taking the basic courses, so lucky for me, I had very little homework. If we were caught on facebook or myspace during our study tables, this was an automatic suspension. What I found myself doing at this time was creating stories about basketball. I decided to create corny stories on a scrap sheet of paper, and then found myself doodling all over them. Unfortunately I was not able to recover any of these corny short stories.
I had taken one English class at Tri-State and the only writing I can recall doing in that class was a one page paper. The class consisted of the professor talking about music, movies, food...nothing that had to do with writing. At the time, students in the class and myself loved this professor because of how easy the course was. We never had to do anything. I never was exposed to any MLA writing at all. When I look back, I wish I would have learned something in that class, or at least practiced writing.
After I attended Tr-State I decided to transfer to Western Michigan University. After various major and minor changed, I decided to change my major to Special Education with a minor in English. Two classes that had a great impact on my writing were English 1000 and Adolescent literature. In English 1000, The teacher had me thinking critcally about poetry and literature, which is something I was never really exposed to. This was also the first teacher who didn't have red marks written all over my papers and had a separate sheet attached. She didn't correct our grammar and wanted to focus on our beliefs and ideas. In regards to Adolescent Literature, the teacher was tough, but always pushed our writing. She wanted us to try new things that we never found ourselves doing when writing. This teacher has helped me become a better writer.
Writing is very important for the special education program, whether it be lesson plans, letters, emails, etc. What I really love about writing in the special education program, is the fact that I always have an intended audience. I have written actual letters to parents and am always writing emails to classmates as a means of communication. I've also had to learn how to write in the APA format which is something that I was never exposed to. Below is a formal letter I wrote to a practicum student's parent.
Dear Mrs. Rodriguez,
This past semester I have been working with your daughter Theresa. She is
a very caring girl with a great heart. She has a great personality and is always
making me laugh. Theresa always participates in the classroom and is the first
one to raise her hand to answer a question. I have been observing your daughter
for quite some time and have kept track of her thinking and learning style
preferences on a checklist. Theresa is a visual and kinesthetic learner. She
enjoys activities where she is able to move around as well as activities where
she is able to visually see what is being presented to her. She enjoys learning
by having powerpoints. Theresa’s thinking style preference is analytic. Theresa likes to analyze the processes
by breaking them down before she believes something is true.
The primary focus of the after school program was to focus on math and
reading. During the first week, I benchmarked Theresa for math. The benchmark is
what is used to screen the student and we use this to look back and see how much
progress has been made. I gave her three assessments on math that were all
equivalent and designated for third graders. These assessments included mixed
addition and subtraction. Her scores came back at the frustration level which just means that we need to go at
a lower level. I benchmarked Theresa at the second grade level which was more
suitable for her. Theresa’s benchmark score was 14 digits correct. I set a goal for Theresa to reach 30
digits correct. I was able to give her five more assessments, one per week. Her
highest score on the assessment reached 26, and was just cut a little short of
the semester goal.
In reading, I benchmarked Theresa using DIBELS which you may already have
heard a little about. DIBELS measures the 5 big ideas in early literacy. The
primary focuses were on Accuracy and Fluency as well as comprehension. Theresa
read reading passages to me from the DIBELS level 3 booklet and retold as much
as she could about the passage. Her benchmark score for fluency was 65 words per
minute (wpm) and retell score (comprehension) was 15.
I set goals for these areas. The goal for fluency was set to 85 wpm and
retell was set to a score of 30. I was able to give her three more assessments
to monitor her progress. Theresa was able to reach 84 wpm, which was just shy of
the goal. Her retell reached a score of 18 which was an improvement but did not
meet theI was able to implement strategies to help focus on reading and math.
These strategies were K-W-L charts, story maps, read alouds, and fact fluency
with flash cards. The possibilities are endless if Theresa continues to utilize
these strategies for help in reading and math. You might enjoy practicing these
strategies with your daughter. Theresa was truly a joy to work with
this semester. I wish Theresa a great amount of success in the near future.
Thank you for allowing me to work with your daughter. If you have any questions
feel free to contact me.
Sincerely,
Alexa Surdell
Below is a paper I wrote in one of my special education classes. This is the first paper I ever had to write using APA format. At the time, it seemed that it was much harder to get a hang of. MLA seemed to be much easier for me. Since this first paper, I have written so many papers using the APA format and I don't necessarily enjoy doing it . I feel that all students should be exposed to the APA writing format if they have not already done so. Research papers are beneficial because you are able to learn about a particular topic and really gain an understanding that you might have been less familiar with otherwise. I remember how scared I was when I wrote this paper. I thought I was going to get a poor grade, but that was not the case. I actually enjoyed writing this paper because co-teaching is something I am interested in doing as an aspiring special education teacher. It also helped that I had a great professor who allowed us to turn in multiple drafts until we thought we had written our best paper. She explained that by practicing, we were learning. I agreed with her. I learned more when I was able to submit multiple drafts. She didn't necessarily focus on all of the conventions, but ideas.
We often had study tables twice a week for basketball. These study table sessions were mandatory, you had to go regardless if you had homework. As a freshmen, I was taking the basic courses, so lucky for me, I had very little homework. If we were caught on facebook or myspace during our study tables, this was an automatic suspension. What I found myself doing at this time was creating stories about basketball. I decided to create corny stories on a scrap sheet of paper, and then found myself doodling all over them. Unfortunately I was not able to recover any of these corny short stories.
I had taken one English class at Tri-State and the only writing I can recall doing in that class was a one page paper. The class consisted of the professor talking about music, movies, food...nothing that had to do with writing. At the time, students in the class and myself loved this professor because of how easy the course was. We never had to do anything. I never was exposed to any MLA writing at all. When I look back, I wish I would have learned something in that class, or at least practiced writing.
After I attended Tr-State I decided to transfer to Western Michigan University. After various major and minor changed, I decided to change my major to Special Education with a minor in English. Two classes that had a great impact on my writing were English 1000 and Adolescent literature. In English 1000, The teacher had me thinking critcally about poetry and literature, which is something I was never really exposed to. This was also the first teacher who didn't have red marks written all over my papers and had a separate sheet attached. She didn't correct our grammar and wanted to focus on our beliefs and ideas. In regards to Adolescent Literature, the teacher was tough, but always pushed our writing. She wanted us to try new things that we never found ourselves doing when writing. This teacher has helped me become a better writer.
Writing is very important for the special education program, whether it be lesson plans, letters, emails, etc. What I really love about writing in the special education program, is the fact that I always have an intended audience. I have written actual letters to parents and am always writing emails to classmates as a means of communication. I've also had to learn how to write in the APA format which is something that I was never exposed to. Below is a formal letter I wrote to a practicum student's parent.
Dear Mrs. Rodriguez,
This past semester I have been working with your daughter Theresa. She is
a very caring girl with a great heart. She has a great personality and is always
making me laugh. Theresa always participates in the classroom and is the first
one to raise her hand to answer a question. I have been observing your daughter
for quite some time and have kept track of her thinking and learning style
preferences on a checklist. Theresa is a visual and kinesthetic learner. She
enjoys activities where she is able to move around as well as activities where
she is able to visually see what is being presented to her. She enjoys learning
by having powerpoints. Theresa’s thinking style preference is analytic. Theresa likes to analyze the processes
by breaking them down before she believes something is true.
The primary focus of the after school program was to focus on math and
reading. During the first week, I benchmarked Theresa for math. The benchmark is
what is used to screen the student and we use this to look back and see how much
progress has been made. I gave her three assessments on math that were all
equivalent and designated for third graders. These assessments included mixed
addition and subtraction. Her scores came back at the frustration level which just means that we need to go at
a lower level. I benchmarked Theresa at the second grade level which was more
suitable for her. Theresa’s benchmark score was 14 digits correct. I set a goal for Theresa to reach 30
digits correct. I was able to give her five more assessments, one per week. Her
highest score on the assessment reached 26, and was just cut a little short of
the semester goal.
In reading, I benchmarked Theresa using DIBELS which you may already have
heard a little about. DIBELS measures the 5 big ideas in early literacy. The
primary focuses were on Accuracy and Fluency as well as comprehension. Theresa
read reading passages to me from the DIBELS level 3 booklet and retold as much
as she could about the passage. Her benchmark score for fluency was 65 words per
minute (wpm) and retell score (comprehension) was 15.
I set goals for these areas. The goal for fluency was set to 85 wpm and
retell was set to a score of 30. I was able to give her three more assessments
to monitor her progress. Theresa was able to reach 84 wpm, which was just shy of
the goal. Her retell reached a score of 18 which was an improvement but did not
meet theI was able to implement strategies to help focus on reading and math.
These strategies were K-W-L charts, story maps, read alouds, and fact fluency
with flash cards. The possibilities are endless if Theresa continues to utilize
these strategies for help in reading and math. You might enjoy practicing these
strategies with your daughter. Theresa was truly a joy to work with
this semester. I wish Theresa a great amount of success in the near future.
Thank you for allowing me to work with your daughter. If you have any questions
feel free to contact me.
Sincerely,
Alexa Surdell
Below is a paper I wrote in one of my special education classes. This is the first paper I ever had to write using APA format. At the time, it seemed that it was much harder to get a hang of. MLA seemed to be much easier for me. Since this first paper, I have written so many papers using the APA format and I don't necessarily enjoy doing it . I feel that all students should be exposed to the APA writing format if they have not already done so. Research papers are beneficial because you are able to learn about a particular topic and really gain an understanding that you might have been less familiar with otherwise. I remember how scared I was when I wrote this paper. I thought I was going to get a poor grade, but that was not the case. I actually enjoyed writing this paper because co-teaching is something I am interested in doing as an aspiring special education teacher. It also helped that I had a great professor who allowed us to turn in multiple drafts until we thought we had written our best paper. She explained that by practicing, we were learning. I agreed with her. I learned more when I was able to submit multiple drafts. She didn't necessarily focus on all of the conventions, but ideas.
Below is a paper I wrote using the MLA format for an adolescent literature course. I absolutely loved this class and got me to write in a new way. There were a lot of comments on this paper, and it was my first college paper that I ever got a final grade of a C+. I was sad about the fact that I received this grade, but I was able to get a lot of important feedback for future writing. I've learned to really dig deep and use my own background knowledge to help guide my writing.
Emails
In one of my special education classes I was required to send weekly emails to my professor discussing what we encountered during our practicum. These were simple, informal emails that allowed for engagement with the professor. She was required to respond back and we were to do this once a week. I really enjoyed writing these simple emails to her because a lot of the time I had asked her questions I had and she was able to give me advice and information regardig the questions. I've come to realize that I learned a lot about myself as well as my teaching styles by having to write these emails once a week. This is real world writing.