Learning Log: 4-14-09

What?

IDEA stands for Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. This is a legislative law that requires assistance to be provided for students who qualify for special education. This is not your good ol' resource class, but a newer, updated special education program that allows all types of special needs students to have the resources and learning opportunities that they need.

IDEA is for Inclusion. This is where special needs students are placed in general education schools, and where possible, general education classrooms (with accommodations made.) This creates an environment that allows for assimilation and fights prejudice. It fosters social intelligence, and allows students to remain with their peers. The principle behind inclusion is the Least Restrictive Environment. This means that a student is placed in the most free environment where they can possibly succeed.

There are many theories on intelligence and it's measure. Today we learned in class about Spearmans' g, Catell's Fluid & Crystallized, Sternberg's Triarchic Theory, Distributed Intelligence, and Gardner's Multiple Intelligences.

So What?

The way special needs students are educated is changing. Through IDEA and the use of IEP's teachers are expected to know how to best assist their students based on the IEP for that student. We as teachers must work closely with special education specialists in order to best accommodate each student in their own specific way.

The intelligences theories that we learned about today are important to know about in our classrooms. To me, Gardner's Multiple Intelligences is the most applicable to our classroom settings. Teaching students about these different types of intelligences helps them to better understand how they learn. It also helps us as educators to vary our different types of instruction so that we can reach the maximum amount of students, based on their intelligences and learning styles.

Now What?

As I am preparing to enter my own classroom, I feel I may need to learn to embrace the concept of inclusion a bit more. I truly do believe that it is right and good and what is best for special needs students. However, it seems really intimidating to me as a teacher. I feel the pressure to help those students quite immense, and I know that at first it will be struggle to be able to accommodate them (if it is a severe disability), and also help my class. However, I know that there is a support system there for me (the special education team) that I can go to if needed.

After taking the multiple intelligences test, I felt very happy that I am quite well rounded. Just as predicted, I did rank highest in the visual/spatial (picture smart) side of the spectrum. However, I was surprised that Naturalistic was one of the area's tied for second highest. I do love nature and am going to teach biology and all, but I can say that the high score was a pleasant surprise.

A lesson that I contemplated in a Health class that addressed multiple intelligences was a lesson about emotional health. Emotional health is a considered one of the components of health, and so teaching about it is definitely within the state curriculum. The lesson allows students to choose how to best explain how they feel they are doing..emotional health wise by choosing how they think they could best represent their current feelings and well-being. Students could choose to draw a representational picture, make a logical comparison graph, write a short skit, write a short reflection or story, invent a body-movement, or writing a short song etc. This allows students to express something that most of them are passionate about (their own emotions as teenagers) in a way that feels comfortable to them (in their own intelligence). Through this excercise, they could learn how to express their emotions in a healthy and unique way... a way that perhaps they had not thought of before.