sped teaching

8/8/2019 Sped Teaching

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SPED 405Cynthia Watson

Signature:Parent Collaboration Assignment

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A. The teacher I interviewed teaches 9th

grade English as a second language. She has

been a teacher for one year now and this is her second year teaching. She teaches in a

public school in Indianapolis and she is also certified in special education.

B. The teacher I interviewed collaborates with at least one of her student¶s parents

everyday and she usually communicates with her student¶s parents over the phone or

through written notes. One of the greatest challenges the teacher has to face is being able

to communicate with her student¶s parents. She teaches English as a second language so

her student¶s parents sometimes don¶t know how to speak English. Therefore, when a

translator isn¶t around, it is hard for the teacher to communicate with the parents that

don¶t speak English.

C. The parent I interviewed has 4 children. One of her children is in college, one is a

senior in high school, one is in 7th

grade, and the other is not in school. None of her

children have IEPs as of now. The child I interviewed her about was the one in 7th

grade.

D. The parent I interviewed was very optimistic about her experiences with her child¶s

teachers. Her child¶s teachers communicate with her often and make her feel very

comfortable when she visits the school or the classroom. She hasn¶t faced any challenges

thus far when it comes to communicating with her child¶s teachers. She likes the fact that

her child¶s teachers don¶t only communicate with her when something negative happens,

but they also communicate with her when he does something positive. The only thing the

mother would like is to have more social gatherings with her son¶s teachers so that they

can get to know each other more.

General Reflection:





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When interviewing the teacher, I was surprised that she talked to at least one of her

student¶s parents every day. Talking to at least one parent everyday takes a lot of

dedication and time. I don¶t know if most teachers actually communicate with at least one

of their student¶s teachers every day. I had a hard time believing that the teacher I

interviewed talked to at least one of her student¶s parents every day. I was also surprised

that she said that they usually talk about positive things about the student. I remember

when I was in school and teachers used to call home. Whenever, they called home, it was

always something negative. Therefore, I have a hard time believing that a teacher would

only have positive things to say when they call their student¶s parents. When interviewing

the mother, I was surprised that her experience was so positive. She seemed to not have

any problems when it comes to communicating with her son¶s teachers. It seems as if she

is always updated on her son¶s progress and she feels comfortable when she goes to visit

her son¶s school. I would have thought that there would have been at last one challenge

that the parent faced when it comes to communicating with her son¶s teachers, but she

didn¶t have any. The teacher and the parent seemed to have a positive attitude towards the

subject. The teacher was positive because she communicated with at least one of her

student¶s parents every day with no problem. The mother I interviewed was very positive

because she had very good experiences with her son¶s teachers and school. I have learned

a lot from my interviews with both the mother and the teacher. I, now, know that trying to

get to know my student¶s parents on a personal level may help them to feel more

comfortable around me. This may also help them to open up to me about things that I can

help them with in order to ensure that their child succeeds. I also learned that





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communicating with parents about positive things is very good for the parent and the

child. This lets the parent know of their child¶s achievement and may keep the parent

involved if they see that their child is doing really well. Also, this motivates the child to

want to do more if they see that they are doing really well. I will make sure that I am in

constant contact with parents to ensure that I have a successful relationship with them. I

will also offer my help whenever necessary to ensure that my students¶ parents feel

comfortable coming to my classroom.

Reflection related to special education:

A parent of a student with a disability may have a different relationship with his or her

child¶s school and teachers than a student without a disability. The reason for this is

because the teacher may have to be in more close contact with the parent to make sure

their child is being accommodated correctly. The teacher would have to ensure that the

child is receiving all necessary support to ensure the success of a student with a disability.

That requires more contact with the parent because I feel as though the teacher needs to

work closely with the parent to make sure everything is being done to ensure the success

of her child. I feel as though when parents and teachers work together, it helps them to be

on the same page. Therefore, it would be less likely that there would be a

miscommunication between the parent and the teacher. This will help the student with a

disability succeed in the long run. The parents of a student with a disability may have a

different experience because their experience may be more positive because the teacher

would probably be more attentive to a parent whose child has a disability. This will make

the parent more comfortable around the teacher because the teacher is showing that she





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cares about the success of the parent¶s child. I might need to make a few special

considerations when communicating with a parent of a child with an IEP. One might be

to make sure that I don¶t offend the parent in anyway when talking about their child¶s

disability. I may also need to make sure I don¶t make the parent feel as though their child

is incapable of learning just as another child. I just need to make sure that I make the

parent of a child with a disability feel as comfortable as possible when talking to me and

make her feel as though her child can learn just as any other child. We will just have to

make accommodations to ensure this. I think that communicating with parents efficiently

will help students to be more successful because they will be receiving support from both

the teacher and the parent.

General education teacher: C.K.

y How often do you talk to/collaborate with parents? Please explain (purpose, how,

etc«) I talk to at least one of my student's parents every day. We often talk about

positive things I have noticed in their children, academic or behavior issues, how

students are doing on their goals, etc.

y What is the most common way that you communicate with parents? I mostly

communicate with parents over the phone or through written notes.

y What has been your greatest challenge when it comes to parent communication?

What have you done to address this? Have you ever had to deal with an angry

parent and how did you resolve this situation? Over 40% of my school is ELL,

which means communication is often difficult without the use of a translator. This

is always a challenge since the translator is busy and I feel like I have a harder





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time developing a relationship with those families. I have had several parents

argue about grades before, but it is generally quickly resolved once I show them

their child's work and explain why their child got that grade.

y What advice would you give future middle/high school teachers about

communicating successfully with parents? What have you found to be successful?

Would you provide any separate advice for communicating with parents of

students with disabilities who have an IEP? One piece of advice I would give a

new teacher is to keep a communication log. This is really helpful because you

can see when you last talked to the parent and what the issue was about. Middle

and high school teachers generally have a lot of students, so this helps keep things

straight. For students that have disabilities, make sure you are in constant

communication with the parents, and that the parents feel comfortable asking you

questions. Do your best to explain things clearly to them and don't use

unnecessary academic jargon because this quickly makes parents feel stupid,

which we don't want. Instead, we want all parents to feel empowered to make

academic decisions for their children.

Parent of a secondary student: L.W.

y How well do you feel that your child¶s school communicates with you about your

child? Explain. My child¶s school communicates with me pretty well about my

child. I have regular parent-teacher conferences with my child¶s teachers and we

talk about his progress. We also talk about some academic goals that I have in

mind for my child and what we can do in order to reach those goals. If my child





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misbehaves in class or is absent from class, I am immediately notified about the

incident. Also, the teacher sends progress reports home regularly to let me know

how my son is doing in all of his classes.

y Do you feel comfortable coming to your child¶s school? Explain. Yes, I do feel

comfortable coming to my child¶s school. The administration and teachers are

very friendly. Whenever I enter the building, everyone speaks and tries to help me

out in any way possible with any questions that I may have. Also, if I need help

with finding any resources, the school social worker is always there to help me.

y Would you/do you feel comfortable in your child¶s classroom? Explain. Yes, I do

feel comfortable in my child¶s classroom. The teachers make me feel comfortable

and whenever I come to his class, they always make me feel welcomed. They

make sure any questions that I have are answered before I leave and they create a

friendly relationship with me that makes me comfortable when I¶m around them.

y Describe some positive experiences you have had with your child¶s secondary

teachers in terms of communication about academics and/or behavior. There have

been a few positive experiences that I¶ve had with my child¶s secondary teachers

in terms of communication about academics and/or behavior. One instance was

when I went to my son¶s school for a parent-teacher conference and the teacher

greeted me with a huge smile on her face. The first thing she said was, ³Your son

is a pleasure to have in class and I never have a problem with his behavior. He¶s

so generous.´ This made me smile because I felt good that the teacher had

positive things to say about my son. Another instance was when I got a call home





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from the teacher informing me that my son had gotten a 100 percent on his project

that he had been working on for two weeks. It made me feel proud because I had

helped him with the project. Also, I was excited to see that my son¶s teacher was

calling me about something positive, instead of negative. I always thought that

teachers only called home when students were misbehaving or failing.

y Have you had any challenging experiences when it comes to communicating with

any of your child¶s secondary teachers? Explain. No, I haven¶t had any

challenging experiences when it comes to communicating with any of my child¶s

secondary teachers because they always keep me updated on his progress. Also,

whenever I have questions, they always answer them for me. If they don¶t know

the answer to one of my questions, they always refer me to someone who can

answer my questions. They keep me satisfied.

y What types of communication would you like to receive from your child¶s

teachers? I would like to receive communication through a telephone call, home

visits, and parent-teacher conferences. I would also like to communicate outside

of formal meetings such as social gatherings. These could be like movie night,

discussions about different topics parents are concerned with, pizza night, or any

social gathering where I can get to know the teacher and the teacher can get to

know me.

y What advice would you give a future middle/high school teacher about

communicating with parents? Some advice that I would give a future middle/high

school teacher about communicating with parents would be to keep parents





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informed about positive and negative things that their child is doing. Also, try to

get to know the parent outside of formal meetings and help the parent out as best

as you can when she is in need of something, especially if it concerns the

academic success of her child.

How might I use this information in my future classroom?

I can use this information in my future classroom because I now understand what

some parents may be thinking when it comes to communicating with their child¶s

teachers. Parents may just want the teachers to make them feel comfortable and keep

them updated on their child¶s progress. Parents may not always want to hear the

negative things about their child. They may also want to hear the positive things

about their child too because this gives them the motivation to keep supporting their

children academically. Also, trying to communicate with at least one student¶s

parents every day may help me to ensure that I¶m in constant contact with my

student¶s parents. This will help to ensure the success of all my students with or

without disabilities.

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