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National University

ITL 604 Learners and Learning I

Professor: Kristina Lyman

Field Work Special Education Teacher Interview and Observation

March 28, 2019

Sabrina Barrera
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Working at Soledad High School, there are many resources for students with learning or

mental disabilities. Some being special education Teachers, specific accommodations, and

special education classes. Talking with Mr. Patania, a special educations resource specialist, he

shared numerous amount of information about the process of getting into special education

classes and the approach to helping students with learning disabilities throughout our school.

He’s been working for over thirty-nine years and he spent thirty-three of those years teaching

special education at the high school we both work at. I spent close to two hours interviewing him

and observing the classroom environment. Mr. Patania’s student case load mostly consisted of

seniors but he did have sophomores, as well. Even though he has a specific amount of

students, the school provided him classes that allows all students with learning disabilities a

place to get help when taking tests or completing assignments. The class is called “The

Learning Center.” If a student has an IEP, EL learners or other 504 plan, they are free to get the

resources from that class during tests or if they have a problem in their classes. Mr. Patania

stated he worked with Aeries, which informs you who has learning disabilities, and Siras, which

is a computer based IEP system specific to a students case load information.

When a student is thought to have a learning disability, by either their parents or by their

teachers, they get sent to perform an early screening process. The early screening process first

sends the students to a psychologist and they use a process called wisc R which is an acronym

for Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. After this program, they use Bender which is a test

for the special differentiation of a students disability. Once a diagnoses has been determined,

the psychologists asks the school counselors to get information from the teachers of that

student. Teachers use the woodcock Johnson test version four, which is both an academic

achievement and cognitive development test. They then try to pinpoint certain issues and come

up with an action plan. After weeks o trying different avenues, they then formally make a request

for a signature from the principal and the director of special education. Some of the action plans
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that I have received so far have advised their educators to put them in the front of the class,

give extra time to turn in assignments, have them go to the learning center for more resources,

and have a teacher sit in on some classes with them for frequent help. From these certain

needs that have been placed in my classroom for special education students, I have seen a

difference in the way the students interact and complete their assignments.

As a general education teacher, it is important that we follow these services for special

education students. According to Spring (2018), “the civil rights movement encompassed

students with disabilities to participate equally in schools with other students.” He also stated

that there is a public law called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This act

“protects individuals with disabilities from discrimination and promotes their full inclusion into

eduction and all other aspects of our society.” As their specific action plans are given to us, it is

our duty, as educators, to adhere to their accommodates set for them. Some other

responsibilities we as educators must follow is allowing students to have access to curriculum.

The students are able to use all materials including books, notes, and lecture slides for their

tests or quizzes. It is absolutely important that their information stays confidential. As educators,

confidentiality of all students information should be principal, not just the information of special

education students. By law, we have to meet once a year to discuss the progress of the

students and every 3 years to discuss eligibility for special education. In order to ensure that

these students are getting the help they need and that the accommodations are actually

working, progress checks are done quarterly. It is crucial if any medications are needed for a

special education students that the general education teacher is aware of it. Not only will this

help the teacher know what to do in case of an emergency, they can also inform their students

of the right procedure to follow if something happens. From what Mr. Patania stated, prescribed

medical drugs should be administered at home or with the consent of the doctor if they want or

need it to be administered at home. No general education teacher can administer drugs to

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students. They would have to go to the nurses office for distribution or have someone come in

to the office from home and give it to the student. These plan of actions go through the special

education teacher and handed out to general education teachers from there.

Talking with Mr. Patania about how UDL has been incorporated in his teachings and how

he uses it to collaborate with all the teachers was very interesting. He first stated that he loved

how in recent years the teachers are now welcoming special education students into regular

classes more effectively and warm heartedly. They are even asking what they can do more to

help students with learning disabilities. However, he also mentioned that some other teachers

teach to their strengths, ignoring the students with needs. They usually teach at a higher level

through a modality that people with special learning disabilities are just not able to follow up

with. These students that are in the classroom then feel like they are too far behind to try

making their confidence to learn diminish and they end up receiving a bad grade. Throughout

his classroom, he implements different types of learning methods for his students with different

types of learning disabilities. He said he visits classrooms and gives them advice as to how

general education teachers can implement these same techniques in their classroom. Mr.

Patania enjoyed some of his classroom visits that included accommodations for students that

did not even have special needs. This shows that those specific teachers really care about all

students learning and getting the information to succeed in the classroom. In his class. Mr.

Patania sets up individual goals, especially for his special education seniors that are close to

graduating. These goals range from completing their assignments, improving their grade by a

little, and even behavior discipline for themselves. According to Slavin (2018), “students can be

taught self-regulation strategies,” “such strategies have been shown to enhance learning by

establishing their own learning goals.” Since the caseload Mr. Patania works with is mostly

seniors, he uses graduation as an incentive for them to achieve their set goals. For the most
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part, he states that is motivation enough to get their work done and get help if they don’t know

how to do the assignments.

When asked what his biggest issue was handling a numerous amount of caseloads and

dealing with multiple general education teachers, Mr. Patania had plenty to say about his plans

for the future as well. He was not to happy about how some staff find it unfair that students are

able to go to the learning center to take tests. They believe that the students are only there to

cheat and get a higher score on their test. He assured me that students with learning disabilities

are already behind from the start. Even if a student is in the class at the time the teacher is

explaining the material, the student’s disability may prevent them from focusing on the material,

get the numbers of words mixed up, or allow them to remember things. The learning center

helps them break down those learning disabilities with the types of approaches general

education teachers have yet to implement in their classrooms. In the learning center they have

access to notes, books, and lecture materials so they can refer back to what they learned or

went over in class so they can have somewhat of an equal opportunity as the students that do

not have a learning disability. After he expressed his concerns about that, he shared with me his

plans to help special education students past high school and into the work force. He urges the

high school principal to provide more vocational classes especially one for special education

students. While many of the students struggle with auditory learning, these vocational classes

consist a lot of visual and kinesthetic activities. From the studies he’s taken in his special

education class, Mr. Patania has seen that the majority of his students perform excellently in

vocational education. He also wants remedial based learning for some of his students. Some of

his students come into high school just being discovered that they only read at a third grade

level. A Variety of the Core Curriculum tests have advanced core standards and they state they

are basic in order to advance. However, for special education students that basic level is behind
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them. Therefore, a remedial learning test would help allow these students to progress to higher

education levels with their disabilities.

Being that Mr. Patania has been teaching for over thirty-three years, I was wondering

how plans and diagnoses have changed over the past couple decades. As claimed by him, they

make sure to cover legal matter more extensively. From going to three pages, now the IEP are

nine pages long so they cover their entire bases on special education students. This saves time

for students to learn in the classroom and not in a court room. Having seen the school system

on special education thirty years ago, Mr. Patania finds it great that its easier to diagnose

students than before. As some teachers would just pass a student on to the next grade level

because they would just think a student is unintelligent, now awareness of learning disabilities

are more acknowledged and are easier to see. Resources are easily available to help students

with learning disabilities. He also stated that there are more teachers willing to help special

education students than before. They are sensitive to their learning disabilities and have

incorporated them into their classes happily for full inclusion techniques. Instead of saying they

are not willing to help, Mr. Patania reports that teachers are ready to help and they even act as

a the students study team when they are completing assignments or tests. With this type of

positive support, it provides students the motivation all around them. Not only from themselves,

their special education teachers, but from their general education teachers too.

After the interview, I was able to sit in on his class and observe how he implements his

teachings for special education students. As the high school students came in from break, they

new they had to do a warm up that was on the board. Mr. Patania stated that having a routine

helps kids with learning disabilities know what they are suppose to do in the classroom. The

classroom seats were set up with computers in the back of the room, the seats facing the front

of the classroom, and a side table with special education teachers assistants to help the

students if they needed help in a specify subject. The class size was very small, while my
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science class ranges from 33-39 students for a lecture size, his only had 15 students enrolled.

While I struggle to meet the needs of helping all my students in a span of one class time, he is

able to help all his students twice and still walk around to make sure everyone is understanding

what they need to completing. There was rules posted around the room and a board in the back

of the room that had very positive quotes and writing on it. One was written, “Your value does

not decrease based on someone’s inability to see your worth.” Another one said, “SHS every

student every day.” With this positivity, it shows the teacher cares about their students and they

want to create a healthy environment for the students to progress their learning. After the

students completed their warm up and attendance was taken, Mr. Patania always asks three

questions to each student. The first question is “Do you have homework?,” then “Do you

understand the classwork?,” and “Do you need any help?” Asking these questions allow

students to complete assignments and get help if needed. Mr. Patania motivates the students by

looking at their grade and recommends the things they should do to get a higher percentage in

the class. According to Slavin (2018), “motivation is one of the most important ingredients.” By

praising students and pushing them to get their work done, you set a parenting presence that

you care and you want them to do good. After a while of helping the students around the

classroom, some students that have special education accommodates around the school came

in to take a test or get help on an assignment. One thing that really shocked me was that Mr.

Patania stated because we live in an area where the agriculture is so near to us, studies have

shown the percentage of students with disabilities is higher at these schools because of the

pesticides and other chemicals in the air. With all those students with special educational needs,

Mr. Patania is there to help in any way that he can.

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References

Slavin, R.E. (2018). Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice. (12th ed). New York: NY.

Pearson Education. Ch. 10 & 12.

Spring, J.H. (2018). American education (18th ed.). New York: Routledge. Pg. 136-141.