Catalina Dvila

Professor Daniel Powers

March 11, 2015
LSI 346

Special Education Reflection

Dr. Jorge Prieto Math and Science Academy
2231 N. Central Avenue Chicago, Illinois 60639

I observed at Dr. Jorge Prieto Math and Science Academy. Prieto is a

Pre-Kindergarten to eighth grade Chicago Public School and it is considered
to be a Level One school thus indicating it is in good standing. At Prieto
there are 1,042 students. Of the 1,042 students 95.5% of students are
Hispanic and 3.1% are African American and 96.6% of the students come
from a family with low income.
Upon entering Ms. Vazquez's classroom immediately one would be at
the front of the classroom where there is a rug, the projection screen, world
and United States maps, and dry-erase board. Then there was a small station
with two Dell desktops. Then there were eight circular tables, which were all
numbered one through eight both in English and Spanish. Each table had

four or five chairs. Students did not have backpacks in the classroom. All
the backpacks and coats were in the lockers outside the classroom that lined
the hallway. Since students left their backpacks behind their chairs in class
they all had a blue chair sack. In the chair sack students put the materials
they would be using through the whole day. In the middle of each table each
table there was a four-compartment bin that contained a pencils, pencil
sharpeners, markers, scissors, and glue.
All the walls in the classroom were plastered with posters made my Ms.
Vazquez. There were posters about the classroom rules and expectations,
math, history, geography, and English/grammar topics. The posters
contained the information in English and Spanish, which included and
facilitated the learning for every student in Ms. Vazquez's classroom.
At Prieto I was able to observer in Ms. Vazquez's third grade class.
There were 35 students. The class was almost equally divided. Of these 35
students in 18 were girls and 17 were boys. All of the students understood
and were able to speak Spanish and only three students did not speak or
understand any English. However, there were only two special education
students; a boy and a girl (their names will not be used in my reflection as
Ms. Vazquez asked me to not use their names). Because of the number of
students in the classroom, the classroom was always busy with movement
and noisy.
When I asked Ms. Vazquez to tell me about the Special Education
students in her classroom she told me that she only had two and pointed

cautiously towards Table Four where both special education students sat. It
was interesting to notice that table four was near Ms. Vazquezs desk. This
quickly made me think that the students did not behave well. But Table Four
was at the back of the classroom away from the board. The times I was
there I observed two mathematics lessons, one Daily Five lesson, one
English/Grammar lesson, and two social studies lessons. The third grade
class was working first on a subtraction/addition unit and then on a unit on
fractions. During the math lesson Ms. Vazquez would give a problem like the
following:
-

Ms. Vazquez has read 265 pages of 1,000. How many pages does she have
left to read?
Lily needs 1/3 cup of oil and cup of water to make muffins. Will she use
more oil or more water?
It was very interesting to see how the
boy would sit quietly and listen to
everything Ms. Vazquez would say as
she gave instructions. He would right
away write the date down in his math
journal and copy the problem down.
As I also helped Ms. Vazquez in the
classroom I would walk around and
ask if he or anyone else needed help.
He would look at me say no and
then would smile. During the morning multiplication fluency practices it did
3

take him three tries to get all the 2s multiplication table correct. He was
then going to move on to his 3s. In the multiple lessons I was able to
observe I was able to see that he did not struggle in mathematics.
The girl however was not part of Ms. Vazquez's mathematical daily
lessons. Ms. Vazquez did not sure that she was not at the same level with
her peers in mathematics but I was able to one day ask her to let me see her
math sheet that she had brought back with her. The mathematics worksheet
was double-digit subtractions.
According to the mathematics
Common Core State Standards she
would be at a first and second grade
level:
-

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.1.NBT.C.6

Subtract multiples of 10 in the range

10-90 from multiples of 10 in the
range 10-90 (positive or zero
differences), using concrete models or
drawings and strategies based on
place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between
addition and subtraction; relate the strategy to a written method and explain
the reasoning used.
-

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.2.OA.B.2

Fluently add and subtract within 20 using mental strategies.2 By end of

Grade 2, know from memory all sums of two one-digit numbers.
It was very interesting to see how both of the students were working in their
mathematics class.
During the Daily Five lesson I was so sadden to see how the girl was
not part of Daily Five. The five stations or groups were Read to Self, Read
to Someone, Listening Center, Word Work, and Writing. The girl chose
to do Read to Someone. However, I found her in a corner just holding her
book since no one wanted to read with her. I asked her if it was okay if I read
with her. When we started she was shy and I told her I would read first.
When it was then her turn to read I was able to see that the text was too
difficult for her. The book she was reading was The Journey Through Time:
Dinosaur Disaster which is categorized at a second to fourth grade level
reading book. Observing another English/Grammar lesson showed me that
the boy was also doing well or was able to be included in the reading, English
lesson, he was reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck.
While both the boy and girl were at different academic levels as
observed in the lessons, both were socially reserved, as they did not seek
peer interactions. During whole class participation both would raise their
hands to participate but they were never called on. They did interact with
their peers at Table Four when Ms. Vazquez would instruct them to turn and
talk to a partner. One day, Ms. Vazquez said they would have a mini-dance

break. Both the girl and boy went to the rug as Ms. Vazquez said. I group of
girls started to hold hands right before the music started but the girl was left
there standing alone. The boy was only talking and smiling with one boy. In
my first critique articles; Teacher characteristics, social classroom
relationship, and childrens social, emotional, and behavioral classroom
adjustments in special education by L.D. Breeman it was said the boy were
more accepting of their male peers who were in special education as
opposed to the girls who were not as accepting. I was able to see this in Ms.
Vazquezs classroom and wanted to do something to change this.
With 35 students the interaction between the two special education
students and Ms. Vazquez was minimal. This can also be true because they
did not cause any behavioral problems. When I was helping I made an effort
to always ask them if they needed help with anything to show them I was
willing to help. My time at Ms. Vazquezs class was a valuable learning
experience. As Ms. Vazquez mentioned, in CPS bilingual classes are
relatively large and then there are SPED students thus making inclusion and
mainstreaming difficult but not impossible.

More of the two SPED students work: