Student Case Study

Bruce P. Smallacombe

Using Technology within Inclusion Education

Edu. 721 Spring 2010 A

Laurel Ellis

Feb. 13th, 2010

Student Profile
 The student who I am profiling, Jennifer, is an 18 year old senior. She is

presently taking my Earth & Space II course. She is in my last period of the day

along with seven other students who have IEP’s. There are 30 students in this class,

which is a full class for me, and it makes one on one instruction very difficult.

The fact that this is a science course, laboratory work is a requirement.

Jennifer will have to work with other students to complete the labs. She will also

have to work on her own to create the lab reports that are handed in at the

completion of the assignment. Note taking is also a large part of the course work

which is usually given via power point presentations on the SMART board. Section

and chapter reviews, worksheets, and research work are also assignments that are

done throughout the course.

Jennifer suffers from several mental and physical disabilities. She is very

small in stature, less then five feet tall and well under 80 pounds. The simple act of

carrying a days worth of books, notebooks, and writing utensils is a very difficult

task for her. She is often late to classes because, according to district policy,

students are not allowed to carry book bags while in school. Therefore, she often

drops items while in transit. Students have come to recognize her physical

disabilities and often help her when they can.

Her mental capacity is that of a pre-teenager. She has crushes on several of

her male teachers and classmates. She “giggles” at anything and everything. Her

speech is very childish and lacking average intellect. Rose and Meyer state that

actions and skills as diverse as sweeping the floor, deciding a chess move, or

choosing a college are part of the strategic network. Jennifer is showing this
network when she finds pens, pencils, and other objects in the hallways while on

trips to the lavatory and brings them back to class to give to me.

Jennifer has a very short temper. She will very easily argue with a student or

teacher is she feels distressed or aggravated. She often has not finished tests for

me with her special education instructor because she said: “She doesn’t like me,” or

“She’s mad at me”.

Her mental disabilities prevent her from completing assignments on time. It

takes her an entire class period to read one page of the text book. She needs to go

to her special education instructor to complete her written in-class assignments;

otherwise she would not get them done by the end of class, or have double the

homework when class is over. She has to concentrate quite hard when writing a

letter onto a piece of paper. Because of this, she can not take her own notes. I

have to print all of my power point slides out and give them to her. She also has a

very hard time focusing on one thing at a time. Therefore, I have to teach all of my

lessons while standing next to her desk. If it wasn’t for my SMART board, this would

be impossible.

Even though she suffers from these physical and mental disabilities, she still

manages decent grades and even participates in class discussions. She speaks

very quietly and is difficult to understand form distances further than five feet away.

I often have to ask her to repeat herself and she sometimes gets frustrated and will

say things like, “What, are you deaf?” Other times she will put her head down and

giggle and turn shy.

She likes to work by herself on most assignments, which is good because

others in the class do not like working with her. There is one girl, who is one of my
best students, who will often work with and talk to her during class. I think Jennifer

has taken a liking to her and considers her a friend. This, along with other

situations that were described above show Jennifer’s affective networking at work.

Jennifer has attached emotional significance to this young lady in considering her a

friend (Rose & Meyer, 2002, pg. 31)

Jennifer’s IEP:

• Teacher provided notes

• Alternatives to long written reports and written assignments

• Modified testing or grading

• Written assessments in place of oral assessments

• Extra time

• Read aloud

• Word bank provided

• No more than 3 choices for multiple choice

• Multiple choices arranged vertically

• Excused from cumulative finals

• When communicating with student:

o slow down the pace of speech

o avoid speaking when not directly facing her

 o use gestures, modeling, and demonstrations

o simplify directions

The Environment

As stated above, Jennifer must be taught with the teacher standing close to

her as to keep her attention. Therefore, she sits in the front of the classroom. My

room consists of 15, two person tables. Directly in front of the table she sits at is

my SMART board. She is no more than 10 feet away from it. On three of my four

walls are posters and newspaper articles that deal with space topics (planets,

moons, stars, asteroids) and earth topics (earthquakes, volcanoes, rocks, minerals,

glaciers).

In my room is a portable computer cart that houses 30 Macintosh computers.

Students are allowed to use them when they need help with an assignment or

would like to print out something for class. There are also a plethora of scientific

devices that students can use for labs or for general knowledge.

Jennifer is allowed to go to her special education instructor whenever she

wants. In my room, she has access to the computers when needed and other

scientific equipment. In her special education classroom, she can use the

computer, she receives speech and language pathology/therapy and hearing

impairment support. The equipment used by her for this is unknown to me at the

present time.
 Jennifer is very good about staying on task when there are disruptions around

her. She only drifts off task when the distractions involve her directly. When she

does become distracted and has an outburst in class, the entire class tends to

laugh, making the situation worse.

Jennifer is a very religious person. She compares things to Biblical events

often and the other students usually laugh at this. Examples of this were when we

were discussing maps; she brought out a map of the Holy Land to show us.

Recently we were having a discussion about gems and precious stones. One gem

we discussed was the pearl. Jennifer proceeded to tell us that there were pearls in

Heaven, referring to the “pearly gates”.

The Tasks

As quoted from the parents of Jennifer, “We know we will not outlive her, so

our wish is to see her survive on her own.” Her parents know what disabilities

Jennifer has and they are very aware that for her to make it on her own she needs

the aid of any and all technology available. They also know she needs to be about

to be social. The special education department in our district has been working with

Jennifer since she was five years old. They have taught her to use various

technological media to help her with life.

The major technological device that she is learning to use to her advantage is

the computer. Being that she can not write very well, or very quickly, she can use it

to type out things in a much more rapid pace. She can use programs on it that can

speak to her what has been written so she does not have to read things on her own.

She can use the calculator function on it to help her with simple math like balancing
a checkbook. It may be a device that we use everyday and take its helpfulness for

granted, but for Jennifer, it will soon become her entire life.

In science, at least presently, computers are everything. They compile data,

they calculate data, and they store data. In my science classroom, I allow students

to use computers whenever possible. For everyone in my class, not just Jennifer,

computers will be their future, so why not let them use them as often as they’d like.

The Tools

The tools used in my room are the computers. They can be as low tech or

high tech as you’d like. They can be used simply for research, using websites such

as NASA’s or National Geographic. They can also be used to create detailed graphs

of data collected from other research project.

The SMART board can be used to present power point presentations or to

show internet sites to be shared with the class. I can also manipulate things by

drawing on the smart board. For example if I want to use arrows to connect ideas

or write terms that students want to connect, I can. If Jennifer can become familiar

with this device as well, she may be able to use it in a possible career.

Lesson Plan

The technology available to me for best aiding in Jennifer’s education is my

computer and SMART board. Jennifer has an extremely difficult time writing and

reading. She is a slow typist, but is better at it than writing. The SMART board is

good because if I am doing lessons where the students will have to navigate

websites, she can simply follow along with me by watching the SMART board.
 The SMART board also works well for Jennifer to do presentations. I can set

the screen up for touch mode and by simply touching the screen, she can change

and manipulate items. It is much easier for her to touch the large screen then to try

and use a small mouse.

Weather Map Lesson Plan:

Objective: Students will observe previous days’ weather patterns to create a

weather forecast for the following day.

Materials: copies of weather maps in newspaper from two consecutive days, maps

of Pennsylvania, access to websites such as: wunderground.com, weatherbug.com,

weather.com, and wnep.com. Students will also use the school’s built in weather

detection system.

Lesson: Each student will get copies of two consecutive days worth of weather

maps from the newspaper. By observing the patterns of “weather” movement

across the nation and state, students will create a weather map of Pennsylvania for

the third day. Students will have to show the position of any pressure systems,

fronts, precipitation, and temperatures of Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Erie, State

College, Harrisburg, Scranton, and Allentown. Students can use the weather

detection system to observe air pressure and wind directions.

(Students with IEPs can work in pairs. They can use the computer to create maps

using Microsoft paint or “cut and paste”. Also, some IEP students will only have to

show temperatures for Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, along with just the

temperatures and precipitation.)

Students will present the maps they created to the class as a weather forecast like

they would see on the evening news using power point. (IEP students can present

their maps via the SMART board as well, but by simply showing their maps).

Time frame: Weather forecasting design (gathering information, map design, and

power point design) 2 days.

Student forecast presentations

1 day.

Lesson Plan evaluation: The evaluation I use for my lesson plans are as follows

(Tisdell, 1999):

Beginning Developin Accomplis Exemplar Score

g hed y
Constructi -Minimal hands on -The hands -The lesson -The
vist activities used. on has hands lesson has
Approach -Information does experience on hands on
not contribute to needs experience. experienc
students’ project. more - e.
-Lesson’s purpose structure. Information -The
is unclear. - is students
Informatio synthesized are
n is vague, and motivated
but students and the
examples are lesson
are motivated. requires
provided. students
-Lesson’s to use
purpose is higher
confusing order
thinking
skills.
Technology -The lesson -The lesson -The lesson -The
used requires limited requires requires lesson
use of technology. limited use students to allows
-Technology is of use many
briefly used to technology technology technologi
 gather information. . to gather es to be
-Technology tools -There are information used.
are not challenging minimal . -The
to the students. sources - lesson
available Technology facilitates
to the is used to the use of
students. create a technolog
- product to y to
Technology show their achieve a
has learning. learning
minimal -The lesson goal.
impact on facilitates -
the the use of Maximizes
students’ technology the use of
learning. to achieve technolog
a goal. y as a
learning
tool.
Instructiona -Lesson objectives -Lesson -Lesson -Lesson
l Design are broad and objectives plans are objectives
incomplete. are broad broad. are clearly
-Goals are not and -There is an stated.
clear. incomplete estimated -There is
-Procedure is . time frame. an
incomplete. -No time -Lesson estimated
frame may be time
provided to adapted to frame.
implement fit other -Lesson
plan. subjects. can easily
-Idea of be
lesson plan modified
is not to fit other
applicable subjects.
to other -
subjects. Procedure
s are
clearly
stated.
Assessment -Traditional -Traditional -More than -Learning
methods are used tests/quizz one method goals are
to evaluate. es are of assessed
-No checklist or used. assessment by more
rubric provided. -Brief is used. than one
checklist or -Brief means.
rubric checklist or -The
provided. rubric lesson
provided as provides a
a guide. checklist
or rubric.
 Project reflection

I really did enjoy putting together this case study together. I never look as

thoroughly at an IEP like I have for this. Usually, teachers are given IEPs and the

special education instructors highlight the sections that pertain to our classes. It

gave me to opportunity to really learn to know Jennifer better as a student than just

as adjusting to her needs in my particular classroom. I’ve learned that my district

quite possibly does not have all of the necessary technologies needed to help all

students with physical and mental learning disabilities. Computers are wonderful

devices, but they are not the only means that are needed to make every student’s

life easier.

This case study also gave me the opportunity to really take a look at my

classroom and the environment in which I teach everyday. I put posters on the wall

in the beginning of the year that relate to our topics, along with newspaper

clippings that I find throughout the year. I’ve never really taken the time to look at

them like the students would until I started this case study. I think they are very

valuable tools that the students can use to help with homework or in class

assignments.

I also learned to look at my lesson plans with more detail as to fit regular

education students along with special education students. In the past, I put lessons

together and usually either had the special education students do less, or go to
their special education instructor for assistance. Now with this lesson, it gives them

the opportunity to still work on their projects and stay in the room with their peers.

I think this project gave me a clearer picture at becoming a better teacher.

Bibliography

Tisdell, D. (1999, July 1) Rubric for Lesson Plan Development.

Retrieved September 1, 2009 from Integrating Technology into your Curriculum-An

Online

Course website: http://www.k12.hi.us/~paia/int/rubtem.html

Rose, D. & Meyer, A. (2002) Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age: Universal
Design for

Learning. Alexandria, VA. ASCD.