Site Description 1

Site Description Paper

Taylor Phillips

January 30, 2019

EDC 250
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I have the opportunity to obtain my observation hours at the Sussex Consortium in the

Cape Henlopen School District. I am in a high school Special Education classroom with nine

students. Two girls and seven boys. Since this is a special education classroom, the ages range

from fifteen to eighteen years old. The classroom I am in, has two teachers and two para

educators. All of the kids in the class I am observing have autism. Some are higher functioning

and some are lower functioning.

Every morning they come in around 7:25 and either get breakfast, shower, or do “extra

work”. Then they all come together and we do the pledge of allegiance and then get to work on

their goals. Each student has different goals. Some need extra work on time, or money, reading,

writing, problem solving, ect. The students get the opportunity to go to “gym”. The students go

change and get ready for “gym”. Their “gym” class is a video that they get to do as a group. If

their parents have signed off, they can go into the weight room and get an exercise. After their

gym or weightlifting, they change again and go back to their classroom. At this time they either

have speech or they have “extra work”. The schedule for this classroom changes every day based

on their job site for that day.. The students I have, all go on job sites. Each day of the week is

something different. They go to Bebee Hospital, Buffalo Wild Wings, Midway Fitness, Bad Hair

Day, and Southern Delaware Therapeutic Riding and occasionally they go out in the community

to fulfill their community goals. The students change into their uniforms based off of where their

job is for that day. The students eat lunch at their job sites. If the students do not go to their job

sites they go to “the apartment”. In “the apartment”, the students learn how to cook and the

sequencing of things. They also learn how to do their own laundry. They also learn how to work

with other people. They learn this by cooking with other students in the kitchen and working

together to complete the task of whatever they are cooking. Then, they come back between 12:30
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and 1:30. When they arrive back at school, they change and go back to their class room. At this

point they may or may not have speech, depends on the day and which students are at school that

day. Then they work on their goals again or we do a group activity. At the very end of the day

for about ten to fifteen minutes, the students have earn time. If the students did well all day then

they get to play games, go on the Ipad, or their phones. In the class I am in, they are mainly

working on life skills. They want their students to become independent and be able to rely on

themselves.

The teacher I work with has a great classroom management system. She makes the kids

pay “rent”, “electric”, and “internet” every month. The kids earn money (fake money) for doing

well at school, $5.00 an hour and $10.00 an hour while at their job sites. They can also receive

bonus’ for meeting a goal or going above and beyond that is expected of them. For example, we

have one student who takes a very long time to choose a seat. They have been working with him

for a few months on making a quicker decision. When we got to our job site, he found a seat

right away, so he got a bonus of $50. They can also earn money by doing “extra work”. The

students have to pay all three bills and have money left over in order to go on a class outing.

They can go to Leftys, Applebee’s, or any place that the class chooses. This is also a way for the

students to learn how to budget. The students have to pay internet in order to play games or

watch videos on their ipads. They have to write a check out to pay for their bills. This is a great

classroom management strategy that I have never heard of before! It works very well! Not only

is it a fun way of getting through the week, but it is also a way for them to learn life skills. I have

already learned so much for the teachers and para’s I have worked with. The teacher’s also have

to write in each student’s “communication log”. A “communication log” is a note book that

parents use to write notes in to the teacher to communicate. The teachers also use this as a way to
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talk with parents to tell them about their child’s day. This is a great way for parents and teachers

to communicate on a more intimate level rather than just an email. The parent and the teachers

get a hand written note.