Haley Knowlton

Student Teaching

Spring 2021

Collaboration With Special Education Teachers

During the transition to the new semester, about four weeks into my student teaching

experience and days before my takeover, Edward Little decided to close their special education

classrooms and transition all of the students into the general education setting. This means my

entire caseload of students was overhauled and I was given a class where five out of the seven

students had IEP/504 plans. Though I had worked one on one with students with special needs or

had one or two in a class before this was an entirely new experience for me. Upon meeting my

students, and not having received any of their files, I realized that there were a number of them

with some complex needs.

In order to meet those needs I introduced myself to one of the special education teachers

whose work was closely related to my own and could provide an insight on supports or methods

I could employ to help support these students. This teacher welcomed me with open arms and

was a constant source of support and encouragement for my methods of instruction. He gave me

insight into some of the students personalities, their likes/dislikes and the best ways to support

them. If he didn’t know the answer he was always willing to go above and beyond to find

someone else or introduce me to someone who I could get the answer/information from.

My collaboration with this teacher started out as weaving the curriculum I was teaching into

extra readings or supplemental materials for the students to go over in the time he met with them.

It was also me often asking if a certain assignment was broken down enough or still needed a bit

more differentiation for particular students. When it was realized I needed more support for a
student he gave up other responsibilities in order to not only support me and that student but also

support every other student in that class. He takes his own notes and works one on one with

students during class time to make sure that these learners are providing work to the best of their

abilities.

I can honestly say that during the course of my student teaching, while working with this

other educator, it was the most successful collaboration I had. The support that he provided made

me extremely successful and mindful of my students abilities and how I could challenge them.

Providing templates and supplemental materials for not just that one student, but every student in

the classroom is now a priority. I feel like working with this individual not only helped to aid the

students in their education but most definitely helped aid me in mine.