Running head: EDU 203 FIELD OBSERVATION 1

Intro to Special Education Field Observation

Hailey N. Mendez
College of Southern Nevada
Intro to Special Education Field Observation 2

In this course I was granted the opportunity to complete a field observation of a fifth

grade class at Keith and Karen Hayes Elementary school. My cooperating teacher Mrs.Hetzel

was a welcoming teacher where upon my first visit to the online classroom, she began by saying

hello to each and every one of her students. The students came in with a few cameras on but

many preferred no camera. The chat box was a tool that the teacher used in her classroom and

one that many students used as a way to participate. During my first visit, I was unaware of the

specific students who had IEPs so I was able to learn about the class environment. The class was

a 1:22 teacher to student ratio which I believe to be a well sized class. In addition, the mix of

boys to girls was fairly equal which I find beneficial to a diverse classroom. After the class was

dismissed for a break, I stayed and was able to have a discussion with Mrs.Hetzel. I found that

there are brothers in the class and the student Devon was the one with an IEP while his brother

Davion was in the current process of being tested for special needs.

I learned that being online, one of the obstacles that the teachers and students had to

overcome was the pull out and push in resource teacher that they were used to when in person.

This was the teacher that would come in during the class to observe Devon and then pull him out

of class for some time to work with his needs and provide help to understand the material.

Though being online, the teacher would join the google meet, see and observe what the lesson

was teaching the students, and then she would be put into a break out room created by

Mrs.Hetzel with Devon and Davion so that they could further work together. In the observation

that I viewed, the students were learning about adding fractions and after the teacher introduced

the lesson and did a few practice problems, she asked the resource teacher if she understood what
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the class was doing. After she said yes, the breakout room was created and I went to watch the

resource teacher with Devon and Davion.

Immediately I noticed that the resource teacher was asking for the brothers to turn on

their camera and sit in a still position. She slowly went through how to do the problems but hit a

wall when the students were not participating. Unfortunately, this session ended and after that I

stayed in the general room because the resource teacher stayed communicating with Devon and

Davion through another device during class. The general education teacher, Mrs.Hetzel, was

very well organized and emphasized routine. In my interview with her, she said that she

maximizes instructional time by keeping a routine so that the student always knew what was

happening and what to do. She said that this was something she did, not because she didn't want

to change things, but because it kept the kids engaged, on track, and expecting of what they will

do so that they can be prepared. I believe that this is also very important when you have students

in your class with special needs. As I have learned in this course, sudden surprises and change of

plans can be unwanted and the student may be resistant to this constant change and lack of

schedule.

In addition to what I learned in my interview with Mrs.Hetzel, I found that GATE

students get the pull out service while special ed gets more push in services. This means that

during the day or week the students with above average learning levels and pace they get pulled

out to get a teaching that challenges them and their needs. Then, the students who are in special

needs tend to get push in services as a result of least restrictive environment goals. For students

who are ELL they are provided with sentence stems and pictures to accommodate text and

direction as well as using google translate. Mrs.Hetzel adds that she tends to chunk curriculum
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for her special needs students. This means that if the general education students are to write a

five paragraph essay, her special needs students will write three even two paragraphs to

demonstrate that they have maintained the standard for them if that is what they can do.

During my field observations I saw Mrs.Hetzel do what was mentioned above and in

addition she ensured that all students knew the academic vocabulary such as simile, metaphor,

and stanza. She did this so that the students would understand what she would be talking about

for the rest of the lesson. Then, she presents a screen for the class with the acronym CHAMPS

which stands for C-O mics off unless you are speaking, H for raise your Hand, A for participate

in the discussion, M is stay seated unless you have an emergency, P is pay attention, stay

focused, and participate, and the S is the standard that they will be focusing on. The teacher

expects the students to do each of the above each class and she continues to enforce it by

reminding the student before every lesson. Then, following the lesson she will sometimes ask

certain students to stay back after the lesson. Mrs.Hetzel says that she is very fluid with her

groups and during the lesson she looks for students who are struggling to grasp the subject. Then

after the lesson these are the students that she pulls out to work closer with. Typically the IEP

student Devon and the student who is being tested is a part of this group of students.

Concluding my time in Mrs.Hetzeles online class, I got to learn about how she reaches

her students. She greets each student before a lesson, she messages them on education apps, and

she sends informative emails to the parents. During my interview with her, I asked what the best

part about being a teacher was and she responded saying that seeing she is making a difference is

the best part. She says that you as an educator won't make a large impact in every single student's

life, but it is very rewarding to see a child leave your class at the end of the year impacted by the
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teacher. Being in my observation I learned that general education teachers must account for a

large group of students all with varying needs and levels of academic performance. Though, it is

important to remember that each student is on their own path and the teacher is the door to that

path.