"Alone we can do so little; Together we can do so much"-Helen Keller
That is how I see my role as an Exceptional Children's teacher.
I strive every day to make learning relevant to their needs and encourage them to show others what they can do. I teach 12 individuals with Intellectual Disabilities in a self-contained classroom, integrated into a traditional middle school.
My students range from individuals with mild Intellectual Disabilities to students with Autism. I have some students who are both cognitively and physically disabled. A good majority of my students also use augmentative communication devices to communicate during instructional time. I have several students who are English as a Second Language (ESL) learners as well.
Although my classroom is self-contained, meaning my students are with me for all their core subjects, my students are integrated into my school through sports, electives, and the National Junior Honor Society. My school continues to be a Special Olympics Project Unified School.
My Project
My project incorporates literacy, mathematics, social studies, and alternative seating for my students to encourage learning in a relaxed environment. My goal for the project is to give the students a variety of resources that will enable them to increase their functional academic skills while increasing their understanding of diversity of the world around them. I want my students be able to independently use these skills in order for them to be productive members of their community. The DynaMath Scholastic newsletters give real life stories of how these skills are used. My students will read about individuals, like themselves, demonstrating these skills in their communities. My students used this newsletter last year and the improvement in functional math skills was amazing. We also used the Scholastic Newsletters each week to become more informed about what was happening in the world. Some of the news was of serious nature while some were fun and interesting facts. My students were able to generalize what they read about and have discussions with their non handicapped peers. As for the alternative seating, it will enable my students to move around more (even those who use wheelchairs) and have a variety of seating options that will maximize learning.
By having these resources in our classroom, this goal can be met and exceeded as they take these skills out into the real world.
These requested materials will be added to our functional curriculum already given by generous donors in the past. Thank you.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Glass and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
