Luedtke, M. Teaching Journal

REFLECTION RESPONSES This is just a quick place to note the responses to the reflections for previous observations.  I will link them below for easy access.  Observation #1 Response Observation #2 Response When I finish the response for the final observation, I will do another post.  Hope this is helpful.

BACKGROUND: My previous focus student, CLD, has taken a time of absence for the cochlear surgery on her other ear.  She is not scheduled to return until the first week of December.  I have chosen a different student, EK. EK just turned six.  She is in Kindergarden at Cooper Elementary.  EK has a severe to profound (mostly profound) bilateral hearing loss.  She wears behind the ear hearing aids, but they are currently set at the highest adjustment.  Over the past year and a half, EK's hearing has dropped significantly and her aids have needed adjusting nearly every six months.  At this time, her hearing and speech are the primary concerns.  However, there has been some discussion about her fine motor skills, the speed and excitability at which she functions, and her ability to focus.  She is spunky and has a lot of energy:).  She always makes me smile and is so much fun to work with each day.  EK uses a sign language interpreter ...

BACKGROUND/ OVERVIEW After traveling to so many different schools and working with a lot of younger children, I have decided to tackle a few needs of my own.  This first need you will see in the video organization.  I have purchased a few items that I am hoping will help, but this is definitely a work in progress.  I wanted something that was collapsible and portable to serve as a schedule for sessions with students.  I have been really trying to incorporate the Foundations of Literacy intervention with several of my students.  It is new for me, so there is an element of becoming familiar with the materials and process.  However, I really like the design of this program and think it is a good fit.... now I just need practice.  In addition, I like the way FOL is set up and think that the organizational concepts will work with many of my older students as well, even if they are above the materials.  In this video, you will see the picture schedule...

Journal Post #3:  Video Observation  NOTE: This is my first ever video post and the technology has not been cooperative.  I have trying different things for three weeks now, so hopefully this will finally work. Student Background Information: CLD is a student in 4K located at the Early Learning Center (ELC).  She came with her family from Burma near the end of last year.  In the home, her mother speaks only a tribal language from her home country and her father speaks Burmese (along with being able to communicate with mom).  CLD's intelligence levels were tested off the charts, so she is quite bright, however, she was completely nonverbal.  She qualified for Early Childhood due to her lack of speech.  Dad had also suspected a hearing loss for some time.  They were able to get her hearing tested and found that she had a bilateral profound hearing loss.  I was informed, but could not formally work with her until we received her au...

9/20/10 Journal Post 2:  Part A PART B IN RED STUDENTS:  I have a total of 16 students.  There are two DHH teachers for the district.  I cover the Early Learning Center (PreK) through some of the middle school.  The other teacher covers some middle and high school.  We divide students based primarily on age, schedule, and the "evenness" of the caseloads.  The specifics on their hearing loss, academic performance, and communication are reflected in their "At-A-Glance" listed below.  These are based on their most recent IEPs.  We are in the beginning of the school year and formal leveled testing is still in progress.  The ages of my students run from 3/4 to approximately 13/14.  Communication modes include voiced spoken English, sign language support through an interpreter, ELL support for Spanish, ELL support for Hmong, ELL support for Burmese.  The hearing loss ranges unilateral mild loss- profound hearing loss and everyt...

Here is a very brief background... I work as an on-the-job DHH teacher for the Sheboygan School District.  There are two of us that cover the district; one for mid-middle schools (depending on caseloads) thru high school and the other (me) for Early Childhood thru mid-middle school.  I currently have 16 students and though I am working for one district, it is set up as more of an itinerant position.  At the moment, my students are spread throughout nine different schools.  I am case manager for most of my students and, in this district, that means I also set up IEP meetings, manage their evaluations, coordinate with staff, and write their IEPs.  This is only my second year in the position and it has been a whirlwind of a ride. My schedule is late in posting, because today is the first day I finally had confirmation from staff that student times will work.  Four of my students utilize interpreting services and it is part of my role to set the interpreter sc...