9/20/10 Journal Post 2: Part A

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 everything in between.  Several of my students have many additional challenges other than just hearing loss.

CULTURAL BACKGROUNDS:

The cultural backgrounds are varied.  These include Hispanic, Hmong, and Burmese.  Some of our families work with Deaf Mentors.  Some do not.  The area has a strong German heritage as well.  There are two district wide interpreters (Hmong/ Spanish).  The staff includes 5 educational interpreters.

ASSESSMENT & MONITORING:

At this point, Assessment and Monitoring is not complete on these students and will need to be completed in an additional section when they are finished (likely the end of this week). My initial assessment system (though still a work in progress) depends on the age.  This year I will be completing:

Observational Behavior Sheet
TASL
P-Levels
Words Their Way/ The Next Step Forward in Guided Reading Word Inventory
Initial Writing Sample
SPICE Curriculum Beginning Assessment
Foundations of Learning Pre-Assessment

Some of these Assessments are for the older kids, some for the younger.  In addition, I will be compiling their STAR 360 scores from both Math and Reading, and gathering their F & P scores when they are complete.  These assessments will not be completed until next week.

MY POSITION:

I am a district employee basically in an itinerant position.  All my students are primarily pull out sessions (though a few I will be pushing in this year).  It is the responsibility of both myself and the other DHH teacher to coordinate the schedules of all the Sign Interpreters/ Captionists and we are short staffed.  I am the case manager of most of my students, therefore I run their IEP meetings and complete all their IEP paperwork in Skyward.  Due to the travel, my time with students needs to be efficient, and easy to move.  I have a "work area" in most buildings where I conduct our sessions, but it looks different in each setting.  It is a learning process to find the best way to remain organized, but the staff in each building have been extremely helpful and supportive.

Here is what I use as far as Student Profile Items at the moment.  In the future I may switch out to an Excel spreadsheet like the one in the Shared Drive, but at this time, these documents are more consistent with our district staff.

Luedtke Caseload
Student/ Staff Info
IEP dates
Program Summary Example

As far as a timeline... the month of September is generally scheduling, getting equipment working, making sure teachers are comfortable with the student and their needs, visiting every classroom to check in, working with the Audiologist to address any changes or concerns, making sure the interpreters are set, getting the caseload documents prepared for reporting, conducting classroom observations, and completing initial assessments of students.  The final week I try to incorporate Deaf Awareness Week activities for those interested.  I am working on a communication folder with parents that will go home on a weekly basis, then designing a lesson plan for each student based on their needs.  In addition, I attend district meetings every Wednesday and a weekly meeting with the other DHH teacher.  I also will be setting up monthly meetings with the Vision teacher and our supervisor.


NOTES:

*The IEP at a Glance is not a typical form I use for my students.  Generally, I print off their Present Levels form and their Program Summary form for the beginning of the school year.  With the number of students and schools I am in, it is important for me to be both efficient and congruent with the way other staff operate within the district.
*Some information is just not available yet, and won't be until the end of the month.  Last week was the first week I (along with all the speech teachers) saw students for their initial times.  As the year progress over the next few weeks, I can provide more information about specific focus learners if needed.
*One of my students is up for her 3 Year Re-eval the first week in October.  I have formal testing that needs to be conducted with her and will take precedence over the other testing until she is complete so we remain in compliance with her IEP.
*This is my first time digging into every aspect of the job.  It is a sizable district so there is a lot of staff to work with regularly and small things that take a lot of time (travel, finding a location to work, finding supplies, etc.)
*Please see email for more information about recent events in our district.

Below are the IEPs -at-a-Glance for my students.  There should be 16 total, however the rest will be in the Part B of this journal post. The notes taken on these will reflect information from their most recent IEP and more if I have it.  Most of my students have not taken the STAR or F&P tests for Reading/ Math and Leveled Reading yet.  They are in the process of these tests throughout this month.  I am beginning my own initial assessments of these students this week.  Please see email to explain further the environmental aspects our district has experienced thus far this year.

IEPs AT A GLANCE (Part A)

PC/ LINCOLN ERDMAN

(Part B)

 *As Karla had suggested, I am going to post only 8 of my students.  After doing these
at-a-glances, I do like most of the format, but I would like to tweak it to align a bit easier with the paperwork in our district.  I think it could be a very useful tool for gathering quick information about students... especially since I am traveling around quite a bit.  If I have time, I may play with a format that will work with the student population on my caseload. 

 CLD/ EARLY LEARNING CENTER
FM/ LINCOLN ERDMAN
CL/ LINCOLN ERDMAN
LJ/ JAMES MADISON
MB/ JAMES MADISON
HK EARLY LEARNING CENTER











Comments

  1. Amy CarverSeptember 28, 2019 at 6:54 AM

    Hi Misty!

    You have done an excellent job addressing every aspect of this assignment in your post! You certainly face some unique challenges with your role in each building and the breadth of your service requirements. It will be exciting for you to enter these first few weeks of actual face-to-face service time with your students! The paperwork and management piece at the beginning of a new school year can be frustrating and tedious but the teaching time is ever so refreshing!

    One idea as an itinerant for next year would be to send out a google survey at the end of August to each administrator that you work with asking about logistics of where a work space will be, what their preference is for you to communicate with them, any expectations they have of you, etc. Perhaps that could shave a few hours of chasing around.

    When you have time, please grant me access to the forms that you included and I will take a peek at them then (No rush - remember, take to the time you need.)

    Take Good Care,
    carver

    ReplyDelete
  2. Luedtke5September 28, 2019 at 7:07 PM

    I like your suggestion of a Google Survey. I did actually contact every administrator for each building the last week in August for work space, etc. As a part of every student IEP we have written into their plan to have a "15 minute" (though it is always longer) in-service for any staff working with the student. This is to work out items such as equipment, how to work with students with a hearing loss in the classroom setting, seating placement, interpreter usage if needed and anything else that requires attention. These "meetings" tend to last longer than 15 minutes, but I also use that time to work out a quiet space for service time. The audiologist coordinates with me to make sure we get everything set for the first day/ week and we work together to get everything up and going or field questions. I have found that the majority of the administrators are very kind and willing to work with me, but space is limited. It has been easier to seek out that information from the regular ed teachers or the specialists (such as the speech department) because they are a little more versed in the schedule of the rooms. Though it takes some puzzling out, I am often able to figure out a way to work from one of their rooms when they are out. I like the idea of a survey though; it would add some consistency and allow me the opportunity to make sure I have included all the questions I have. Great suggestion.

    ReplyDelete

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