About this time, students are asked: "Where does the acid rain come from?" Let them guess, and talk about it. Then the teacher shows photos of smokestacks belching out clouds of brown sooty looking pollution and explain that once in the atmosphere, the pollutants (they don't need to know the science of precisely what chemicals bond with condensation but they could certainly relate to dirty polluted particles joining with raindrops) return to earth as acid rain. And as an additional part of this curriculum, students should be shown the various products that are produced in the factories that put out the pollution that forms acid rain. The cycle of production, pollution, and consumption is an easy one to teach in a science class -- especially if the instructor eschews textbooks and avoids having students approach literacy and science at the same time. Some of the factories that produce electricity (which students can easily relate to) also produce acid rain. The teacher is not trying to create environmental activists in class, but out of this information there will be special education students who want to write letters to the editor, letters to political representatives and local leaders (re: Banks' "Social Actions Approach").
A good quiz to give students (related to acid rain in a science unit): Name the greatest engineering achievement / innovation of the 20th Century. Show them photos of computers, airplanes, TV, a cell phone, a nice car and the space shuttle. Was the greatest engineering feat any of these -- or was it something else? The answer is surprising. It (according to a nationwide poll taken of engineers by the National Academy of Engineering) was "electrification." Without the power lines and other technologies that bring electricity to homes, schools, and businesses, electricity would be useless. The lights burning in the classroom right now are lighted because of electrification. This is a metaphor...
It would not only be time consuming and expensive for each classroom teacher to develop an effective basic reading skills curriculum but such a curriculum is also fraught with a high degree of error. There is compelling evidence that supports the use of scripted programs rather than teacher-developed approaches to teach complex skills (Benner, 2005). Second, apply positive behavioral supports to manage the behaviors of students with behavioral difficulties during
In their study, "Thinking of Inclusion for All Special Needs Students: Better Think Again," Rasch and his colleagues (1994) report that, "The political argument in favor of inclusion is based on the assumption that the civil rights of students, as outlined in the 1954 decision handed down in Brown v. Board of Education, which struck down the concept of 'separate but equal,' can also be construed as applying to special
More importantly, our appreciative and participatory stance with our co-researchers has allowed us to witness and learn about the cutting edge of leadership work in such a way that is and feels qualitatively different from other research traditions we have used in the past, because it is built on valuing. Even though it is challenging at times (Ospina et al. 2002), our inquiry space is enhanced by our collaboration
Instead of the special education teacher and the general education teacher duplicating efforts for many children it has been shown that their efforts are better put to use in collaborating in their teaching efforts. Individuals cannot be effective team members unless they see themselves as being an important part of the team. An effective team should be viewed by others as having all individual members be contributors to the
Special Education Teachers Special Education Vacancies Recruitment, Hiring, and Retention Barriers to Hiring Barriers to retaining special education personnel. Incentives used to improve retention. Recommendations to Improve Recruitment and Retention Adequate Supply of Special Education Professionals Resources Teachers today are subject to more stress than ever. Increasing certification requirements, re-certification, assessments, federal standards, demanding children, apathetic parents and an unsupportive administration are just the tip of the iceberg. Special education teachers have special circumstances. While other schoolteachers have
Description of the Classroom The observation took place in an eighth grade level social studies classroom consisting of twenty-one students from diverse backgrounds. The teacher is Latina. Not wanting to make any assumptions about ethnicity or culture, I asked the teacher about the demographics. The teacher stated that of the 20, 8 were female and 12 male. Three students were African-American, two were Vietnamese-American, two Indo-American, five students were Hispanic, two
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