Kieffer,+Amy+Inclusion+Strategies+for+Science

 I've wanted to be a teacher since I was in 4th grade, but in college, it took me a wile to really find my focus again. Because of this, I've taken classes from almost every department, gone to 5 universities (including one in Chile) and it's taken me 7 years and way too many credits to finally finish a major in Elementary Education. No regrets though, it's been an amazing journey, and I can't think of any classes I wish I hadn't taken!
 * Something that you want us to know about you or something about you that is interesting: **

 I'm graduating with my bachelors in Elementary Ed with a minor in Math Ed this summer, and taking a year off to work, hopefully for Americorps, before going back to get my MAT so I can teach. I'm hoping to pursue my certification in Elementary Education and multiple middle school subjects, starting with math. After that, who knows!
 *  Explain your education & career goals: **

 Teaching and learning are pretty high up on the list! I also love science and nature, and almost switched my major to botany at one point. I'm hoping to get in a few more backpacking trips before I leave Southern Oregon! I love exploring other cultures, learning languages, and traveling. I also love dancing, particularly latin dancing. The list could go on for days, I have lots in my life that brings me joy!
 *  What brings you joy? **

 My greatest fear is one I think we all have: that I won't be good enough. I want to be able to be like those teachers who inspired me to want to teach, and I want to be able to help my students discover the joy of learning.
 * What is your greatest fear about being a teacher? **

When I was in Elementary school, I could not do those timed multiplication tests in under a minute to save my life. To be honest, I probably still can't. I'm good at concepts in math, and I'm terrible at memorization, so give me a while, and I can do complicated problems in my head, but even on the simple things I think about what it is I'm doing, and it takes me a little bit longer to process. Because of this, I was put in remedial math. I had to practice the same boring things that I simply couldn't do at the speed they wanted me to, and I didn't get to do the more fun stuff. It was torture. By the time I got to middle school, I started failing math, in large part because it was so boring. I was always either at my frustration level because I couldn't do what they were asking me to do, or I was bored because the task I was given was painfully easy and repetitive. Thank goodness my teacher from the previous year payed attention when he got my state testing, and noticed that in everything other than timed arithmetic tests, I was excelling. He worked hard to get the middle school to give up on teaching me to do arithmetic fast, and put me in the AP math track instead. I went from failing math to getting all As. Because of this experience, I'm sensitive to students being held back in one area due to their issues in another. It's important to work on students weaknesses, but it's just as important to make sure that they aren't held back in areas they don't need to be. If a student struggles with reading, there's no reason the science curriculum can't be adapted for them so they can still access it and excel there.
 *  Did you ever experience a time when something was extremely difficult to learn? Explain that time and how it made you feel. How might this piece of your history help you connect to students with learning differences? **

 Inclusions and special education is an area that I don't have much experience in, so above all, I hope to gain that feeling of "I can do this!" from this course. I'm hoping to gain practical knowledge of how best to serve the diverse needs of the students I'll have in my classroom, and a better understanding of who those students may be. I also want to gain more knowledge about the legal framework governing inclusions and how to best use the support in the system to serve my students.
 * What do you want to gain from this course? **

=Inclusion Strategies in Science =

 I chose this topic because science is one of my favorite subjects, and I think it has the opportunity to be fun and accessible for everyone. It makes sense that science should be hands on, which often better serves students with learning disabilities. I also think that science is incredibly important. It's where we formally teach questioning and critical thinking skills. It helps us to make sense of the world around us, and to be able to evaluate the information we're given. Besides basic skills, I think this is one of the most important tools I can give my students.

Top 5 Things I Learned
1. The first is obvious: make learning hands on and multi-sensory! This wasn't a new idea per se, but I hadn't thought of all the different ways you can do this. I usually think in terms of involving visual learners, but science lessons can often integrate touch, smell, taste and hearing as well.

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">2. Throw out the textbook! Science textbooks can be some of the most difficult for students with learning disabilities to access. Instead, creating graphic organizers of information. In particular, multiple sources recommended concept mapping as a more accessible way to teach students the relevant information.

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">3. Integrated, authentic units are great for students with learning disabilities, too. I tend to think of these as more difficult, since they require higher level thinking. But they teach science in a way that helps with generalization skills, and in real life contexts the concepts make more sense.

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">4. Technology can be an invaluable tool. There are amazing resources, from interactive programs to teach the same concepts as a textbook, to programs that can read text aloud and hyperlink key vocabulary.

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">5. Avoid written tests! Students learn best hands on, it stands to reason that they will show their knowledge to the best of their ability when you allow them to do it in a way that is hands on and authentic as well. Labs that allow you to use performance based assessment lend themselves well to science.

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">6. (I couldn't resist one more!) Cooperative learning is a wonderful strategy for science. Students can be assigned clear roles that allow them to use their strengths to help the group work through a problem, and can have their weaker areas supported by other students.

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">Top Resource
<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Teaching Science to Students with Disabilities in General Education Settings" by Margo Mastropieri and Thomas Scruggs


 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">Mastropieri, M., & Scruggs, T. (1995). Teaching science to students with disabilities in general education settings. Teaching Exceptional Children, 27(4), 10-13.

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">This article does a wonderful job outlining both general strategies and specific ways to implement them.

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">Rating: 5/5

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">Other Resources:
<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Inclusion in Science" (a publication by the UK education system)


 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">UK, The National Strategies. (2008). Inclusion in science. Retrieved from website: http://www.school-portal.co.uk/resource/2980672/96_21201010030124_86.pdf

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">Although this sources does not list specific strategies, it lists more general strategies for students with a wide variety of special needs, including students designated as TAG, ELL, students with learning disabilities, and students who have emotional and behavioral issues or sensory or physical difficulties.

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">Rating: 4/5

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Inclusion can work- without too much work!" by Janice Robertson


 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">Robertson, J. (n.d.). Inclusion can work -- without too much work! . Retrieved from http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/profdev007.shtml

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">One 6th grade science teacher’s experience with integrating students with special needs into her classroom. This included a few useful tips, but also wonderful words of encouragement on how this benefited all of her students!

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">Rating: 3/5

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Curriculum Creations: Physical Science" by Project Participate


 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">Project Participate: Curriculum Creations: Physical Science. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.projectparticipate.org/curricular-science.asp

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">This resource is brief but information dense. In the first half it gives one paragraph summaries of a few strategies, as well as a link to further tools of examples of each. In the second half, it gives ideas of actual activities to do that would work well for differentiating science instruction and make science instruction accessible to all students.

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">Rating: 4/5

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Building bridges between science and special education: Inclusion in the science classroom" by Deborah Haskell


 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">Haskell, D. (2000). Building bridges between science and special education: inclusion in the science classroom. Retrieved from http://ejse.southwestern.edu/article/view/7631/5398

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">This resource outlines a four step plan for effective Inclusion in a science classroom. The most useful information is in Step 2: The Development of Effective Instructional practices. Although this article is very long, this section gives a very good brief overview of strategies to use when teaching science.

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">Rating: 4/5

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Science and Social Studies for Students with Disabilities" <span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">By: Scruggs, Thomas E.; Mastropieri, Margo A.; Okolo, Cynthia M. <span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">Focus on Exceptional Children, v41 n2 p1 Oct 2008.

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">This article is quite lengthy, but provides a much more in depth look at inclusion strategies in science, with many examples involving students and explanations as to why we should be using these modifications. It has a wonderful section on how to help students access the text when using a textbook is inevitable.

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">Rating: 4/5

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Teaching Science to Students with Learning Disabilities" by Rich Grumbine and Peg Alden


 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">Grumbine, R., & Alden, P. B. (2006, Feb 23). Teaching Science to Students with Learning Disabilities. National Science Teacher Association. Retrieved from http://www.nsta.org/publications/news/story.aspx?id=51706

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">This article by the NSTA breaks down inclusive science education into "principles", which are mostly strategies for effective inclusive science instruction.

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">Rating: 4/5

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">Science Education for Students with Disabilities

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">http://www.sesd.info/index.htm

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">This is an entire webpage dedicated to teaching science to students with disabilities. It has resources organized by type of disability, and also puts out a newsletter. Technically, this isn't one resource, but a wealth of amazing resources. For anyone who plans on teaching science, I would recommend becoming a member. The annual dues are only $10!

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">Rating: 5/5

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">Working Together: Science Teachers and Students with Disabilities <span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">Published by DO-IT by the Univerity of Washington <span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">Available at: <span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">http://www.washington.edu/doit/Video/index.php?vid=34

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">This is a video on what students with disabilities believe is important for teachers to do in order to best support them.

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">Rating: 4/5