Journal #2

“All of these thinking ideas are wonderful, but they could never apply or be done with any children who have special needs” (Martin, 211).  During class on Tuesday I highlighted this quote because it really provoked me.  I feel that anyone who believes this is just limiting every child and holding them to the same standards before they even get to know them.  Children, no matter special need or not, have their own way of thinking and processing information.  Who is to say that what works for one general education student is going to work for another.  It’s not, and the same is true about special education.  If we as teachers can provide all students with explicit and appropriate instruction, they can succeed.  Yes children with disabilities have different ways in which they go about their thought process, but that does not mean that their results are any less important.  All of our students are going to learn and process information differently.  The sooner teachers learn to accept that, the sooner teachers are going to be able to stop limiting the cognitive processes of the individuals in their classrooms.  Students in special education have the right and the ability to use these thinking strategies; teachers need to just stop limiting them.
Martin, D. S. (n.d.). Thinking and the special-needs learner.Developing Minds A Resource Book for Teaching Thinking, 211-215.

Journal #1

I'd like to start off by saying I am really excited for this class. The first day is when you get the feel for what a course is going to be about and I cannot wait to learn how to teach different learning styles.  In education alone everyone has a different way that they learn.  We saw this on our first day through our North, South, East, West activity.  We all prefer a different way of going about activities and events.  We could also see that we all used our right and left brain in different proportions than our neighbor.  This stands true for the students that I will be teaching in special education.  They all will have different ways of learning.  As their teacher I need to be prepared with different ideas and ways in which I can approach classroom material with them.  This course can teach me to open my mind to new ideas and strategies, that I too hope to instill in my students one day.  I cannot wait to dive deeper into the content for this course because I know that we are all going to gain so much!

Discussion 1: Introducing Me

Part 1:
Voki: http://www.voki.com/pickup.php?scid=5200007&height=267&width=200
Part 2:
        My name is Kirsten F.  I am from Kennesaw, Georgia.  I chose to come to The University of Alabama for two reasons.  The first is because my older brother who already attended the university made me see how beautiful the campus was.  The second is due the the outstanding Special Education program.  I am now a Collaborative Special Education Major (K-12).  I would like to teach in my own classroom someday in the high school setting, but getting to spend the day with these students anywhere will be just fine by me.  After I graduate from The University of Alabama I aspire to attend graduate school, preferably back in Georgia so that my parents will no longer be on out of state tuition. At this moment I am still deciding my focus area.
      I believe that I have a more creative learning style to thinking.  When we were going over the powerpoint I was thinking that my right brain gets a lot more use than my left.  I am very good at applications and questioning, but I feel that I tend to want to get more creative. When it comes to being a North, South, East, or West, learning style I would write myself down as a West.  I like to carefully plan everything and make sure that I have it all laid out before I begin anything.  It drives me crazy to just jump in without a plan, I can do it, I would just rather see all my options.  I believe through this class I'll learn how to work with each learning and thinking style.  Being able to accommodate all of these styles is what makes effective teaching.  Not every student learns the same way and we need to be aware of that.