Lindsey Griffiths' Assignment Showcase
This showcase represents a body of work that I have completed as a part of my masters program through Michigan State University. As of August 2014 I will have achieved a Master of Arts in Education (MAED) with a focus in special education. Because one of my primary goals throughout this program was to garner additional skills in connection to special education instruction that I could apply in my general education classroom, much of my work represents this. However, I also was able to focus on methods of working with and managing challenging behaviors in the general education classroom, which I also tried to represent in this showcase of my work. Please click on the links embedded in the text of each section to access my work. Be on the lookout because several of the sections have more than one accessible link.
General Education Assignment Samples
Plant Unit Sequence and Lesson PlansThis assignment was completed as a part of my teaching internship which took place during the 2009-2010 school year in a second grade classroom at Donelson Hills Elementary school in Waterford, MI. I developed a unit with my class for that year in mind that taught the life cycle and survival needs of plants. The work for this showcase includes both an instructional sequence of lessons (pacing guide) and three lesson plans from that sequence that were fully developed. In either document, the acronym CT stands for 'Cooperating Teacher' and refers to the teacher of record for the class I worked with who acted as a mentor during my internship.
|
Curriculum AnalysisThis assignment required me to analyze a content area curriculum from the school district I a teaching using the lens of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) that encourages planning instruction that meets the learning needs of all students initially (as opposed to making accommodations later). I analyzed the social studies curriculum for teaching the history of my students' local community. This analysis includes my responses to prompts from my professor as well as to a UDL analysis program.
|
Special Education Assignment Samples
Sample Individualized Education Plan (IEP)For this assignment I worked with a partner from the course to complete an IEP for a sample student from a case study using a format provided by our professor. We were required to know and understand a variety of laws that connected to providing a special education program including the need for the government to provide a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment possible. Our goal was to develop a plan that met the educational and behavioral needs of this sample student while maintaining his legal rights.
|
Professional Development (PD) ProgramThis assignment was completed with two other students from the course I was taking and it required us to develop and 18 hour professional development program that connected to teaching a specific content area to students in grades 3-5 with mild disabilities. Our group created a three day program in which we could teach about how to instruct Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for mathematics using ideas, resources, and methodologies that connect to the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework. The link should open as a Google Drive series of folders, so please make sure you have an active Google account in order to view this.
|
Behavior Management and Challenging Behavior Assignment Samples
Student Case Study AnalysesI have chosen to include two assignments in this category that are very highly connected to each other. Each of the following two essays outline a case study using students that were in my class during the 2013-2014 school year. Each case study presents a student who exhibited a challenging behavior or set of challenging behaviors as well as an analysis and plan for how to help correct those behaviors. Brian's case was analyzed using lens of his motivations for the behaviors and how to change them while Kaylee's case was analyzed using the lens of developing a behavior intervention plan (BIP) to help alter her problem behaviors.
|
Digital Resources for Behavior ManagementIn this assignment I created an e-portfolio that cataloged a number of resources connected to behavior management techniques as well as a few that support the instruction of students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and the use of Assistive Technology (AT) to support the learning of all students. Included are also resources for Behavior Intervention Plans (BIPs), Functional Behavior Analyses (FBAs), and students with socio-emotional behavioral disabilities.
|
Learning Community Inquiry
This assignment asked me to analyze an issue in the learning community of my teaching internship classroom, develop a plan to address that issue that aligned with school behavior management policies (in this case Positive Behavior Support or PBS, now known as Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports or PBIS), implement the plan, and assess its effectiveness. This required me to not only know and understand the students in my classroom in order to design an effective intervention plan, but also to implement the plan I designed in a firm and consistent manner. Because this assignment occurred during my internship, I this was my first experience with almost entirely independently developing a class-wide behavior intervention and being solely responsible for its implementation.