Week 1 Reflection Questions

Week 1 Reflection Questions:

1.) What have you learned about instructional strategies?
   
     -So far I have learned that instructional strategies are the key to implementing successful lessons to
    our students in the classroom. I have learned that there isn't necessarily a correct or incorrect  
    instructional strategy because each teacher may find different strategies of implementation to be more  
    successful than another teacher depending on many factors in his/her classroom. However, there are
    many instructional strategies that I have learned about to be more successful than others in the field of
    Deaf Education and working with d/Deaf and hard of hearing students. Yesterday in class we
    learned that there are 5 categories of instructional strategies including; direct instruction, indirect
    instruction, experimental learning, independent study, and interactive instruction. These 5 categories
    further break down the amount of interaction the student and teacher have during lessons, the
    environment of the lesson, and how information is given to the student during implementation of the
    lesson. Some examples of instructional strategies we talked about in class and have previously used
    during practicum in the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Preschool have been; flashcards, manipulatives,  
    books, visual maps, SmartBoard, pictures, and videos.

     What would you like to learn during this class?

     -By the end of the semester I would like to have a better idea of what to expect during student
     teaching and hopefully gain some tips and pointers on how to have a smooth transition into our last
     semester before graduating the program. I would like to hear personal stories from professionals in
     the field of Deaf and Hard of Hearing and their experiences while working with this population  
     along with what to expect in the classroom setting as we prepare for student teaching and any advice
     they may have to give to ensure we are fully prepared for what is to come in the Spring. Although  
     we have covered some of these topics in previous classes, I believe it would be helpful to go over
     assessments that are good to use with d/Deaf and hard of hearing students as well as behavioral  
     strategies to use in the classroom.

2.) Research has shown that students with hearing loss often times do not achieve higher than a 3rd grade reading level. What are your thoughts about this and how do you plan to face this?

-Finding out that students with hearing loss often times do not achieve higher than a 3rd grade reading level by the time they graduate high school was quite surprising to me when I first heard this statistic and can be quite scary to think about as a future teacher for the d/Deaf and hard of hearing. Reading has been proven to be a very challenging subject for d/Deaf and hard of hearing students because it requires a lot of speech and language that most people with a hearing loss struggle with. However, I am willing to accept this challenge and work as hard as I can to make a difference in my future students to help them beat this statistic. During Aural Habilitation sessions this past year, we were able to use critical thinking to come up with fun strategies to help improve reading, language, and speech skills with a d/Deaf and hard of hearing student such as flashcards, videos, simple games, and books. I think it's important to incorporate these strategies into our future reading lessons as we go on to student teaching and later in our own classrooms.

3.) In looking at the first 3 chapters of CITW, what are some ways you can provide feedback and reinforce effort? Do you plan to use verbal, tangible, or both?

-After reading the first 3 chapters of CITW I learned some ways you can provide feedback and reinforce effort to your students are by stating learning objectives in simple language and in terms of knowledge rather than learning activities, relate the learning objectives to things that are personally relevant to students, modeling for students how to set their own learning objectives and provide feedback on the learning objectives they set, periodically checking students' understanding of their learning objectives by asking them to write in their journals or on a notecard, provide students with information about what good performance or high quality work looks like before giving them an assessment, and consider using technology to increase the rate of feedback and help with organization.

-I plan to use both verbal and tangible feedback when working with students in the future. I feel that providing both of these methods to d/Deaf and hard of hearing students is important and most helpful to make sure they have a strong understanding of topics being discussed.