Central Avenue Elementary

Question 1

How long do you have to respond to a referral for an evaluation and get parental consent for evaluation?

Answer 1

14 school days

Question 2

How long do you have to complete a student evaluation and hold an IEP meeting?

Answer 2

60 school days after getting parent consent

Question 3

How long do you have to provide written notice of student eligibility?

Answer 3

within 10 school days after the eligibility meeting

Question 4

How long do you have to finalize the IEP after a student is found eligible?

Answer 4

30 calendar days after being found eligible

Question 5

How long do you have to respond to an IEP meeting request?

Answer 5

within 10 calendar days from the asking date

Question 6

How often should you reevaluate a student?

Answer 6

at least every 3 years, but no more than once per year

Question 7

In your field experience, what disabilities do you have experience working with?

Answer 7

Throughout my 2 years of field practicum and substitute teaching, I have worked with students with Specific Learning Disabilities in a variety of areas across reading and math, ADHD, Intellectual Disabilities, Down Syndrome, Autism, Rett Syndrome, Muscular Dystrophy, Traumatic Brain Injury, Emotional and Behavioral Disabilities, Cerebral Palsy, and Dyslexia.

Question 8

What grade levels have you taught?

Answer 8

In my field practicum I have been placed in a 1st grade general education classroom, a 5th-8th grade math/science resource room, and a Kindergarten-3rd grade functional skills special education classroom. As a substitute teacher, I have taught across pretty much every grade and in a variety of classrooms, from general education to resource to functional.

Question 9

How would you manage special education services for students who are part of inclusive classrooms?

Answer 9

I would ensure that the student is recieving the proper support to thrive in that classroom, whether that means the student needs a paraprofessional with them or if they just need push-in services. I would work closely with the general education teacher in that classroom to ensure that they know what supports and accommodations the student needs to be successful in their classroom and to check that any push-in services that are provided are not interfering with other classroom learning.

Question 10

Tell me about a time you needed to change your approach to help a student learn? How did you maximize their learning experience?

Answer 10

I had a student who was really struggling with remembering the water cycle. The student was not a strong reader so re-reading the passage in the textbook was not an effective strategy. I had noticed that the student did very will when movement was involved, so I took a Whole Brain Learning approach and collaborated with the student to create hand motions to go with each of the steps in the water cycle and she was able to remember almost all of the steps on her test the next class period!

Question 11

Tell me about why you went into teaching.

Answer 11

I actually began my college career at a Musical Theatre major. I had an interest in teaching Children’s Theatre and decided to add a degree in Elementary Education to aid in that career goal. After my first few observations, I found that I was very interested in working with special education students, and changed my major. During my first practicum semester, I often visited the classroom that I am currently student teaching in, a functional special education classroom, and found that this setting is absolutely my calling.

Question 12

What sets you apart from other candidates?

Answer 12

Seeing as in addition to my teaching degree I also have a degree in Theatre, I am excellent at thinking on my feet and being creative, not just on stage. I am able to teach in a way that is engaging due to my performance training, and have experience making on-the-fly changes to my approach to teaching.

Question 13

Why are you interested in working at Central Avenue Elementary?

Answer 13

One of the first things I noticed on the Central Avenue Elementary website is that you received recognition as a PBIS model school during the 2019-2020 school year. That is very exciting! I actually have experience with PBIS in my current school district and have seen it work very well for some students. I also noticed that your school is one of Florida’s AVID schools, with a focus on teaching students communication, self-advocacy, and study skills, which I think is really awesome.

Question 14

What are your strengths and weaknesses?

Answer 14

One of my biggest strengths is my ability to build relationships with students. I have students from my first semester of field practicum 2 years ago that still come up and tell me they wish I was still in their class, and I have students that I have substitute taught for only once that still remember my name and are happy to see me when I am back in their school. One of my weaknesses is that in an effort to be my best, I can often be too critical of myself, but I am actively making an effort to work on this and build my own confidence in my abilities.

Question 15

What curriculums are you familiar with?

Answer 15

I am currently teaching our Handwriting Without Tears daily lessons in my classroom. We also use the First Author Writing Curriculum in my room, and I am growing my familiarity with it. We also use the ABC See Hear Do Method, which does not advertise itself as a curriculum but does include a progression of books and partially scripted lessons to build phonemic awareness. I have used the Heggerty Reading Curriculum during my time as a substitute teacher as well.

Question 16

What are some of the biggest rewards and challenged that come with teaching special education?

Answer 16

I find that one of the biggest challenges is having a student that does not seem to be responding well to any of your typical interventions or methods. It can be hard to see that your attempts are not being met with success. On the flip side of that, when you do find an intervention or teaching method that works well for a student and you see their performance towards their goals begin to improve, it is very rewarding.

Question 17

Tell us about a lesson you have taught recently.

Answer 17

This week was actually my first week taking over our daily handwriting group for my student teaching placement. Our letter of the week is K, and we use the Handwriting Without Tears curriculum, so we start our group each day with some Handwriting Without Tears songs, usually Mat Man, Tap Tap Tap, and There’s a Dog in the School. We also do a hand-play song each day to work on student fine motor skills and following directions. Lately the kids have been really enjoying Dr. Jean and Dr. Nina videos. After that we have a weekly schedule of activities. On Mondays we do a coloring sheet that focuses on images that start with the letter of the week and show the letter of the week in ASL, and the students use the Mat Man wood pieces to build the word. On Tuesday’s we do a letter-themed craft, one that matches out unit theme if possible. On Wednesdays we do a wet-dry-try activity which basically entails writing the letter of the week with water on a chalkboard, then drying it in the shape of the letter, then writing the letter with chalk, then cleaning it in the shape of the letter, and repeating. On Thursdays we do the Handwriting Without Tears worksheets for the week. On Fridays we do a Fun Friday Choice, where the students get the choice of a few fine motor activities, like making sensory gel bags, writing letters and shapes in shaving cream on their desk, or painting over paper with designs drawn in white crayon.

Question 18

How do you differentiate your lessons for students in your class?

Answer 18

I have a wide range of academic levels in my current classroom so differentiation is vital. In the past I have taught group lessons, then created leveled crafts for students, with the lowest academic demand being a worksheet where the letter of the week images were already cut out and the student’s paraprofessional put the glue on the paper for them, requiring them to only place the cut out letters on the glue dots. The middle level of difficulty requires the student to cut out, trace, and glue on the letter. The highest level of difficulty requires the student to cut out, trace and glue on CVC words that include the letter of the week.

Question 19

How do you connect your lessons to state standards?

Answer 19

Many of my students are on MAP-A standards, which are the Missouri State Standards for students who do not participate in the Missouri statewide standardized tests. I will typically have my computer split screened and have the state standards on one side and my lesson plan on the other so that I can look through the standards and the lesson and find where they fit together.

Question 20

how do you engage students?

Answer 20

I like to use play as a way to engage students in learning. I feel like the benefit of play-based learning has been sort of lost in recent years. I can learn a lot about how a student thinks and what they know by watching them complete a letter/number puzzle, how they interact with a learning toy like the numbered counting cows, or by how they communicate that they want more when I am blowing bubbles their way. While structured lessons are hugely important, I try to make my lessons feel as much like play as possible in order to better engage my students.

Question 21

what is your method for writing lesson plans?

Answer 21

I always start by looking at our pacing calendar to determine what the letter/CORE word/math concept/theme of the week are. After I know that, I will think about how much time I have for this lesson, what the students already know about the letter or word, and how I can engage them in learning more about the concept. I find the state standard and learning objective, then start working on the activities.

Question 22

How do you communicate successfully with students? How about nonverbal students?

Answer 22

I am happy to communicate with students however they are able and most comfortable. I really enjoy being able to talk one-on-one with students to build relationships with them. For my students who are Gestalt Language Processors, I always acknowledge their scripts, sometimes echo their scripts back to them, and make an effort to listen to the songs/videos/movies they are pulling scripts from to potentially better understand what their scripts mean for them. For my nonverbal students I supplement my own spoken language with signs as much as possible. I keep visuals on my badge. I make an effort to model language on their CORE board or higher-tech AAC devices whenever possible. I also play close attention to their body language, facial expressions, and what stims they are using to regulate. Their stims give me information about how they are feeling because many of my students have specific stims that they only do when they are happy or when they are upset.

Question 23

Explain how you intend to keep communication open with parents.

Answer 23

Parents are incredibly important to a student’s education, especially in special education. My cooperating teacher contacts parents via Seesaw frequently, and for students who do well with AMI, she sends out videos on AMI days via Seesaw. If that is something that my future district utilizes, I will definitely use that. I also plan to be accessible to parents via email, and will send home communication sheets to parents each day indicating what their child did that day since some of my students may not be able to verbally tell their guardians what they did at school.

Question 24

How would you record student data towards IEP goals

Answer 24

Each student will have their own data sheet, formatted as a table, with rows for each IEP goal, and columns for the days of the week. I will be able to easily jot notes on their progress during their goal work time each day.

Question 25

What student behavior do you find most challenging and how have you addressed it? Have you made progress?

Answer 25

I have dealt with a student with an attention-seeking behavior of screaming as loud as possible. When she began engaging in this behavior, I would give her a 5 second count down to have a quiet voice, at which point myself or a paraprofessional would take her out into the hallway so the rest of the class could continue with their learning. We collectively used planned ignoring, specifically we were ignoring the screaming but not the student. I found this behavior especially difficult because I have my own sensory issues with loud noises, and I found that attaching a pair of noise-cancelling earbuds to my lanyard allowed me to better deal with the behavior because I was better able to remain calm. This tactic did decrease the behavior somewhat, though it did not entirely extinguish it.

Question 26

If there was an issue between two of your students, what steps would you take to resolve the issue?

Answer 26

I make it an effort to teach students self-advocacy skills. If another student is doing something that they don’t like and I notice that conflict is growing, I provide the student with phrases they can use to ask their classmate to stop, or I tell them that they can move somewhere else. I model this when students are doing something that I know their classmates would find bothersome, for example if a student was invading my personal space I would model saying “I would like some space! Please take a few steps back”.

Question 27

What do you do if there is a student that is refusing to follow directions?

Answer 27

If I am working in a group, I will begin providing a lot of praise and fun activities to the students who are following directions in an attempt to entice the student to returning to the group. If I am working one-on-one with a student who is refusing to follow directions, there are a few different strategies I would use depending on who the student is. If the student is using a token board, I will remind them of what they are working for as a way to remind them of their expectations. For students who are failing to follow directions due to an interest in another activity or toy, I will use a visual first-then board. I would also potentially adjust the lesson to make it more interesting to the student, depending on their interests.

Question 28

Why do you want to work at Partin Settlement Elementary?

Answer 28

One thing that really stuck out to me on you website was that you offer the Disney Musicals in Schools program, which I absolutely love as both a Disney College Program alum, and as a double major in education and theatre. I also really loved the emphasis that I saw on your website of students having a growth mindset and your implementation of PBIS, which I have experience with, and AVID