Special Education and Teaching Commons^™

Nurturing At-Risk Students' Writing Abilities, Carol A. Schmidt

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this journal article was to review current professional literature on the writing process and the importance of voice in writing and then to design and implement a writing program for at-risk sixth grade students. The writing process is an effective means for children to create meaning, especially for at-risk students.

In the writing process, the writer's voice gives the best sense of a writer's potential. This driving force was the basis of the instructional project in writing developed for at-risk sixth grade students.

The Wisdom Of Youth, Thomas Knestrict Ed. D.

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

A poem written by Tom Knestrict (Turtlesongs 1994).

Empowering Environments, John R. Wilson

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

The special education system has come to a plateau. Although there have been significant advances in the quality of services delivered by special education teachers, this process can go forward only so far. It is now restricted from further significant advance by the bureaucratic and hierarchical form of education administration in this country. Until this structure is radically changed, special education teachers will not have the experiential knowledge to implement (on a wide scale) the individuality, empowerment, teamwork and overall spirit of the Individual Education Program process as outlined and intended in PL 94-142.

The IEP process has moved through …

Book Reviews: Resources For Creating Inclusive Communities, Ann E. Jantzen Ph.D.

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

Whether you are looking for an article for a study group meeting, working with a committee on a staff development plan, or preparing you school-wide plan for next school year, the topic of inclusion is surely on your list of critical issues. In working on a State Superintendent's grant for preparing principals for inclusive practice, I recently had the opportunity to become familiar with several excellent resources for all of us involved in transforming school settings into truly inclusive communities. If you don't already have the following titles on your close-at-hand bookshelf I would urge you to get an order …

Review: The Teacher's Guide To Behavioral Intervention: Intervention Strategies For Behavior Problems In The Education Environment, Janice Brickley

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

The first two sections of this book are extremely brief. Chapter I is a page and one third of introduction. Mrs. Wunderlich gives a brief background of the techniques she used to identify behaviors targeted in this book and some rationale for developing the manual. Chapter II is directions for using the manual, if the Behaviors Disorder Identification Scale has been administered. The bulk of the manual is contained in Chapters III and IV.

A Model Inclusion Program For Primary Level Students, Greg S. Brown

All Graduate Projects

The purpose of this study was to develop a model inclusion program for primary level students. To accomplish this purpose, a review of current literature and research related to integration of special education students into a "regular" classroom was conducted. Additionally, information from selected schools and districts related to primary inclusion programs was obtained and analyzed.

If Teacher Assessment Is The Answer, What Is The Question?, Michael W. Apple

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

Throughout the United States, it is almost impossible not to hear the din of criticism of our educational system. It is supposedly a failure. It does not prepare our children for the rigors of international competition. It is too responsive to "minority" interests and not responsive to "our" common culture. It is inefficient and wasteful. And it has been captured by " producer" (teacher) not "consumer" (parents and the business community) interests.

A number of quite contradictory proposals to "fix" the schools are currently enjoying their place in the limelight. The first is organized around a vision of the weak …

Miscommunication Between Aboriginal Students And Their Non- Aboriginal Teachers In A Bilingual School, Anne Lowell, Brian Devlin

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

A crucial question in cross-cultural education is how to bridge the cultural and linguis- tic differences between home and school so that a child’s identity can be supported without limiting his or her chances of academic success (Eades, 1991). Various models of bilingual education have been implemented in Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory of Australia but the implementation of such programmes is often far from ideal. In the school where this ethnographic study was conducted, miscom- munication between Aboriginal students and their non-Aboriginal teachers was found to be commonplace. Even by late primary school, children often did not comprehend …

A Transition Plan For High School Special Education Students, Michael J. Torres

All Graduate Projects

The purpose of this project was to develop a transition plan that would facilitate the movement into the post-school setting for high school students with disabilities. Research on the factors that contribute to successful transition plans was examined. A four year transition plan for students with special needs was created that would detail specific requirements for each of the grades 9-12. These requirements would encompass vocational education/training and instruction, community experiences, life skills, functional vocational evaluation and assessment, interagency collaboration, parent involvement, and post-school education. The attainment of these requirements would be demonstrated by a cumulative portfolio.

Editorial, Patricia R. Renick Ph.D.

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

As you can see this JOURNAL is a work in progress. We hope to have our first edition on-line by the end of March. The editorial staff is currently reviewing submissions and choosing what is to be included in the first edition.

New editions of the JOURNAL will be published quarterly, with timely articles and new perspectives concerning inclusive initiatives. It is our intent to provide a forum for articles concerning inclusive education and that many voices will be heard and diverse perspectives concerning inclusive education will be understood.

The JOURNAL defines inclusive education in the same spirit and with …

Who Signed Me Up For This?, John Herner

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

We've all heard the story of the little boy's first day in first grade. When the big hand and the little hand were both pointing straight up, he put on his jacket and began gathering up his things to go home. The teacher explained to Tommy that he was big boy now, and that he didn't go home at lunch like he did when he was in kindergarten; first graders stay at school all day.

"Who signed me up for this?" Tony demanded.

I'm glad someone signed me up to be a part of this first edition the Electronic Journal …

Exemplary Inclusion Lessons, Ronald G. Helms Ph.D., Colleen A. Finegan Ph.D.

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

The Great Ocean Rescue is an outstanding computer application for students of many ages and abilities. The authors have used The Great Ocean Rescue for several years with students from grades 2 through college. The Great Ocean Rescue is an outstanding software application for teaching about a variety of environmental and social issues.

In addition to the software options, the kit offers a teacher's guide and 28 student map resource booklets(seven sets of four), lesson plans, activities, and blackline masters. The CD-ROM version includes one set of students references. All versions contain a library of over 85 short movies and …

Attitudes Toward Writing, Laurence E. Musgrove

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

This essay describes one teacher's approach to helping students understand the role attitude plays in contributing to or interfering with success in the writing class.

Goddess Spirituality And Academic Know Ledge-Making, Hildy Miller

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Goddess-centered spirituality, an alternative way of making meaning, complements rationalism, the traditional notion of academic knowledge making.

Plato, Gorgias, And Trickster: Seeking Rhetoric's Muse, Keith Rhodes

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

From an historical perspective, rhetoric is the premier Tricksterish art. Seeing this permits us to re-evaluate Plato's role in the history of rhetoric and re-think current practices.

Reflection And An Appetite For Experience: Theory To Classroom Practice, Judith Halden-Sullivan

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Reflection promotes an openness to thinking and an appetite for experience that must ground everyday classroom practice.

Front Matter

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Editor's Message

We live in a culture dominated by boundaries of all sorts. Personal space is precious to us, and we become uneasy when others do not honor those invisible borders, ignoring, perhaps, the ways in which those borders shift with age, class, gender, and ethnicity. We have office doors, house doors, and bedroom doors that we close and lock. Many of us demarcate a sharp separation between private life and public work, arguing, as does Michael Bèrubé that the life lived has nothing to do with the work written. And so we exist, being careful not to overstep our …

Body Oddities: Hypothetical (Com)Positions From The Physically Extreme, Mark Mcbeth

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Relying on the anomalous physicalities of the bearded woman, the hermaphrodite, and conjoined twins, this essay explores the links between the body and its constituent performances of composing.

Back Matter

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

No abstract provided.

Reviews, Katie Kane, Sheryl Mylan, Jerome Bump

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Reviews

Katie Kane. Women Writing Culture. (Gary A. Olson and Elizabeth Hirsh, Eds., 1995). Women/ Writing/ Teaching. (Jan Zlotnik Schmidt, Ed., 1998).

Sheryl Mylan. ARTiculating: Teaching Writing in a Visual World. (Pamela B. Childers, Eric Hobson, and Joan A. Mullin, 1998).

Jerome Bump. Emotional Intelligence. (Daniel Goleman, 1995).

When A Student Ends A Wounded Silence, Dave Waddell

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Students who disclose psychological trauma may derive therapeutic benefits, and writing teachers should carefully consider their roles.

Jaepl, Vol. 4, Winter 1998-1999

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Essays

Laurence E. Musgrove. Attitudes Toward Writing. This essay describes one teacher's approach to helping students understand the role attitude plays in contributing to or interfering with success in the writing class.

Mark McBeth. Body Oddities: Hypothetical (Com)positions from the Physically Extreme. Relying on the anomalous physicalities of the bearded woman, the hermaphrodite, and conjoined twins, this essay explores the links between the body and its constituent performances of composing.

Hildy Miller. Goddess Spirituality and Academic Knowledge-Making. Goddess-centered spirituality, an alternative way of making meaning, complements rationalism, the traditional notion of academic knowledge making.

Keith Rhodes. Plato, …

Graduate Bulletin, 1998-2000 (1998), Moorhead State University

Graduate Bulletins (Catalogs)

No abstract provided.

A Note To The Frozen Chosen, Thomas Knestrict Ed. D.

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

A poem written by Tom Knestrict (Turtlesongs 1997).

Inclusion Of An Autistic Child Into A Self-Contained Third Grade Classroom, Arlene M. Belt

Graduate Research Papers

This article describes the disorder of autism in the spectrum of pervasive developmental disorders, the challenges that the autistic child faces, and the inclusion of an autistic child, a nine-year old boy, into a self-contained third grade classroom. Through details of his life, the reader is given an intimate look at the personal and educational issues he faces as he struggles to cope with his disability. In addition to focusing on how the disorder affects an individual, the paper stresses the importance of parents and professionals working together to develop and implement teaching strategies that will assist such a child …

Fostering Acceptance Of Disabled Persons By Appreciating Individual Differences, Allison R. Clausen

Graduate Research Papers

Although the federal law, Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 (Public Law 94-142), requires school districts to provide a free, appropriate, and public education to all children with disabilities between the ages of three and 21, studies have indicated a need for programs to develop more positive and accepting attitudes toward the handicapped. This can be accomplished by providing nondisabled children structured experiences with disabled children at an early age when their perceptions of individual differences are being formed.

This article discusses the educational experiences of Joey, a fifth grade student diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Joey is …

Inclusion And Inclusive Classrooms At The Preschool Level, Michele Keefer

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this review of literature is to examine previous research concerning inclusive classrooms at the preschool level and to determine the most appropriate guidelines for inclusion. Benefits and problems of inclusion were discussed. Guidelines for developing and implementing inclusive programs were suggested. Also, a summary, conclusions, and recommendations are included in the last chapter.

Integrating Writing Across The Curriculum Enables Special Needs Students To Become Writers, Gretchen Peterson-Kobriger

Graduate Research Papers

Elementary students with language and learning disabilities became independent writers and readers after the classroom instruction changed from a teacher directed, segmented, skill deficit approach which is typically found in special education classrooms to a classroom which embraced whole language philosophies and provided students with the necessary conditions for learning written language. This paper describes the specific changes in teaching philosophy, instructional practices, methods, and strategies which were implemented in my classroom. It demonstrates how individual student challenges were met which enabled the students to increase their self-esteem and awareness of themselves as writers.

Nurturing Reading Comprehension Of Attention Deficit Students By Improving Their Inferential Skills, Paula Decker

Graduate Research Papers

Inference-making is a necessary component of reading comprehension. Many attention deficit students have shown some degree of reading comprehension deficiencies. Due to the nature of their disability – staying focused, sticking to a task, and noticing details – inference-making may be difficult for them.

This article suggests that by modifying and enhancing existing teaching methods and strategies, the instructional needs of ADD/ADHD students would be met. It offers some lesson and teaching modifications that have shown to be helpful in this author's experience.

When teachers are aware of the characteristics and limitations of students with an attention deficiency, they can …

Art Lessons For The Middle School Special Education Student, Pete S. Soleto

All Graduate Projects

The literature and research regarding art for the middle school special education student were explored. Data were presented to support teaching art using a combination of normalizing approaches and task analyses. Lessons for use in the middle school art class room were developed to use as models for additional lessons created by the author or others.