December 1st

As the semester and my lead teaching come to a close, I am looking back on what I have learned and what I know about the children's abilities. I see that the knowledge of children's specific abilities comes especially during specific parts of the day. For instance, I may occasionally have to change the difficulty for each child at smart board based on their abilities. When we do the counting boards, I ask the children who can count how many of each object there is, and then to choose the correct answer. For mainly the ASD children who cannot count, I would count the objects on the screen for the entire class and then give the child a one step command to choose the correct number we counted to. One of the students observing out in the hall today asked me how we are able to plan lessons that incorporate both the ASD and typical children. I had to stop and think for a moment because I realized it was really a difficult task. I told him that you really just had to know the children well and think of activities that they both generally liked, or take an activity and adapt it for both groups. I know that knowledge of the children in the future will be a valuable thing acquired over time and one of the biggest influences of my daily planning.