Transitioning into Special Education Teaching:

Use of a Multimedia Resource Module

Marie Tejero HughesMichelle Parker-Katz

Peggie KlekotkaDiane Chin

College of EducationUniversity of Illinois at Chicago

Support for Novice Teachers

• One way to combat extreme teacher shortages, especially in urban centers, is to retain teachers by providing induction support (Odell & Huling-Austin, 2000; Whitaker, 2000, 2001; White & Mason, 2003.) The retention of teachers could provide greater continuity for students’ learning (Sindelar, 2003.)

“From Teachers to Teachers”

• To meet this need, we wanted to create an authentic resource to help novice teachers reason about teaching and learning.– Artifacts from

experienced special educators’ classrooms serve as resources for constructing effective teaching

– Artifacts are from diverse learners in urban classrooms, and provide new special educators with exposure to additional classrooms

A Multimedia Resource• The module is web-based,

allowing teachers to access help any time, anywhere.

• The module is multimedia: digital video, audio and photography provide a rich and inviting environment for users to learn and explore.

• Links between and among different artifacts and resources give teachers a multi-faceted view of teaching and learning.

The Module’s Organization

• The module is organized around four main components:– Serving Students with

Disabilities– Creating Learning

Environments– Planning and

Preparation– Collaboration, Co-

teaching and Consulting

• An easy-to-use color scheme helps teachers navigate among the different components.

Serving Students with Disabilities

• This component focuses on the work that is specific to special education teachers– Designing and Implementing IEPs: Different teachers’

perspectives on writing goals, monitoring progress and meeting required minutes.

– Behavior Management Systems: Thoughts on teaching students about monitoring their behavior, collecting data on behaviors, and creating token economies.

– Assisting with Post-Secondary Transitions: Ideas for writing transition-focused IEP goals, preparing families, and helping students think about their futures.

– Advice for New Special Education Teachers: A collection of advice from nine experienced special educators.

Creating Learning

Environments• This component explores how to manipulate the physical

and social elements in a classroom to maximize the effectiveness of instruction– Centers and Areas and Room Arrangements: Examples of

learning centers and ideas for partitioning a classroom.– Organization and Storage of Materials: Different teachers’

systems for staying organized, managing paper flow and storing supplies.

– Classroom Environments: Ideas for decorating a classroom in ways that support instruction.

– Student Interaction for Learning: Perspectives on collaborative learning and ways to provide structure for students.

– Involving Students: A variety of ways to get student buy-in, and help students learn to make choices for themselves.

Planning and Preparation

• This component considers the thinking and reasoning that goes into designing lessons and meeting the instructional needs of diverse learners– Crafting and Designing Lessons: Artifacts from literacy, content-

area and life skills lessons.– Identification of Appropriate Modifications and Adaptations:

Examples of ways to make the curriculum more accessible and thoughts on how to decide which modifications are appropriate.

– Getting to Know the General Curriculum: Serving students in general classrooms and incorporating general material into self-contained settings.

– Supporting English Language Learners: Ways to meet the unique needs of English language learners with disabilities.

Collaboration, Co-teaching and Consulting

• This component gathers teachers’ experiences working together with other educational professionals and families.– Facilitating Access to General Education: Providing services in

the general setting and exposing students with disabilities to the widest possible range of educational experiences.

– Co-teaching: Special education teachers recount their experiences, successes and challenges as co-teachers.

– Working with Paraprofessionals: Advice on fostering productive working relationships with paraprofessionals and problem-solving around difficult relationships.

– Working with Family Members: Building positive relationships and involving family members in students’ education.

Encouraging Interactivityand Exploration

• A rich, graphical interface provides multiple ways for teachers to discover the content of the module and navigate through it organically.

Links to other topics

Direct links to other artifacts that may

be of interest

An option to move straight through the

module sequentially

Interactive Menus• Attractive, interactive menus allow teachers to

preview highlighted artifacts and get a sense of different teachers’ unique voices.

Menus include a

combination of images and text.

Breakout quotes peak visitors’ interest and

encourage them to explore further.

An easy-to-use sidebar

allows visitors to jump to

other topics.

Sample Lesson Plans and Forms

• These are resources that teachers can use immediately.– Teachers can print out

lesson plans, worksheets and forms, and use them as is or modify them to fit their students’ abilities and teachers’ instructional plans.

Digital Photography• Pictures of experience teachers’ classrooms and

materials inspire novice teachers to experiment with their own classroom configurations and decorations.

Video Clips

• Video clips provide direct models of good instruction, inviting novice teachers into experienced teachers’ classrooms.

Tumara illustrates a geography game her

students play.

Maria and Bill describe their

successful co-teaching relationship.

Audio Interviews• Audio interviews give novice teachers an inside view

of how teachers think and reason about teaching and learning.

Donn explains how he stays organized when he co-teaches in other teachers’ classrooms

Leila teases out her philosophy on meeting

students’ minutes without singling them out.

Linked artifacts

provide a richer

context for teachers

Informational Pages and Additional Resources

• Text-based informational pages provide scaffolding and context for artifacts.

• Additional “Resource Pages” direct visitors to web sites, journal articles, books and other sources of information and advice.

Who Is Using the Module?

• Module receives an average of 3928 hits per month.• Demographic information collected from 208 users:

Administrator

Family Member

General Education

Special Education

University Faculty

Paraprofessional

Other

User Occupation

Early Childhood(0-3 yrs)

Primary (4-7yrs)

Late Elementary(8-11 yrs)

Middle School(12-14 yrs)

Secondary (15-18 yrs)

Other

Age Group of Interest

Data collected between October 2006 and April 2007

Which Parts Of The Module Are They Using?

20 module users completed surveys giving us their overall impressions of the module.

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Poor Good Excellent

User Ratings

% of Respondents

ServingStudents withDisabilities

CreatingLearningEnvironments

Co-teaching,Collaborationand Consulting

Planning andPreparation

What Are They Using It For?

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20

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70

Not at alluseful

Somewhatuseful

Very useful N/ A

% of Respondents

Artifacts (Audio interviews,videos, sample lesson plans, etc)

Additional Resources (List ofreadings and web sites)

Background information abouttopics

Which Resources Are Most Useful?

• The most commonly cited use for the module was to find ideas for planning lessons (75% of respondents)

• 55% of visitors also used the module as a resource, turning to it to get help answering a question or to find out more about a topic in special education

Overall Visitor Impressions

“The combination of graphics and videos made the site very user-friendly.”

“I refer my new teachers to the module … to help guide them with current practices, lesson plans, and class room environment set ups.

“As a new teacher I appreciated the different ways the module was divided. It was helpful in learning the varied viewpoints of all the teachers that were involved in the interviews.”

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60

70

Poor Good Excellent

% of Respondents

Sample Comments: What was your opinion of the overall quality of the

Transitioning to Special Education Teaching module?