I started this week wondering how I can write about observing Hyde's woodshop for mainstream Special Ed students and how they and their support staff function. I ended the week in a chance meeting with a SJUSD math teacher with a special ed credential while meeting with Prof. Kimo. This offered up a juicy modification for my observation assignment. During a visit to his private shop, we talked about how to teach math through a shop setting. We talked around an example he brought to the table of a middle school student that had drawn a 9 page schematic of a complex machine she had thought of to remove dust. However, as I understand it, this student has very little chance of ever passing Algebra in a general education classroom setting. Is she exceptional, or is she being somehow excluded?

below are the form questions for week3 of EXC625, and my responses

I am modifying this assignment to add a second observation, and my own thoughts on the matter iThis is an account of a meeting I had with a Special Ed teacher that teaches General Ed Algebra and the lessons and ideas we shared with regards to a shop learning environment and design minded learners, or what he called Savantism. I will also give reference to my observations of Neal Wooley's shop class at Hyde Middle school which I attend weekly.

Student Name
"Johnny", and myself

Date
Wed. April 14th

Time in
12PM sharp

Time out
2PM

Name of school
no name yet, that I know of...

Name of teacher
Bruce

Type of classroom/grade level
Shop/all "grade level"

Number of general education students (non-exceptional)
1

Number of exceptional students
1

Multicultural diversity/Cultures represented
a lot

Type(s) of disability
Savantism. Not sure if it's a disability.

Describe the classroom atmosphere
Lifey, with a touch of kick-ass-park-in-the-redwoods feel, historic, friendly

Describe the lesson/activity
The student and the teacher discussed the shop environment as an educational potential for general design-mindedness. During the visit I was lead on a tour of not just the shop that was the focus of the visit, but of the entire grounds which included beautiful sculptural water management engineering amongst a serene park-like setting.

Describe the interactions among the students and with the teacher
I will instead describe my initial thoughts on how a teacher might teach through a shop setting.

Other personnel who provide support services. Please describe who, what, when, where, etc.
In Neal Wooley's shop class, I have observed a class that does contain at least one special ed student, but I have never seen support staff with a student.

Describe the behavior management program
I can not rightly expand upon this since I do not explicitly know the behavior management in Neal Wooley's shop, and Bruce's shop is still being constructed. However I am developing my own program bellow for my future use. It is influenced by and shares certain principles with my mentors'. It is written for a middle school Industrial Arts shop class.

• Treat each other with respect.
• Be safe by being mindful of what we, and others around us, are doing at all times.
• Machines will do what we want them to do when we are mindful.
• Machines will take from us; be it our skin, our pride, or our life, when we are not mindful.
• Be mindful and you will succeed

How would you teach this class differently?
Rather than change how any specific general Education class is taught, I would open "multiple pathways" to learning standards through hands-on learning environments in all Career and Technical fields. For example, in a shop classroom, our student could learn about the complex geometry, physics, and algebra which she is understanding functionally through her drawings which she herself derived. It would be a guided learning environment, or perhaps an apprentice/master vocational/business environment.

How could you improve the instruction?
With regards to existing shop classrooms, one addition I would like to add is the use of incentive based physical activity. Specifically I would like to incorporate strength climbing racks that students can earn the privilege to use to improve their hand/arm strength and mental/physical coordination, which improves machine operation.

Additional comments
Savantism
occurs in the autism spectrum. However, Savantism is not a medically recognized disability, and it seems it is recognized as a "syndrome".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savant_syndrome

The nexus of the book and the savant is a physical product or service; basically business and social interactions. Some people call this democracy, or the democratic process.

Observation Reflection (Part 1)

I am using this form to share thoughts on various aspects of my progress towards my teacher's credential, building my own shop, and my regular visits to Neal Wooley's shop class, and my own thoughts from experience in the classroom.
Strengths Noted
In Neal's shop class I have taken initiative in asking questions, cutting stock, working with students and and following up, and donating project patterns and 6 blanks.
I have spent a great deal of time thinking how to apply change to direct action with internet communications. This is my third class at National University and I have been organizing all of my coursework directly on this website(It's Drupal!).
Challenges to be Addressed
Personally I need to address my own fear in presenting ideas I have about how to restructure education through a vocational training model.

Observation Reflections (Part 2)

How the environment (use of space, opportunities for choice, structuring time) nurture thoughtful awareness of students with disabilities.
The shop environment is by nature very flexible and multi-purpose. This allows for many different ways for students to approach a teaching standard concept by picking their own projects. Demonstrating concepts can be done in many different ways while doing different projetcs for different classes. Classes are often a mixture of begginner/advanced students. This offers an opportunity for students to mentor eachother.

How could the environment be altered to support more opportunities for ALL students
The General Ed classroom would benefit greatly from coordinating teaching standards so that academic classes are supported by hands-on activities. If the teachers were to coordinate more, they would be able to hand off responsibility to teach standards across classrooms.

What surprised you in the observation?
This observation made it very clear that the shop environment is fundamentally different than the academic classroom. It seems that often what is missing in the academic classroom can be found in the shop.

Did anything confuse you?
I am trying to find a balance of meeting the course work expectations and making meaningful adaptations to the course work to challenge myself as an Industrial Arts teacher candidate.