Running Head: Service Learning Project: Accommodations and Modifications 1

Service Learning Project: Accommodations and Modifications

Ana M. Guajardo

University of Texas at Brownsville

Dr. H. Ward

Sped 6310

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

SERVICE LEARNING PROJECT OVERVIEW/RATIONAL PG3-4

SERVICE LEARNING PROJECT OVERVIEW PG 4-5

NEEDS ASSESSMENT SURVEY PG 5-8

CO-PLANNING FLYER PG 9

CO-PLANNING SING-IN SHEET PG 10

CO-PLANNING POWERPOINT PG 11-13

ACCOMMODATION & MODIFICATION HANDOUT PG 14

STAAR A ACCOMMODATION GUIDELINES PG 15

EVALUATION SURVEY PG 16

EVALUATION SERVICE RESULTS PG 17-18

REFLECTION PG 19-20

Service Learning Project Overview/Rational

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After being given the assignment of the service learning project I spoke with my principal

Mrs. S. Houghtaling over the assigned project after clarifications of the assignment she

approved. I develop a survey to see where my colleagues stand in regards to special education

and IEP’s. The dean at our campus advised me to pass out my survey through survey monkey

because it would be confidential and we would have a greater outcome from the staff. Two days

later I was called into the office and asked that the issues I address with my project be the

implementation of modifications and accommodations in the classroom. One of the main

concerns that my principle had was that she felt many of the teachers did not know the difference

between both accommodations and modifications and to reinstate to our teachers that it is a state

law that accommodations and modifications are to be implemented in the classrooms with

fidelity.

When creating my needs assessment survey I kept in mind what I wanted to find out the

staff knew. Along with my administration the survey created consisted of eight questions that

addressed IDEA, IEP’s, accommodations and modifications, implementations of modifications

and accommodations, and if additional support on how to tend to the issues was needed. The

response for support in the areas of accommodations and modification was high and it was

reassured that this would be the targeted topic of the staffing presentation. When gathering the

information for the presentation I looked into the TEA website for the majority of the

information because it is a reliable source to pull the information from. The rest of the

information gathered was from previous special education staff development raining that I have

attended thought out the year within my school district. A flyer was created and was passed out

to the staff as well as displayed in the conference room, teachers lounge and front office. Along

with the flyer the gathered information was put on a PowerPoint that was presented and

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explained to the staff in detail with further explanations and examples. The focused of my

presentation was to encourage teachers to provide the accommodations and modification for their

students in accordance to their IEPs. Reminding the staff that it is the law to provide our students

with accommodations and modifications and giving tips and pointers on how they can apply

different accommodations and modifications in their classroom with little no time invested. To

end the presentation I was allowed to pass out a small evaluation that I created along with my

dean of instruction. The results were put on a chart for further evaluation of the outcome of the

presentation.

Service Learning Project Overview

While conducting my service learning project, I was able to obtain a better understanding

of what is required to prepare and conduct professional development training. I was required to

create and send out a needs assessment survey with the approval and support of my

administrators. The survey was passed out to the teacher at the campus I currently work in

through Survey Monkey an online survey website commonly used at our campus. This allowed

for my colleagues to feel the security of answering freely, since all of the collected responses

were anonymous. The turn out what not as I expected given that there are 55 teachers on this

campus. I only had a total of 39 responses for the needs assessment survey. In a future I feel that

it would be best if a few more reminders are sent out to encourage the entire staff to participate

in any other surveys.

With the responses that were collected from the needs assessment survey, which

approximated to 85%, I was gather most of the information from the TEA website and the

remaining information form was obtained from Brownsville ISD special education staff

development that I have attended. The course the presentation took was to address concerns that

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my principal had with teachers having a difficult time distinguishing between accommodations

and modifications and the needs assessment survey results.

Needs Assessment Survey

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Co-Planning Flyer

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Co-Planning Sign-In Sheet

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Co-Planning PowerPoint

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Accommodation & Modification Handout

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STAAR-A Accommodations Guideline

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Evaluation Surve

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Evaluation Survey Results

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Reflection

The complete service learning project was a very different learning experience for me as

well as my colleagues. The beginning of the project allowed me to see all of the necessary parts

to creating professional development training for an audience. I had attended many training

where I assume the people in charge had to go a collect data and organize information to present,

but now that it was me doing the entire behind the scene work I get to really see all of the hard

work and effort that is needed to conduct a decent training. I worked along my principal, dean of

instruction, special education teachers and general education teachers as a team to successfully

complete this project. This project gave me the tools to interact with everyone and get myself out

of the bubble I was in and really portray myself as a well rounded teacher. I was able to show my

teamwork ethics and give my principal an insight of my leadership skills. In a near future I

would like to be a special education supervisor and this experience has given me the exposure to

what it is working with a great majority of teachers at one time. I was required to be

knowledgeable of the topics that I was covering and felt that I was prepared for ant questions that

might arise after the presentation. I only had general questions asked and a few very one to one

questions on specific questions, but I felt ready to share the wealth of knowledge that I acquired

and was able to offer my help for any future concerns or comments that might need clarification.

SPED 6310 has been a great learning experience. The course has allowed me to grow as a

professional and as an advocate for students with disabilities. I must express that the best part of

this entire experience was being able to tell certain teachers that accommodation and

modification implementation is not just because we the special education teachers want to give

them work, that they are there to help the student succeed academically and have the proof in

hand that it is a state and federal that can result in serious repositions when not implemented. I

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feel like I had a positive outcome with the project and it has opened the door to possibly doing

more professional development training on other special education topics on campus.