1. Allen Park Elementary By Magen Wooley magenmwooley@yahoo.com EEX 2010 “Illuminating Minds… One Hearing Impaired Class at a Time!”
2. APE at a glance! Location: 3345 Canelo DriveFort Myers, FL 33901 Reading Renaissance Master SchoolAllen Park Elementary is the first Reading Renaissance Master School in Lee County and one of only four public or private schools in Florida to have achieved Master School. We were also the first Reading Renaissance Model School in Lee County and one of two in the state of Florida to receive this distinction. Our Media Center has been certified as a Reading Renaissance Master Library. These awards reflects our emphasis on developing reading excellence in our students. We fully implement the Reading Renaissance/Accelerated Reader program in first through fifth grades.
3. Allen Park Elementary I participated at Allen Park Elementary (APE) school this semester. APE is the only school in Lee County with such an extensive and successful ESE program. From hearing impaired, to blind services, autism education and even it’s own wing for TBI students it has proven to not only be an “A+ School” but also a safe place for parents to drop their kids off daily.
4. Allen Park Demographics After speaking with the Principal as well as bookkeeper and numerous teachers I gathered these numbers: Approximately 52% of the school is of Haitian, Mexican or African American descent. Approximately 30% are Caucasian. Approximately 18% of the school population is made up of various other races and cultures.
5. Deaf/Hearing Impaired Services Taken from the Lee County Schools website: “Lee County provides educational services to 175 students identified as deaf or hard-of-hearing…The designated school sites are Allen Park Elementary…” Sign language interpreting, audio logical services and district audiologists are all available on hand daily.
6. The Beginning.. When I attended school at Allen Park Elementary, I took ASL classes as well as volunteered in the Hearing Impaired rooms. My mother teaches at APE and got me involved with helping with the Accelerated Reader (AR) program. This means that the AR program sets reading goals for each student as per their reading level and test taking skills. When the Hearing Impaired students reach their goals they get a special day with the PE Coach and the class has a field day when the entire class reaches their goals. My time spent for this project was at two different celebration days!
7. The Fun! Every year the AR celebration week begins with the Author’s parade! Classes and grade levels got to pick books and authors to represent on their floats! We led the crowd with banners, fun hats and batons!
8. The Games! Left: I have never seen so many kids rush to play this game! Above: Cody and Jared got their faces painted and finished the day with an egg race! Left: APE Vice Principal Miss Nicole came out say hello! This made it on the APE website!
9. The People! Nicole Osterholm: Vice Principal and one of my role models. Miss Nicole has been at APE for 6 years now and approved my being on school grounds. Ginni Moore: Principal. I have known Mrs. Moore since I was at APE when she was the Vice Principal. Gilda Wooley: My mother, but also library and reading specialist. Mrs. Bruhnke: Hearing Impaired teacher. I played her shadow.
10. Perceptions of Differences Growing up I had foster brothers with various forms of Autism and Cerebral Palsy. Some had hearing impairments, others were blind. I think that because of this prior interaction with children different from myself I found more excitement in being around them, than a feeling of overcoming their impairments. Coming out of this experience I feel refreshed in my passion for ESE. I got a few tips on my sign language, was humbled by Cody laughing at my choice of hand signs and received huge hugs and made pinky swears to come back.
16. Connection to the Course “Academic Achievement: A long term concern of deaf and hard of hearing students is their low academic achievement, particularly in the area of reading.” (Introduction to Special Education: Making a Difference, Seventh Edition by Smith; Tyler) Celebrating the students in Mrs. Bruhnke’s class making their goals of certain points and reading levels for the year encourages the students not only to read to have a party at the end of the year, but also to enjoy it and retain information. Like the book states following the quote above, reading helps deaf and hard of hearing students to succeed and do well in college and in the work force.
17. Connection to the Course Individualized Education Plan aka IEP. Every single student I worked with or observed had an IEP formed for them. According to the teachers I spoke to, before the Accelerated Reader celebration took place for the first time they had to sit down with the IEP team for each student in the class and make sure a “Field Day” would be acceptable for the individuals.
18. Civic Engagement I have always believed that volunteer work is the perfect way to come out of your comfort zone and change your life. Granted, I went to a school that I attended as a kid. However, given that Allen Park has such an impressive system for their entire ESE program as well as their hearing impaired program, why not learn from the best? I think that every Education class should have some form of volunteer work required as part of the curriculum. Mostly because it helped me figure out if I could handle being in an ESE class for more than just a visit. I definitely believe that this experience rejuvenated my love for special needs children. Their passion for life and learning over came the frustration I felt at times. I hope to continue with my volunteer and service learning to keep me on my toes in the future.
19. Final Thoughts I wish I had had a group to do this with, instead of being four hours away and having to pretty much start out with just observation hours. I truly appreciated the opportunity I was given by being around the students when they were excited to be there and be celebrating their accomplishments. I do acknowledge that I wasn’t around for a day of intense learning and that will be my next step within the classroom. To get an honest feel for what a day in the class is like.
