EDF 2085 Professor Yasmeen Qadri Field Observation by: Annette Meldrum

1. Fern Creek Elementary School EDF 2085 Professor Yasmeen Qadri Field Observation by: Annette Meldrum

2. Special Education Services Fern Creek Elementary The following services are available to students with special needs: Educable Mentally Handicapped Program (EMH) Emotionally Handicapped Program (EH) English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Gifted Program (IEP) Hearing/Vision Screenings Hospital/Homebound Instruction Physical/Occupational Therapy Specific Learning Disabilities Program (SLD) Speech and Language Therapy Trainable Mentally Handicapped (TMH)

3. A Team Building Project Mr. Conner’s has a different one every week.

4. Mr. Conner’s “FUTURE CITY PROJECT” The students had to use recycled items to build their cities. The cities where presented last week to the class. The students were the investors that had a ten million dollar budget. The student presenting their city had to pitch why their city would be worth investing in. The details for their cities where: What will the name of your city be? Who will run the city and how? What will the laws be? What city services are necessary? What city services are necessary for the business areas? Think about the location of things in your city. What areas of the city would you like to have located near the homes? What areas would you like as far away as possible? What will be the form of transportation use in your city? What will be used to power your city? What form of entertainment will there be in your city? How and where will the residents of your city get and but their food? Planning and Development What factors would help determine the buildings needed and how many of each? Where will people be employed? In what industries? City Planner There must be: Police, fire, sanitation, hospitals, schools, recreation, tourism The questions and the logic that was behind these 9-11 year old children was beyond impressive!

5. Intermediate Gifted Lesson Plans: September 27, 2013 9:15-9:45 Draw Teams/Welcome Ritual/Brain Buzz: “How Would That Look?” (Goal: Show understanding of listening and visual skills) 9:45-10:15 Prestidigital Symposium: Prepare Yourselves to think critically! (Goal: Students demonstrate critical thinking skills) 10:15-10:25 Restroom Break 10:25-11:00 Touch Typing: BBC/Kebo/FTG.net touch typing practice. (Goal: Students show increase in speed and accuracy) 11:00-11:45 Project: “My Future City”: Continue to develop business plan for MFC. Make sure information is neat and carefully drawn and labeled. (Goal: Student show understanding of research, design, planning, and building model) 11:45-12:15 Team Building: Thin Orange Line: Student devise strategy for reorganizing themselves in sequential order while still remaining in contact with orange line. (Goal: Students demonstrate teamwork to accomplish challenge) 12:15-12:38 Creative Writing & Webbing: Review basic setup of webbing/planning a fictional story. Students outline web, all topic sentences and sequence of events. List setting and main characters on back of web. Begin story in Microsoft Word. (Goal: Students show understanding of webbing/planning a story) 12:28-1:15 Lunch and restroom break. 1:15-1:44 CNN Student News: Discuss geographical locations of stories via Google Earth. Watch news report and discuss points. (Goal: Students will be able to ID locations of stories and discuss issues and different cultures. 1:45-2:15 Continue: My Future City Projects 2:15-2:35 Journals: 12 lines with illustration. Students write about highs and lows of the day.

6. The planning stages and designs of some of the Future City Projects of Mr. Conner’s Gifted Class.

7. Science day in the Gifted Class with “Ed the Science Guy” “Magic does what science said is impossible” quoted by, Ed The Science Guy.

8. The Fern Creek Morning Show This show is run entirely by 7-11 year old students. They are the anchors, run the camera, video, directors, etc… It is an impressive thing to watch!

9. Teacher Interview with Mr. Leonard Conner “Gifted/Resource/TV Production Teacher” 1.) What exceptionality do the students have? What grade level and what age are they? We aim to provide educational opportunities that will enable each student to develop fully according to his or her potential. Meeting a child’s need by adding more challenge is no more elitist than giving another student large print handouts or extra time for task completion if these are required. I think and believe that all teachers must be responsive to the student’s needs. Fair is not always equal. Equal is not always fair. My gifted classes are students in 2nd-5th grade. Their ages range from 7-11 years old. 2.) What needs do the children seem to have that are unique to this group? Common to other children? What modifications in instructional approach are made? Many children demonstrate sensitivity and/or perfectionism, but in children who are gifted and talented, these tendencies are more predominant and appear at a more extreme level. Teachers need to be aware of characteristics of students who may be gifted and talented in order to be better prepared to identify the root of so me of the behaviors seen in the classroom. When asked to nominate students for advanced or gifted programming, many teachers seem to identify the “teacher pleasers”. These are the children who get good grades, whose hands go up to answer questions, who always have their homework complete, or who are eager to contribute and work diligently on any task presented to them. These are generally high achieving students but they may not be the most able. 3.) What recommendations does the parent have for you, regarding what you might provide for children who have special needs? Children who are gifted and talented and have exceptionality sometimes show a dually exceptional. Students who are dually exceptional provide a challenge both in identification and programming. I’ve seen these children exhibit an uneven development of their skills and abilities. Often the areas of deficit or need become the focus, while the talents are overlooked. A student not seeing a relationship between his or her efforts and outcomes, the result may be learned helplessness and he or she may no longer make an effort to achieve. 4.) How have you been affected by the education policy directed at children with special needs. What modifications has the teacher made in teaching? What do you as a teacher still feel is needed? For my classes: we write Education Plans, based on the DOE Gifted Frameworks. 5. What type of assistive technology do you use to accommodate the special needs of your students? Provide students with a wide choice of products through which they may show mastery of the material so that they may select a method that matches their strengths. I do this with having a computer for each student, Smart Board, and Mind storm robots for programming skills. .

10. G. Leonard Conner Glen.conner@ocps.net 407-897-6410, ext. 2278

11. The teacher that I had the absolute pleasure and honor to observe. G. Leonard Conner Resource & Gifted Teacher at Fern Creek Elementary Mr. Conner scheduling jobs for The Fern Creek Morning Show Mr. Conner graduated from the University of South Florida with a BA in Elementary Education and Emotionally Handicapped. He has taught video production. Mr. Conner created and runs the Fern Creek Morning Show production with an all student staff and cast.  Mr. Conner is an incredible teacher, and is the primary and intermediate gifted instructor. He has been teaching for 24 years. This is his 9th year at Fern Creek