Lisa M. Brown’s Teaching Portfolio

Educational Philosophy

"Exceptional human beings must be given exceptional educational treatment, treatment which takes into account their special difficulties. Further, we can show that despite abnormality, human beings can fulfill their social role within the community, especially if they find understanding, love and guidance.”

~ Hans Asperger

Educational PhilosophyThe above quote, as a special education teacher, is what I hope to achieve

every day. I especially like how he uses the term human beings. First and foremost, our students are human beings with feelings and ideas that should be heard, considered and respected. I believe that schooling should be practical and provide sound instruction that prepares students to live life. For students with special needs, this is the greatest education we can provide.

I believe as teachers we wear many hats. We should have knowledge of the subjects we are teaching, but more importantly, we should be nurturing and managing both our classroom and students to create an environment in which they are happy, comfortable and which stimulates a desire to learn. As teachers, we should have the highest expectations of our students, and should never limit them. My goal as a teacher is to create a classroom where diversity is nurtured and to create a classroom community in which respect is given and received.

I believe that learning, to an extent should be student driven. I believe in structure for students, and that there should be curriculum standards, but there is more than one way to meet those standards. I feel that as a special education teacher I should be open-minded to multiple methods of learning and teaching for my students.

Something you should know…

This is my brother Michael. Michael has special needs. He has a disease called Tuberous Sclerosis (TSC). This causes seizures, mental retardation and behavioral issues. Individuals with TSC often exhibit autistic-like behaviors.

Having Michael as a sibling truly allows me to put myself in the shoes of the families of the special needs student.

Thank-you notes and notes from students

One of the students made “I survived MCAS”

bookmarks for their classmates and made

these for myself and the classroom teacher.

Professional Information

Resume Highlights:•Plan, create and implement engaging and creative

lesson plans that align with both the Massachusetts Frameworks, as well as a range of specific Individualized Educational Plan objectives, in both the general education classroom, weekly, and the learning center, daily.

•Modify curriculum in general education classroom

through creating or gathering alternate worksheets, through the use of materials such as highlighters, sentence starters and modeling, and through direct one-on-one instruction.

•Motivate learners to participate in academic and social

settings by modeling appropriate behavior, breaking activities into smaller more attainable goals to build confidence, and consistent use of verbal and non-verbal praise and behavior plans.

Letters of RecommendationErin McKenna Banks•Erin was my supervising practioner at the

Devotion School in Brookline.

•She is the special education teacher in the 3rd and 4th Grade Learning Center.

Barbara Levine•Barbara was my Simmons Practicum

Supervisor.

•Prior to working as a Simmons supervisor, Barbara was a principal of an elementary school.

Christy Bordieri•Christy was the 3rd grade general educator

whose classroom I worked in this year.

•Christy is an experienced teacher, with eight years experience.

Letter of

Recommendation

by Erin McKenna Banks

“Lisa is always

able to see the whole

child in each

student she worked

with”

Letter o

f Recommendatio

n

by

Erin M

cKenna Banks – pg

2

“Observing her interactions with other teachers,

specialists, interns and aides, I note true eagerness to

improve instruction and student

achievement.”

Letter of Recommendation

by Barbara Levine

“promoted opportunities

for cooperative learning and multimodal instruction”

“demonstrated a willingness to incorporate feedback in a professional

manner”

Letter of Recommendation

by Christy Bordieri

“Lisa faces every

challenge with

confidence and a

positive attitude.”

“Lisa has a quiet friendly nature that children re

immediately drawn to. However,

she is able to handle the

most difficult children and situations.”

Plans Curriculum and

Instruction

Lesson PlanningHighlights:•Plan, create and implement engaging

and creative lesson plans.

•Lesson Plans align with both the

Massachusetts Frameworks, as well as a range of specific Individualized Educational Plan objectives.

•Create and teach lessons for the

general education classroom, weekly, and the learning center, daily.

Received positive feedback from

advisor that this was an engaging

way to start a lesson

Lesson Plan Sample #1

This was a lesson for the

Learning Center

Possible re-write of IEP objective shows understanding of IEP objectives and ability to write

effective objectives

Use o

f

mod

ificat

ions

to cu

rricu

lum

Lesson Plan Sample #2This lesson is part of an science unit on mammals

that I was teaching

weekly in the inclusive general

education classroom

Included ELL standards for this lesson for

the ELL students in the class.

Gave students a

word search with the

new vocabulary to complete

if they finished

their group work early

Received positive feedback from

Simmons Supervisor on the

lesson closure and assessment

portion of this lesson.

Manages Classroom Climate

Classroom ManagementHighlights:•Collaborate with the general education

classroom teacher, who took over mid-year, to create, post, and implement classroom behavior management system.

•Manage student behavior through

reminding students of rules, consistently enforcing rules and giving incentives for compliance.

•Observe 1st and 2nd grade general

education classrooms with students on Individualized Educational Plans to enhance classroom management skills.

• Worked with general education classroom teacher that took over mid-year to create new classroom rules.

• Discussed and came up with rules with students and used their language in creating the posters.

Inclusive General

Education Classroom

• Created rules for small group instruction with students.

• Used a sticker system in which students earned stickers for good behavior and then a reward.

Learning Center

Observations of Other Classrooms

During my practicum, I

had the opportunity to

observe other

classrooms at Devotion,

in order to observe

more experienced

teachers both deliver

instruction and manage

their classrooms. This

helped me to develop

my skills as an

educator.

Noted classroom

environment and

organization

Noted teaching

style

Professionalism

Observations

by Supervising

Practitioner

“Lisa is extremely organized, resourceful

and reliable”

“She was generous in her

praise…consistent in her response to

the student. By end of the day, he

realized there were no “gray”

areas in this plan.”

A rating of 3 is Advanced

Special Education Specific -

Moderate Disabilities Pre-k through Grade 8

Special Educator ToolboxHighlights:•Applied Behavioral Analysis

(ABA)

•IEP and Progress Report writing

•Knowledge and experience with formal and informal assessments.

•Reading Instruction

•Technology in the Classroom

•Modifying Curriculum

• Took the Analysis of Behavior: Classroom Applications course at Simmons.

• Have knowledge of and practice with basic ABA through course and through working with BCBA for two students during my practicum.

This is a Functional Behavioral

Assessment completed

for the course.

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)

• This is a behavior contract for a student.

• The contract was co-created by myself, the ABA specialist, the classroom teacher and special educator.

ABA - continued

• These are daily schedule sheets that are used for a student.

• They were co-created by myself and two special educators.

• The student has 2 jobs that must be completed and then will earn a break.

• The student earns additional minutes for exhibiting positive behaviors.

• In addition, the sheets act as data sheets for the teachers and ABA specialist.

ABA - continued

IEP and Progress Report Writing

• Have assisted in writing IEP and have re-written goals for IEP’s for Lesson Plans, per Simmons requirements, to make the goals more measurable.

• Example : Student will ask for assistance when unsure of directions 90% of the time.– Possible rewrite to make it measurable: Student will ask for

assistance when unsure of directions in 4 out of 5 opportunities.

• Regularly took data for Progress Reports and wrote summaries for supervising teacher to use in progress reports.

Formal Assessments

• Observed testing and/or given during Practicum:– WJ III– DRA– QRI

• Through coursework, familiar with– WIAT– KeyMath– GORT– TOWL

Informal Assessments

• Taking behavioral and academic data.

• Assessment during and after lessons.

Formal and Informal Assessments

• Reading by the Rules– Use the Reading by the Rules system to

provide small group reading instruction in the Learning Center on a daily basis.

• Teach small group, inclusive lessons in the general education classroom using guided reading.

• Reading courses at Simmons– RDG 406 – RDG 410

Reading Instruction

I created at wikispace for students to use for both academic and “break” times:

http://devo-34lc.wikispaces.com/

Courses at Simmons Assistive Technology -

Completed a project in that class in which we used Garageband to make, record and present a project

Universal Design for Learning

Online resource for learning students used this year: RAZ Kids (Reading A to Z) Roller Typing

Incorporated technology into lessons when I could, but access to technology during my practicum was limited.

Technology in the Classroom

Accommodations and Modifications of the Curriculum

I created this using readwritething.org for two students who were working on A Toad for Tuesday with a reading group in the 3rd grade classroom.

The students were having difficulty completing the guided reading packet, which required them to write a great deal and also infer in some cases.

This allowed the students complete the basic information about their reading in an engaging manner and was chosen due to their mutual interest in Pokémon trading cards.

Modified Student

Homework Samples

Accommodations and Modifications of the Curriculum

Thank you for taking the time to look at my portfolio and

for your consideration.Regards, Lisa Brown