Critical Reflections about Students with Special Needs

Book excerpt: 100 vignettes based on real-life classroom challenges are useful for guiding critical reflections on effective teaching and are linked to the CEC Professional Standards for special education teachers. Each vignette provides a brief synopsis of challenges experienced by both novice and experienced teachers as they attempt to implement the information they have learned about effective teaching practices. Using the ten categories in the CEC standards for knowledge and skills, questions for reflections have been developed and carefully referenced for each vignette. These vignettes are designed to be used as a teaching tool for pre-service students or beginning teachers. By providing guided discussions, students are able to brainstorm possible solutions to the challenges presented when teachers attempt to apply general best practice standards in particular classroom situations. Given their brevity, instructors can present these vignettes within a class session and use them to promote active learning. This resource also provides ideas for implementing and utilizing these vignettes to promote active learning within the course structure.