Extended School Year (esy) 2018 Beaverton School District
History:
The extended school year (ESY) was created under the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) of 2004. ESY is a program for students with special needs, who are identified as individuals who need to go to school through the summer so that they do not lose the information and behavior habits that they learned during the school year. This program is crucial for the retention of information, for students, who are severely impacted by their disability. This program insures that the students who are involved in it are not learning new information but are retaining the information that they learned during the school year, this retention helps insure that the students go into the next school year a step ahead instead of a step behind. |
My Responsibilities at ESY
The ESY program this year was at oak hills elementary and ran from 8:00 AM to 12:00PM, monday to thursday, into the first week of august. This was my second year at ESY so I was able to understand my responsibilities a little better. This year in the classroom that I was a part of we had eight students total in the classroom, three of the students had down syndrome, one with cerebral palsy, three with autism, and one that was emotionally disturbed (ED). At the beginning of every week at ESY we would get an assigned student who we would be working with during that week. I ended up being able to work with a majority of the students in my class minus the student who had cerebral palsy because he had a one-on-one. My day to day responsibilities was insuring that the student I was responsible for was completing their worksheets and adhering the the behavior plan that the teacher explained to us before the commencement of the week.
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University Studies Goals
Social Responsibility: -to expand and understand the impact and value of individuals and their choices on society both intellectually and socially, through group projects and collaboration in learning communities.
Diversity, Equity, and Social Justice: -Students will explore and analyze identity, power relationships, and social justice in historical contexts and contemporary settings from multiple perspectives
Effective Communication: -to collaborate effectively with others and to be competent in appropriate communication technologies (verbal, non-verbal, listening, etc.)
Critical Thinking: -problem posing, investigating, conceptualizing…in order to become active, selfmotivated, and empowered learners
Diversity, Equity, and Social Justice: -Students will explore and analyze identity, power relationships, and social justice in historical contexts and contemporary settings from multiple perspectives
Effective Communication: -to collaborate effectively with others and to be competent in appropriate communication technologies (verbal, non-verbal, listening, etc.)
Critical Thinking: -problem posing, investigating, conceptualizing…in order to become active, selfmotivated, and empowered learners
University studies goals applied to ESY
Social Responsibility:
Social responsibility is a huge factor in regards to the ESY program. While working at ESY I had to be cognizant of what my responsibilities were not only to the students that I worked with but I was also responsible to my fellow co-workers. If I was not socially responsible within myself and to my co-workers the classroom I worked in could of gone into a disarray because the students we work with are more challenging than most.
Diversity, Equity, and Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, and Social Justice is another important factor to the cohesion of the ESY program. The ESY program consists of a wide variety of students with a plethora of disabilities . In order for all of the staff members to work cohesively we have to be able to understand each of these disabilities and have the ability to ask for help if we do not understand the disability. Each and every one of these students have to be treated equitable in order to ensure that there is no favoritism.
Effective Communication: Effective communication is one of the most important factors to working at ESY. If a student is having a bad day or is coming into the classroom at an elevated state, the individual working with that student, needs to communicate to their other co-workers. There was one instance at ESY where the student came into the program at an elevated state and I had to let my fellow co-workers what was going on. Shortly after the student had a complete meltdown, but because I had communicated what was going on the fellow staff members and I were able to formulate a plan to get the other students away. Effective communication is the backbone to making the ESY program run effectively.
Critical Thinking: Critical Thinking is another major factor to insuring that ESY runs smoothly. In order to preserve the safety and efficiency to which ESY runs, everyone has to think of every situation critically. There has to be a sense of safety first always at mind. If a situation is getting out of hand with a student the individual has to be able to recognize that and either as for help or work out the problem efficiently. Most of the individuals who work at ESY are exceptional at critical thinking because they cannot afford not to.
Social responsibility is a huge factor in regards to the ESY program. While working at ESY I had to be cognizant of what my responsibilities were not only to the students that I worked with but I was also responsible to my fellow co-workers. If I was not socially responsible within myself and to my co-workers the classroom I worked in could of gone into a disarray because the students we work with are more challenging than most.
Diversity, Equity, and Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, and Social Justice is another important factor to the cohesion of the ESY program. The ESY program consists of a wide variety of students with a plethora of disabilities . In order for all of the staff members to work cohesively we have to be able to understand each of these disabilities and have the ability to ask for help if we do not understand the disability. Each and every one of these students have to be treated equitable in order to ensure that there is no favoritism.
Effective Communication: Effective communication is one of the most important factors to working at ESY. If a student is having a bad day or is coming into the classroom at an elevated state, the individual working with that student, needs to communicate to their other co-workers. There was one instance at ESY where the student came into the program at an elevated state and I had to let my fellow co-workers what was going on. Shortly after the student had a complete meltdown, but because I had communicated what was going on the fellow staff members and I were able to formulate a plan to get the other students away. Effective communication is the backbone to making the ESY program run effectively.
Critical Thinking: Critical Thinking is another major factor to insuring that ESY runs smoothly. In order to preserve the safety and efficiency to which ESY runs, everyone has to think of every situation critically. There has to be a sense of safety first always at mind. If a situation is getting out of hand with a student the individual has to be able to recognize that and either as for help or work out the problem efficiently. Most of the individuals who work at ESY are exceptional at critical thinking because they cannot afford not to.
What does ESY Need?
In order for ESY to run smoothly there is a major need for not only individuals who have worked within the community of students but also individuals who are genuinely caring about the students. Each and every one of the students that are at ESY are there because it is required per their individualized educational plan (IEP). This means that they are typically the more difficult students within the special needs community.
Having someone who is genuine and caring helps insure that the individuals at ESY are all treating each student equitable. |
How am I helping meet these needs
Goal: Before ESY started I set a goal to myself that if I was every stressed or needed a break I would communicate that to my fellow co-workers so that I can be as genuine as possible. When working at ESY there are many instances where the individual can get stressed out which makes them less genuine and caring towards the students, because their own personal needs are not being met.
Plan: I would use my critical thinking to realize and understand when I was getting either to stressed out or overwhelmed, when I was feeling these emotions I would let my other co-workers know and either go on a brief walk or take a 5-minute break. This in turn helps with my social responsibility towards the student of providing an equal and genuine teaching experience to all of the students. Action: In following my goal and set plan I was not only able to provide a more genuine experience for the students but I was also able to alleviate most if not all of the stress that could of dragged on throughout the rest of my day. There were multiple instances where I had to take a step back and take a breather because a situation with a student/students were overwhelming me. The critical thinking aspect of university studies was in full force during these moments. I had to have the capacity to understand when I was getting overwhelmed in order to preserve the equity of the classroom. I was able to effectively communicate to my fellow co-workers that I needed a break and by week three of the ESY program I observed that most of my co-workers were doing the same as me and asking for breaks when they were overwhelmed. This goal although small was able to help preserve the genuine atmosphere of the classroom because we were able to go in to the classroom after the break with a clear mind and the drive to give each and every student the same genuine and equitable experience. Although the goal may seem small, preserving the genuine atmosphere of the classroom helps in every aspect of insuring that the classroom is caring for each and every student equally. |
Reflection
Doing my senior capstone on the ESY program helped me gain an immense amount of knowledge as to just how important this job is for the students . Last year I did the ESY program but did not have much of a thought process to it; I would treat every student equally and give each student a genuine experience but when you are having to write about it everyday and reflect it makes the experience that much better.
Working with the students with the university goals in mind I understood that we deal with all four of them on a daily basis. We have to critically think every situation through from when a student is escalated and how we are going to deal with it, to critically thinking how each of the staff members are doing mentally. At ESY we have to be socially responsible for each of the students welfare as well as our own as staff members. We have to have the ability to understand when a student may cause harm to other students and create a plan to either de-escalate the student or vacate the other students if necessary. There is a wide range of diversity among the students and staff members, each and every student and staff member has to be treated equitable to ensure a fair environment. Like I said above effective communication is the backbone to making sure that ESY works. From asking to a break to asking for help with a student without effective communication the system would be substantially less beneficial.
Having ESY as my senior capstone has left a mark on me that will last, it has taught me how important the work that I did there was and will be the reason why I continue to do it next year. I plan on becoming a special education teacher in the future so having this program as my senior capstone has been a stepping stone to letting me know that I am going in the right direction.
Working with the students with the university goals in mind I understood that we deal with all four of them on a daily basis. We have to critically think every situation through from when a student is escalated and how we are going to deal with it, to critically thinking how each of the staff members are doing mentally. At ESY we have to be socially responsible for each of the students welfare as well as our own as staff members. We have to have the ability to understand when a student may cause harm to other students and create a plan to either de-escalate the student or vacate the other students if necessary. There is a wide range of diversity among the students and staff members, each and every student and staff member has to be treated equitable to ensure a fair environment. Like I said above effective communication is the backbone to making sure that ESY works. From asking to a break to asking for help with a student without effective communication the system would be substantially less beneficial.
Having ESY as my senior capstone has left a mark on me that will last, it has taught me how important the work that I did there was and will be the reason why I continue to do it next year. I plan on becoming a special education teacher in the future so having this program as my senior capstone has been a stepping stone to letting me know that I am going in the right direction.