Kami Almy
Great Start Readiness Program (GSRP)
Showcase
Welcome to my showcase! I am very proud to give you a snapshot of the different representations of my abilities I strengthened during my Master of Arts in Education (MAED) program at Michigan State University. The focus of my MAED is in special education. I wanted to learn the latest techniques and tools for helping students who have needs. These assignments and projects have helped me to attain more knowledge on topics that are very important to me as a learner and educator. They focus on ways to help me meet the needs of all my students. These projects and assignments have helped me grow as a teacher in more ways than I could imagine. They have helped me become a true advocate for all of my students especially those who need it. I have been able to expand my knowledge in different areas of special education. I have created these items as resources and tools to help me in the future.
Classroom Managment
Prevention Programs
Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports
Reconfigurations
I created this website with some fellow teachers to help you as parents and educators gather information to help with your child/student with disabilities. As a teacher, I know how difficult it can be to not have resources available to help me teach my students. This website offers information about School wide Positive Behavior Supports and Assistive Technology.
This PowerPoint is focused on classroom management and what changes I made to our classroom after learning so many great ideas. I spent some time reflecting on what was and was not working in our classroom. Each year our new students have different traits and different behaviors however some things do not change such as the fact that they are three and four year olds. In this PowerPoint you will see some changes I made based on behavior and how we can better track it as well as ways we can manage those behaviors and stop them from occurring.
Here a group of fellow MAED students and I created an important PowerPoint to discuss a Delinquent and Violent Youth Program that we created in hopes to lower the number of youth who are involved in delinquent and violent behavior. We wrote this program for middle school aged students however some aspects can be taught as early as pre-K to help prevent these students from becoming a statistic.
Reflection on my work
Here is a reflection on changes I wanted to make in our classroom after learning a large amount of important skills on behavior management. I was able to take things we were already doing in the classroom and tweak them as well as add new ideas.
New Techniques
In this PowerPoint, I focused on a student of mine and his challenging behavior. First I spent time studying my student through a great deal of observation. My assistant teacher and I then decided on what behaviors we felt we needed to help him change and what interventions we thought would give him the ability to control and monitor his own behavior. We implemented interventions with him and saw great results. This PowerPoint shows the process of identifying a challenging behavior, researching and deciding on an intervention, and discovering the results of the intervention. This PowerPoint will only give you a glimpse into interventions and how they can be successful.
Transition Plan
Resources/Tools
I created this Transition Plan for a student with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The Transition Plan was created to help smooth the transition for the child, the parents and the future teacher. I wrote this plan based off the students strengths and weaknesses. In the plan it states what role I will play in the transition. I do something similar to this verbally for all my students staying at Cavanaugh for Kindergarten. I also stay in touch with the teachers and seek information on their progress to see if there is anything I can do to help.
Case Study
This Case Study is an example of how I have gained experience working with students with ASD. This Case Study helped me develop more of an understanding of the referral process for students with disabilities. Although the process we use is different it helped me with collecting valuable information. We then were able to use this information to think of an intervention to work with this student.
Observations
Observation is a huge part of our daily responsibility as a GSRP teacher. I spend a large part of my day teaching through play and interactions with the students. As part of that interaction and play I observe their behaviors, their language and their skills. This paper explains the importance of observation and how it can be used to build stronger connections and create lesson plans for individual students.
Mrs. Almy GSRP Website
I created this website to show how far I have come as an educator and lifelong learner over the course of my MAED program. I also created this webpage to help assist my families and fellow teachers. I hope you find it useful and you can see just how far we have come as well as where we are headed in our classroom.