Preparing Secondary Special Education Teachers To Be Collaborative Decision Makers and Reflective Practitioners

This study describes a practicum model for preparing secondary special education teachers consonant with the initiative to merge general and special education. The goal is to prepare teachers who are collaborative decision makers and reflective practitioners. In a 4-week intensive summer practicum, special education graduate students and middle school mathematics teachers designed and implemented two units of instruction in mathematics for at-risk and mildly handicapped youngsters. The experience was structured to engage graduate students in thinking seriously about the process of teaching and to examine the effects of their pedagogical decisions on learners. Data analyses revealed factors essential to the success of such practicum endeavors and captured changes in graduate students' reflective orientations.