Discussion Board Post Example - Amazon Web Services

[Pages:3]Discussion Board Post Example

Example of a Discussion Board post answering a prompt about IEP meetings. Go to page 2 for notes about the numbered items indicated with yellow highlight.

What has been your experience with Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings? As a school leader, how will you approach services to students with disabilities, including IEPs?

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During my teaching career, I have taught in three different schools, and,

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interestingly, I witnessed three differing approaches to special education services and

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Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings. As a new teacher in 1981, I

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remember a student I'll call Jeffery. The dean of instruction informed me that Jeffery

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was a "special education student" (with a "Poor-you" look on her face) and that he was

to go to special education at 9:00 each day. Whether Jeffery had an IEP, I have not a

clue. It was never shared with me if he did, and I never attended an IEP meeting.

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In my second school, the special education coordinator adhered to "the letter of

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the law" and ignored "the spirit of the law" (Bateman, Bright, O'Shea, O'Shea, &

Algozzine, 2007, p. 43). She led the IEP meetings and did most of the talking with the

prevailing sentiment being, "Let's get this done as quickly as possible, so we can all get

back to work."

At my third school, the special education coordinator was the consummate

professional and role model for the rest of us. Her brother had been served in special

education classes, so she was an educator on a mission. The IEP meetings that she

led were positive experiences for all stakeholders, including parents. She followed "the

letter of the law," so there was order and efficiency, but she also engendered the "spirit

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of the law" (Bateman et al., 2007, p. 43) in team members, letting everyone know that

"we are here to work together to develop an educational plan that best meets the

individual needs of this student."

As a school leader, I will strive to be like the special education coordinator at my

third school. I will demonstrate professionalism, commitment, and caring about

students with disabilities and their parents. I will communicate both the "letter of the

law" and "the spirit of the law" (Bateman et al., 2007, p. 43) with regard to students with

disabilities. Because special education law is complex, I will provide professional

development to ensure that all stakeholders appreciate the great legal emphasis that is

placed on educational decisions made by the IEP team and the paperwork that must

be completed as documentation. "Cooperative behaviors, conflict resolution, and

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effective listening" (Bateman et al., p. 44) will be integral components of the

professional development with the goal of creating a cohesive team that welcomes and

values the input of parents.

? 2017 American College of Education

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Discussion Board Post Example

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Reference Bateman, D. F., Bright, K. L., O'Shea, D. J., O'Shea, L. J., & Algozzine, B. (2007). The special education program administrator's handbook. Boston, MA: Pearson Education.

Use of the first person "I" is correct in this example. APA encourages use

of the first person point of view, as well as the active voice. APA warns

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that use of phrases such as "the author" or "this writer" can confuse

readers because of uncertainty about the source (is it the student's voice

or is it an indirect quote from the literature?).

This example is correctly typeset with single-spacing for screen

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readability. (In a paper submitted as assignment, proper double-spacing

throughout the text is expected.)

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Note that the full term is introduced before an abbreviation (IEP) is used.

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One of the changes in the 6th edition of APA is reflected in this example: use of two spaces between sentences.

The student has supplied a pseudonym for a real person. This is a mark of

professionalism and good scholarship. Sometimes, researchers go a step

further with "data injection" and supply a false detail so that an identity is

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further concealed. (For example, geography might be identified as "in

Indiana," when the person was actually located in Ohio. This practice is

distinct from falsifying data, which refers to false reporting of findings.)

This example uses a number of quoted passages, both from the cited

literature and from real or imagined conversation. APA generally warns

against the over-use of quote marks and special emphasis (such as

boldface or italics) in text. This example displays a reasonable

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interpretation of the general APA guideline. In this discussion post, the

conversational quotations help to communicate the student's past

experiences. Too, the student has taken care to distinguish these quotes

from the cited literature. Where references are cited, the student has

correctly included page numbers following the quotes.

This example makes good use of paragraph breaks, especially for on-

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screen readability. Some discussion posts will benefit from headings or

sub-headings, also; these can utilize boldface type in a more informal

style than APA formatting used in papers.

Rules about recency vary, with scholarly standards ranging from 3 to 7

years. The subject matter may also dictate the appropriateness of a

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source. In this case, a Handbook from 2007 is an "aging resource" but not necessarily an incorrect one. If the topic were Changing State Standards

for IEPs, the reference would be expected to be recent within the past year

or two.

? 2017 American College of Education

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Discussion Board Post Example

When a scholarly source has 3 to 5 authors, the names are itemized only

once, at first use of the in-text citation. In subsequent displays, the source

is captured with "et al." meaning "and others." Note that al carries a

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period (it is the abbreviated alii, from Latin) and et (and) never carries

punctuation. Subsequent references are written in these styles:

(Bateman et al., 2007)

Bateman et al. (2007) said...

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When a source appears more than once in the same paragraph, the year of publication is needed only in the first citation.

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For the on-screen reference section, a flush-left title is appropriate. (In a

paper submitted as assignment, a centered heading is expected.)

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Authors' initials are correctly typeset with a space between them. Small

mechanical aspects of APA may seem inconsequential but they contribute

to the discipline expected in scholarly writing. Thus, attention to the

details is expected.

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The final author's name is always preceded with comma-space-

ampersand [J., & Algozzine].

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The italics displayed in this example are correctly formatted. Sometimes,

students find their browser is incompatible with standard formatting

toolbars. If this is the case, italics may not be possible. In online

discussions, lack of italics is excused. (In a paper submitted as

assignment, proper use of italics is expected.)

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Online discussions tolerate some loosening of APA formatting rules. In

this case, the post is excused from the APA requirement of a hanging

indent in the References section. (In a paper submitted as assignment,

hanging indents are expected, along with double spacing throughout the

References.)

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Previous editions of APA permitted use of major publishing centers with

just the city name. We now include the state abbreviation or country

name.

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In the book used as this source, the publisher is listed as Pearson

Education, Inc. APA style calls for the shortest name possible for the

publisher. So, that always means removing "Inc." and it can also call for

deleting other words. Consult APA-6th edition for guidance on identifying

publishers.

DOI

Some references from scholarly journals may include a Digital Object

Identifier. If you use an electronic database that reports a DOI, it should be

appended to the Reference entry in this way (with no period at the end):

Author, A. A. (2011). Article title. Journal Name, 45(4), 20-32. doi:10.103/0011-

0022.41

? 2017 American College of Education

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