D719: Student Teaching I in Special Education

D719 Student Teaching I in Special Education is the first part of a two-part series and a mandatory course for all candidates seeking initial licensure at Western Governors University.

In special education the placement adds its own demands: students with a range of needs, individualized goals and several adults in the room. You are asked to show instruction that fits learners' developmental patterns while collaborating, accepting feedback and reflecting on your own practice.

What D719 Covers

WGU lists five competencies, each beginning with the word "demonstrates" or "reflects":

The synchronous sessions in this course cover communication and collaboration, accepting feedback, creating positive learning environments, and technology and online learning.

Ideas That Carry the Course

Collaboration with a Mentor and Team

Special education classrooms often involve teachers, aides and specialists. Evaluators want to see you communicate clearly, ask questions and take direction while still showing growing independence.

Culturally Relevant Materials

The course asks you to explore teaching materials and methods that are culturally relevant. A reading passage that reflects pupils' experiences, or an example drawn from their community, shows this better than a sentence claiming you value diversity.

Using Feedback

Feedback is a graded input, not a judgment. Write down each comment, decide what to change and record the result.

Typical Work and Approaches

Planning for Learners with Different Needs

Special education lesson planning starts from the learner, not the worksheet. WGU's competency about learning and developmental patterns asks you to use what you know about your students when you teach, which in practice means writing down the needs, strengths and supports that shape each decision.

A simple planning frame helps. For every lesson, state the objective, the supports available, how learners will show understanding, and what you will do if the first approach does not work. Keeping this frame the same each time makes it easy for observers to see your thinking.

Whatever supports your learners actually use are set by their plans and your mentor, so follow those. Your written work should describe what happened, not invent accommodations that were not in place.

Making the Synchronous Sessions Count

The required sessions cover communication and collaboration, accepting feedback, creating positive learning environments, and technology and online learning. Each theme matches a part of your placement, so treat the sessions as free coaching.

Before each one, write down a real situation from your classroom that fits the theme. Afterwards, note one idea you will try within the week and what happened when you did. These short entries give you concrete material for your reflection and show that the sessions changed your practice.

Where Students Get Stuck

• Generalizing about disability. Write about specific learners (without identifying details) and their goals.
• Confidentiality slips. Never include names, photos or records that identify pupils in written work.
• Too much description. Evaluators award credit for analysis and adjustment.
• Feeling unsupported. Ask your mentor for structured feedback times.

Study Tips for D719

• Use pseudonyms or "Student A" labels in every written task.
• Link each lesson objective to a pupil goal or need, in general terms.
• Keep a short post-lesson note: what worked, what to change.
• Prepare questions for each synchronous session.

How We Help with D719

Send your assignment prompts, rubric and any feedback you have received. We provide model examples, editing and explanation of the competencies. More general support is in our education assignment help guide.

GradeEssays is independent of Western Governors University and does not work in your placement or access your WGU account. Our work is for study and reference within WGU's academic integrity rules. Orders are written from scratch, with free revisions and a full refund if late.