: Initial Steps in Advocacy Planning

Assignment: Initial Steps in Advocacy Planning

Throughout this module, you had the opportunity to review resources on transformational and authentic leadership skills and abilities as well as identify an individual in the field of special education who demonstrated the attributes of either leadership style. Special education leaders must rely on their leadership skills and authentic values when making decisions about how best to mediate and reconcile conflicting values represented in advocacy contexts.

This assignment offers you the opportunity to analyze a case study and apply advocacy elements and processes for diverse learners in the field of special education. In creating your own action plan for advocacy, you will critically analyze leadership roles and the Application of advocacy, policy, and law related to an issue in the field of special education.

To prepare:

·         Enter the Grand City Community and locate West Ridge Middle School. View the case study video titled, “The Observation Meeting.”

·         Review Sharman’s advocacy guide in the Module Learning Resources.

·         Research additional examples of advocacy plans.

·         Review the instructions for the Module 1 Discussion 2 to ensure you have completed all requirements for this Assignment.

For this Assignment, you will identify the different leadership roles, advocacy, policies, and laws present in “The Observation Meeting” video. Then, you will write an action plan incorporating the perspectives of both the principal and one of the teachers in the case study as they relate to the role of an advocate for Jamal.

Action plan for advocacy to the Discussion Board in order to receive feedback and support from your colleagues.

Your 1- to 3-page action plan for advocacy should address the following:

·         Identify the different leadership roles of the teachers and the principal in the video.

·         Place yourself in the role of the principal and one of the teachers and address the following questions from the perspective of each individual:

o    What leadership skills are important for you to emulate in a meeting when addressing policies and laws as presented in the video?

o    What are the issues related to policy, laws, or both that need to be addressed?

o    What advocacy context(s) do you feel are represented in the case study video and how should they be handled? What methods will you use to advocate on behalf of Jamal? What skills and characteristics are required as an advocate?

o    What type of information does Jamal’s mother need to advocate for her son? How will Jamal need to self-advocate for himself?

Grand City Community

·         Laureate Education (Producer). (2015). The observation meeting [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Go to the Grand City Community and click into West Ridge Middle School. Review the following scenario: The Observation Meeting.

Walden University has created a simulated community known as Grand City. This community is being used in various other courses, as well as this one. The community consists of several locations that may be useful in completing some of the assignments in this course and other courses throughout your program. When you use a resource within the Grand City community in this course, instructions will be provided pertaining to which location and resource you are to view. The community may be viewed at the link provided in the citation.

Finally, whenever you have a Discussion or Assignment related to the case study, this icon will display in the Assignment introduction. Instructions for which video related to the case study, and which location within Grand City you are to focus on, will be provided in the Discussion and/or Assignment prompts.

Laureate Education (Producer). (2015). The observation meeting [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author. Retrieved from http://mym.cdn.laureate-media.com/2dett4d/Walden/EDDD/2015/CH/mm/grand_city/index.html.

Sharman, R.R. (n.d.). An introduction to advocacy: Training guide. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20151010183555/http://www.globalhealthcommunication.org/tool_docs/15/an_introduction_to_advocacy_-_training_guide_(full_document).pdf.