Finals Are Coming!Finals are quickly approaching. please keep in mind these techniques that help our special education students to be more successful when testing. Mark Your Calendar!Help Sessions Coming!Please make sure that as you are beginning the review process that any reviews given to students are appropriate for their accommodations and are similar to the format of the test they will be taking.
See you at the Help Sessions! Reminders:Paperwork! Please keep in mind that when you are completing forms, whether on paper or digitally, that once you have written it, your responses become open record, meaning that a parent can request to view it. Please make sure that what you are writing is objective and measurable. (ie. do not say "student is lazy," say "student does not turn in work" or even better: "student turns in work without prompts in 4 out of 5 classes per week." Instructional Assistants!
Do you have an instructional assistant in your classroom? When you leave sub notes, please be sure to include information about the instructional assistant's role in the classroom in your sub notes. If you see an area of need in your classroom, you are more than welcome to ask the assistant to work with specific students, monitor the group, etc. Please keep in mind that the role of the assistant is not to make copies, grade, pass out papers, etc. In the classroom, our assistants should be helping students! Quick Tips for Differentiating InstructionAs we all know, differentiated instruction is a must if we are going to teach and reach all of our students. Check out this short video full of quick tips for how you can easily differentiate learning in your classroom! Video Take Home POints:Differentiation provides multiples opportunities for students to explore/learn and to show what they know.
Provide learning materials and tasks at different levels of challenge. Provide different levels of support. Ex. word bank, audio to listen to text, picture supports - what other ways can you think of to support? You can adapt the physical space of the classroom to meet student needs for learning. We must start with knowing who students are as learners. Ongoing assessment is key - assessment should guide instruction, as it shows a snapshot of what students know/can do. After a test, quiz, or assignment, what are you doing with the information provided by that assessment? Utilize flexible groupings - group and regroup students throughout the year to ensure that students needs are being met. Student groups should be comfortable, but should also challenge students at times as well. Regularly use a mix of different types of groupings: - Whole class instruction - Small group instruction - 1-to-1 instruction (teacher and student) - Peer teaching pairs (peers teach each other) - Partner learning (peers learn together) - Independent learning (student learns on own) - Cooperative small group learning (group learns together) Differentiating instruction benefits students with disabilities, English language learners, gifted students, and at-risk students (ALL students!) WHat will you do differently this week to help better meet the needs of all of our students? Incorporating choice for Differentiation!Have you heard of gamification? Gamification is a great way to motivate and engage students in thear learning. Check out this video that gives a quick overview of gamification in the classroom. There are a lot of components to gamification that lead to its effectiveness--what is one piece that you could begin to implement in your classroom?
Try something new this week! ARD Forms - Why?You have probably received at least one request for information regarding your special populations students.
Did you know: Your information is critical to the ARD process!! The special education teachers on our campus are responsible for collecting information and data from all teachers who serve a student. We then use that information to look at critical areas of need for the student. If we are missing information in any area, it makes it much more difficult to determine the areas of need and what we should be doing to target those areas. Did you know: We are required to send home a draft of the paperwork 7 days before the ARD meeting so that parents are able to meaningfully participate in the meeting. For this reason, it is imperative for you to complete any and all requested information in a timely manner. Without your input, we can't plan appropriately for our students. uDL - Getting StartedAs you saw in the video last week, Universal Design for Learning is based on 3 principles: 1. Provide Multiple Means of Representation 2. Provide Multiple Means of Action & Expression 3. Provide Multiple Means of Engagement When we implement these 3 principles, we are able to better meet the learning needs of ALL students! This week: Breaking Down Principle 1: Provide Multiple Means of Representation: How can we change the input/the way we represent materials to meet the needs of our different students? 1. Font - according to research sans serif fonts and courier are easier for students to read - have you considered asking your students which font they prefer? 2. Auditory Books - do you give your students the option to use an via recording? We have access to textbooks online, and we also have Kurzweil that can read texts to any student. 3. Digital text/E-books - are you giving your students the option to access their textbook in digital format? What about for reading time in class - are they allowed to read e-books? 4. Digital note-taking - in this technology age, are your students allowed to take digital notes in class? How could we facilitate this? What benefits could we see? Mod/Accom Quick TipsCheck out the infographics below a reminder of some quick tips for classroom and testing accommodations!
UDL - What is it?UDL, Universal Design for Learning, is a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for ALL students based on scientific insights into how humans learn. In the coming weeks, these posts will include tools and tips that can be implemented immediately in your classroom. Watch the video below to see a quick overview of UDL. For additional information about UDL now, visit www.cast.org. Take a moment!Please take a moment to double check your eschool rosters for students marked as special education and/or 504 and ensure that you have access to paperwork for those students either in the cloud or a printed copy. Please also scan through your mods/accoms pages as a reminder for yourself! Please remember that we are legally required to implement IEPs and 504 accommodations completely and accurately! If for whatever reason you are missing paperwork for a student, please email immediately! Upcoming Help session!Content Mastery RemindersThe CM pass has been shared with all faculty on the Drive. Please use it when sending students to CM! Make sure you have enough paper passes on hand for regular use. If you want to save paper, laminate copies of the pass. You can be creative with your passes and color code them. Please send an email to notify CM about upcoming quizzes, assignments, projects and tests at least 3 days prior to the needed help. This will allow us to make sure that we have enough staff on hand to support students and meet their need appropriately. When you notify CM about upcoming quizzes and tests, please complete a class list of your students by class period with their modifications. Example: 1st Period: Stormy Sue- small grp, oral( ?s’/answers) mod test 3 answer choices Buster Brown- small grp When sending student, please have students come with their needed materials and directions to complete their assignment. This can include notes, worksheets, project requirements supplies. We have textbooks in CM that students can use. Thank you for your help with these things to ensure that we are meeting our students' needs accurately and appropriately! |