Intervention Over? Now What?
My students love when they set short-term goals. They love the thrill of the race. Of beating themselves. Of winning. These goals come from their IEP goals--broken down to a small chunk and most importantly student created. I also do six to eight weeks. It really depends on when our breaks are. This first one is 6 weeks and is rapidly coming to a close.
I started collecting the end of intervention data to review. I want to give you a closer look as to what I do and the decisions I make for the next intervention.
Step 1: Collate your data
If you remember, I get all the data for my interventions on a Google Sheet. (To catch how I set up this intervention click here) I start by going back to my original data and updating it with the new data.
As you can see, I added three new pieces of data, student's new baseline, the new gap, and the raw data change from the baseline.
In this case, I also color-coded the gap information. I did this to better see where the new gaps are and to see how well this intervention worked in closing those gaps.
Each student has their own graph. I also make sure I have up to date graph information.
Each graph has a trendline. By trendlines, I can see who over is activity closing their gaps faster than the goal line.
With these two pieces of data, I can make decisions about next steps.
Step 2: I've Got My Data--Now What
ALWAYS--Stick to FACT based statements, when talking about data. This helps me avoid student specific problems and opinions. (ie; they are slow, they are not working hard etc.)
*Students 1, 2, & 5 have gaps larger than 6.
*Students 1 & 2 had single-digit growth.
*Students 3, 4, 5, 6 had double-digit growth
*Everyone had growth.
*Average growth was 45 up from 32.
The Graphs:
*I look for trends: where is the score is (blue line) related to the trendline (pink line) and the Goal Line (yellow line).
I pay close attention to where these lines meet the Goal (red line). Is it before Week 19 or after?
*This matters, when determining if they are closing their gaps fast enough.
*Remember, the point is to move students more than a year. How long it may take them to close gaps is key to thinking about whether the intervention was successful for the student.
With this intervention, 3 students had great success, 2 students didn't, and 1 who it was moderately successful for.
Step 3: Analyze the Root Cause
(It takes at least five WHYs to get to a root cause) (You may find you need more information like a reading level, fluency data, etc. BUT stick to the FACTS.)
WHY: Student's need more encounters with sight words
WHY: Student's have the easy sight words but don't know what to do with the more difficult ones
WHY: Students are not connecting sight words from text to text
WHY: Sight word knowledge is not carrying over to Grade level Oral Reading Fluency
WHY: Students need more practice besides decodable repeated readings, individual flashcard rings, and instructional book reading.
Analysis:
*Keep intervention structure
*Change up: add extra practice to build the first 50 words
*Keep intervention cycle to 4 weeks
*Ensure Reading Mastery lessons are being completed with fidelity!
To Do over the next 4 weeks:
*Give all students a Phonics screener
*Complete an Error Analysis on Oral Reading Fluency
The why's are always hard but it helps you drill down to what needs to be changed. You also see--I have a list of things I need to do before the next cycle is over. These ideas fell out as I looked at the data--the big wondering "Is this a phonics thing?" Well, I don't have the right data to answer that question. If you find this to be your problem--then figure out your timeline to get the information you need and get it. But don't let it hold you up!! If you missed how I created this intervention you can check it out here.
Here is what the next four weeks of Sight Word Intervention:
*I will add an additional 4 weeks.
*I will add basic sight word books for the 3 students who made little growth.
*I will add exposure to more difficult sight words to all students based on the data from the grade level reading fluency.
*I will have a teammate come and observe a Reading Mastery lesson to ensure fidelity.
I hope you see how I work through my data at the end of an intervention and make changes to support students for the next four weeks. Send a shoutout on how your interventions are going and share any questions.
Chat Soon,
I started collecting the end of intervention data to review. I want to give you a closer look as to what I do and the decisions I make for the next intervention.
Step 1: Collate your data
As you can see, I added three new pieces of data, student's new baseline, the new gap, and the raw data change from the baseline.
In this case, I also color-coded the gap information. I did this to better see where the new gaps are and to see how well this intervention worked in closing those gaps.
Each student has their own graph. I also make sure I have up to date graph information.
Each graph has a trendline. By trendlines, I can see who over is activity closing their gaps faster than the goal line.
With these two pieces of data, I can make decisions about next steps.
Step 2: I've Got My Data--Now What
ALWAYS--Stick to FACT based statements, when talking about data. This helps me avoid student specific problems and opinions. (ie; they are slow, they are not working hard etc.)
*Students 1 & 2 had single-digit growth.
*Students 3, 4, 5, 6 had double-digit growth
*Everyone had growth.
*Average growth was 45 up from 32.
The Graphs:
*I look for trends: where is the score is (blue line) related to the trendline (pink line) and the Goal Line (yellow line).
I pay close attention to where these lines meet the Goal (red line). Is it before Week 19 or after?
*This matters, when determining if they are closing their gaps fast enough.
*Remember, the point is to move students more than a year. How long it may take them to close gaps is key to thinking about whether the intervention was successful for the student.
With this intervention, 3 students had great success, 2 students didn't, and 1 who it was moderately successful for.
Step 3: Analyze the Root Cause
(It takes at least five WHYs to get to a root cause) (You may find you need more information like a reading level, fluency data, etc. BUT stick to the FACTS.)
WHY: Student's need more encounters with sight words
WHY: Student's have the easy sight words but don't know what to do with the more difficult ones
WHY: Students are not connecting sight words from text to text
WHY: Sight word knowledge is not carrying over to Grade level Oral Reading Fluency
WHY: Students need more practice besides decodable repeated readings, individual flashcard rings, and instructional book reading.
Analysis:
*Keep intervention structure
*Change up: add extra practice to build the first 50 words
*Keep intervention cycle to 4 weeks
*Ensure Reading Mastery lessons are being completed with fidelity!
To Do over the next 4 weeks:
*Give all students a Phonics screener
*Complete an Error Analysis on Oral Reading Fluency
The why's are always hard but it helps you drill down to what needs to be changed. You also see--I have a list of things I need to do before the next cycle is over. These ideas fell out as I looked at the data--the big wondering "Is this a phonics thing?" Well, I don't have the right data to answer that question. If you find this to be your problem--then figure out your timeline to get the information you need and get it. But don't let it hold you up!! If you missed how I created this intervention you can check it out here.
Here is what the next four weeks of Sight Word Intervention:
*I will add an additional 4 weeks.
*I will add basic sight word books for the 3 students who made little growth.
*I will add exposure to more difficult sight words to all students based on the data from the grade level reading fluency.
*I will have a teammate come and observe a Reading Mastery lesson to ensure fidelity.
I hope you see how I work through my data at the end of an intervention and make changes to support students for the next four weeks. Send a shoutout on how your interventions are going and share any questions.
Chat Soon,
How I Use John Hattie to Create Interventions?
I have come to love John Hattie's work on student achievement. It makes creating small group interventions super easy and effective. Its a resource a have come to use more and more as my budget gets smaller and helps me create something super specific to meet the needs of my ever-changing students with ease.
John Hattie has done the heavy lifting--researching some 200 influences on student achievement. The key is to look for ideas and not get caught up in the everything. You're looking for ideas that have been found to have the greatest effect size (the closer to 1 the better)
When I use Hattie to create interventions, I keep a couple of ideas in mind. I keep the ideas from Hattie to no more than 5, the intervention to 6 to 8 weeks, and very specific data collection.
Ideas from Hattie:
These 4 influences play different roles in my intervention. Direct Instruction comes from SRA's Reading Mastery--this is the backbone of my instruction (bonus here is its research-based). Goals are set in two different ways-1) learning targets are a building requirement and 2) everyone set a SMART goal for sight words and reading fluency before the intervention started.
The nature of Reading Mastery is the immediate and actionable feedback is a lesson given but where does it come for sight words and reading fluency. For both, it is tied to repeated readings. After cold reads, students practice with an adult model before being timed each day.
Intervention:
This intervention is only set for six weeks. Why? It's long enough to make a couple of changes but short enough not to let half the year go by without seeing if its closing gaps.
Data Collection:
This intervention has four data points. Some data is collected daily and others once a week.
Sight word data is collected daily--as a repeated reading and as an exit ticket. The exit ticket words are reviewed weekly to see if students are progressing towards their goal.
Sight word data is also collected when they play games to see what carryover looks like.
Goal Line is IEP goal not the student set goal.
I also do trendlines more for me than my students. But having everything in graphs means I can look at it and see if they are moving up or if I need to change things up.
I also collect reading fluency data. The grade level data is graphed. The repeated reading data is kept in their binders as they collect it and maintain the data. These goal lines make sense as they are working toward IEP goals.
I have all this data now what?
Reflect.
Reflect on the positives. Look at what needs to be changed.
Often you don't need to toss out the whole kitchen sink when putting the trashing the bin will work.
This intervention has at least 5 more weeks before it ends. Which gives me time to change things up if I need to.
Repeated Reading tell me if a student needs to spend more time with specific sight words. The same is true with the repeated readings they do with sight word heavy decodable text--if it needs to be more challenging.
Or if I need to look at an error analysis to see what changes need to be made to the overall intervention.
I'd love to hear how you set up your small group interventions. Where are your successes? Where do you need some help? I'd love to hear about your interventions.
Chat soon,
John Hattie has done the heavy lifting--researching some 200 influences on student achievement. The key is to look for ideas and not get caught up in the everything. You're looking for ideas that have been found to have the greatest effect size (the closer to 1 the better)
When I use Hattie to create interventions, I keep a couple of ideas in mind. I keep the ideas from Hattie to no more than 5, the intervention to 6 to 8 weeks, and very specific data collection.
Welcome to my Classroom
Here's a view of how I created an intervention to meet sight word and reading fluency goals.Ideas from Hattie:
- Direct Instruction
- Feedback
- Repeated Reading
- Goals
These 4 influences play different roles in my intervention. Direct Instruction comes from SRA's Reading Mastery--this is the backbone of my instruction (bonus here is its research-based). Goals are set in two different ways-1) learning targets are a building requirement and 2) everyone set a SMART goal for sight words and reading fluency before the intervention started.
The nature of Reading Mastery is the immediate and actionable feedback is a lesson given but where does it come for sight words and reading fluency. For both, it is tied to repeated readings. After cold reads, students practice with an adult model before being timed each day.
Intervention:
This intervention is only set for six weeks. Why? It's long enough to make a couple of changes but short enough not to let half the year go by without seeing if its closing gaps.
Data Collection:
This intervention has four data points. Some data is collected daily and others once a week.
Sight word data is collected daily--as a repeated reading and as an exit ticket. The exit ticket words are reviewed weekly to see if students are progressing towards their goal.
Sight word data is also collected when they play games to see what carryover looks like.
Goal Line is IEP goal not the student set goal.
I also do trendlines more for me than my students. But having everything in graphs means I can look at it and see if they are moving up or if I need to change things up.
I have all this data now what?
Reflect.
Reflect on the positives. Look at what needs to be changed.
Often you don't need to toss out the whole kitchen sink when putting the trashing the bin will work.
This intervention has at least 5 more weeks before it ends. Which gives me time to change things up if I need to.
Repeated Reading tell me if a student needs to spend more time with specific sight words. The same is true with the repeated readings they do with sight word heavy decodable text--if it needs to be more challenging.
Or if I need to look at an error analysis to see what changes need to be made to the overall intervention.
I'd love to hear how you set up your small group interventions. Where are your successes? Where do you need some help? I'd love to hear about your interventions.
Chat soon,
Classroom Strategies to Increase Student Achivement
Last year at a PLC with our RTI Coordinator and a grade level team, we began a dive into John Hattie. If you don’t know his research it’s like Robert Marzano but (I think) way, way cooler. (You can find out more about him from his book Visible Learning; he does tons with student achievement.) The data is super cool and geared towards finding strategies that give teachers the most bang for their buck when it comes to academic achievement.
In fact, Hattie found that most teachers have some degree of impact on their students’ learning. His strategies can be used regardless of the classroom. The impact is real and the greater the degree of impact the larger the results. These ideas are meant to become part of your classroom and become embedded into your classroom. (aka these take time and in some cases a whole year or more to see the results--but they work!) The closer to 1.0 the stronger the strategies.
Here are 8 Strategies that BOTH John Hattie and Robert Marzano agree with.
In your class, it looks like posted Learning Targets.
Direct Instruction involves explicitly teaching a carefully sequenced curriculum, with built-in cumulative practice.
Examples: SRA Reading Mastery or Fisher & Frey's Gradual Release of Responsibility
While it is essential to actively teach students what they need to know and be able to do, they also need to be actively engaged with the content.
Marzano and Hattie agree that this starts with students actively linking your newly provided information with their prior knowledge of the topic. Students need to engage with the content as soon as they hear it by:
This is your lesson plan flow. Using Exit Tickets to determine what they know and what you need to reteach.
It is important that you give your students feedback after they engage with any new material. This:
AKA: repeated readings, consistently review material, consistently practicing material
AKA: Project Based Learning, Student Voice & Choice on how they demonstrate their learning, Bloom's, Webb's Depth of Knowledge
The work of Hattie and Marzano have changed the way I create interventions. They are considered by many to have unique insights into what it takes to have a huge impact on student learning and best practices. Want more high yield strategies--check out this.
Like with all interventions, their ideas take time to see results in the classroom and need data to support putting them in place. Let me know what whole class interventions you have put in place to get big changes.
Chat Soon,
In fact, Hattie found that most teachers have some degree of impact on their students’ learning. His strategies can be used regardless of the classroom. The impact is real and the greater the degree of impact the larger the results. These ideas are meant to become part of your classroom and become embedded into your classroom. (aka these take time and in some cases a whole year or more to see the results--but they work!) The closer to 1.0 the stronger the strategies.
Here are 8 Strategies that BOTH John Hattie and Robert Marzano agree with.
Strategy 1: A Clear Focus for the Lesson
Both Hattie and Marzano highlight how important it is for you (and your students) to be clear about what you want them to learn in each lesson. According to Hattie, teacher clarity is one of the most potent influences on student achievement.In your class, it looks like posted Learning Targets.
Strategy 2: Offer Overt Instruction
AKA Direct InstructionDirect Instruction involves explicitly teaching a carefully sequenced curriculum, with built-in cumulative practice.
Examples: SRA Reading Mastery or Fisher & Frey's Gradual Release of Responsibility
Strategy 3: Get the Students to Engage With the Content
While it is essential to actively teach students what they need to know and be able to do, they also need to be actively engaged with the content.
Marzano and Hattie agree that this starts with students actively linking your newly provided information with their prior knowledge of the topic. Students need to engage with the content as soon as they hear it by:
- Adding it to what they already know, or
- Using it to clarify some of the faulty assumptions they currently hold
This is your lesson plan flow. Using Exit Tickets to determine what they know and what you need to reteach.
Strategy 4: Give Feedback
It is important that you give your students feedback after they engage with any new material. This:
- Highlighting what is right and wrong, or good and bad about their work
- Helping students to see how they can improve
Strategy 5: Multiple Exposures
If you want students to internalize new information, you need to expose them to it several times.AKA: repeated readings, consistently review material, consistently practicing material
Strategy 6: Have Students Apply Their Knowledge
Robert Marzano found that helping students apply their knowledge deepens their understanding.AKA: Project Based Learning, Student Voice & Choice on how they demonstrate their learning, Bloom's, Webb's Depth of Knowledge
Strategy 7: Get Students Working Together
Both agree that getting students to work with each other helps them to achieve better results. The use of cooperative learning groups adds value to whole-class instruction (d = 0.41) and to individual work (d = 0.59-0.78). (The closer to 1.0 the stronger the intervention)Strategy 8: Build Students’ Self-Efficacy
Self-efficacy refers to a student’s belief about their ability to successfully complete a task. It is situation specific. For example, a student may feel confident that they can dance well on stage but be insecure about public speaking or something they can't do yet! Build and support a Growth Mindset. I use picture books throughout the year to support growth mindsets. I love "Giraffes Can't Dance."The work of Hattie and Marzano have changed the way I create interventions. They are considered by many to have unique insights into what it takes to have a huge impact on student learning and best practices. Want more high yield strategies--check out this.
Like with all interventions, their ideas take time to see results in the classroom and need data to support putting them in place. Let me know what whole class interventions you have put in place to get big changes.
Chat Soon,
How I use Google Sheets & Forms for my IEP Goal Data Collection
One of the hardest things to do as a Special Education teacher is to group like need IEP goals into a small group, work on IEP goals within that group, and have a way to collect the data without losing your mind at the same time.
Differentiating instruction is easy, targeting everyone's IEP goal but I have found a data collection method that works! No more looking for papers or stickies. I talked last about how (you can check it out here) I use Google to simplify my IEP data collection and progress monitoring.
At the beginning of the year, I group like IEP goals together and create one group to start my data collection. This way I'm collecting the same information on one Google sheet and form instead of seven or twenty. Google has become my go-to data collection method when I'm doing the collection. don't get me wrong it will morph into my students doing the work before too long but even then I can keep updating my information to ensure that no matter what happens when my students do their own data collection--I have accurate information.
Why is using Google Drive such a huge thing for me as my go-to data collection method?
I am paperless.
I do the vast majority of my teacher work in some way online. That means I use my Google Drive for my lesson plans, data collection, observation notes, and behavior tracking. It doesn't hurt that it's free and super simple to use. Plus I love how easy it is to share with students and teachers. I can also make intervention changes without having to do any data collection by hand.
Differentiating instruction is easy, targeting everyone's IEP goal but I have found a data collection method that works! No more looking for papers or stickies. I talked last about how (you can check it out here) I use Google to simplify my IEP data collection and progress monitoring.
At the beginning of the year, I group like IEP goals together and create one group to start my data collection. This way I'm collecting the same information on one Google sheet and form instead of seven or twenty. Google has become my go-to data collection method when I'm doing the collection. don't get me wrong it will morph into my students doing the work before too long but even then I can keep updating my information to ensure that no matter what happens when my students do their own data collection--I have accurate information.
Why is using Google Drive such a huge thing for me as my go-to data collection method?
I am paperless.
I do the vast majority of my teacher work in some way online. That means I use my Google Drive for my lesson plans, data collection, observation notes, and behavior tracking. It doesn't hurt that it's free and super simple to use. Plus I love how easy it is to share with students and teachers. I can also make intervention changes without having to do any data collection by hand.
Chat soon,
PS: Coming soon--how to use your data collection to make decisions about interventions
IEP Data Collection
Data collection is part of a special education teachers job description. We love it. We hate it. But its important.
Data collection helps with determining if students are making progress on SMART Goals. Data helps with determining programming needs and informs you if the intervention is working before its time for benchmarks.
In my short video, I'll walk through why data collection is important, what it is, how you can get it done, and a real-life example of how I collect IEP data in m program. From SMART Goal to the data collection form I use to how I graph the data to finishing a SMART goal deadline with student reflection.
WHY???
In my short video, I'll walk through why data collection is important, what it is, how you can get it done, and a real-life example of how I collect IEP data in m program. From SMART Goal to the data collection form I use to how I graph the data to finishing a SMART goal deadline with student reflection.
Chat soon,
Organizing Student IEP Data
I'm not sure how much-colored paper I go through but all I do KNOW is that when it comes to students taking ownership of their data and it NOT being part of my mess--is a HUGE deal.
Ever been buried in IEP goal paperwork and wonder where daylight is??? Well...this was me after my first year of teaching. I was spending more time wading through data trying to figure out what was what and who needed what and yeah. '
This was the last time I was going to let the paperwork of the job kill me! So what did I do!!
Out of the flames of burning data rose my student data binders! My Student Data Binders organized all my IEP needs. Need I say more! Let me take you back to the beginning of my teaching career. I kept ALL my IEP data in one huge binder on my desk.
The problem--I couldn’t find anything. It would take forever to plan and write an IEP and taking the data to meeting--don’t even get me started.
My Student Data Binders began with my must haves--IEP data. I did the progress monitoring--UGG! As I simplified how I was collecting data, I made my students do it! This solved like 2 problems--student motivation and giving me back time.
Over the years, I added more for the students to do like attendance, goal setting, and feedback. Soon, that big binder I keep was no longer needed. (Yeah, to getting my desk back!)
One of the special education teachers shared she also used individual binders for everything related to the student's IEP. She kept the current IEP, notes from meets with the classroom teacher and conversations with the student's parents.Ever been buried in IEP goal paperwork and wonder where daylight is??? Well...this was me after my first year of teaching. I was spending more time wading through data trying to figure out what was what and who needed what and yeah. '
This was the last time I was going to let the paperwork of the job kill me! So what did I do!!
Out of the flames of burning data rose my student data binders! My Student Data Binders organized all my IEP needs. Need I say more! Let me take you back to the beginning of my teaching career. I kept ALL my IEP data in one huge binder on my desk.
The problem--I couldn’t find anything. It would take forever to plan and write an IEP and taking the data to meeting--don’t even get me started.
My Student Data Binders began with my must haves--IEP data. I did the progress monitoring--UGG! As I simplified how I was collecting data, I made my students do it! This solved like 2 problems--student motivation and giving me back time.
Over the years, I added more for the students to do like attendance, goal setting, and feedback. Soon, that big binder I keep was no longer needed. (Yeah, to getting my desk back!)
As my student data binders started, started to take form I went from black & white to color. (HINT HINT for all your language kiddos, ADHD kiddos, yourself) But before I went with color paper, I had to get my students to do their own data collection, reflection, and have a voice in their IEPs. This was WAY easier said than done. It’s always a work in progress.
As my student data binders started, started to take form I went from black & white to color. (HINT HINT for all your language kiddos, ADHD kiddos, yourself) But before I went with color paper, I had to get my students to do their own data collection, reflection, and have a voice in their IEPs. This was WAY easier said than done. It’s always a work in progress.
I started with reading fluency with graphing with just coloring to the correct number. Then came reflection and voice. I slowly added to student responsibles as the year went on. One at a time. First the colors. The colors were chosen as they matched the dividers and the order I wanted to put things in.
Then came SLO. My Student Data Binders make SLO data collection a breeze! (a huge deal in Colorado)
Teaching students to graph is like learning to walk on water! It's not easy but graphing reading fluency or something like that makes it easier. Once students can work the basics they can graph anything but IT TAKES TIME!
I LOVE these graphs--there is enough space to create trend lines and a line for grade level benchmark. (Which in my district is how we look at adequate progress.)
All these lines lend themselves beautifully to student conferences. Goal setting is KEY to not only giving students voice and choice but it is also how you MOVE students and help them to take ownership of their learning.
It's equally as tough to teach and guide students to do anything that resembles self-assessment and reflection. I'm very lucky I get to keep my students for a couple of years before sending them on--this gives me the chance to get them to master self-assessment and reflection.
Everyone starts the year off with the assessment graphs they need (sometimes I put the teacher assessment in there as well) but as the year progresses each student's binder really become theirs.Student Voice & Choice (Personalized learning) becomes more prominent. Students decide on what IEP goals they wish to focus on as well as set a SMART goal for that goal. This plus the progress monitoring makes the portfolio to share at their IEP meetings. The information in their binders informs present levels of performance and next steps. While providing my students with a critical life skill.
My Teacher Data Binder holds all the assessments I need to progress monitor IEP goals and extra graphs. Gone are the days my IEP assessments are in 3 different places and they are nowhere to be seen. All in one place and ready for me. I love I can grab and go. I don't have to bring a student back to my office to progress monitor.
I love that my student data is all in one place and I can manage it with a 5-minute conversation with the student about what they are working on. Teachers appreciate that I can bring a student binder to a meeting to talk about the whole child. This makes RTI and classroom intervention planning a breeze.
Until Next Time,
National Boards Professional Learning a Summer Blog Challenge
This post is week 2 of 8 in the 8 Weeks of Summer Blog Challenge for educators presented by Hot Lunch Tray. The most important and impactful professional learning I have participated, so far has been achieving National Boards for Professional Teaching. Don’t get me wrong it was three years of videotaping, rewriting, ending late nights or early morning to squeeze in time to write, edit, or cry. I’m really not sure WHY I decided to put myself through that nightmare.
As a Special Education teacher in Colorado, you spend much of your planning on how to be a general education teacher. Which is what NBPT is looking for--four portfolios, two videos, and one three hour test--I learned a lot about myself, my practice and how to move my students. It was hard--really hard but I’m better for it.
The thing is in Colorado achieving National Boards means I’m part of an exclusive club--today there are 45 teachers with National Boards in Exceptional Needs. It’s hard but so worth the time.
Achieving National Boards changed how I looked at my teaching practice. I make time at the end of a week to reflect on my practice. Sometimes even after a lesson didn’t hit a target or if I’m trying something new.
I also encourage my students to reflect on their work--actively. I mean I have built in ways for my students to think about what they did, what needs to change, and how they are doing. It has become more than just check-ins and Marzano. I have added a video or drawing with notes for students to share their how they are doing. They have gotten used to exit tickets and open-ended questions and knowing they have a strong voice in how there group time in structured.
Giving 1st or 2nd graders a voice in how things are run may seem like a crazy thing to do but by giving them a voice in what is read or how they want to demonstrate what they learned means I have student buy-in without having to build in extrinsic motivation system. They know that the “fun stuff” is part of their week and the really fun stuff is earned. Those days are built in and have a purpose such as using “Where’s My Water?” to build perseverance and giving feedback to peers. Or STEM days to work on “soft skills” and higher order thinking without stressing anyone out (including myself!). (These are the things that mean more to my IEP goals and to my teacher rubric.)
Data is the vain of any special education provider. We love it. We hate it. We can’t live without. After boards-data has taken on a new meaning. I look beyond the number of progress monitoring like the numbers you get from DIBELS or AIMSweb. I look at those soft skills and the feedback students give themselves. I make a point to have students reflect on and set goals based on that data. They see it as a challenge and make it if not exceed the goal they set.
Boards helped me focus my time. If my students can do it than I give them that job. I don’t hold on to student data or student goal sheets or IEP pieces anymore. My students keep all their stuff--reading material, data sheets, IEP pieces, writing and even attendance is kept in their binder. They LOVE taking care of the anything and everything. Plus, it’s all in one place for me to grab run to a meeting or to write reports or for them to bring when they meet with me.
Boards has challenged me to make the most of my daily practice with students. To help them grow and challenge them to better themselves as they grow up. Even though I thought about giving up as I was in the thick of it I’m beyond thrilled about what National Boards has done for my special education practice. If your thinking about it--DO IT. You’ll grow and your practice will thank you.
Until next time,
As a Special Education teacher in Colorado, you spend much of your planning on how to be a general education teacher. Which is what NBPT is looking for--four portfolios, two videos, and one three hour test--I learned a lot about myself, my practice and how to move my students. It was hard--really hard but I’m better for it.The thing is in Colorado achieving National Boards means I’m part of an exclusive club--today there are 45 teachers with National Boards in Exceptional Needs. It’s hard but so worth the time.
Achieving National Boards changed how I looked at my teaching practice. I make time at the end of a week to reflect on my practice. Sometimes even after a lesson didn’t hit a target or if I’m trying something new.
I also encourage my students to reflect on their work--actively. I mean I have built in ways for my students to think about what they did, what needs to change, and how they are doing. It has become more than just check-ins and Marzano. I have added a video or drawing with notes for students to share their how they are doing. They have gotten used to exit tickets and open-ended questions and knowing they have a strong voice in how there group time in structured.
Giving 1st or 2nd graders a voice in how things are run may seem like a crazy thing to do but by giving them a voice in what is read or how they want to demonstrate what they learned means I have student buy-in without having to build in extrinsic motivation system. They know that the “fun stuff” is part of their week and the really fun stuff is earned. Those days are built in and have a purpose such as using “Where’s My Water?” to build perseverance and giving feedback to peers. Or STEM days to work on “soft skills” and higher order thinking without stressing anyone out (including myself!). (These are the things that mean more to my IEP goals and to my teacher rubric.)
Data is the vain of any special education provider. We love it. We hate it. We can’t live without. After boards-data has taken on a new meaning. I look beyond the number of progress monitoring like the numbers you get from DIBELS or AIMSweb. I look at those soft skills and the feedback students give themselves. I make a point to have students reflect on and set goals based on that data. They see it as a challenge and make it if not exceed the goal they set.
Boards helped me focus my time. If my students can do it than I give them that job. I don’t hold on to student data or student goal sheets or IEP pieces anymore. My students keep all their stuff--reading material, data sheets, IEP pieces, writing and even attendance is kept in their binder. They LOVE taking care of the anything and everything. Plus, it’s all in one place for me to grab run to a meeting or to write reports or for them to bring when they meet with me.
Boards has challenged me to make the most of my daily practice with students. To help them grow and challenge them to better themselves as they grow up. Even though I thought about giving up as I was in the thick of it I’m beyond thrilled about what National Boards has done for my special education practice. If your thinking about it--DO IT. You’ll grow and your practice will thank you.
Until next time,
Why I use STEM and STEAM {freebie}
STEM Power! STEM education, driven by learner-centered instruction, provides a powerful learning program for kids. I love seeing my student’s eyes light up when we do STEM. Why? Because its active, hands-on, and most importantly focuses on everything they can do!
STEM is more about integrating science and math into the curriculum with real-world, problem-based activities. STEM in education is NOT about adding something new to my day. Instead, it is teaching science and math in creative and hands-on ways. Often, you will find STEM projects synonymous with engineering projects. You will also see the acronym STEAM which is STEM with “A” added. The A stands for arts and encourages an integration of all of the arts, language arts–reading, writing, drama, as well as visual arts and design.
Why I teach STEM?
Here are my Top 10 reasons for focusing on STEM in my Elementary Resource Room:
- Real world application.how many times do your students ask you, “Why are we learning this?” STEM projects help answer that question by encouraging students to use math and science to solve real-world problems. Perhaps they are using area and perimeter to design a zoo blueprint or planning a vacation using math and critical thinking. Many STEM projects offer the skills in a real-world context.
- Problem solving. Students practice solving problems that don’t necessarily have a single “right” answer. They practice trial and error and how to come up with creative solutions. (the big word PERSEVERANCE) They get to practice divergent thinking and adaptability. These are all skills that can be applied in all areas of life.
- Hands-On. Students learn by doing, and with many STEM projects, students are using tools and science materials. They are solving problems or constructing structures, not just reading about them or answering questions. (Need I mention--my students LOVE hands on anything)
- Differentiated Instruction at its finest. Since there can be any number of possible solutions, most STEM activities are naturally differentiated. Everyone can solve the problem to the best of his or her own ability. Sometimes I find students who are not the best traditional students thrive with STEM projects. There is truly a place for everyone. (think behaviorally challenged)
- Cooperative Learning.STEM projects give students practice working as a team. They learn and solve together, often playing different roles on the team. Teamwork skills are important not just in the school setting but in the “real world,” as well.
- Access creativity. STEM activities give my students a chance to show off their creative side. They will get a chance to think outside of the box and sometimes even use art and design. My creative students will get a chance to shine.
- Failure. STEM projects give students the opportunity to try a design or solution that may or may not work. With STEM projects, they can fail in a safe and supportive environment and learn from their mistakes. After all, many great inventions were made from failures or mistakes. (multiple iterations with reflections and feedback)
- Higher Level Thinking. Students must be able to apply and use their knowledge to solve problems and complete projects. (An easy win on my teacher rubric--YEAH!)
- Active Engagement. Students are actively engaged when participating in STEM projects. They are not daydreaming or doodling, they are participating, solving, measuring, and doing.
- STEM is the future. As new technologies develop, so do new STEM careers. It’s not just doctors and engineers but architects, graphic design, video game programmers, and more. Think of all the ‘soft skills’ (as my dad would call them) are taught or guided through STEM activities. I reflect on my most challenging student or the one who struggles with reading excel through STEM activities and build those impossibly difficult ‘soft skills.’
Teaching Strategies
How can Classroom teachers prepare for and teach students with exceptional needs with STEM activities?
- Assume competency. Believe that students with exceptional needs can learn at higher levels and that you can create an environment to help them do that.
- Build on students’ strengths and interests. Leverage their strong points to increase their comfort and excitement about learning.
- Use a “flow learning” approach. Clearly define the purpose of their STEM challenge. Set the challenge level high and make sure your students with exceptional needs will have opportunities to be successful with that challenge. Provide clear and immediate feedback so they can change and adapt as needed.
- Make use of assistive technology tools when needed. Technology can support students with special needs, especially if they have hearing or visual losses. Provide handouts and written materials in a digital format for these students.
- Focus on safety consideration Be especially alert for safety issues when students are working with equipment to design devices for solving their problem.
- Model persistence, communication, creativity, and collaboration. These qualities are especially useful to kids with exceptional needs who may need help with social skills.
- Establish collaborative student teams. That’s a tall order but stick with it all year. Be intentional. Help students understand that respect and inclusiveness are non-negotiable behaviors for all teams. Teammates honor one another’s strengths and accept each other’s differences. Give them specific strategies for showing respect through speech and actions. Teamwork allows ALL students to practice social skills they will need throughout life.
- Enlist help. Ask for help. Your specialists are there to support you. Use them.
Challenges
- By now you know that teaching any group of students is both rewarding and challenging. Approach your students with exceptional needs with high expectations, but don’t adopt a Pollyanna mindset. You’ll encounter plenty of challenges. For some students, the science and math content may be beyond their current learning level. The pace of the lesson may be difficult for some to keep up. Some students will want to work alone instead of in teams.
- Noise levels in the class may distract and annoy some students. Busy visual stimulation on classroom walls may distract others. Social expectations may frustrate students with exceptional needs. So what do you do?
- Get to know your students with exceptional needs. Work together with their specialists and learn as much as you can about their strengths and difficulties. You’ll find many ways to make reasonable accommodations.
- You might use images and graphics to make handouts clearer, headphones for those distracted by noise, a break zone or a quiet space, and technology that enlarges print. Your specialists will be your most valuable resource as you plan for and include these students in your STEM lessons.
- The unique design of STEM lessons allows students, regardless of disability, access to the real-life learning experiences. Give these students with exceptional needs STEM experiences to help them get ready for a future society where all types of people live and work together seamlessly.
My Framework
I have adapted John Spencer’s and AJ Julian’s "Design Thinking: LAUNCH". Design thinking is a flexible framework for getting the most out of the creative process. It is used in the arts, in engineering, in the corporate world, and in social and civic spaces. It can use in every subject with every age group. You can read how I use their model with my students here. You can learn more about John Spencer’s and AJ Julian's Design Thinking LAUNCH here. Click here grab a copy of LAUNCH.
Teacher Rubric Impact
I have to tell you when I was challenged (by Principal) to provide more meaningful feedback to score better on the teacher rubric I was at a loss as to what to do. The challenge--students grades 1 to 3 come to me for 30 minutes 4 days a week for reading and math. I need to add more feedback. HOW? The same time this conversation happened, I was talking with a 1st-grade teacher who I knew was going to have my students in her room mentioned LAUNCH and the district was offering a book study as well. As she went on, she continued to tell me AJ Julian was coming to the district summer professional development and would be a good intro to his work. So my journey began.
One year later
- I read both books--LAUNCH and EMPOWER. Both are easy reads; filled with information that can be used the same day in your classroom.
- With district supported group, I was encouraged to use, play with, and make the LAUNCH cycle my own--aka make it work for my students.
- STEM and STEAM were not special days or earned days. It was just something we did once a month. Sometimes I would need to carve out more time but I never let it be more than a day. (Why? 1-limited time and 2-attention span). I built Design Sprints. Students loved them and lead to having other professionals visit~engineers or scientists. (A first in my teaching career.)
- Teacher Rubric. STEM and STEAM days forced me to build in both feedback and higher order thinking. BOTH are weighed heavily on my rubric. Sometimes the feedback was written and sometimes it was shared whole group, or every videotaped in small groups. I found the key was making sure students had enough time for 2 iterations of what they were building.
- I built in feedback. Feedback is more than telling students what is wrong but having them reflect on what they doing. This was painful and sometime madding but they each got there in time. I know on my rubric--I had to have both. Having work samples was even better. You can grab them below. These provided a jumping off point to do any videotaping we did. (This was not always me. Using SeeSaw made it super easy for students either to tape themselves or a friend could do it.) You can grab what I used below.
To read more about how I used Design Thinking visit:
Until Next Time,
Packing is Hard to Do - Some Ideas
It will soon be time to pack up my classroom if you count 10 more school days as soon. I do! Over the summer, everything in my classroom is moved out into the hallway because they strip and wax our classroom floors. This means everything in the room needs to be boxed or stored. It still has me thinking about how long it takes to pack my classroom each year. I thought I would pass on some ideas that have worked for me. Some tips are for packing the room with an eye towards preparing ahead for September. If you are an experienced teacher, I am sure you know most or all of these tips. How helpful they are will also depend on how packed up your room needs to be at the end of the year. I envy those teachers that don't have to box up every little thing! This year we return the first week of August-ugh!
So, in no particular order, here are ten tips for packing up your classroom:
1. Before you pack up anything, take a picture of your room from different angles. Each year, I either draw a map or take pictures of my room and staple it to my bulletin board. I leave a nice note for the custodians asking them to please put my furniture back according to the map/pictures if they can. I then kindly thank them and tell them I hope they have a great summer. In the past fourteen years, I think only once has my room not been put back in perfect order. I would also suggest taking pictures of the different areas in your room so that you can see how you had it organized. Maybe I'm just getting old, but there have been many times where I think, "How in the world did this fit in there?" Having pictures helps!
2. Put all your desk things in one box labeled "DESK or OPEN FIRST." It makes putting your desk back together much easier and is really the first thing you should do when you get back. I know before I even walk in my classroom, there are a million and one papers waiting for me in the office. When I set up my desk first, I have a place to put all those papers. I also always make sure I put a dollar store box opener in this box. Then when I come back to set up for September, I am not scrambling to find something to open all my supply boxes that were delivered over the summer.
3. Copy all your first week papers before you leave for the summer. It's really nice to have those back-to-school activities ready to go. It's even nicer to not have to fight for time at the copier as all the other teachers are copying right before school starts. Then, store them in a file you know you will find in August! A couple of times I have completely forgotten I did this at the end of the year and recopied it all again in September. Yeah, not so much of a time saver that way! Now, I stick a note in my "DESK" box to remind me.
6. I used to shelve my textbooks by subject. I don’t have a class set but copies of each grade levels math text. I make sure all the copies we lent out are back. All the math books on the shelf, then all the science books, all the social studies books and so on. I also make sure of any material lent out come back for next year.
7. Organize your class library before you leave. Even though this is a job in my classroom, our class library does get out of order to some degree. This is a great activity for your friends at the end of the year. I take all the baskets out and we put them on their desks. Each friend has to make sure the books in the baskets match the genre or guided reading level before they can put it back on the shelf. While they do this, I have them keep an index card and write down any titles they haven't read yet but would like to. It organizes my library, and it gives my friends a head start on some summer reading suggestions.
8. If you didn't use it this year, seriously consider getting rid of it or passing it on to another teacher. I am so guilty of not doing this but have gotten better about it the past few years. I had things like odd math manipulatives I never used, some weird writing paper that wasn't good for my friends, and a bunch of classroom decoration that I just never used or used at a younger grade level. Since I couldn't stand throwing out a lot of it, I put it in the teachers' lounge on a table with a sign that said, "FREE!" It was all gone within the day! Less clutter for me and hopefully helpful to someone else.
9. Painter's Tape is your friend! We have to label all the furniture in our room. For years I used regular masking tape which just seemed to bake on over the summer and was a monster to take off. I've started using that blue painter's tape, and it's been great. I just put a strip on any furniture that needs to be labeled and use a Sharpie to write my name and room number on it. Come August, it just peels right off with no sticky residue.
10. Label everything. You may think you will, but you won’t. Face it, the chances of you remembering what is in each box by the time you head back to school are slim to none if you do not label what is inside. Write down every single thing that goes in each container and you will find that it is not only easier to set up your classroom in the fall, it will be easier to keep it organized throughout the year and find it next spring. Choose sturdy labels that will not fall off in storage.
11. Enlist your students to help clean. As excited as you are about the last day of school, your students are about ten times more excited. They can hardly stay in their seats and concentrate. Focus that energy and turn it into something productive. Give students organizing, packing, and cleaning tasks around the room. Have them weed out useless pieces of crayons, empty glue sticks, and dried-out markers. Assign them to the classroom library where they check to make sure all of the books are in the correct bins. Let them wipe off the desks and chairs with sanitizing wipes. The classroom was theirs for an entire year too and it teaches them a valuable lesson about taking care of their space until the very end.
You have worked so hard this year to make learning fun, meet standards, complete all of the paperwork, and maintain your enthusiasm. Do not get overwhelmed with thoughts of cleaning up your classroom. When you have a plan, anything can be accomplished. Have a great summer!
What is Mastery Learning?
Each fall, there is always some new demand I have to make sure is part of my instruction. Moving three years ago to a new district is was innovation and tieing everything to the real world. It really wasn’t about moving students but what they would face in the real world. Well, after a year, I found you can have both.Many innovations include elements of more established strategies for which do move students--like Master Learning.
So what is it??
The concept is simple: Students master concepts and skills before going onto other learning. How do you know they mastered it? You give them tests. If they do not reach mastery, then they go back and study and take the test again until they pass it. Benjamin Bloom, of Bloom's Taxonomy fame, came up with mastery learning in 1971.I had noticed that because of the limited time I had with my groups, I always had a couple who need way more time than the everyone else. I also discovered that some of the basic skills had not been taught as I had been told. (You know how some IEPs are written.) I realize that part of the difficulty is that I am required to move these guys, no matter how big the gap.
What it looks like in my room?
Most mastery learning models stress the importance of giving quick and targeted pre-assessment to all students before beginning instruction to determine whether they have the prerequisite knowledge and skills for success in the upcoming learning sequence. I do monthly progress monitoring and I give them the grade level assessment but also the grade under. I’m looking for the skills they don’t have. I’m also looking for data to support they have mastered the previously taught skill. I don’t have time to get both pre and post assessments. (EasyCBM.com has reading and math K-6. It’s free, has norms, and students can take it online.)For students whose pre-assessment results suggest deficiencies, mastery learning teachers take time to directly teach them the needed concepts and skills. In other words, I break the skills down and teach just that subskill. When they have that one I move on to the next. In math, skill accuracy is king. With my reading groups, if my group of 10s is working on picture clues--I’ll use two or three-word books to focus on picture clues or reading what is written. When that skill is mastered go back to 10s and move to the next skill they need to work on. (When working on skills go back to an easier level. This is important when working on comprehension skills, so they are using all their energy on decoding the text.)
To help students out, I rely on learning targets. I post them and they always reference the bog outcome. We talk about what it looks like and in some cases what it sounds like. I find this helps everyone get real clear about what their job is.This has saved me more than a couple times when an administrator pops in.
As a teacher, I’m not going to tell you this makes planning an easier for me and I find I have to be very clear about the steps needed to do a task. Backwards planning has become key when I’m planning. Backwards planning also helps make sure I’m hitting IEP goals.
Mastery Learning helps me balance focusing on students’ strengths and interests. Together, IEPs and mastery learning helps students to work on weaknesses and a customized path that engages their interests and helps them “own” their learning.
Mastery Learning can also give students the chance to build self-advocacy skills. I encourage students when they don’t understand a step or are lost “where are you confused?” If they everything, I try to get them to be more specific. This helps them focus on their own learning but also helps guide my own instruction to fill in that hole before moving on. We all think primary students are too young to self-advocate but how many times are will serious thinking about adding it to an IEP.? (stepping stones now)
The Hard Part?
The extra planning and comes with analyzing data. Some days I feel I’m drowning in data. But I have found if I’m truly teaching to IEP goals, then I’m progress monitoring IEP goals too. I don’t teach random stuff that has nothing to do with IEP goals. I only teach the IEP goals. The 30 minutes that student is out of his classroom, he is working on his IEP goals. Backwards planning and data dialogues help to ensure I’m hitting that target.The key is to make sure that mastery learning is targeting the small skills needed to meet a larger target. By doing this, I can innovate how they demonstrate mastery--sometimes this is with technology and sometimes it's with STEM tasks.
At the end of the day is student growth. My goal is to work myself out of a job.
Until Next Time,
Appy Hour: Where's My Water? & Why I use it
I introduced a group last week to "Where's my Water?" To be honest (if you don't know it) it's a game. So why in the world would I let them play a random game--well that's easy--to work on problem-solving and critical thinking.Where's my Water? is a free app. The other reason I love using this app, I can reset play each time I use it.
The other thing to remember with consumption apps is it's not an everyday thing or even an every week thing--maybe a once a month thing and in addition to other problem-solving activities. I use it as an additional tool in my toolbox. I also have my groups earn there play time.
Why?
My district teacher's rubric has problem-solving, critical thinking and system thinking as part of my evaluations.How I use it?
Bottom line: they play--we talk--they write and shareAs it gets harder, students have to do more to pass each level. It takes trial & error learning from your mistakes to pass each level. These are things are shared at the end of each group sessions.
Those mistakes and how they did it is where the learning is. Students share how they passed a level or share how they solved that problem. Students are scored on our group made feedback rubric. This is the evidence I add to my evaluation rubric.
This conversation is added to Seesaw by video or in writing to show their thinking as they played. Students have the last 5 minutes of our 20-minute group to this.
Until Next Time,
PS: If you loved this idea then you'll love my FREE AppSmashing Email Course. I walk you through using 6 apps with students and demonstrate how you can use them together to create innovate and creative projects that stretch students thinking and get them to apply what they know. You can check it out here.
Learn to Read: Giveaway and Giftcard
child learning to read established a pattern for their involvement in their child's education.
Parents can help their children with the reading process by providing high-quality educational materials, establishing a pattern of daily reading, instructing through guided reading activity, creating a rich language environment, discussing a child’s progress with teachers, and following up on their recommendations.
Learning to read is the culmination of a great many learned skills and developmental processes. Learning to read is a long-term program.
Just as children start with tee ball before playing baseball, there are specific steps in learning to read. Trying to teach the steps out of sequence can inadvertently frustrate your child (and you). For instance, prior to successfully learning phonics, the child should master a set of pre-reading skills including understanding basic print concepts, discerning the sounds, understanding that words are made up of sounds which they need to think about as interchangeable parts, and memorizing the alphabet. To help parents understand the steps in learning to read, Hannah Braun has created that with her new book "Learn to Read: Activity Book"
Her 101 lessons are created for you to involve all the children’s learning styles and modalities.
"Learn to Read" can serve as a supplementary curriculum for children learning to read.
Hannah Braun's "Learn to Read" Activity Book, does just that. It's perfect for teaching students to read starting with fun and interactive lessons. The short: over the 101 short lessons you move through explicit lessons that clear instructions that review previously taught material.
Start at
What I LOVE
- Lessons are broken into 3 sections--I do (things you model), We do (things to do together), You do (things the student does on their own).
- Built-in Review every 5 lessons
- Students learn not only the vowels and consonants but also word families and blends
- Directions for each lesson are clear and to the point--anyone can do it!!
- Ideas for where to go next when you are done
- Whole word practice
What I Wish
- The pages were perforated for easier gameplay and instruction
You can enter to win your copy of Hannah's new book "Learn to Read" and a $25 Gift card from Teachers pay Teachers below. A winner will be chosen by April 10th and notified by email. (Disclosure: I was compensated for my review with a free copy to review and use with my students.)
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Until Next Time,
Appy Hour Tuesday: Reading Fluency
As a whole--struggling readers have spent more instructional time learning decoding skills at the word level than reading connected text. Meaning??? Because of all hard word put into accurate word-by-word reading readers are using all their mental energies during a first reading, struggling readers benefit from activities that require them to do a second, third and even fourth or fifth reading. Hence why repeated reading are so important but get soooo boring for students as they focus on the sound of the language and the meaning. In this way, their reading becomes smoother and they continue to build comprehension skills.
Repeated readings also help word callers--readers who are skilled at decoding but do not focus on reading words in an expressive way to show what the text means. Having them practice the same text, their mindset changes from just getting through the reading to actually making sense of it through presenting it aloud in a meaning way.
What does this have to do technology?
Well?? What it is: 16 cute faces that react to sound, for example by opening their eyes and mouth wider, varying their reaction to correspond to the volume of the sound: The louder the sound, the greater the reaction from the faces. The length of the reaction also corresponds to the sound: The longer the sound, the longer the face is held in reaction mode. This app is free and it works on iPhone, iPad and iPod-touch. Oh and it's super fun to watch the faces change in response to sound!
Some specific examples (not an exhaustive list):
- After going over intelligibility strategies of putting stress on each syllable and exaggerating each sound, practice a word list, starting with some automatic ones like days of the week, with the goal of getting maximum reaction from the app's faces for each syllable (not trailing off). Accuracy can be measured by how many of the words got equally strong reactions from the app's faces for each syllable.
- Practice phrases and mark the stressed elements with prolongation and increased volume, as measured by the reaction from this app. The list of phrases could include ones. The emphasis on the word different words should be apparent from the Bla | Bla | Bla app's reaction to volume and duration.
- And repeated reading
Check out the poetry work using Bla Bla Bla by my students this year
Visual indicator of volume and speed can help pace and shape prosody. Affecting these characteristics of speech has been shown to increase fluency (using metronomes and delayed feedback all provide auditory feedback on pacing and affect prosody, but visual feedback, in the form of pointing to a word being read for example, has also been shown to be effective). Therefore using visual feedback such as this app to increase awareness of prosody and pacing to shape fluency is within supported reason, so to speak.
Want more AppyHour to use with your students?? Check out my FREE Email AppSmashing Course.
Until Next Time,
P.S. Did you grab your FREEBIE--it's perfect to use with Bla Bla Bla!!
Why Personalized Learning?
First, What is Personalized Learning?
Personalized Learning is an approach to education that tailors learning according to the individual needs of each student. The Personalized Learning approach to education has evolved over the past decade through the growing public charter school movement in California and incorporates many of the latest educational research results as to how children learn successfully.Why do It?
Personalized Learning blocks were added to the master school schedule at the start of the year. Mind you--it was not meant to be one more thing but for many grades, I think that's what it became--with all the extra data work they had to put in. And mind you each grade made it its own. Oh, it has also moved several times from where it started on the master schedule to where grades wanted it--schedule changes as a resource teacher are always tons of fun. Not to mention the IEP guidelines changes mid-year to where the time may not count towards IEP times if it's not out of the classroom--which is not the point of personalized learning time. We all use the time to count towards IEP services.The Personalized Learning system is a unique, blended classroom and non-classroom-based public educational model that is tailored to the needs and interests of each individual student. It's an approach that honors and recognizes the unique gifts, skills, passions, and attributes of each child.
We use the time to provide targeted intervention for ALL students not just the low ones.
The key attributes:
- data-driven,
- flexibility groupings,
- small groups,
- more one-on-one teacher and student interaction,
- attention to differences in learning styles,
- student-driven participation in developing the learning process,
- technology access, and
- varied learning environments,
The easiest way to start--formative assessments. Formative assessment may look different in different classrooms, but the purpose remains the same. Formative assessment help create groups of students--those who have got it, those who need more practice, and those who just don't get it. It's an easy way to ensure students get what they need to be successful. Formative assessment should:
- Inform knowledge
- Inform and redirect practice
- Provide immediate feedback for teachers and students
- Occur frequently
- Provide useful data
- Be ongoing and embedded
- Include formal and informal assessments of knowledge
Quick Ways to Check Student Understanding
- Thumbs up/Thumbs Down (or 1, 2, 3): Wondering if your class is ready to move on? Just ask. It doesn’t have to be complicated, show a thumbs up for understanding and a thumbs down for more help.
- Colored Cups: A variety of tools can be used here, but Solo cups post-it notes work great. Each student should have a red, yellow, and green cup. Throughout the lesson, students can use the cups to let you know where they are in their understanding. Green, ready to move on or needs a challenge, yellow indicates a level of confusion, and red tells you the student is struggling.
- Mid Lesson “exit slips” with Mini Whiteboards: Traditional exit slips wait until the end of the class to ask a couple questions that will tell teachers what material sunk in and what needed to be reviewed. Why wait until the end of the class? Pick a question that will be easy for you to review quickly and assess understanding on the spot. Determine and prepare these questions ahead of time.
- Auto-graded Assessments: Use a tool like OpenEd to assign students independent assessments. The platform will auto-grade and provide results as well as recommendations support.
Personalized Learning is about how learners use voice and choice to develop learners. The learning environment changes. The culture and climate in the classroom changes. Yet these changes do not happen right away. It addresses the needs of ALL students. Personalized Learners is creating a culture of learning and making sure students get what they need to be successful. Why not give it a try and see what you think?
Until Next Time,
Reluctant Reader? Here's Some Ideas
Every parent and teacher wants their children to be avid readers. Because we know the benefits of reading we want our children to embrace it as we have. While a good many students do become excited and engaged in reading, some are reluctant and disinterested. While a student may not show a natural interest in reading, this does not mean they cannot become a skilled and even enthusiastic reader. There are a number of things you can do to help engage reluctant readers.For many students, reading just doesn't come easily. Some have difficulty connecting letters and their corresponding sounds. Others have yet to discover a special story that sparks their imagination and shows just how fun reading can be.
For all readers, though, being at ease with letters, their sounds, and words is an important foundation for learning throughout life.
What is a reluctant reader?
A reluctant reader is anyone who does not show interest in reading. There is a wide range within the category of reluctant readers. A reluctant reader may simply be a student who needs to be coaxed into reading texts. It may also be the student who vehemently refuses to read. Reluctant readers sometimes hide their ambivalence towards reading using other behaviors. A teacher may notice that a certain student always becomes the class clown when it is time to begin independent reading. When students mask their negative attitudes towards reading by using other behaviors parents and teachers need to do a little “detective work” to identify the root cause of the problem.While any student, young or old, male or female can be a reluctant reader the largest number of unenthusiastic readers are adolescent boys. Research shows that a good number of boys who were avid readers in the elementary grades become disinterested in reading during their middle school years.
Try these other simple ways to help them become eager readers:
Start with a student pick. Comics or joke books may not be your first choice to boost literacy, but the reality is they can be very motivating. You will be amazed at a students ability to read something that they really want to read.
Don't worry that these texts may not be substantial enough. They can help students understand some fundamentals. They also help build vocabulary.
Sometimes electronic books (e-books) can help get reluctant readers reading. When a student's become interested in a book, regardless of the format, help make connections between the story and your child's own life.
Read and Reread. Many student's reach for the same books over and over again. That's not only OK, it's a good thing! Through repetition, students learn the text and eventually read it with ease and confidence. Each new reading of the book also may help them notice something new and understand the story a little better.
Read Aloud. Reading aloud to your kids helps them build their vocabularies and introduces new concepts, facts, and ideas. You also show that you enjoy reading for fun, and help them connect sounds with letters on the page. Reading aloud provides together time that you'll all enjoy.
Create opportunities to read and write beyond the pages. Provide kids with many chances to read every day. Write notes and leave them in a lunchbox or in a pocket.
On road trips or errands, play word games that strengthen language skills. You might try "I Spy" or games where you pick a category (like "food") and everyone has to name foods that begin with a certain letter.
Until Next Time,
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