This year, it seems like I have more second language learners in my small reading groups than in the past. Last year, I spend I lot of time using the Comprehension Toolkit for these small groups and had great success in using it. That success was not so great with the ELLs that may of been part of those groups. Reflecting on why, these students didn't grow as much as the others in the group, lead to me to look more closely at the language needed to use the skill.

Working with our building ELL Resource teacher, she suggested using sentence stems that target where students language and support them to learn how to use each strategy. You will find two sets of posters: one of the comprehension strategies and another matching set but with sentence stems to help students learn the language around the strategies.


Reading Comprehension Strategy Posters for Blog

ESL Prompts Reading Comprehension Strategy Posters

Something quick to help with differentiation on the fly as your planning your lessons. Kind of a cheat sheet. I find it helpful when thinking about how to reach small pockets of like needs in a classroom. Differentiation is designing and implementing curriculum, instructional strategies, and assessments that are responsive to the needs, background, interests, and abilities of students.

Three ways to differentiate the K-6 lessons:

Modify the student independent practice.

Examples:

1. Change how students are required to demonstrate mastery - multiple choice, open response, illustration, dramatic performance.
2. Provide word banks to written response questions.
3. Provide texts on students' reading level when-ever reading a text is a requirement for the student independent practice.

Modify how you teach the lesson. 

Examples:

Add or revise visual scaffolding during the lesson, such as charts or graphic organizers.

• Teach the lessons in small groups.
• Vary the allotted lesson time by breaking up the lesson into two days, focusing on more modeling examples in day one.
• Allow students to preview the text used for the lesson before the lesson.

Modify the content used to teach the lesson.

Examples:

• Choose a text for the lesson that is at the reading level of your students.
• Add supporting learning objectives to the lesson to help students master the original learning outcome.

Six Rules of Differentiating
Students should always be grouped based on their needs and abilities.

• Sometimes whole class, sometimes small group, and sometimes individual.
• Individualized instruction at 20 - 30 levels.

Student work should always measure a specific learning outcome explicitly taught in class.

• It is Responsive to the learning outcome of the lesson.
• It is not Busy work or separated from intentional instruction.

Students' needs and abilities change over time and therefore groupings should reflect that change.

• Flexible groupings that change based on student abilities.
• It is not: Static groupings that stay the same throughout the year.

Students' work should be done at their level.

• It is Qualitative student work.
• It is not Quantitative student work in which some students do more and some do less.

Decisions about differentiation should be based on assessment and anecdotal evidence of students' needs and abilities.

• It is Using assessments to identify students' strengths and weaknesses.
• It is not Using assessments as a pass or fail approach.

True, responsive differentiation will not look the same in each lesson.

• It is sometimes necessary to change the student independent practice, other time requires changing how the lesson is taught, and other times it will require changing the text of the lesson.
• It is not: The same differentiation plan for every lesson.

The fall weather has hit the Colorado Rockies with it red and golden Aspens, which makes for great fall hiking weather--which I love to do with my Italian Greyhounds. But home planning this weekend after playing last weekend.

A big thing on our teacher evaluation rubric's is asking high order thinking questions throughout the day. I've had a hard time doing this when my students are reading  fiction text because all of the question stems I have were all for non-fiction text. So, I created a document that I can use while planning that is just for fiction text.

Bloom's Fiction Question Stems

My first set of purchases include styluses and screen protectors for all the iPads. Why some apps that I have been playing with do way better with something smaller than a finger. The screen protectors have you seen you iPhone screen??? With kids why not.

Analyzing
Apps that fit into the "analyzing" stage improve the user's ability to differentiate between the relevant and irrelevant, determine relationships, and recognize the organization of content. Verbs commonly used to describe this phase include differentiating, discriminating, selecting, distinguishing, focusing, attributing, deconstructing, structuring, integrating, outlining, and parsing.

Criteria
When locating these "analyzing" apps, consider the following questions
Does the app help the user...

1. Discriminate fact from hypothesis?
2. Distinguish the relevant from irrelevant?
3. Observe the structure?
4. Select important elements?
5. Determine biases?
6. Recognize intent?
7. Deconstruct content?
8. Understand the relationships?
9. Organize content?
10. Outline content?

Popplet: I use this for sequencing. It works by creating mind maps or brainstorming.

Strip Designer: I use for retelling. Students can create a comic strip illustrating the beginning, middle, and end.   This one is not free but my students love using it.

Doodle Buddy: I use for visualization. For my students, I have then create a picture based on the "Movie playing in their mind" from a page read or if a picture book based on the whole book. (When I do this--I don't show them pictures. They create the picture and then I reread the book showing them the pictures.)

Apps may not always be free; as my goal is to create a list of apps that can be used with Bloom's Taxonomy.  Has anyone had any luck with VGA cord?? I'm trying to figure out if it's worth the cost. If you have favorite apps--give them a shout out!! I'd love to hear about ones your students love using.

I also wanted to share a special education technology link with you. Click here to go to the web site. They have reviewed a ton of special education apps for just about everything you could possibly think of from autism to speech/language to basic skills to help work on IEP goals.

 Apps cost a small fortune when you have to pay to put them on each device. So, I have turned to an idea that Bloom's Taxonomy my be the best way buy them. I think that if the students are going to be using iPads that they need to do something only than play games. Yes, games have there place but I think iPads can do way more than that for us. 




Using Blooms Taxonomy in education is a highly effective way to scaffold learning for students. iPads bring a new opportunity to embed student learning through the use of technology. Blooms Taxonomy can help student show their learning in new ways. The pyramid is broken into Remembering, Understanding, Applying, Analyzing, Evaluating, and Creating.  My hope is that as I begin this journey, that I will find apps that meet my criteria of fitting into Blooms. Kathy Schrock has created a number of references that have helped me begin my pursuit for creating a list of Blooms on a budget (ie; FREE).





Edutopia has also created app listing for each category.  Diana Darrow including a brief definition and criteria as well.  Stop by can check out her blog. Have a Blog Hoppin' Wednesday!!

I'm so thrilled!! Last week I was given 8 iPads to be used for small group interventions. Our building technology committee, thought I would be the perfect person to lead this change into building our 21st Century skills for both students and staff.

I've always found ways to use technology in meaningful and in purposeful ways with students. I look for ways to use my computers for more than just games. I have added a couple of things I found on Pinterest, an acceptable  use policy for iPad and my policy (editable). (I'm know for having a pretty strict acceptable use policy.) I also added a video from Mike Fisher. He is a wealth of knowledge on how to embed technology in the classroom.

I looking forward to taking you on this journey with me this year as I work with staff and students to show them what they can do with technology in their classrooms. If anyone has any great apps that they love, please give me a shout!!




Video from Mike Fisher's ASCD Summer Boot Camp on iPads in Schools

I'm planing at home this weekend. My week was CRAZY. One of my groups is going to be starting off in LLI (Level Literacy Intervention). It's one of my favorite reading intervention programs is the Level Literacy Intervention by Irene C. Fountas & Gay Su Pinnell. It's a Tier 2 intervention but my students with IEPs have had great success with it. It's a tight 30 minute targeted reading program. Students read every day and are writing more than I've seen in guided reading. Plus students move--which is even better.  I've found as the group moves into the higher reading levels that I need to increase my focus on the comprehension depth of knowledge to continue to get the growth that they need to pass a DRA. I hope you had a great week and are having a relaxing weekend. What reading intervention do you use with your groups?

The last year or so, my school has been working on making sure students have their basic math facts down pat. Every teacher in the building has taking the responsibility  for their students to know those facts. The hope being in a year or two our students know them and teachers will not have to find time to teach the skill. In turn it will mean as this skill moves from a core instruction problem (because more than half the students don't have the skill) to one that only a few have that I can create intervention groups to teach the missing skills. This comes from Colorado State Standards and what other districts are telling teachers about when basic facts have to be mastered by. The building grade levels then planned forward what would make the most sense for students. I hope you have a great week as we enter beautiful September.



End of year fact fluency expectations.pdf

Now, that groups are formed, I can begin planning. To start the year off, I'm pulling out a small group of 4th graders for math during the last half of the block. I need to create a differentiated math units. Easier said than done. But this summer I came across any other book written by Robyn R. Jackson "The Differentiation Workbook." Its been very helpful full in pulling apart my districts Curriculum Alignment Project (it's tells us what to teach when) but doesn't do much in the way of differentiation.


I've adopted pieces to meet my needs and have shared a couple. I'll share more as I work through my unit planning.

I start by determining what all students Need to Know and list them out. I then figure out what my criteria for mastery is and what my evidence is that they have it. The Needs to Know become the over arching lessons that I'll shoot for. This is where I what my group to be at the end of the month. These are the grade lesson standards that they will be tested on in the spring. I think with this unit--I will not be doing tons of modifications for students. But this forms makes it clear what the learning targets need to be.

Just a quick note on this long (much needed) relaxing weekend away with my family. I was surprised this past Friday to be awarded with being one of the Top 25 Special Education blogs by Teacher Certification Degrees. To thank my followers and fellow Blog Hoppers, I  have posted my latest High Frequency fluency game here for the next 72 hours for you. Up Against the Wall is a student favorite and great to send home to play with parents. I hope you have an great long weekend and a great first week in September.





Sorry this freebie is no longer available.

I'm always asked what my job looks like. What kinds of students do I work with throughout the day?

As a Resource Teacher in Exceptional Needs means that I have a room (YEAH) where I can do small pull out groups to provide targeted interventions for students. These days, in my district, I don't just provide services for students with learning disabilities but I also have students with autism, physical disabilities, and speech too. It all depends on what kind of support the student needs to be successful and make progress. I have some students I only see in class for 30 minutes and have others that I see closer to 9 hours in a week. Each year my high needs students shift depending on the grade and how much progress the student made the year before.

I work closely with grade level teams to ensure students are generalizing what I teach in small groups back into the classroom. I plan with grade levels as much as possible-it tends to be with the ones where I have the greatest need. This year its my sixth graders. I have my work cut out.  But with the help of those teachers, we can get those students to grow at least a year or more before they go to middle school. I hate to send on students who struggle with reading anything close to grade level. They are scary low. I help teachers focus on making data based decisions--and that hard with a curriculum that's paced out to ensure that all the tested material is covered before state assessments. It's great that we see the kidoos as ALL of our's--it helps when making the hard calls.

Where do all the RTI kids go? The last two days, my life has revolved about all the students who are reading below grade level 1st to 6th. Our school has 2 Title One Reading Teachers and 2 Exceptional Needs teachers. Myself and my counter part broke apart the students with IEPs because they are our number one priority. Once the students are broken into strategic and intensive, we start looking at how best to group them. Then, we go back and look at who is going to take which group. We look at where the great grade level need is first and start figuring out who is going do take which group and for how long. We make decisions based on the data and putting the kids first. Our Title 1 team may service a student on an IEP sometimes and that's okay. And I may have group that's all RTI kids and that's okay. Because it's about what the kids need not what's best for the adults. (Yes, our district says another interventionist can provide IEP services. It just means that we have to talk way more offend and make sure the parents are okay with that.) the RTI kids get their needs met as well. We make changes as we need to--that's what progress monitoring is for. Kids come and they go as they need to. With the make-up of the group changing as long as the kids are making moves.

So, what does my day look like?? Well, I don't know let. I know that I have students who need in class support for math and pull out for math that I must do. I know that I have students that need an hour a day of reading. I guess--I have a very rough draft of what my day looks like. I think I even have a lunch and plan :-)   Will this plan change if I get more students with IEPs--you bet. IEPs get my time first and then RTI.

That's what Resource is in my building. What does it look like in your build? I hope you have had a wonderful week and are planning something fun for the long weekend.

The term 'progress monitoring' has been around since the beginnings of Response to Intervention (RTI) or in my district is Response to Instruction.


Progress monitoring is the documentation where I assess students using CBM's (Curriculum Based Measurements) to show whether or not the intervention I'm using with the student is working. I collect a baseline score, I determine a goal, draw an aimline and collect weekly or bi-weekly data from the Progress Monitoring CBM probes. The graphs I use depend on what the goal is, what the CBM is and where the student's baseline is. (I've shared several.) My district uses DIBELS Next K-3 but I'm not always responsible for the progress monitoring. But I have IEP goals that I do have to monitor. Some places online to check out:  www.easycbm.com, www.RTIGraphs.com, and www.interventioncentral.com for online graphs if your not wanting to make your own.

So what's monitoring progress??? It's a core instructional practice that involves monitoring the academic growth of all students. My school wants to makes sure that ALL students are growing, from the low ones all the way up to the high ones because every child deserves a "years’ worth of growth" no matter where they started. 

This make sense because you are always changing your instruction to help the student make that target. The target doesn't move because students know where the target is. I have to help them get to the target. (Learning Targets: Helping the Students Aim for Understanding in Today's Lesson by Connie Moss & Susan Brookhart--is my current read)

Monitoring how students interact with the curriculum is how they will make that years growth. Doesn't is matter what you call it-Progress Monitoring or Monitoring Progress--I'm not so sure. What I do know is that you have to monitoring the students to ensure they are getting it; so that can make those targets.

I'm a firm believer that if you make students responsible for their own data, they will challenge themselves they will work harder and smarter than with me just telling what their goal needs to be. Over the last year, I've shared a number of pieces that I put in my students data notebooks to own and keep track of their data.

The piece I want to share today, I believe is the one that helps students be smarter about the goals they set. It's a reflection sheet. Just as teachers need to reflect on their own practices and student data--students need to do the same thing. I'm always asked, "How do you get students to make reasonable goals?" I always tell them "You don't." I guide my students. I tell them where they are and where they need to be be. (On some of the graphs I do put what the grade level goal is.) At first my student make wild goals and don't make it. But even in the failure--I find a success and celebrate. No matter what it is--I find something that we can celebrate. Those failures help them set smarter goals as the year progresses. Before too long the goals students set begin to make more sense but they own it.

Once the end of the four week cycle comes to an end and I've talked to all the students in the group. I hand out the reflection sheet. I tend to work through it as a group. I provide them with ideas about things that they could have done or those things that went well. After they have reflected on what they did. Students then create a new goal. Having them reflect on what they did, gets them to be smarter about what they did the last time. It's also a great way to see what strategies they are using and which ones students need more direct practice with. Does anyone you some kind of student reflection tool?

This week marked my 6th year teaching Exceptional Needs students in Lakewood. It also means the usually beginning of the school year changes. My team has two big changes this year--1) a new Exceptional Needs Teachers who's joining us from the great Arizona and 2) DIBELS Next.

Well to be fair, everyone in the building is taking on DIBELS Next. So what the big deal, its not that different than DIBELS 6th edition. I like that Initial Sound Fluency is no more. YEAH!!!! This was a pain. Instead its First Sound Fluency which replaces Initial Sound Fluency of early phonemic awareness. The Oral Reading Fluency is closer and consistency at grade level across all passages. Plus the retell means something.  New scoring directions for Nonsense Words. We'll have to see how it all goes Friday, when we have flex testing. I'm looking forward to seeing how students score on this version and if it provides better information to place students in interventions to help them make moves. Anyone use DIBELS Next?? I'd love to here how it helped students.




I hope that the beginning of your school year is awesome!!

This past week, I went back for three days of professional development before students start on Monday. I had my beginning of the year meeting with my instructional coach about last year. We talked about what worked well, things that I wanted to change, and things that I needed to work on for the coming year. She made a point that I also need to do a better job at celebrating the daily achievements that I make as teacher. Its hard when working with exceptional needs students to look at the successes that I make in my instruction each day. I always celebrate my students successes. Like most, I am my own best friend and my own worst enemy. I wanted to share a quote that I stumbled across after our meeting to made me think about the work I need to do this year as I continue to grow as a teacher-leader-learner. Have a beautiful and restful day.

I have something short to share as I'm busy getting ready for the first day of school on Monday.

I send home many things throughout the year depending on information I wish to share. I do data folders (Boomerang Folders) for all my students. It doesn't matter if they are general education or have an IEP. I started this last year. I would send home newsletters, weekly data, homework, etc. Most of the pieces go home within the first ten weeks of school--depending on when the SMART goal is completed. Many parents are not familiar with what a SMART if or why they should they should know about them, so I created a 1 pager that I send home with the first round of data.

When I start sending homework, I send parents a "Questions you Can Ask" 1-pager. (As well as bring it to conferences.) It's lists out sample questions that parents can ask before, during, or after reading something. The questions are not reading level specific so they are good for the whole year and easy for parents to use at home.

If your students are like mine, they are always asking "What's my password?" And then it depends on what system they are trying to log in to. So, then I spend the next 5 minutes finding the right log in. AHGGGG!!

Last year I put them on index cards for all my students and put them on the wall. If you didn't know it, they went there first before raising their hands. One problem with this system is that students have to go through all the cards to find their's. Not that they would know what to do with someone else log-in but getting students to be responsible consumers of technology; they need to know that it's for their eyes only. (I have problems getting them to log out correctly.) I came across this today and love it. No more worrying about wondering eyes and everyone has their own color strip. Even my kindergarten students can find theirs.

Why is teaching writing so hard? I don't remember it being so difficult but that was ages ago. Things have changed so much since I was 12. Back then, things like Common Core, State Standards or State Testing were not on anyone radar.

Did you know on average American students spend less than three hours per week on structured writing activities? Or that it's possible to increase the amount of time students spend writing to 4 hours a week. Until I went to the Every Child a Writer training--I had no clue.

Common Core aligned writing to include post high school needs and increasing students ability to complete expository writing. Most of the writing students do is narrative and the rest of the world wants employees who can write a description or argument. Being an Elementary Special Education teacher, I'm always looking at what students need to be successful after they leave me. Thinking down the road is hard but it helps in planning where students need to go.

I many cases my students don't have IEP goals for writing but they have problems writing more complex pieces once they move beyond a paragraph. Helping them move pass this is difficult. I hoping that by using ECAW in small group with I have them that they can go back to class with a strong knowledge in writing that their classroom teacher can help fine tune their writing--to move them forward.

I have put together the the begins of I Can posters for my students. As my students work through writing this year, I will be adding to them. I hoping that these target will focus students to work on one thing at a time. This way when they go to work on their own writing they a focus on one thing instead of several. Once one is mastered they can focus on anyone.

I'd love to hear how others teach writing. Do you go into class, pull out? Classroom teachers what works for you??  Enjoy a beautiful and restful weekend.

Be sure to stop by my TpT store during the Back to School Sale!!

I send home or give parents lots of things over the year--data, progress reports, and newsletters. I have many parents that ask for about reading levels about what students need to do either to move up or simply give them an idea about where they are in the big picture. The "Parent's Guide to Reading Levels" contains both DRA and Fountas and Pinnell reading levels 1st to 6th grade with a brief list of major themes that have to be mastered. The other form I use to track my students over several years. It's great for IEP meetings because everyone can see the students progress over the years. It is labeled in Fountas and Pinnell. My building uses both-we give the DRA twice a year and our core reading curriculum in labeled in Fountas and Pinnell. I'd love to hear what you share with parents throughout the year. Have a great Wednesday!!

Last week, I had the pleasure to trained in "Every Child a Writer." Every Child a Writer is a resource by the National Literacy Coalition.  Over the last couple of years, my building has been training teachers to use this resource. I love the fact that it moves students--no matter how they write. I'm so excited to use this next month with my students. Guided writing groups are created using a scored writing sample at the beginning of the year. Students are moved between groups depending on they did on their daily independent writing. Students are writing daily--at least 15 minutes. Writing just like reading, if you don't practice you don't get better.

Mark Barnes posted on his ASCDedge blog this week about guided reading highlighting the top 5 reasons why it should be eliminated. You can check it out here.

I'm always on the hunt for anything that I can give parents to help them through the IEP process. Being in the Elementary grades, we are often the first ones to guide them through the process and should feel empowered not intimidated by the process.

Math for many of my students is like going to the dentist. They either love it or hate it. Sometimes it depends on the teacher and how much time they spend teaching the skill vs having time to just practice it. Many times students with disabilities need lots to time to practice the new skill and then they need to see it over and over again. I don't know about you-but mine are really good about knowing it at school and when they get home well:)  I like using a warm-up as a formative assessment and create small groups for remediation.

Incorrect

Correct

Making 10 Goldfish Math

A shout out goes to Stacy at Shoot for the Moon for sharing this information. How true this information is.

For those of us in elementary education, we are offend the first to tell parents that their child needs extra help. Getting to that meeting sometimes is a great relieve and sometimes its not. I think that it depends on how the parents feel about the whole process along the way. RTI demands us to keep parents in the loop about student progress the whole way through. By the time you start thinking, the child needs an IEP (Individual Education Plan)  it shouldn't be a surprise.

When the student is part of the RTI process, you have the time to share with the parents and classroom teacher how the student is responding to the intervention(s). Its during these meetings that you can have the tough conversations about process/lack there of and what will happen next. Having open lines of communication is key. In Colorado, this information becomes the backbone of our IEP reports and evidence reports for giving a learning disability label. Its important to document the parents voice throughout the process and listening to them. This is a chance to educate them on what special education is and isn't. By the time you get to that conversation about looking at special education it should be a no brainer. Parents questions and concerns should have been answered about what they can expect prior to the first IEP meeting. I have created a parent checklist that can be given to parents when you send home an IEP prior to a meeting or have it for them at a meeting. You will find below a checklist that my team used last year as a checklist for ourselves. I'm planning on using it with my parents this year.

Click on the picture to grab your copy.  Have a beautiful Sunday and smile. Hug your family members a little more and tell them you love them.