Every student is of worth, has potential to learn and grow, and deserves a high-quality education. Every student also has abilities and challenges. The following is an action plan that I found to be realistic for me to actually follow in making necessary adaptations.
Before School Starts:
1. Review classroom routines. Make sure they are clear, simple, and easy to follow.
2. Consider having a class notebook to help students stay organized.
3. Meet with special education teachers in building to review student IEPS. Make notes on which students or classes will have paras or other accommodations (which ones need to sit up front or have other special adaptations).
4. Ask other teachers who had these students what methods or strategies worked best for them with accommodating.
5. Review lesson plans to make sure they have accommodations (both for enrichment and remediation).
During the School Year:
1. Meet regularly with the special education teachers and paras to communicate about handling behaviors or how to improve classroom instruction/adaptation. Ask for accountability for implementing the IEPs in the classroom.
2. Ask students for feedback about what is working for them and what we should try differently.
3. Inclusion is not just a law or best practice, it is an attitude and an opportunity to teach all students how to appreciate differences and to live in community (helping each other). Keep the vision of what all students can become, not just how they are currently.
4. Continue to study more and learn based off of the specific learning needs of the students in my classes. Reflect on how I am implementing and how I can improve.
5. Focus on good teaching strategies: use graphic organizers, give short and simple directions, break down bigger projects into smaller manageable parts, use visuals, break down class into smaller segments (use a variety of activities), allow for “brain breaks,” etc.
Susan Christensen's e-Portfolio
Monday, July 6, 2015
Learning
Learning Perspective
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Behavioral
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Cognitive
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Constructivist
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Definition/Examples
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Knowledge existed outside of the student and needed to be acquired
through rote memorization. The student would listen and follow directions.
Skinner was an advocate of this theory.
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With information processing, advocated by Anderson, students learned
to acquire knowledge by adopting effective strategies and learning how to
organize information effectively. The teacher’s role was to model and teach
correct strategies.
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Knowledge is constructed by working in groups as active participants
and thinkers. The teacher’s role was that of facilitator. Vygotsky was an
advocate of this theory.
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Strengths
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This is helpful when needing to communicate information to a lot of
people in a short amount of time. Many times in life it is an important skill
to listen and to take notes (which can help with memory), since this is the
style many people use when teaching adults, including college-students.
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The students are learning strategies they can use to become more
effective learners, even when they are no longer in your classroom. As they
practice them, they can become skills and motivate students to learn more,
since it is easier for them to do so.
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This way gives students real life practice in solving difficult
problems, and teaches them that it is important to collaborate with others in
order to come up with effective solutions. It can also help them feel less
isolated as they learn to build community. The scaffolding approach helps the
teacher meet the students where they are, and then help them gradually become
on their own.
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Weaknesses
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Studies have shown that students do not retain much by just reading
or listening passively. They retain more information when they are actively
doing something with the material (this is why the interactive lecture format
can be effective with participation and retaining information).
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It is difficult to know how much class time to devote to teaching and
practicing strategies. Just because students know HOW to do a strategy, does
not mean that it has become a habit for them. Also, it takes time away from
learning content knowledge.
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Like all theories, the theory must be effectively put into practice.
Sometimes “group work” becomes the time when two people do all the work,
and the benefits of the sociality are
lost. That can be prevented by giving individual grades, and not just group
grades. Also, this process can be extremely frustrating for some students,
since the challenges are difficult to solve (which is why scaffolding is so
important).
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Application
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Lecture: The lecturer transmits knowledge to a large group of
people who are (hopefully) listening and taking notes. An example is a guest
speaker presenting professional development at a school, or the standard
college professor teaching style.
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ELL Class: The teacher
taught a reading class to English Language Learners. He focused every week on
a new strategy (skimming, looking for the main idea, looking at pictures and
headlines), had the students take notes using a graphic organizer, modeled
the strategy, and gave the students opportunity in class to practice that
strategy.
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Model UN: Students are
given challenging real-world problems and need to create a position paper and
pose solutions to these challenges. They work with a partner and small group.
They have to defend their position verbally in debate form.
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Motivation
Here is an interactive lecture presentation on motivation I developed to be used at a professional development meeting:
Teaching
What can schools do to improve mentoring programs for new teachers?
Mentors
Future mentors will
attend a brief informational meeting to learn about what it means to be a
mentor and then undergo a brief application process. This is so the
administration can get information to better match up mentors and mentees. If
selected, they will attend a three day summer training for new mentors. They
will be paid for their time during the summer training, but will not receive
monetary compensation during the school year. Instead, they will be compensated
by having a lighter class load (one less class to teach). They will be able to
use that extra plan time to occasionally observe the mentee teacher or to
fulfill other mentoring duties.
Mentors and mentees are
encouraged to meet regularly, but a minimum of once a month. In the first few
months of school, it is not uncommon to meet weekly. It is understood that the
mentor must maintain confidentiality, in order for the mentoring relationship
to be effective.
In-Service Orientations
Mentees and mentors will
attend the new teacher orientation (held at each school two days before the
returning teachers attend inservice). The orientation is for teachers who are
new to the building, new to teaching, or both. The purpose will be to orient
new teachers to school policies, traditions, and expectations and to answer any
questions they may have. The purpose is also to build relationships and
camaraderie among the new and veteran teachers. There will be two in-service
orientations; one held at the beginning of the year and one in January.
Social Activities
As part of the new
teacher orientation, mentors and mentees will eat at a local restaurant,
compliments of the school (or the principal!). In addition, mentees are invited
to participate in the school faculty/staff traditions (e.g. contribute a recipe
to the school cookbook, eat out after parent-teacher conferences, potlucks,
after-school barbeque, etc).
Relations With Experienced Teachers
New teachers will have
the opportunity to observe master teachers in their same subject at other
schools three days a year.
Social and Resource Support
It will be the school
expectation that all teachers and staff reach out to new teachers. The new
teachers should be invited to serve on school committees, such as the social
committee, the kindness committee, the PTO, or to participate in
extracurricular activities (either by coaching a school team with another
teacher, by participating in a walking or exercise club, etc).
In addition, the school
culture will be such that the newest teachers do not have the most challenging
classes (students with major behavior issues or low test scores), in order to
help ease them into teaching. The more veteran teachers will be given the more
challenging classes. This is to help the retention of new teachers.
New teachers (mentees)
will have the opportunity to attend a professional development conference in
their first year of teaching (subsidized by the district).
Classroom Management
Prevention:
- Relationships of Trust- My aim with every class is to create a true learning community where we respect and encourage each other. My first priority is to learn the names and the interests of students, and to have them learn those of their classmates through cooperative learning games. I stand at the door and greet each student by name during passing time and ask them questions about activities and sports they are involved in. I may take a few minutes at the end of class to ask students about their weekend plans.
- Parental Involvement- I reach out to their parents and ask them (through a survey) about their students’ strengths, challenges, and needs. I email parents a schedule of assignments and quizzes for the unit and try to get them involved with volunteering or with studying with their child. I write emails or letters or phone home when a student has been exceptional in class. I call home if a student has been the opposite of exceptional in class to elicit help and understanding of the situation, and to brainstorm solutions.
- Routines- I have clear routines and an organized classroom, so students know where materials are and what they are expected to do. We review these routines especially the first week of school, but refresh as necessary. These routines involve everything from how to participate in a fire drill, when to sharpen the pencil, and how to appropriately use technology in the classroom.
- Engagement- I keep students busy the minute they step in the classroom until the minute they leave. They know that they need to work on the “bellringer” and pull out their homework from the day before to be stamped. I try to make the most of every minute in the classroom by having meaningful activities and assessments planned. My philosophy is that it is better to have too much planned than not enough. In the event that an activity takes less time than planned, I have a variety of “sponge activities” that we can use to review a concept or learn something new in just a few minutes.
- Monitoring- I ought to invest in a pedometer to keep track of all the miles I walk around the classroom! I am rarely at my desk. Instead, I walk around and monitor students, to see who has questions or who might need help. It also helps to prevent problems and to nip minor problems in the bud before they escalate.
Upholding Expectations
- Minor Misbehavior- Besides teaching expectations, it is important to reinforce expectations. I try to keep in mind that when a student does not meet expectations, it is a teaching opportunity for the whole class to remember what the expectations are. I try to keep a calm voice (the same voice I use for giving instructions) and privately talk with the student (out in the hallway or after class). What are you doing? What should you be doing instead? Usually that fixes the problem. I also analyze if I need to change my seating chart or contact parents (if it is a recurring issue). I remind myself that the goal is to fix the behavior. The student is not the problem; the behavior is the problem. I ask myself, What is the student trying to accomplish by behaving in this way? I also talk with coworkers and my administrators if I need help with ideas on how to reach certain students.
- Serious Misbehavior-Certain infractions are more serious and require more immediate and serious consequences (fighting, threatening, carrying a weapon, etc). Especially in those incidences, I follow the specific school policy.
- Rewarding Positive Behavior- I try to reward positive behavior in a variety of ways. I call parents when students have been exceptionally good, and mail cards to students with excellent behavior. Classes can earn incentives for exceptional behavior and time on task (time to play a quick soccer game or other classroom game, for example).
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