This year I have been implementing some new ways to document student progress. One of the first documents that I created is where I monitor the activity that we do in class each day and how the student did with the activity. I also give up to 5 points daily for participation. I also have the student IEP goals pasted on the folder where the documenation takes place. This has been very beneficial because it is a constent reminder of goals and allows to me glance at the student progress. I am then able to send these sheets home to parents so they can see progress made as well.
I also have been keeping track of sight words for one of my beginning readers. I have a list of mastered words and a list of words that the students knows but may not have mastered. We do flashcards every day as warm up using these words. I have the student do the words that he/she has mastered once a week. We do the other set of words every day. I have the person doing the words with him write down the words that he gets incorrect. I then use this list as a guide to know when to add words to the mastered list and when to add more words to need to master list. This has been working great to keep track of the student's progress.
I have also had a student that is working out of a direct instruction reading book monitor his/her reading progress. In the past, I would skip this part of the lesson. We would do the reading checks but I would not have students keep track of their progress. This has been working very well with this student. It has been a great motivator for the student and it has helped me with being able to see the students progress. I am glad that I started doing this. I think that it has been very beneficial.
It has been very beneficial to have more ways to document student progress. It has helped me with writing progress reports and IEP goals. I belief these tools will help me throughout my career.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Compass Training
Tonight I went to a training on Compass. I found that this computer program could be very valuable in my classroom. I like that you can adjust the lessons based upon the level of your students. I also like that it is tied back to the student's MAP test scores.
With this program, I was able to create lessons for every level of student that I am working with. I am excited to start the program with some of my students that function at a much lower level. There are times that I would like to switch things up but run out of options. I think this program will be able to provide that. I also like that you recieve instant notification of the results. You also are able to look over the assessments to see where the student may be going wrong.
I was very thrilled about the capabilities of this program. I think it is a tool that I will implement in the futur.
With this program, I was able to create lessons for every level of student that I am working with. I am excited to start the program with some of my students that function at a much lower level. There are times that I would like to switch things up but run out of options. I think this program will be able to provide that. I also like that you recieve instant notification of the results. You also are able to look over the assessments to see where the student may be going wrong.
I was very thrilled about the capabilities of this program. I think it is a tool that I will implement in the futur.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Math Class
This year I have been teaching an upper math class for students with special needs. This class is the last math course the students will take before entering the regular education setting. We just took the semester final and a significant number of the students failed. This is a course that I co-teach with another special education teacher. After seeing the results of the test, we decided to change a few things. We have implemented a seating chart, as it appears that students are distracted by students they were sitting with. We also explained to the students that the material that they are learning will carry over into the next level. We talked about the importance of taking this course seriously otherwise they would not be prepared for next year. We gave the students a review packet of all the material that was covered on the exam. They were told that they needed to complete one section at a time and get it approved by one of us before they could move on. After they complete the review packet they will have to take the exam again. We are hoping that with the changes we have made, the students will be more focused and their scores will increase. We also are hoping that they will take the class more seriously if they have hopes of going on to the next level. This class can be frustrating as the students have exhibited that they have the skills but they did not perform on the exam.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Trainings
A few weeks ago, I attended a training on using a LiveScribe pen. This pen is capable of recording teacher lectures, podcasts, and other important features. This training gave me a brief overview of the capabilities that this pen has. I really learned a lot from this training and I am excited to try and put it to use in my classroom.
Next week I will be attending a training Cloud Live@EDU. I am looking forward to this training because often times I would like to access work documents at home that I am not able to get to because they are on the school network. With this training I am hoping to learn a lot of valuable information on how to access materials from home.
Next week I will be attending a training Cloud Live@EDU. I am looking forward to this training because often times I would like to access work documents at home that I am not able to get to because they are on the school network. With this training I am hoping to learn a lot of valuable information on how to access materials from home.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Thanksgiving Dinner
We survived our 7th annual Thanksgiving Dinner!! For the last 7 seven years my daily living classes have prepared a Thanksgiving Dinner for their parents, teachers, and some classmates. We start by having the students create the menu and make invitations. I then had the students estimate prices for the groceries we needed to buy. They also had to look through the local grocery flyer's to look for sale items. After this, we went grocery shopping to buy all of our supplies. On the Monday before Thanksgiving break we cooked the turkey and made 6 pies. It was quite the adventure but went pretty smoothly. On Tuesday we peeled the potatoes. This is a great experience for the students. It is interesting to see the different levels of kitchen skills. On Wednesday the students were in my room for the morning putting everything together. Each student had a job that needed to be completed, whether it was making buns, punch, corn, cutting pies, mashed potatoes, stuffing, or sweet potatoes. With so much going on at once with many people in the kitchen, it is extremely important that the activities are organized. We also had to decorate the room and get it set up for our guests. It was a lot of work and we were putting on the final touches just moments before our guests arrived. We severed about 40 people and all of the kids loved it. I have one student that is very fragile emotionally. She really shined during this time. She had a smile on her face the entire day and was interacting with several students. It was so great to see. I truly enjoy doing this activity with my students. They look forward to putting this meal on every year. It allows them to show their parents and other teachers what they are able to do and they are very proud of themselves.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Cookie sales
For the last 3 or 4 years my daily living class has done a cookie sale. We make cookies for about 2 weeks and sell them during lunch breaks. We sell them for a quarter and usually make 3 different kinds. At the end of the sale we use our profits to 'adopt' a family in need during the holiday season.
I really enjoy doing this activity with my students. They have an opportunity to learn so many skills and they also have a lot of fun with it. We take turns making the different recipes. This way they all get to learn 3 recipes. They all also rotate selling during lunch. This gives them an opportunity to interact with their classmates and are able to practice their money skills. The kids have a great time with this.
This year we sold about 2100 cookies in 9 days!! Let me tell ya' it is a relief to be done!! Our next step will be to take the money that we earned and buy gifts for a family in need this holiday season. This is another great lesson for my students. It gives them an opportunity to give back to their community.
I am excited to be done baking but even more excited to go on our shopping trip.
I really enjoy doing this activity with my students. They have an opportunity to learn so many skills and they also have a lot of fun with it. We take turns making the different recipes. This way they all get to learn 3 recipes. They all also rotate selling during lunch. This gives them an opportunity to interact with their classmates and are able to practice their money skills. The kids have a great time with this.
This year we sold about 2100 cookies in 9 days!! Let me tell ya' it is a relief to be done!! Our next step will be to take the money that we earned and buy gifts for a family in need this holiday season. This is another great lesson for my students. It gives them an opportunity to give back to their community.
I am excited to be done baking but even more excited to go on our shopping trip.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Redos and Retakes Done Right
I read the article "Redos and Retakes Done Right" by Rick Wormeli from the Nov. 2011 edition of ASCD.
This article talked about the positives of allowing students to redo and retake assignments and assessments. The article explains how when allowing students to redo/ retake assignments/assessments and giving them only partial credit or giving a student a 0 for not turning in an assignment on time, will only slow down the student's achievement and maturation. This can cause student's to lose hope. Without hope student's will disengage from school and from the adults who care for them.
The article goes on to talk about how student's learn at different speeds. Wormeli points out that curriculum goals don't require all student's to reach the same level of proficiency on the same day but rather, every student achieve the goal. He also talks about how practice is very vital. He compares this to running. When a runner is in the learning-to-run stage, they practice, practice, and practice. When the runner has reached its final race, like the Olympics, they are in the proficient-runner stage. At this point they are no longer able to redo the race. He also has built this confidence because each time he ran his time was not an aggregated compilation of all his digressions woven with his more successful time. He was also able to practice and repeat until he had mastered the skills. When learning, we will master the skills that are repeated and we will be better at retrieving those skills the more we experience them.
Wormeli goes on to compare education like a conveyor-belt learning. He points out that curriculum taught in K-12 schools in the United States would take to about grade 22 teach (I found this to be amazing). This can cause us to fall into "here's a bunch of stuff you have to learn; now take a test. Here's the next bunch of stuff you have to learn; now take the next test, etc. So when students fail to learn the content we keep moving them foward, like a conveyor belt.
The article goes on to say that in the real world we are always doing things over and over until we have reached mastery. For examples, a lawyer will practice debate and analysis of agruments before stepping into a court room; a pilot will fly multiple times in a simulator and solo flights before taking passengers; and surgeons practice on cadavers before performing surgery on a live person. All of these things can be redone until mastery is achieved. Why don't we do the same in education? He goes on to talk about how teachers who allow retakes/redos, are not considered 'soft'. Student's are quick to figure out that the teacher is not soft but rather wants to be sure that the student's have learned the material and will require the student to do the work over and over until they are correct. The final point that I found interesting was "to let a student settle for work done poorly, ensuring that he or she doesn't learn the content. Is this really the life lesson we want to teach? Is it really academically better for the student to remain ignorant?" I thought these were good questions to ponder. The article also listed 14 points to consider when allowing student's to retake/redo assignments/assessments.
Do you allow student's to redo/retake assessments/assignments? Do you think the pressure of what needs to be covered in our classes interfers with the learning process?
This article talked about the positives of allowing students to redo and retake assignments and assessments. The article explains how when allowing students to redo/ retake assignments/assessments and giving them only partial credit or giving a student a 0 for not turning in an assignment on time, will only slow down the student's achievement and maturation. This can cause student's to lose hope. Without hope student's will disengage from school and from the adults who care for them.
The article goes on to talk about how student's learn at different speeds. Wormeli points out that curriculum goals don't require all student's to reach the same level of proficiency on the same day but rather, every student achieve the goal. He also talks about how practice is very vital. He compares this to running. When a runner is in the learning-to-run stage, they practice, practice, and practice. When the runner has reached its final race, like the Olympics, they are in the proficient-runner stage. At this point they are no longer able to redo the race. He also has built this confidence because each time he ran his time was not an aggregated compilation of all his digressions woven with his more successful time. He was also able to practice and repeat until he had mastered the skills. When learning, we will master the skills that are repeated and we will be better at retrieving those skills the more we experience them.
Wormeli goes on to compare education like a conveyor-belt learning. He points out that curriculum taught in K-12 schools in the United States would take to about grade 22 teach (I found this to be amazing). This can cause us to fall into "here's a bunch of stuff you have to learn; now take a test. Here's the next bunch of stuff you have to learn; now take the next test, etc. So when students fail to learn the content we keep moving them foward, like a conveyor belt.
The article goes on to say that in the real world we are always doing things over and over until we have reached mastery. For examples, a lawyer will practice debate and analysis of agruments before stepping into a court room; a pilot will fly multiple times in a simulator and solo flights before taking passengers; and surgeons practice on cadavers before performing surgery on a live person. All of these things can be redone until mastery is achieved. Why don't we do the same in education? He goes on to talk about how teachers who allow retakes/redos, are not considered 'soft'. Student's are quick to figure out that the teacher is not soft but rather wants to be sure that the student's have learned the material and will require the student to do the work over and over until they are correct. The final point that I found interesting was "to let a student settle for work done poorly, ensuring that he or she doesn't learn the content. Is this really the life lesson we want to teach? Is it really academically better for the student to remain ignorant?" I thought these were good questions to ponder. The article also listed 14 points to consider when allowing student's to retake/redo assignments/assessments.
Do you allow student's to redo/retake assessments/assignments? Do you think the pressure of what needs to be covered in our classes interfers with the learning process?
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