What types of teaching strategies have you utilized with your ELL students? Of the strategies discussed, which one(s) do you think will be implemented in the future?
One of the teaching strategies that I use is grouping by high-low proficiency in English and understanding. By placing students with various levels of proficiency in English and understanding, students that are struggling are able to be helped by peers and the high proficiency learners will have the chance to teach someone. This is another facet of education can you show others what you know, this helps high efficiency learners by having to explain the process or concept rather than just knowing how to do it their minds. The low proficiency learners gain from being taught by peers and might help retain information than from a more traditional lecture. I will be implementing this more in the future, alongside scaffolding because I have seen that these teaching strategies help the majority of students and not just English Language Learners.
Thursday, April 16, 2015
4th Sessions 3rd Blog Prompt
What
is your most stressful part of the IEP for you to deal with or work on? Do you
have someone on your campus that you can go to for assistance and support in
writing the IEP?
I make accommodations and modifications in the classroom that universally help everyone in the classroom. Notes and modified for SEI to benefit, assignments are created with various degrees of reading levels, and deadlines for assignments are adjusted based on students observations and pace of the classroom. That being said, changing the standards of what a student needs to master is difficult. Fortunately for me, the campus has a Special Education instructor and, since we are a small school, communicating with her is easy. One of the problems is that the IEP's given to us, though helpful, are not specific to each class. When I grade assignments I need to where the standard for that SPED student should be at. Not all students with IEPs need this done, but the rare few that do need to be have been difficult. For example, I had a student that stated that standards needed to be modified, so when I taught a lesson, I had no idea what I should considered to pass. Did he need to be able to calculate the answer correctly, identify the type of problem it is and set it up, or only master the terminology from the lesson? In this case, I was advised to modify an exam to have the student be able to identify the purpose of the information and master the terminology in the lesson.
I make accommodations and modifications in the classroom that universally help everyone in the classroom. Notes and modified for SEI to benefit, assignments are created with various degrees of reading levels, and deadlines for assignments are adjusted based on students observations and pace of the classroom. That being said, changing the standards of what a student needs to master is difficult. Fortunately for me, the campus has a Special Education instructor and, since we are a small school, communicating with her is easy. One of the problems is that the IEP's given to us, though helpful, are not specific to each class. When I grade assignments I need to where the standard for that SPED student should be at. Not all students with IEPs need this done, but the rare few that do need to be have been difficult. For example, I had a student that stated that standards needed to be modified, so when I taught a lesson, I had no idea what I should considered to pass. Did he need to be able to calculate the answer correctly, identify the type of problem it is and set it up, or only master the terminology from the lesson? In this case, I was advised to modify an exam to have the student be able to identify the purpose of the information and master the terminology in the lesson.
4th Sessions Blog Prompt 2
What is something you want to change about your classroom management? Be Specific and use specific example(s) for this change.
One of the biggest issues on my campus is cell phone use during class time. Students do not focus and then have to be retaught a lesson because they did not pay attention. While it is easy to identify students that are using their phones, the consequences to being caught are either negligible or extreme. I can demand their phone be taken away, and that might work for a few, but for the rest I have to either accept the behavior or inform administration. Administration will contact security and they will come and grab the student at some point in the day. They instantly go to the principle and she will discipline the student. The first offense is a one day suspension, second offense is two day suspension, and it continues until the fifth. The fifth is long term suspension, the student will be suspended for the remainder of the semester.
I want to be able to handle the situation in the classroom. Teachers are not allowed to take phones on my campus. I would like to be able to enact my own set of rules and take the cell phones for the remainder of the class and progressively increase it to the day and then week. This would still leave the student in the classroom and foster a sense that their behavior is not accepted but I will not severe consequences. Unfortunately, the school wants a uniform understanding of consequences for this behavior. While I am sure some teachers still take matters into their own hands and don't report students because they feel suspensions are extreme, constantly having to deal with unfocused students and having to reteach is an even larger burden.
One of the biggest issues on my campus is cell phone use during class time. Students do not focus and then have to be retaught a lesson because they did not pay attention. While it is easy to identify students that are using their phones, the consequences to being caught are either negligible or extreme. I can demand their phone be taken away, and that might work for a few, but for the rest I have to either accept the behavior or inform administration. Administration will contact security and they will come and grab the student at some point in the day. They instantly go to the principle and she will discipline the student. The first offense is a one day suspension, second offense is two day suspension, and it continues until the fifth. The fifth is long term suspension, the student will be suspended for the remainder of the semester.
I want to be able to handle the situation in the classroom. Teachers are not allowed to take phones on my campus. I would like to be able to enact my own set of rules and take the cell phones for the remainder of the class and progressively increase it to the day and then week. This would still leave the student in the classroom and foster a sense that their behavior is not accepted but I will not severe consequences. Unfortunately, the school wants a uniform understanding of consequences for this behavior. While I am sure some teachers still take matters into their own hands and don't report students because they feel suspensions are extreme, constantly having to deal with unfocused students and having to reteach is an even larger burden.
Sunday, February 8, 2015
4th Sessions Blog Prompt 1
Did you receive training regarding children with Emotional Disturbance? How was it helpful or not? Does your school have an "Emergency Team" for a student with Emotional Disabilities?
We have not received training in Emotional Disturbance at our school. Much of the protocols created for classroom problems were done by the SPED and Nurse in the classroom. They usually inform us of what to do for a specific student. Our school is really small and much of the staff is responsible for multiple tasks, but there is no team assigned for emotional behavior. Much of the knowledge of how to handle students is given to is in written form and never demonstrated. I teach at an alternative school and we do make try to notice behavior/attitude changes in students and attempt to remedy it before it becomes a problem. We usually have a conference, contact the parents, or talk to a students friends That is about all we are asked to do.
We have not received training in Emotional Disturbance at our school. Much of the protocols created for classroom problems were done by the SPED and Nurse in the classroom. They usually inform us of what to do for a specific student. Our school is really small and much of the staff is responsible for multiple tasks, but there is no team assigned for emotional behavior. Much of the knowledge of how to handle students is given to is in written form and never demonstrated. I teach at an alternative school and we do make try to notice behavior/attitude changes in students and attempt to remedy it before it becomes a problem. We usually have a conference, contact the parents, or talk to a students friends That is about all we are asked to do.
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
3rd Semester Blog # 5
I fully expect the classroom to experience a sudden burst of anticipatory energy before school leaves for winter break. The key is to always have the classroom expectations enforced and have lessons that engage students. The end of the class will mostly consist of reteaching, relearning, retesting, and enrichment. My high school suffers from a very high absence problem with students so any chance available to teach must be used. My plan is to have students organized in groups by unit that needs to be relearned. The school allows students to retest any exam at least once so I make students below a 70% retake exams for better scores. Communicating with parents is rare and I often only speak to them if a student is having a problem. As for positive incentive, I usually distribute snacks or candy if students behave and average more than an 80% on the final.
3rd Semester Blog # 3
I teach economics so, while I do use math in the classroom, am not considered to have much STEM in the classroom. However, I do try to incorporate STEM in the enrichment part of a lesson because there are students who understand the material fairly easily. One example is using algebra or pre-calculus problems just to set up a graph that they then will have to calculate opportunity cost for. Also, I have them write a research paper on future technology that will be adapted for goods/services production. They must look up the technology and how that technology can make the good or service more productive or desirable to consumers.
3rd Semester Blog # 4
How do you plan to implement active engagement?
I try to get students by asking them questions about their daily life or current events and then link them to the material. I hand have them do a "turn and talk" to discuss what concept they learned as well. By having the students engaged they will focus on the instruction and be able to recall the information. Students that usually do no participate in discussion feel it is a bit more open to talk and begin to participate. More often than not, students engaged in the material are in a better mood and the class experience feels like the students have been impacted.
I try to get students by asking them questions about their daily life or current events and then link them to the material. I hand have them do a "turn and talk" to discuss what concept they learned as well. By having the students engaged they will focus on the instruction and be able to recall the information. Students that usually do no participate in discussion feel it is a bit more open to talk and begin to participate. More often than not, students engaged in the material are in a better mood and the class experience feels like the students have been impacted.
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