PED 1140 FSession 10, The Literacy Classroom
Dec 14 2011
KWL
“To gain a positive attitude towards school and learning, your students must have visual stimulation, organization, space, and a feeling of warmth and security.”
(Schwartz and Pollishuke, 2002, p. 6)
What do you need in your classroom?
Brainstorm – what are the essentials?
Classroom set up:
What can I control?
What do I have to live with?
Books...
What tools for learning should be on the walls?
How can the walls become a resource as well as space for displaying student work?
Teacher ‘space’ can take a lot of room.
Does it have to?
How can ‘teacher space’ (desk etc) be minimized?
What Great Teachers Do Differently - YouTube.flv
While we’re thinking about setting up a classroom...
I've come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It’s my personal approach that creates the climate. It’s my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess tremendous power to make a student’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a student humanized or de-humanized. — Haim Ginott, 1976.
The Inclusive Classroom
An environment that helps promote learning is critical to engaging students in schoolwork and class activities. A Guide to Effective Instruction, vol 3
What would you consider to be the non-negotiables in an environment that promotes comprehension and critical thinking?
Think about classrooms you have known.
Did they provide an environment that helped promote learning (not just physically)?
If so – in what way?If not – how so?
Record your ideas on the stickies provided.
Place your ‘positive’ stickies on the right hand board.
Place your ‘negative’ stickies on the left hand board.
Hmmm.. Let’s consolidate!
The Challenges:
Combined grades
The beauty of language teaching – it is a continuum!
Ontario Ministry of Education publication:Combined Grades: Strategies to Reach a Range of Learners in Kindergarten to Grade 6, 2007
Focus on the Big Ideas in the curriculum
DO NOT try to teach 2 separate curricula
DO NOT just teach ONE grade level
Integrate across subjects, provide authentic, meaningful tasks that students can take to different levels
Time for a break!
Learners with exceptional needs
Fundamental Beliefs:1. All students can succeed2. Universal design and differentiated instruction
are effective and interconnected tools for meeting the needs of all students
3. Successful practices are founded on evidence based research tempered by experience
4. Classroom teachers are the key educators5. Each child has his or her own unique learning
patterns6. Classroom teachers need the support of the
larger community
A Key Concept:
‘In a diverse classroom, no single method can reach all learners. Multiple pathways to achieving goals are needed’ Hitchcock et al 2002
Universal Design means developing a class profile upon which you base your planning so that the needs of all students are met, not only those of the average and not only those of students with special needs.
The planning must be flexible, responsive, based on ongoing effective assessment and provide real learning experiences for all students.
Effective instructional practices will never disadvantage any student: ineffective, ‘traditional’ practices may disadvantage many students.
Keep it simple!
Communicate clear consistent expectations
Arrange information sequentially to clarify its relative importance
Break instructions down into small steps
Provide effective feedback during and after tasks
Minimize distractions in the classroom
Please:•Post a daily schedule prominently in your classroom•Post assignments with clear expectations, exemplars and anchor charts•Give choice in assessment tasks where possible•Integrate across subjects so that tasks are meaningful
The curriculum tells us WHAT to teach,Differentiated instruction tells us HOW to teach it.
You can differentiate:
Content
Process
Product
Accomodations:
Changes that can be made to the way a student approaches learning the curriculum and/or to how they demonstrate their understanding
Accommodations:
Do NOT alter provincial expectations for the grade level.
Accommodations on an IEP only describe strategies and supports that are different from normal classroom practice.
3 types of accomodation:
Instructional
Environmental
Assessment
For example:InstructionalAssistive technology (voice to text software, text to voice software etc)Concrete/hands on materialsExtra time for processingNon-verbal signalsReduced/simplified languageSmall sequential stepsVisual cuesReduced/uncluttered formatetc
Environmental:Consistent classroom rulesProximity to instructor/strategic seatingReduced audio/visual stimulationPreparation for transitionsAlternate work spaceetc
Assessment:Alternate settingAssistive technologiesExtended time limitsLarge size fontFrequent breaksOral responsesPerformance based tasksReduced formatReduced number of tasksVerbatim scribing
Modifications:
Changes to the content of a student’s learning either through reducing the number and/or complexity of expectations to be covered or by working with expectations from a different grade level.
For example content
Modify:
From Gr.6‘demonstrate understanding of increasingly complex texts by summarizing and explaining important ideas and citing relevant supporting details.’
To Gr. 3‘demonstrate understanding of a variety of texts by identifying important ideas and some supporting details.’
Number of expectations:Evaluation of a reduced number of expectations
Complexity of expectations:
From Gr.4‘demonstrate understanding of a variety of texts by summarizing important ideas and citing supporting details’To‘ demonstrate understanding of a selected text on life as a medieval surf by summarizing important ideas’
If a student’s needs are such that the curriculum must be modified in order for them to succeed or they need significant accommodations these must be expressed in an Individual Education Plan.
•In order to have an IEP (Individual Education Plan) a student MAY go through an IPRC (Individual Placement Review Committee) but does not have to.•It is good to have parental cooperation in the development of an IEP but is NOT essential.•An IEP is a legally binding document.•A student does not have to be formally identified with a diagnosed exceptionality in order to have an IEP.
Roles and responsibilities:
In school team:
PrincipalLearning Support TeacherLearning Resource TeacherClassroom TeacherEducational Assistant (if appropriate)
Board resources:
PsychologistLearning Support ConsultantPeripatetic teachers (Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Blind and Visually Impaired)Social WorkerSpeech Language PathologistOccupational Therapist etc
Who writes the IEP?
The classroom teacher with support from the LST/LRT
Who is responsible for the program?
The classroom teacher unless the IEP states otherwise
Tiered Approach:
1. Conduct assessments, put in place classroom strategies in consultation with parents and Spec. Ed team
2. Bring the student forward to the In School Team for further strategies and possible interventions
3. Request an Educational Assessment and/or psychological assessment at which time the formal identification process may begin
Our job is to help ALL students succeed, not reinforce their sense of failure.
animalschoolwmv (2).wmv
Parents?
Preparing the ground with parents• Communicate with parents early and often - not just
about the ‘bad stuff’• Communicate your expectations clearly to students
and parents• Let parents know what your instructional foci are and
what your culminating assessment task is going to be (and why it won’t be going home to be ‘finished’!)
• Make sure students and parents receive timely, constructive feedback on assignments
• Invite parents into the classroom to celebrate student work when appropriate
Parents are partners in their child’s education. They MUST be included at all steps.
• Keep brief notes on conversations you have with parents
• Keep a record of student behaviours that are causing concern, academic and social
• Know the curriculum and grade exemplars and have a neat, complete record of your assessments of learning and the criteria upon which they are based
• Consider having students keep portfolios of their work or at least keep samples of work as evidence of student achievement
• Let parents know what is happening with their child - the good and not so good
• If a student is experiencing difficulties keep a record of steps you have taken to help and strategies that you have tried, as well as details of their effectiveness
Parent teacher interviews?
Be positive and constructive
Open and close with positive comments
Never compare to other students or siblings
Never blame
Co-operate and collaborate
Sometimes you just know it’s not going to be easy…
• Be prepared – REALLY prepared – have evidence to support what you say
• Be open and positive• Stay calm, if necessary ask a colleague ( VP or
Principal) to join you• Take ‘think time’ if you need to• Keep your door open• If necessary shut the interview down and suggest
that an appointment be scheduled for a future date, bearing in mind the time constraints of regular parent/teacher interviews
KWL
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