S'more Stuff
Something new and shiny for your teacher bucket.
Today YOU Will Make Magic Happen
Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance
Cool Tools for School
Google for Education - Student collaboration to create a study guide. What a great way to increase student engagement. Assign a different note taker each day to build on a shared doc. Could provide a frame in Google Docs for them to work on independently, but when reviewing they work together to create one doc.
Grade Book Documentation
Accommodation - Copy of Class Notes
Instructor Lecture Notes - This is a direct copy from the teacher's notes. The expectation is that these notes are completed ahead of time and are readily available for the student when the lecture occurred.
Pro's: Teachers are assured that the student has the most important information from the lesson because they dictate the content.
Con's: Teachers must have notes ready ahead of time. Notes should be written and printed by 1st period.
Tip: Having electronic versions of notes written ahead of class and available on your website gives students the opportunity to preview the material. This is a great tool for students accommodating for slow processing speeds, and for students who struggle with a specific subject. They can preview the vocabulary so that they better understand the lecture, and bring to class questions that they may still have.
Take a Breath
Middle school students are working on defining when they listen to authority and when they can decide for themselves. In the elementary world students were told when and how to do the most basic function (think about scheduled restroom breaks). In middle school they are having to navigate between a need and a want. They rely on the teacher to be explicit in helping them navigate the self governing skills found with increased independence.
One way to help students is giving them "down time" in their day. Scheduling time for them to pause and fill out their agendas. Scheduling time for them to just breathe. Teaching them relaxation strategies. Discussing what you do to handle increased demands.
The first time I did a lesson on guided meditation I thought the students would just play it off as a waste of time. After we finished, a student came up to me and said, "I needed that. I needed to just take a break and breathe." After taking just 5 minutes to rest, the students were much more productive with the non-preferred task of writing. They were more willing to attempt the strategies I was teaching. Just 5 minutes of taking a breath improved student engagement.
Your SpEd Team
Paul Mitchell and Crissy Morris, 6th Grade Inclusion
Dawn Bjorge and Colleen McAllister, 7th Grade Inclusion
Hope O'Connor and Karen Taff, 8th Grade Inclusion
Kim Walker, GOALS
Ellen Deckinga, SCSS
Nancy Perkins, ICAP
Jenny Davidson, LSSP
Robin Alkek, Diagnostician
Susan Cox, Speech Language Pathologist
Website: http://classroom.leanderisd.org/default.aspx?RBMSSpecialPrograms