Fresh Start - ES
Department of Special Education Programs
Greetings
The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.
- Aristotle
Building the possible,
Mrs. Tarvis Williams-Mull
Updates
- September's General Focus - Ensuring accessibility for SWD in all classes:
- Adding accommodations and modifications to lesson plans and assessments
- Creating anchor charts and scaffolds
- Ensuring teaching strategies and learning activities appeal to the various senses
- Using 'stems' when checking for understanding
- Providing small group remediation (re-teaching)
- There seems to be some confusion about student service hours so I want to provide some points for clarity. (1) The current IEP service hours are based on school schedules from last school year. You are not in violation of a student's IEP because the school schedules changed. (2) Any time you spend supporting your students, or planning with others that support them, can be counted as direct or indirect service hours. (Please refer to the 14-15 Expectations for SpEd Staff document that I provided you during the first week of school for more details about 'direct' and 'indirect' services.) (3) Food for thought: Thirty minutes of active engagement in instruction with your students is far more beneficial to them than you spending 60 minutes simply standing in the same room. I'm looking for quality not quantity... When determining your schedule consider first - deficit areas, second - Tier IV intervention time, and third - Tier I instruction time.
- Portia will make and receive all file and document requests. If you need files and/or documents, complete the File Request form and email it to Portia. If someone from another school or district sends a request to your school and it is forwarded to you, scan and email it to Portia. Your adherence to this policy will help us keep track of file requests.
- All check-ins are cancelled this week due to evaluations. Check-ins will resume next week.
- Alexis and I will be out all day Tuesday for a training. We will have limited access to our computers and phones, so our response time will be delayed. If it is an emergency, please send a text message but otherwise feel free to send and email or leave a voice mail and we will get back with you on Wednesday.
Reminders
- All IEP Development forms MUST be completed and returned to Alexis at least 10 days prior to the meeting.
- You should be actively co-planning with your co-teachers. You should be support planning with ALL teachers who provide instruction to your students. Support planning means you are making sure teachers are aware of the needs of your students and have the resources to teach them.
- Videotape at least one lesson a week. This lesson can be of you co-teaching or during intervention time. Please see your principals for uploading instructions.
- Please make sure any revisions you make to your schedule is reflected in the GoogleSheet.
- Please be sure you are paying attention to the Outlook reminders regarding Tier IV deadlines and due dates.
- Every time you go into the SpEd file cabinet at your or any other school, you MUST sign the log kept in the notebook on top of the SpEd file cabinet. Every time you open a student's SpEd file you MUST complete the Access Log on side one of the file. I've visited some schools and noticed that the SpEd notebooks are empty. This either means no one is reviewing student files or no one is adhering to the policy. Please adhere to the policy and remind the folks in your building to do so as well.
Action Items
- Most of you shared with me last week that your schools were experiencing some issues that caused you not to be able to access the grades needed to complete the 1st collaboration forms. As soon as you are able to get this information, please complete the collaboration document with your grade level teachers and send them to me.
- Continue to add information to the your student data tracker as it becomes available.
Shout Outs!!!
Let's give a great, big welcome and shout out to Melanie Scott the K-5 Special Educator at FAES. Melanie remained calm and kept a smile as Alexis and I dumped six weeks of 'stuff' on her last week.
Two Claps - One...Two...