A Fundamental Shift
Transforming LHS SPED Lesson Design & Delivery for Students
Improved student achievement is our goal
Our goal for the 16-17 school year is to improve the lesson delivery and design of special education and the inclusion general education teacher at Legacy High School. This goal is a fundamental shift from the past expectations of teachers of students with disabilities. I am asking you to do something EXTRAORDINARY - something GREAT. This will be a huge task with a great reward - improved student performance on all STAAR EOC exams.
Lesson Design & Delivery Vocabulary Card Sort
The Evolution of SPED - The Shift
1954 - Brown v. the Board of Ed decision opened door
1965 - Elementary and Secondary Ed Act
1973 - Section 504, can not exclude students with disabilities
1975 - IDEA signed into law
1990- Americans with Disabilities Act
1997 - Shift from just providing access to meaningful instruction
2004 - Reauthorized IDEA, enhanced quality of SPED programs
Now - More students in Inclusion, gen ed teachers differentiate instruction
*Info from The Evolution of SPED article by Kelli J. Esteves and Shali Rao (National Association of Elementary Principal's Principal Web Exclusive, November/December 2008.
Lesson Design
1. The SPED teacher fully participates in the subject area PLC with their general education partner.
2. Focus efforts on the grade level standard understanding that individual modifications are needed for each student.
3. Ensure that frequent checks for understanding are incorporated in the lesson plan.
4. Be sure that academic vocabulary is introduced at the beginning of the new lesson. Plan with the gen ed teacher ways to review vocabulary with students prior to the new lesson or activity. Use a variety of vocabulary strategies to make sure the learning sticks. Our campus wide vocabulary strategy is the use of Word Walls.
5. Incorporate time for you (the SPED professional) to meet with the special education students each day to ensure that they are on task and hooked in tot he learning.
In the RESOURCE setting:
1. The expectation is that your classroom looks and feels just like an on level gen ed classroom. (Posted objectives, varied activities, multiple ways for kids to show that they know the content)
2. Incorporate small group learning. Use your Kagan Strategies.
3. Incoporate Multimodal insruction - Use 3 or more perceptual modes.
4. Plan to provide scaffolding of the learning within the lesson - including the use of graphic organizers, mnemonic devices, bookmarks, cheat sheets, text marking, "chunking" of the content.
5. Use the Fundamental Five best practices.
6. Don't forget to MODEL your expectations. And, repeat - repeat- repeat. Repetition helps solidify the learning.
Lesson Delivery
1. Start with the WHY: Establish the what and they why of the lesson by stating/restating the posted objective for all students. Ensure our SPED kids know what they are supposed to learn for the day.
2. Be mobile and active in the classroom. Provide all students with gentle reminders to stay on task. Repeat, repeat, repeat directions. Ask students questions to check for understanding.
3. Make every minute count! If there is ever down time or 5 minutes to spare - engage students in a quick vocabulary check like a card sort activity.
4. Provide students with sentence starters or sentence stems to help them answer questions.
5. Ensure that we provide students with time to digest the learning by gradually releasing the responsibility for learning. (scaffolding)
In the RESOURCE setting:
1. Remember the Fundamental Five practices of being in the POWER ZONE and showering kids with RECOGNITION when they experience success.
2. MODEL your expectations. Practice what kids are TO DO and NOT TO DO for the lesson/activity.
3. Actively engage students keeping their minds and hands involved. Hands on, Kagan Strategies, iPad apps, etc.
The BIG Idea
Close the gap between SPED student performance and All learners.
Know that they know!