Dear Christian school general Educator who is teaching a student with a learning disability,
Goal (What am I doing?): Incorporate the Five Foundational Elements to Special Education in order to help those with learning disabilities in your classroom.
Method (How do I get there?): Take an hour this week to consider how you can implement the five foundational elements of special education into your week. Then take one element per day and schedule in 5-10 minutes that day to cover that one area. Have a routine down and have it running smoothly by the week after Labor Day.
Evaluation (How well am I doing at reaching my goal)?: If you are spending 5-10/day and covering all 5 elements in a week (a total of 25-50 minutes/week) consistently, you will be spending 15-30 hours this year focused solely (with no distractions) on your students with learning disabilities. The gains will be obvious to all!
1. Intensity of Instruction: Schedule in direct instruction and class wide peer tutoring, cooperative learning, co-teaching (is there a retired teacher in your church that would partner with you next week to co-teach with you?)
2. Structure: Make your instruction organized, explicitly (for all the senses), and predictable (routines in every part of the day, even in when and how students ask for help).
3. Curriculum: Find a fun way to incorporate and make accessible specialized supports and accommodations. Create a folder in a filing cabinet or a spot in the classroom with these helps. Add to it as you complete #1-5 throughout the year. Take time to teach the accommodations as needed (teaching can be part of #1).
4. Collaboration: Determine which teacher on staff you will chat with for 5 minutes this week to add to your list of strategies.
5. Monitoring/Assessment: Don't make this all about the method of recording (you don't have time!), just keep a quick running record with short phrases. The key to this principal is to make sure the student is using the accommodations effectively, ask if he has problems using it, check grades with the student, give time during lunch for student to organize his desk with a friend...make quick notes of all this.
Goal (What am I doing?): Incorporate the Five Foundational Elements to Special Education in order to help those with learning disabilities in your classroom.
Method (How do I get there?): Take an hour this week to consider how you can implement the five foundational elements of special education into your week. Then take one element per day and schedule in 5-10 minutes that day to cover that one area. Have a routine down and have it running smoothly by the week after Labor Day.
Evaluation (How well am I doing at reaching my goal)?: If you are spending 5-10/day and covering all 5 elements in a week (a total of 25-50 minutes/week) consistently, you will be spending 15-30 hours this year focused solely (with no distractions) on your students with learning disabilities. The gains will be obvious to all!
1. Intensity of Instruction: Schedule in direct instruction and class wide peer tutoring, cooperative learning, co-teaching (is there a retired teacher in your church that would partner with you next week to co-teach with you?)
2. Structure: Make your instruction organized, explicitly (for all the senses), and predictable (routines in every part of the day, even in when and how students ask for help).
3. Curriculum: Find a fun way to incorporate and make accessible specialized supports and accommodations. Create a folder in a filing cabinet or a spot in the classroom with these helps. Add to it as you complete #1-5 throughout the year. Take time to teach the accommodations as needed (teaching can be part of #1).
4. Collaboration: Determine which teacher on staff you will chat with for 5 minutes this week to add to your list of strategies.
5. Monitoring/Assessment: Don't make this all about the method of recording (you don't have time!), just keep a quick running record with short phrases. The key to this principal is to make sure the student is using the accommodations effectively, ask if he has problems using it, check grades with the student, give time during lunch for student to organize his desk with a friend...make quick notes of all this.