"Clearly, there are not enough hours in the day to set up an individual learning path for every student and monitor each student's progress. This is why individual learning path and student responsibility for learning go hand-in-hand. If you provide students, even the youngest, with tools for assessing their own learning style and preferences, and you offer various learning options, they will learn to make appropriate choices, with you providing guidance on those choices."
Dr. Nancy Sulla - Students Taking Charge
Reflection Questions:
How do you accommodate a range of student needs and starting points in learning in your classroom?
What strategies do you deploy to empower students to self-assess content mastery and skill level in order to inform choices in learning?
I feel like accomodations are such a part of the special ed classroom already because all the students seem to "need something" in order to access currciulum and learning. A few things I like to do is have students ask questions first about a topic and we usually web a new topic to include vocabualary and essential concepts before we begin learning and exploring. I allow choice when students are doing project based learning. I always use technology, visuals and auditory teaching aids to accompany my lessons.
ReplyDeleteSelf assessment is an interesting area for my students. I have tried to use rubrics and self reflections with my students, but for the most part the students like to give themselves a perfect score. It is very hard for them to honestly reflect on what they have learned and what the do well. This is really my goal, to get the students to accept constructive criticism without feeling sorry for them.
The Creative Process (Brainstorm/Research, Sketch/Plan, Create, Critique, Revise) is developed for each project. Students can use student sketchbooks for this especially to research their own ideas and sketch these ideas. The creative process gives the students a structure for them to work in that naturally develops and lends itself to student independence and gives them opportunity to make their own decisions and choices, creating their own path. Students set daily goals based on my feedback and that of their peers at the table to improve their work, identify ways to meet goals, and track their progress. After my benchmark lesson and demonstrations, students are given Task Lists to help guide them through the steps. A Resource Area for information and Supply Stations provide students access to necessary materials for independence. Daily routines and procedures help students to know what they need to do when they enter the room, what to do throughout the class period, what to do before they exit the classroom, and what they will do the next day.
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