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How to Guide A Successful Paraprofessional
Paraprofessionals As special education teachers, it tends to be our responsibility to guide a paraprofessional. Even if it is not officially our job responsibility, our paras are working with our students, and we want to make sure that they know what they are supposed to be doing so we tend to take this on. Who are they? If you are unfamiliar, a paraprofessional is someone who works in your school, but usually is not a licensed teacher. In my experience, a lot of paras are working towards their license, or are newly licensed and are trying to get their foot in the door. I have also worked with some paras…
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Pre-Reading Strategies for Middle School
Teaching reading to middle school students can be difficult. There aren’t as many resources for teaching middle school reading intervention. Check out 4 Resources for Middle School Reading Intervention. It can also be difficult to find age-appropriate activities to work with students on pre-reading. K-W-L Chart This is one technique for pre-reading that does translate to older students. A K-W-L Chart is where you have the students start by listing what they know about a topic (this is the “K”). Then, you have them make a list of everything that they want to know about the topic (the “W”). And then post-reading you add the third column of everything that…
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Special Education Guide: The Difference between Accommodations and Modifications
So you have a student that isn’t doing well. Your school uses some version of the RTI model, and you’ve tried to help them in the classroom. But, no matter what you do, they still are struggling so your Child Find team decides its time to explore special education. You start hearing words thrown around like “accommodations” and “modifications,” but you’re not quite sure the difference. Aren’t they both kind of the same thing? No, they’re not. Accommodations are the basis of a 504 plan, and Modifications are the basis of “specialized instruction” or an IEP. Here’s why: Accommodations: Let’s start with accommodations. Accommodations are things that you put in…
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When Co-Teaching Gets Tough
Let’s face it, co-teaching can be hard! Seriously, co-teaching can be really difficult! You have to work very closely with another teacher that you don’t get to pick. Your principal decides one day that you will be working with another teacher. Who knows if your personalities will mesh well!? There is a lot of anxiety that comes with co-teaching, and fortunately, my three current co-teachers are all strong, amazing women who are patient with me, and we work well together. But this isn’t always the case! Sometimes you get assigned to work with a teacher, and co-teaching may be difficult. Be Patient Most of the time (hopefully all of the…
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Tips for a New Teacher
Being a new teacher can be terrifying. You come out of school with confidence, and all of the sudden you are thrown into a job and responsible for a room of children. Take a moment and breathe, every teacher was a first-year teacher at one time and you’re going to do great! Don’t compare yourself to others It can be really easy to look at another teacher and immediately see everything that they are doing better than you. But, as a human, you’re probably not also seeing everything that you are doing better than them. Don’t compare yourself! The other first-year teacher down the hall may have the perfect classroom. …
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Benefits of Using Word Walls in Secondary Education
Word walls are common things to see in elementary school classrooms. But, as the students get older and older, you begin to see them less. Word walls still have use in secondary classrooms. Benefits for English Language Learners Students who are English Language Learners could benefit the most from having word walls in middle school or high school classrooms. These students are constantly trying to comprehend what they’re reading or hearing, translate it into their native language, and then formulate a response and translate it back. This can be exhausting. Providing these students with a word wall with commonly used and taught vocabulary words could help them recall…
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Using Task Cards in Middle School
If you go to TeacherspayTeachers.com there are task cards everywhere. But what are the best ways to use them in your classroom? Test Prep Task cards are great for test prep. You can assign the students to work individually or in pairs on a set of cards. They give them repeated practice on math concepts. You can either have the students do all the work and then give them the answers at the end. Or, you can have the students actively use the answer key to check their answers as they go so that they can immediately correct errors. Task cards require fairly minimal teacher involvement, making it an easy way…
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5 Tips for English Language Learners
It seems like every year my school has more English Language Learners in our classrooms. This is a great thing, to be able to learn about new cultures and bring new perspectives into our classrooms. But, with our ESL teachers getting spread thinner and thinner; we are expected to teach these students successfully with little to no support as to how best teach them. Here are 5 tips for supporting English Language Learners in your classroom Wait Time Most teachers are familiar with wait time and are purposeful with how they use it. But, when you have English Language Learners in your classroom, you should try to provide a little…
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Why You Need to Flip Your Classroom Now!
What does is the flipped classroom? The flipped classroom is when you take the types of activities that would typically be assigned for homework, and make them classwork. While doing this, you take the activities that would generally be done in class and assign them for homework. In a typical middle school math class, the teacher explains a new concept to the class. She explains the concept while writing on the board and describing the examples. After the teacher is done with this “lecture” type math lesson, the students do practice activities. And then they are assigned additional practice for homework. What’s wrong with that? This type of lesson has…
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Pros and Cons of Assigning Homework
Whether or not students should be receiving homework is a hot topic right now in education. As a special education teacher, I have to be honest; I really can see both sides of the argument, and I don’t know yet on which side I fall. Pro: Additional Practice Homework provides your students with additional practice in the lessons that you are teaching in school. It seems like every year the curriculum gets more and more difficult. That every year we are required to cover even more, yet if we get rid of homework how are we expected to cover it all? In math especially, homework allows the students to get additional practice with…
