Identifying Instructional Strategies

Blog Activity # 4

Field of Study:  Special Education All-levels

Strategy	Description	Teacher	Learner
Centers	You come up with different centers or stations that help with the concepts that are being taught.  These are normally done independently and may be things that student already knows but they get extra work on the certain concept the center has set.	The teacher would come up with centers for what the child needs to focus on or needs more practice doing.  Could be something to help with fine motor skills, or writing, or reading.  These can be modified to fit each child’s level.	This gives the student an opportunity to practice on things that they are learning so they can master them faster.  These could help the student with their handwriting, or motor skills, or hand eye coordination.
Menus	This is a way to set up the schedules for the day.  You first have a main course and those are the assignments the students must finish. Then a side dish which goes along with the concept of the main dish but is extra practice. And the dessert which is a closing activity to what is being taught.	The teacher would make sure that there was one assignment that the children had to complete before moving on.  They would modify this to fit all the students needs, then she would come up with a few activities that would be called side dishes and the student would need to pick on of the assignments to complete.  The teacher then would come up with a dessert activity that wraps up what they have learn in the other assignments.	This give the student the opportunity to know what is expected of them, and how much work needs to be completed for them to be finished with this assignment.  They must do the main course, a side dish and the dessert assignments to get credit for it.  Makes it a fun way to do assignments.
Reading Buddies	This strategy is where you have an older child and a younger child, or a good reader and a poor reader paired together for reading time.  It helps because the ones that struggle can ask questions, and get the chance to learn some more without feeling the pressure of group projects.	Teacher would need to either split her class into groups or start a buddy group with older students.  Then she would explain how it worked, and have books ready for the groups to read with one another and discuss what happened.	The student would be able to express what they learned from their story, and get to experience social interaction with peers, or older students.  The buddy system is a great thing to do and would be rewarding for both groups.
Choice Boards	This gives the student a choice on what they would like to do after they complete their assignment.  These can be individualized to each student. Great thing to use in a sped classroom.	The teacher would select things for each student that is reinforcing for that student.  This would help motivate the student to finish their work, so they could spend time on something they choose to do.	The student gets to pick what they really want to do after they finish their assignments.  This will help motivate the student to finish and do well on his assignment so that he can get his free choice
Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI)	This is where a computer program is used to help the student understand a concept or get extra practice. Could be programs like vizzle, istation, splash math, jungle math, handwriting for tears are a few examples.	The teacher would find different apps or computer programs that the students could use to learn. They would set them up how they wanted them and would get feedback on how well the student is doing on that program.  It would help the teacher know what the student needs to work on and what they have mastered.	The student would be able to use technology to learn.  This would be rewarding for them because they wouldn’t do it all the time.  Most programs are interactive and can also give immediate feedback on how the student is doing.  SO, they know what they need to work on and what they know well.

Teacher Resources

Teacher Resources

                Well I want to teach in special education so it was a little difficult to decided which sources to use and how I would use them.  I will use a program like power point so that I can come up with more visuals for my students.  I also believe that I could make it more interactive, and more fun to look at than just a worksheet.  I watched a video called Life After Death Power point performed by comedian Don McMillian, in this video he points out certain things on what you shouldn’t do on a power point.  He said, “having too much motion or bullet points can be distracting, also that having contrasting colors will not make a good presentation, and that if you have to many words on the page you will lose the interest of the audience.”  I totally agree with all the points he had in this video and it will help me think about it more when I go to make a power point for my students.  A lot of times in special education classrooms they have a thing called morning meeting or circle time, I think this would be a great time to use the power point, when we are going over the days of the week and the weather and colors and shapes.  Using the power point, I can put links on the pages that would allow me to show videos that go along with the topic of the page.  I am really excited about using this resource for my student.

                Another resource that I believe will be good for my student is creating games for the classroom.  I know there are apps that help you create games and I can get my students to help me make a game for them, but I also like the idea of different board games.  I do believe that we don’t have to use technology for everything even though it is becoming more and more common.  In the article called Games in the classroom by Chris Clark he talks about another series of articles by Anastasia Salter in which she discusses different things involving games in the classroom.  “Part 3 is about ways faculty and staff can make their own games.”  I am very interested in finding different ways to get my students involved in their learning and I think this would be a great way to do so.  If I can get them to focus for a little bit to help me make a game they can play would be awesome.  I think it would want them to play it more because they had the opportunity to help make it.  I know that this might be very challenging but well worth it in the end.  I also believe that I can find board games that would go along with things my students would be learning and sometime the more hands on it is the better they pay attention.

                The last resource that I think would work for my classroom in using a tablet for teaching.  I know there are many different apps these days that would help my children learn and it would also help them learn how to use this kind of technology.  In the article called Seven Award-winning education apps by Chris Clark it talks about different apps that I think I could maybe use in my classroom also.  I could use the “science app- virtual frog dissection, the art app called Brushes, and the creativity app called storyboard.”  The art app would encourage my kids to be artistic and give them an outlet too.  I think it would be cool to have a lesson where we talk about a subject and then I tell them to use the app to draw me a picture of what they learned.  I think it would be a good way to see what they got out of the lesson while they are having fun.  I believe I could also use the story board app in the same kind of way, it would be a way for them to be creative and a way to show me how them interpreted the lesson.  I could also use the science one because I think it would be interesting and would show them how frogs look on the inside without having the mess in my classroom.  I think app and using tablets for education will be a great tool for me if I can get apps that pertain to my student’s lessons. 

                I want to accomplish many things with these teacher sources.  I plan to come up with ideas for the power point to get my kids more involved in their learning.  I want to find games that will teach my kids what they need to learn so that we can have fun while learning.  Also using tablets for education purposes is going to be a great tool for my kids.  I know with working with special education students right now, I can get a vision on how my students now would use these tools if I was the teacher, and it is helping me get ideas with what I want to do when I have my own classroom.  I know it will be a difficult thing at first to incorporate these resources in my classroom but I truly believe that when I do, they will be very beneficial to my students. I plan for my students to enjoy it when I use these resources but also learn a great deal while I am implementing them.  I am excited for the things that will come and to be able to use these resources to see my children grow and learn in a positive way.

Work Cited

Vimeo, “Life After Death PowerPoint” performed by: Don McMillian, retrieved on September 28, 2017 from https://vimeo.com/6204213

University of Notre Dame, “Games in the Classroom” by Chris Clark, retrieved on September 28, 2017 from https://ltlatnd.wordpress.com/2011/09/30/games-in-the-classroom/

University of Notre Dame, “Seven Award-Winning Education Apps” by Chris Clark, retrieved September 28, 2017 from https://ltlatnd.wordpress.com/2011/01/19/seven-award-winning-education-apps/

Weekly Assignment Template!

Our Week- Day by Day

Name:

Sarah Medders

Month:

September

Year:

2017

	Mon: [01]	TUES: [02]	WED: [03]	THURS: [04]	FRI: [05]
our mood
Worked on
Bathroom
What we ate
pe or music
speech
Reminders

I chose the Weekly assignments sheet.  I decided to use template because I want to teach special education and this would save a lot of paper and time.  I also think the parents would appreciate have the whole week on one sheet instead of having daily sheets.  I could update each day as the week goes on.

I modified the title to say Our Week- Day by Day, I think this is simple and to the point.  I also put my name and the month and year to give you and idea of what it would look like.  I then changed the subjects to things that would pertain to a special education classroom.  The first box is for the mood the student had that day, then what was worked on that day. Next would be for if the child is potty training it would help the parents know how they did that day. The following box would be for lunch and snack, then PE or Music and that would be for which one they went to and how they did in that class.  The last two boxes would be for if they had speech that particular day, and the reminders that I might need to makes sure my parents know.  I would also write little notes here too if I needed to.  Last I changed the color of the template so that some of the boxes would be different colors so there would be a little difference for every other day.  Changing the color I believe will help me and the parents.

I could apply this to my classroom very easily because it has everything on it that I would want to share with the parents  if I was sending home daily sheets.  This to me would just be more organized and at the end of each week I would make a copy just so I had it for my records, and just incase a parent wanted to bring something up that was on the weekly paper I could find it.  I believe this is the best option for my classroom and I am excited to see how well it works once I get to the point to have my own classroom.

Below is the template that I used before modifying!

Weekly Assignments

Name:

[Your Name]

Month:

[Month]

Year:

[Year]

	Mon: [01]	TUES: [02]	WED: [03]	THURS: [04]	FRI: [05]
Subject 1
Subject 2
Subject 3
Subject 4
Subject 5
Subject 6
Notes