Module 7: My Learning in SPED II

 

As professionals it is important to pause and take note of lessons learned so we can change and grow in our future practice. This Queens SPEDII course has given me many moments of pause: None which were mind-blowing, but more like solidating prior knowledge and experiences. More so fueling me to work harder to support, encourage, and find solutions for inclusiveness in my practice.

One of the first things that came up for me was in Module 1 when I was asked to research ways in which teachers can better prepare students for assessments.  One of the ways was to involve parents (Edmontum Blog, 2014).  During years of teaching my communication with parents is something that I have worked hard on. However, I never made the connection to involve (all) parents so intentionally in an assessment process.

It was in Module 2 where we viewed different profiles to help students be more involved in their IEP that some things solidated.  This helped me start to think about how I get to know families and students. More so what kinds of conversations and information I want to have to help me serve them better. Having these conversations and using a student profile like the Strength Based Student Profile could be a start to the road of having students, more consistently, sit in and participate during their IEP meetings in the future at my school.

In the next three modules we looked at how teachers can find strategies to support learners and differentiate activities in reading, writing, math, and other subjects. The big idea that I have taken away is the grounding every lesson with more than one way to teach something out to the class, and to have more than one way for students to choose how they communicate their learning. I have known this, but the benefits of doing so are more clear.

Some notes from those modules: 

1. A colleague recommended the book Catching Readers Before They Fall, a book that I look forward to reading after this class.

2. Using visualization as a reading strategy. It is something that I do when I read, and it has been mentioned to me as a teaching strategy in the past, but I forgot about it. However, now I want to try it. 

3. These modules were a reminder of resources like BCMAT, Understood, The National Science Teachers Association, Edutopia, and The Teaching Channel. They are resources that I want to keep going back to for reference and for my own continued learning.

4. I want to teach more study skills, especially around using technology. Often it’s assumed that students know how to study or organize. This is something that needs to be taught (Burgess, 2018).

Module 6 was focused on becoming experts.  I appreciated the section around growth mindset. It is something that I have used for myself, but not explicitly in the classroom. I was really interested in thinking of the brain as a muscle-the more you use it the stronger it gets is helping to think about “growing” your brain. I have met so many students who have had a fixed mindset and so explicitly using a growth mindset will be helpful.

The last assignments in Module 6, Taking Action and Case Study, were the most interesting for me to see my growth.  Both assignments gave me a greater understanding of the importance of conversations with parents and students in order to understand their students’ needs.  We can have meetings and make plans, but have we chatted with the student? Sometimes students might not be able to express what they need, but it’s important to try and to teach advocacy. 

These assignments have also made me think about the baseline assessments needed to gain understanding of where students are at so that we as teachers can figure out the right kinds of strategies and supports. More so, the fun in thinking about all the different layers of support a class can have. I look forward to using and sharing my learning. 

Reference:

Burgess, Kristine 2018. “9 Technology Tips to Support Study Skills”. LD Online. Retrieved from: http://www.ldonline.org/article/9_Technology_Tips_to_Support_Study_Skills (Sept. 2020).

Edmentum Blog. 2014. Four Best Practices-Preparing Students for Assessments. Retrieved from:

https://blog.edmentum.com/four-best-practices-%E2%80%93-preparing-students-assessments 

(Aug. 2020).