My First Evaluation

Tomorrow is my first evaluation by my principal. I will be evaluated in the fourth grade teacher's classroom for 15 minutes then I will pull-out three students and do a writing lesson avoiding sentence fragments.

I'm a little nervous and I haven't put any more preparation into this lesson than I usually do. Maybe I should. Some may say put your best foot forward for your evaluation. However, I decided the best feedback for me (especially since I have a supportive principal who I don't have to fear negative, untruthful feedback from) will be feedback that is based on my REAL everyday teaching behavior.

We'll see how it goes.

Inclusive Classroom Strategies 1

Problem: teaching children to keyboard (for students with poor handwriting or students who have motor deficits).

I have 3 students who really need to learn how to type. After 2 months of using a computer program and 4 more months of follow-up, the fastest of the 3 can only type 4 wpm (ugh!). So, last week, I put stickers on the alphabetic keys of the keyboard. Now students have to touchtype (typing without looking). The output on the computer screen tells them if they are right or wrong. Don't just put kids in front of a keyboard without some typing instruction first. This strategy can be done in the inclusive classroom, and non-SPED kids will benefit from the intervention as well.

Problem: trouble with spelling

I let kids move while they spell words aloud. First, I write the word on a sheet of white paper and tape it on the wall. Then they stand in front of it and jump on the trampoline or toss a ball in the air while they spell each letter. When they reach the last letter, they have to do something special at the end of each spelling (like clap, pause, etc) to signify that is the end of the word, then they start again. This can be shown to all kids in the inclusive classroom. You can designate a place for kinesthetic activities like this one, and when you really want a kid to learn how to spell a word, instruct them to visit that area for 5 minutes. I have had amazing success with this approach! Today, I did this with three students who learned two new words each, then ended with a "spelling bee." They said it was fun and asked to keep going.

Please share your own ideas. How can we include special education students in the classroom?

How to write a riddle

Today I helped students write riddles after a homophone lesson. It was challenging, and that's one reason I like teaching!

Here were the steps I used.
1. Think of two homophones. (My students chose "turn" and "play").

2. Think of a phrase or word that uses the homophone and could use either of the homophone's meanings. This phrase or word is the ANSWER to the riddle.

3. Think of someone or something that would say that phrase. Who would they say that to?

4. Using the info in #3, form a question.

Here were their riddles:

What did the spinning top say to the child? "It's my turn!"

What does a musician say to his son? "Let's go play!"

The meaning of a suffix

I asked Jonathan what does the suffix -ly mean. He didn't know.

I had him and Chris think of words that end in -ly. (gently, beautifully, carefully)

I asked Chris to use gently in a sentence (I gently patted the cat) and Jonathan to use gentle in a sentence (My back felt gentle).

I said, "Gently shows us HOW he did something and 'gentle' tells us what your back IS."

I wrote down "gently- doing" and "gentle - is."

Then they made sentences with the other words, and I begin to write those words, also, with "doing" or "is" beside them.

Jonathan's eyes lit up. He knew then what -ly does to a word. "-ly means how someone is doing something."