Education Adaptations

Reading

2010-06-07T09:02:00.001-07:00

Here's an excerpt from Michael Hyatt's blog post on the subject of books...and the bold emphasis is mine. My commentary is below the excerpt.

"Dr. Carson was raised in extreme poverty by a single mother. As a grade school student, he experienced difficulty academically, eventually falling to the bottom of his class. His mother, who was working two to three jobs, became alarmed. She did not want her sons to drop out of school, believing that education was the only way they would escape a life of poverty.

"She began to notice that the wealthy families she worked for watched little television. Instead, they spent their time reading books. As a result, she sold her television and insisted her sons read two library books a week, writing a book report on each one. She would then review the reports, make marks on them, and assign two more books. Several years later, to his surprise, Dr. Carson discovered that his mother couldn’t even read.

"In the interview, Dr. Carson said to me, 'Everything changed when I began to read. I started to see myself as a smart person who could learn anything. The whole world opened up to me.' "

I cried a little when I read this, and I think it's because books were always my closest friends when I was young. I can't imagine the wasteland, not even knowing what I was missing, if I hadn't been exposed to books and embraced them. But even more, I long for my students to experience the change Dr. Carson speaks of, and that's the part that really tugs at my heart.

New Math Kid Quotes

2010-04-26T11:46:00.000-07:00

Had two really good ones today:

"Trigonometry is like making our own protractor without having a protractor...that is SICK!!!" -Billy

"I'm tired of your sneaky tricks, Mrs. Stuckey..." -Jordan

The See-Saw

2009-12-05T11:18:00.000-08:00

It's November, and I'm feeling frazzled and tired. I'm afraid that the two weeks off in December won't change that, because (I THINK) the thing frazzling me is a see-saw that isn't going to go away.

I guess you could call it a paradigm see-saw, and the constant reversals - one side, the other side down...and, now switch! - are making me dizzy inside.

On one side of the see-saw: the whole child.
On the other side of the see-saw: skills.

In my field, which right now is small group special education high school math, it used to be that I only taught career-tech kids, some of whom were motivated to actually consider attending a 2-year or technical post-secondary school, but most of whom were just thinking about getting out somehow. The curriculum for this student was beyond minimal, and it was fairly easy to go beyond the standards and still give most of my energy to the whole child.

And when I say whole child, I mean the kid whose social, emotional, interpersonal, and motivational life is generally in low-grade chaos because of attention deficits, impulsivity, inattention, fear of failure, fear of success, and otherwise jumbled organization of ideas, things, and decisions.

Now, for current 9th and 10th graders, plus all rising students after them, there is no distinction between the standards for math for on-level, college bound students, and their tech-school bound counterparts. Which, theoretically, is a great thing, because all students need to access quality standards and instruction. And, according to all I currently know about differentiation and standards-based teaching, it is generally understood that all students will not achieve the same levels of mastery of said standards. So, if my kids don't reach the same LEVEL of mastery as others, but go as deeply as they can possibly go, this SHOULD be the best possible education for them.

BUT, this is all too new. No one can tell me what is acceptable and unacceptable mastery for students who would typically not have accessed the on-level standards to begin with. And I'm terrified, because who will decide whether I have done the right thing by them? Who? When? Will it be fairly determined? And, selfishly, what will happen to me? Not to mention, will I have prepared them for the future I can't see?

So the see-saw is: I serve the whole child. I create a safe, warm, trust-filled environment with lots of success and corrective feedback on the standards and skills they access. I support them on the transition through 9th grade, where they develop so much as a person in ten months that is hard to underestimate the importance of this year. But then, I panic, and I grab onto the skills, and try to shove them into their throats because I'm "supposed to cover more!!!" And that leads to failure and frustration, knocking holes in this amazing environment, poking holes in their selves. So then, I pare back the skills, so I can recover the damage and achieve mastery and understanding on what they can do.

I know myself - I believe that the whole child means MORE than the skills. That is the see-saw side I will choose. But it is frightening, because I fear someone will find me, and point to the skills side, and accuse me of not teaching with enough rigor. And I don't know if they'll be right. And I'm creeping around, weighed down with this fear.

Dear Parent: I love your kid. I spend my energy thinking about how your kid learns, how your kid feels about math, how your kid feels about him or herself as a learner. I am mystified at the things he or she gets, the things he or she doesn't get. Every year I'm teaching with more and more ability to convey complex math, but I have not arrived. Parent, if you want your kid to have a more effective communicator of more advanced math skills than I'm able to convey to your kid, I will gladly step down and welcome a better teacher in to do my job. I wish I was better at the skills half of the see-saw. But, right now, I'm just too passionate about your kid as a whole person, with math as one of many parts. That's how I roll.

How to Think About the Future

2009-04-12T19:06:00.000-07:00

I'm reading a few different books right now (always my curse - 12 unfinished books at all times), and a few different ones have me thinking about my vocation, my career, my job, and "what's next?"

A change will be needed, even though change comes every school year. "Just wait, and it will be different in a few months," is a good motto for a teacher. Everything changes, every year. Some years feel exhilaratingly successful, and others feel like a snail's crawl across a salt lick. So, a change won't be needed in order to experience change.

A change will be needed because my strengths are in analysis, synthesis, learning, finding connections between ideas, and "making it better," whatever "it" may be at the time. Returning to this list of strengths about a year after filing them away, I can see now that if the person possessing them has good intelligence, she's got a great deal of potential. Perhaps influence. Perhaps leadership. Certainly growth potential.

And since I'm finally able to objectively see this, I'd best not be hiding it under a bushel much longer.

I don't refer to hiding and bushels because I think what I do is "just teaching," or because I don't think it's the most exciting job out there. I say it because I know I have spent 9 teaching years slinking around, trying to hide from parent or administrative attention. I suppress opportunities that could be open to me by trying to just do my job very well, but in secret. I'm so hidden, I don't even know what the opportunities could BE.

So, I happen to LIKE the bushel basket on my head very much, thank you.

But, I think it may be time to hoist up onto the lampstand.

Sigh.

2009-03-18T13:47:00.000-07:00

P.S. to the Parabola discussion:

Here's a really great website that explains why suspension bridges are made of parabolas and not catenaries. But even better is at the very bottom of the page is a Geometer's SketchPad simulation of a hanging chain, demonstrating the difference between the two.

Luckily, I've got GSP through the school license.

Cool!!

Answers to Questions About Parabolas

2009-03-18T13:08:00.000-07:00

In Math 1, we're studying various functions, including quadratic functions. When we talked about the function being in the shape of a parabola, the following student questions spewed forth. Here's what I could find, answer-wise:

Is the St Louis arch a parabola? Answer here.
Are skateboard ramps parabolas? Answer here .
Is the Golden Gate Bridge made of parabolas? Answer here.
Are roller coasters built from parabolas? Answer must be inferred here. (Basically, the answer is, "perhaps")
Are there any songs about parabolas? The empty link to someone's project is here. There's also a song titled, "Parabola," by the band Tool, but it seems more philosophical than mathematical.

How Poverty Affects the Brain

2008-12-17T16:53:00.000-08:00

Unbelievable analogy in this article. Made my jaw drop.

Confidence

2008-11-10T14:39:00.000-08:00

I did a pre-quiz today in Math 1, with two questions per topic (FOIL, Distribute, Solve, Factor) to see where we stand in light of potential quiz on Friday. I walked around and did a checklist to see how many got each problem right or wrong.

I showed them the one problem they all got right, and the one problem that they all got wrong. Then we talked about all the in-between problems. We concluded that everyone has a basic idea of what's going on for each topic, but that there's both a lack of accuracy even on the basic problems, as well as a high degree of panic and dismay when the problems become more complex, even with an idea they got in an easier format.

I took a poll of my freshmen, who return after their lunch period for an additional hour of Math 1 Support with me, asking the following:
1. Do you need more opportunity to practice and build confidence with the simpler versions of the problems, or
2. Are you ready for me to push you with the more complex versions?

They unanimously begged for confidence-building problems, so during my next class I grabbed a few minutes here and there to make up a 20-question practice sheet with 5 each of the four types of problems, in their easiest permutations.

They loved it. And they still had plenty of opportunity for immediate feedback and correction, but they seemed so much more emotionally able to handle it! I felt like I made progress in correcting some errors in understanding for some kids I felt stuck over, before. And they seemed so much more relaxed when it was over.

They were in an excellent frame of mind to work effectively on their homework worksheet, which contained 50 problems (GASP!!!), which I'll post and talk about tomorrow.

"Baking Ratios" Group Task

2008-11-07T06:59:00.000-08:00

I'm typing this while my 2nd period class is working on the group task I wrote this morning: "Baking Ratios" Group Task. Who know that six teenage boys would be motivated by cookie recipes?

The unit I'm on is "Ratios, Proportions, and Percents."

(back at the end of class)

I tried to do a quick-and-dirty backward design approach to the unit by looking at the standards on the county website first. Several of the objectives for the subject also had assessment questions released from the state testing, so I used those to form the base of the quiz for the end of the unit. The state listed the same questions for both ratios and proportions, but I think there is a difference in the two subjects. Ratios are comparisons of two values, but proportions are comparisions (using an equal sign) of two ratios. Proportions are a way of finding an unknown value, but ratios by themselves don't involve unknowns.

So the quiz questions I wrote for ratios were all about practical problems: ratios of girls to boys in a group; ratios of amounts in cooking; and ratios of other practical quantities.

I've been reflecting on what to do as a practical, investigative, group activity to introduce the need for ratios, and I settled on baking recipes. Every student received a page of measurement equivalents from cookbooks, two cookie recipes (choc chip and peanut butter), and a set of questions.

Some students had trouble staying on task, but others were very engaged from start to finish. Along the way, I answered questions and gave advice about calculator use when they struggled with how to represent their ideas.

I had them self-score (1-10) on three topics: 1. Your effort; 2. Your understanding of the math; and 3. Your cooperation with your group. Most students honestly self-assess with this; some grades I will actually boost, and one I will lower.

For a separate accuracy grade, each question will get a score of 0-3:

3 - all parts of answer complete and accurate, showing excellent understanding;
2 - all parts of answer complete, but less understanding shown;
1 - any part missing or very inadequate understanding;
O - no answer or totally off topic.

The questions I posed are here.

Tiles and Patterns

2008-10-29T11:21:00.000-07:00

The current Math 1 group math task ultimately will take them to discovering the use of a quadratic equation to describe a pattern, but today it was just fun to watch them think about modeling the pattern in different ways.

One group just wanted to stick with the units blocks in the Algeblocks set, but they had to go get another set to have enough of the size they were using.

Another group used the Cuisenaire Rods, using the graduated sizes to substitute for each row length.

I wrote a note to myself on the board so I could remember what had impressed me. It was fun to watch how each group correctly, but differently, made a visual for the ever-growing pattern.

"I'm Not A Math Person"

2008-10-18T19:16:00.001-07:00

Thanks to the blogger over at God Plays Dice (a PhD candidate in math - probability), I read a blog today by a journalist at The Washington Post who is re-taking Algebra 2 at a high school in Virginia. There are interesting posts reporting on math and math standards, as well as posts giving insight into her classroom experience at age 32. She, by the way, writes that she's "not a math person." I found it worth the time to peruse her archived blog posts, which begin at the start of this school year.

Her posts are making me think more about the issue of motivation in math learning and the great need for national perspective on math to shift toward a "can-do (with work)" attitude. Heck, I'd settle for a perspective shift in my classroom, forget the whole country! American families generally attribute math success or failure to ability, not effort. This is in contrast to families in countries like Japan, where math success or failure is attributed to effort.

My personal sense of the value of math education is that the development of mental flexibility, when paired with adequate skills to pursue the solutions to authentic problems, is the real payoff of math in life. The questions remain: how to spread the contagion of this belief to my students, and how to teach authentically, foster flexibility, and impart needed skills. Whew. Heavy load.

Peer Coaching Observations

2008-10-16T19:09:00.000-07:00

My peer coach and I observed each other's classrooms a few weeks ago.

Something I realized is that it is going to be valuable - extremely valuable - to buiild a year-long relationship with my peer coach, rather than just one or two quick observations and debriefs. In the past, my peer coaching experiences have been required by the training program I was in, or required school-wide, so we exchanged observations and called it a day.

Today I ran into my peer coach who told me she thinks she'll really need to come back to my room for another observation before we sit down to discuss our observations. She said she had only just gotten a sense of who was who by the time the class period ended, but she does have anecdotal notes.

It made me realize that we are going to spend a lot of time this year getting to know each other's classes, and there is SO much to learn from each other. I think I do want to meet again before a second observation, because I'm still not sure what direction of growth I personally want to go in, and I'm hoping that hearing her anecdotal notes will help me see patterns I haven't seen before, so I can help direct her more effectively in the next observation.

BING(O)

2008-10-16T19:04:00.000-07:00

I love playing Bingo with my students, but it can be a challenge to adapt all sorts of topics to it.

What I usually like to do is use a 4x4 grid (BING. Minus the O.), and have the kids pick any 16 numbers between one and 32 and put them into the boxes. Then I flash problems in random order that have their answers between one and 32. They do the math and mark the number if the answer is on their board.

It works well, they like it, and I trick them into doing 32 practice problems that they would balk at otherwise! I give a full-size candy bar to the first student who gets four in a row. Then, it's an all out race to fill their board, which usually takes almost every problem in my pile. Everyone can theoretically fill their whole board, assuming they've done the problems correctly. And I use snack-size candy bars as rewards for all the students who fill their board.

Some topics don't lend themselves well to having whole-number answers between 1 and 32, so in those cases, I list all the 32 answers, they have to choose their 16, and then I erase the choices.

Some subjects I've used this for:

evaluating expressions with absolute value
finding the slope given the coordinates of two points
evaluating a function given the input
evaluating expressions with exponents

A link to my BING board on Word is here.

Peer Coaching: Pre-Conference

2008-09-29T13:22:00.000-07:00

My peer coaching partner (who is an English teacher and a former special education teacher) and I met last week to pre-conference. The purpose of the preconference is to

learn what the other teacher values in her classroom,
understand what she wants to make see through your eyes,
agree on what you will be looking at/for in the classroom when you visit, and
determine what method you will use to document your observations.

I say "she" because both of us are "she"s.

Both of us are instructing a similar population during the periods we will observe each other. Both are classes with students with substantial enough deficits that they have been placed in an environment with a very low teacher-student ratio. Both classes contain, if not a majority, at least a substantial number of under-motivated students who lack sufficient independent learning skills and who depend on teacher direction more than we would like. However, both classes also consist of students who have great difficulty taking advantage of teacher direction because of poor listening habits.

When we observe each other, we will be looking for accurate evidence of the extent to which our "up-front" instructional or direction time is effective, based on student engagement behaviors and need for repetition on a one-on-one basis.

I'll post back soon on the outcome. This will be tomorrow and the next day.

Smart Board Installation

2008-09-17T12:40:00.002-07:00

I'm thinking that my Smart Board may be installed on the wall, with my LCD projector mounted from the ceiling, by, mmmmm...., uh, April. Yeah. That sounds about right.

Peer Coaching

2008-09-17T12:40:00.001-07:00

My school introduced peer coaching several years ago, and we've received very thorough training from Steven Barkley, who is something of a guru in the subject.

In our charter renewal last spring, the school added an exception to the typical teacher assessment process, allowing for a pilot program of peer coaching rather than administrative observations for annual reviews.

I am excited to be part of the twenty teachers in the pilot program, because I really believe that teachers who engage in peer coaching have an exciting opportunity to improve their actual practice, while teachers being evaluated by administrators simply get a list of duties met and not met.

I could have signed up for the program with a friend that I knew I wanted to collaborate with, but I wanted to focus my self-reflection this year on the implementation of what I have learned about Understanding By Design. Since I've only got a conference-introduction so far, I'm really a pre-novice, but I still want to force myself to grow in it. So, I applied alone, but was matched with an English teacher who is also new to Understanding By Design but wanting to grow.

My peer coach and I will meet soon to pre-conference about our classroom values, our personal goals, and to tell each other what we want the other to watch for, measure, or otherwise document when they come to observe us.

Summer Camp and Adult Life

2008-09-17T12:40:00.000-07:00

I attended Camp Carysbrook, in Riner, VA, from 1985-1989. I visited for weekends during many summers in the 1990's. We just had a reunion to celebrate the 85th year of Carysbrook.

A life lesson I learned this weekend was this: younger campers (who are now also in their late 20's and 30's) remembered me from all those weekend visits in the 90's. I always thought those visits were for me. To assuage my need for nostalgia. And I always felt like I was really in the way, not because anybody made me feel that way, but just because I figured so. So when I moved to Atlanta, and it was a little longer to drive, I just stopped visiting.

But I see now that visiting the camp I went to actually makes a difference NOW. It impacts younger campers, who learn that camp's tradition is about real people.

The lyrics to one of our songs just keeps echoing in my ears:

Are you listening?
Carysbrook's calling you:
from a day gone by.
You are part of all her yesterdays;
hold your head up high.
Building her tomorrows
on the spirit of her past.
Are you listening?
Carysbrook's calling you:
answer, and her spirit will last.

I think that for the first time, I "get it" that I am part of Carysbrook's yesterdays and I'm building her tomorrows, even though I'm not a camper or counselor anymore.

So you can bet I'm going to be visiting every summer from now on!

Using Excel to Graph Functions

2008-08-22T12:42:00.000-07:00

Today I took my freshmen in Math 1 to the media center to learn how to use Excel to enter their domain/range and then graph the data. The products were really beautiful, given that I had no idea what their computer skill background was.

I was very surprised to see that my instructions worked so well, too, so I've included a link to the handout: How To Graph Functions on Excel

Math Book on DVD

2008-08-19T19:10:00.001-07:00

So the exciting thing for me today is that I got a copy of the Math 1 book on DVD. When it was time to go over last night's homework, I just flashed up the page on the Smart Board, and wrote the answers right on the page! So cool.

Then, at the end of Math Support class, there was a little time left over to show the page from the book so they could start on homework.

I felt so empowered.

Issues in Graphing Functions

2008-08-18T19:36:00.000-07:00

In my small group freshman Math 1 class, we're working on the first official state-blessed "performance task," about Fiona and her family and all the functions their life seems to produce.

Friday and today I broke my kids up into groups of 3-4 and set them loose on the first question, which had 6 sub-questions. The data table showed Fiona's grandmother's heights on each of her birthdays through age 16. Something like this (I just made these numbers up, though):

One thing the students needed to do was graph this data, then answer questions about it.

Several students had difficulty creating an accurate scale for the y-axis (height), but correctly scaled the x-axis (age) counting by ones. One student had his scale labeled 19, 29, 40, 46..., which resulted in his scatter plot lying in a straight line. It should be a curve, with steeper growth in the earlier years, flattening out as the girl reached her adult height at age 15-16. Since he labeled the x-axis correctly, I thought he understood the need for even scaling on x, but didn't understand the need for even scaling for y. Then I realized he simply labeled BOTH axes with little understanding. He assigned the values consecutively, as they were given in each row of the table, matching each value with the next hash mark on the graph.

I don't exactly remember what I told him to try to clarify this; I don't know if it helped.

I'll be reflecting more on this issue and how to help my students overcome it.

Fall Preview

2008-08-17T19:28:00.000-07:00

I got the idea from the Huff English blog to preview what's on my plate for the fall:

5 small group math classes as the sole teacher. I will not be doing any team teaching, unlike all of my special ed colleagues at my school.
1st period planning and 3rd period lunch, with 4-in-a-row classes in the afternoon. Ugh.
1 section of geometry with juniors and seniors.
2 sections of Integrated Math 2 with sophomores, juniors, and seniors.
A double block of freshmen in Math 1 and Math 1 Support, the new curriculum for the new diploma requirements in Georgia.
A smaller special education caseload. Thank goodness I'm getting a little break from my special ed lead teacher.
Co sponsor of Leadership Team club.

A UbD Kindred Spirit

2008-08-05T15:22:00.001-07:00

"Huff English" posted two weeks ago about an Understanding By Design unit she did with high school seniors on, "Death of a Salesman." It was so great to read all the parts she designed based on UbD. I need examples of this to learn it better.

Skills

2008-08-03T13:59:00.000-07:00

In an old comment thread from "God Plays Dice," a math (probability) blog I follow, one commenter said,

"...traditional skills associated with algebraic manipulation these days are certainly getting obsolete, so to speak, especially with the proliferation of powerful math software. However, the neglect in development of some of those basic algebraic skills may lead to a situation wherein a student's mathematical ability may be somewhat "diminished". To take a more simple example, it may seem almost useless to learn to add/subtract numbers, given that calculators can deal with such mundane computation almost instantly, but not knowing how to add/subtract numbers can definitely deprive a student the opportunity to learn some of the fundamental mathematical ideas behind such computation."

Diminished is a great word to describe the disadvantage that the lack of basic skills presents to students like mine. I teach them, for example, to use a calculator that handles fractions because they come to me still not knowing their times tables well enough to "see" common factors to reduce fractions or find common denominators.

This was brought in focus for me this summer because I tutored a girl (18 years old) for the GED, and I was so pleasantly surprised that she knew her times tables well enough to "see" common factors. She didn't know how to work with fractions, but that was remedied FAST. All she needed was modeling and vocabulary to become proficient. But my typical students...well, I can't help them factor what they can't see!! So it's the TI 34 for us!!

Podcasting for the Math 1 Performance Tasks

2008-07-26T09:51:00.000-07:00

I'm really thinking about how to get the long texts of the new Math 1 performance tasks in the ears of my students without standing there and reading it to them. So I'm looking into podcasting it.

Here are the steps I have followed:

I downloaded Audacity, the free software that allows you to record the audio.
Then I downloaded lame_enc.dll, the free plug-in that allows Audacity to save the recording as an Mp3 on your hard drive.
Then I took out a free membership in Snapdrive, which is supposed to be a place to store your Mp3's so you can later link to them.
I recorded myself reading the math performance tasks. I used an old phone headset from the 90's and a jack adapter to make it work with my laptop's mic jack. I didn't want to pay for a new microphone if I could help it. I recorded one track for each question so they can fast forward easily and know where they are in the long (minimum 7 pages!!???) task packets.
Then I created links in my Typepad school blog that linked back to the files on Snapdrive. It worked ok. No problems downloading the files.
I'll need to get help once school starts on how to password-protect my Typepad school account so only current students can access the files to download onto their iPods.

I don't think that it's going to work out with Snapdrive unless I get a paid subscription, which I don't really want to do; I don't like the fact that it's out there on a public access server unless you pay for it to be private.

Someone suggested that my husband and I might be entitled to server space through our high-speed cable internet provider, Comcast, where I may be able to store the Mp3's and then link to them for the podcast. But I haven't checked out that option yet.

I may even go to the GA DOE website to see if I can upload the Mp3's as unit plans, or talk to the administrators of Cobb County's curriculum website, Picasso, about putting them there, since having digital audio recordings available will be useful special education teachers all through Cobb County and Georgia.

Constant

2008-07-21T13:09:00.001-07:00

For an online course I've been taking on Educational Consulting for families not living in their home country, the current unit was on home education. I don't even have kids, so my exposure to home schooling is limited to friends' families, but a recent blog by another student really struck a chord with me. She was saying that as a homechooling mom in Europe AND a full-time educational consultant, it's a lot of stress: "mom is overwhelmed -- sometimes it is not even a time thing, it's a constancy thing. There is never a moment when there is not someone pulling on me."

And that description of the stress really describes my school year in the classroom last year - three new courses to teach, not co-teaching, and still juggling a special education caseload of parents and their students. CONSTANT. Couldn't stop thinking about it until May 24th.

And in two weeks, it starts again. Constant.

New Autism Findings

2008-07-10T12:05:00.000-07:00

I'm not an Autism specialist, but this new finding is interesting.

A Definition of Exclusion

2008-07-09T11:47:00.000-07:00

To identify a student as having a Specific Learning Disability (according to US law), one thing we have to do is eliminate the possibility that the learning problem is "the result of the visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, of mental retardation, of emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage." (I.D.E.A. Improvement Act of 2004)

In other words, it can't be another cause without a processing disorder, and it can't be another issue "hiding" or "lurking" behind the label "learning disabilities." (Not to say that I haven't seen or heard of that being done before. The kid that so desperately needs services, but the parent won't accept identification in a category they view as negative...so you call it a learning disability because you know the kid needs it. But that's for another post.)

Anyway, we've known for years that the exclusion definition of Learning Disabilities also includes excluding inadequate education as a cause for learning disabilities. So you can't claim that the student who didn't attend school until age nine has a learning disability when she isn't on grade level. Or you can't claim that the student who had inadequate instruction because his inner-city or rural school didn't have highly-qualified teachers delivering instruction has a learning disability, without demonstrating that he has an inability to make adequate progress even with adequate instruction.

Lack of instruction isn't a Learning Disability.

So the federal law this time allowed for school districts to exclude inadequate instruction by using a "process that determines if the child responds to scientific, research-based intervention as a part of the evaluation procedures." (IDEA 2004)

Now, school districts can now take the student who received inadequate instruction (couldn't say it was a Learning Disability, before, even if it was underlying) and use data from current interventions in the regular classroom, along with data on that student's progress once presented with research-based instruction, and properly identify whether there is a Learning Disability ON TOP of having been inadequately instructed (God bless that child. What a way to start off in life.).

An added bonus is that those students who do respond to additional, research-based instructional methods in the general education classroom make progress without needing to take the leap to Special Education. "Many students who are placed into special education are essentially instructional casualties and not students with disabilities..." (President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education)

What it should do is hone the process of identification, make it more accurate.

And that makes "Response to Intervention" (RTI) a good response to the best research currently out there.

Check out my source material: Thinking About Response to Intervention and Learning Disabilities: A Teacher's Guide

Top Ten Jobs for Two-Year College Grads

2008-07-07T11:08:00.000-07:00

I found an article on CNN.com listing the:

Ten best jobs for two-year degrees

Two year colleges and tech schools are the options available for my high school small group math students who graduate with the Career Tech diploma in Georgia.

Independence Day and People with Disabilities

2008-07-05T11:03:00.000-07:00

My favorite special education law blogger (possibly the only one out there??) had a great post yesterday reminding us that the process of seeking independence in living is ALWAYS the goal for individuals for disabilities and those who are trying to support them in that process.

Reading and Math

2008-07-01T09:16:00.000-07:00

At the ASCD conference, I bought, Literacy Strategies for Improving Mathematics Instruction, by Joan M. Kennedy and a posse of what I assume were her graduate students or something like that. I've only read about two chapters but I love it because I think of a thousand things to do in my classroom every time I read a page.

Just because...

2008-06-26T16:15:00.000-07:00

...it's so stinkin beautiful in this hotel, here's a few pics...

...these are from three different indoor gardens. Man...

Transfer

2008-06-26T15:57:00.000-07:00

The idea of all the Understanding by Design process (or the goal??) is that students TRANSFER knowledge to formats or applications that are different from that in which it was learned. Or else it's not understanding, it's just rote memorization.

So the process of transfer might look like this:

I do, you watch.
I do, you help.
You do, I help.
You do, I watch.

UbD

2008-06-26T15:51:00.000-07:00

A clear overview of Understanding by Design (the three stages of backward design) is here, summarized on the Vanderbilt University site.

Understanding

2008-06-26T15:20:00.000-07:00

We took time to define the word "understanding." As in, "if what we want is for our students to understand, then what does it mean to have understanding?"

We want to avoid thinking of understanding as a binary thing, like knowledge. "You do or you don't know." Understanding is more of a continuum, which is more obvious in some other words we use to describe understanding: Deep or shallow (or in between). In depth or superficial. Comprehensive or incomplete.

We want our students to have effective ways to show understanding. Six facets of understanding were discussed as being like facets of a gemstone, not hierarchical, and each "catching the light" or becoming relevant in varying contexts.

Everything in the Understanding by Design process is intended to help students get and transfer understanding.

Understanding By Design

2008-06-26T15:15:00.001-07:00

What I learned in the morning session of the pre-conference is that I want do avoid having the strictly “activity based” classroom or the “coverage-based classroom,” but that due to lack of skill (not skill-less, just not synthesized and matured in all the subjects I teach), I fall back on them out of desperation.

What I WANT is to have the “understanding based” classroom, because my students can learn and understand so much more when I do. I don’t lack the desire or the willingness to work; I lack the “understanding.” (heh, heh)

Quote of the morning:

Tell your wife she looks pretty even if she looks like a truck. Ricky, age 10

Morning Post Delay

2008-06-26T15:12:00.000-07:00

You get wireless internet access with your room here at the Opryland hotel, but you gotta pay (like $1000!!) for access in the actual conference area. I guess that's how they gouge the organization having the conference.

Anyway, I tried to blog about the first session of the pre-conference on Understanding by Design during the little break, but couldn't get any access.

Going to the ASCD Conference Tomorrow

2008-06-24T14:20:00.000-07:00

I'm leaving tomorrow at noon to drive up to Nashville for the annual conference for the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Not being interested in supervisory positions, I brushed off the brochure I was originally given, but I am VERY interested in being a better teacher, so I was wooed by one of the main themes of "Understanding By Design," or backward design, which is supposed to be the best practice in unit and lesson planning.

Lesson planning is my weakness, I must admit. I think elementary and middle school teachers in training get a lot on this, but in special ed, we spent most of the time learning law, formal assessment, informal assessment, characteristics of disabilities, transition planning, and other exceptional children topics, and really didn't get a deep understanding of how it all fits together in the classroom when you're the primary teacher and aren't using a teacher-proof, scripted reading program.

I'll attend the pre-conference on Thursday for backward design, so when I attend all the "real" conference sessions on Friday and Saturday, I should have some vocabulary under my belt.

I set up my twitter account to update from my phone, and that updates my facebook status, so I plan to be texting in nonstop. Plus, I hope to blog about it a lot, as well.

Brushing Up On I.D.E.A. Updates

2008-06-16T19:33:00.000-07:00

This week, I'm reading up on the 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals With Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA). The 2004 federal statute, along with its 2006 regulations, came along while I was overwhelmed by the challenges of teaching at a new school, so I really let them cruise on in without taking time to read about them.

It's time now to learn firsthand what's going on, especially since this legislation redefines the criteria for eligibility for Specific Learning Disabilities, which is my area of interest and specialty in special education.

I only got through two topics today. I went to the site for NICHCY (National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities), which has links to summaries of the changes to the 1997 IDEA that were made by IDEA 2004.

Changes to the federal guidelines for assessment include requiring states to include data for students with disabilities in reports of statewide testing for No Child Left Behind.

Changes to the federal guidelines for managing disciplinary issues include expanding the authority for local school systems to change the placement of a student with a disability who has inflicted "serious bodily injury" upon someone at school or a school event.

Neither of these topics would probably impact me on a daily basis as I teach, because they'll be implemented at the state level or by supervisors, but I'll keep reading this week.

If I wasn't so dang tired...

2008-05-08T18:24:00.000-07:00

...I might not be giving up on new material for the last week of school before final exams. But I haven't made a worksheet without (substantial) errors in it for over a week. It's disheartening to have the errors pointed out, class after class, every day. Even worse when they don't spot the problems and I realize they must not even "get it" enough to see my errors.

So I'll just give in, write my final exams this weekend, and start reviewing all week next week. The GA End of Course Tests for my subjects ended today, anyway, so it's not like stuffing more curriculum in will help them. For five days.

Versa Tiles for Multiple Choice...

2008-04-29T18:51:00.000-07:00

Today's tests in Geometry and Integrated Math 1 led me to reconsider whether a Versatiles approach alone is enough to help my students adapt, or graduate to, effective multiple-choice thinking.

Every Versatiles page I do has an isolated idea on it. I've tried to blend ideas on a page, but the answer blocks at the bottom usually contain such a different variety of formats and units that it's almost a gimme if you just look for the right "kind" of answer at the bottom.

I fiddled around today with adapting the Versatiles to a multiple choice format.

There's a problem with some of the tiles - #5 and #6 would need their numbers swapped, with another pair I can't think of right now, since I'm at home. It's a very unformed idea right now, but I just wanted to get it posted so I don't forget I have the idea.

Calculators

2008-04-28T09:26:00.001-07:00

I pondered over which calculators to order. It was hard to choose without holding them and trying them; but I settled on the TI 34 II Explorer Plus.

I got 20 calculators, which is more than enough for my largest class, which started out with 10 students.

Things I really like about this calculator:

you can enter fractions of any form (improper or mixed)

you can simplify fractions of any form

you can output answers as mixed or improper fractions

you can change mixed fractions to improper and back

you can go back and forth between fractions, decimals, and percents

it keeps a memory, so you can scroll back up and see previous lines

you can edit old lines, so you can find errors and fix them without retyping the whole line

you can input information as percents, so you don't have to shift the decimal beforehand

you can enter information on one line for complex operations (ex: the quadratic formula) pretty easily (this is great for my students who can't write it down but can type it in).

For a student who's going to go on to Algebra 2 or higher, a good old scientific calculator will eventually be necessary - but it's perfect for Algebra 1 and Geometry!

My students really have mastered this calculator. I even had one ask his mom for one for Christmas!

Using Concrete Examples to Teach Math Concepts

2008-04-27T19:51:00.000-07:00

An article from the New York Times, summarizing a research study done by Ohio State University.

So, what about the impact of using concrete examples with students with disabilites?

Using NCTM Standards With Students With Disabilites

2008-04-27T18:52:00.000-07:00

The new Georgia mathematics standards are based more on the NCTM standards, especially integrating the NCTM's emphasis on hands-on learning and real-life learning. Since I'll be implementing this next year with 9-12th graders in small-group special education classes, I was interested in an article I stumbled on. I Googled "invention adaptation education math special" and found this:

Best Practices for Teaching Mathematics to Secondary Students with Spacial Needs

Manipulatives

2008-04-27T16:40:00.000-07:00

A lot of the other special ed teachers in my department generously gave up their annual "extra" allotment of $150 per person to help me order manipulative-based materials for our school.

A lot of it was a shot in the dark. And much of it didn't arrive until December or January. I can only say that when things arrive in the middle of the year, it can sometimes be "too late" to find time to figure out how to use them.

Examples of things I have really done nothing with, yet, are:
Cuisenaire Rods
Algeblocks and Algeblocks Manual
Four-Pan Algebra Balance
Versa-Tiles Algebra Workbooks

Examples of things that have been fabulous:
Calculators that handle fractions beautifully!
Versa-Tiles Cases (I have a LOT to post about how I've adapted these to work for my class!!)
TI 92 with Overhead Projector Adapter

I'll take time later to give details on the things I've listed.

How I Got To This

2008-04-27T16:23:00.000-07:00

My name is Adrienne Stuckey. I'm always inventing and adapting things for my classroom. Unfortunately, I generally don't get to teach the same subject from year to year. It's just the way it seems to go with special education in high school. So, whatever I invented last year gets forgotten, because the next year I'm off to teaching a new prep that I've never taught.

This year, for example, I'm teaching four sections of small group math. I'm only co-teaching (team teaching) one class. First semester, it was Spanish 2; this semester, it's Algebra 2 (hey, I SAID high school special education is really changeable...). My small group math classes are: two sections of Integrated Math 1, one section of Integrated Math 2, and one section of Geometry.

I might add that haven't taught any of these classes before. Classic. Plus,the entire math curriculum is changing in Georgia starting with next year's freshmen. Classic.

I am also the only person in my school who can teach math in special ed right now. The good side of that is that I can create a program. I get to pick what we spend money on. The bad side is that I'm working alone - not the best practice model for education!

I'm starting work on this blog because I want to post those adaptations and inventions I have already done that are (or aren't) working for me. I couldn't always find what I needed out on the internet - who knows, maybe this can help somebody else!!