Personalized Strategy Booklet
Five strategies I think will best allow me to support student learning and students with learning exceptionalities this year in 2016/2017
Changing Results for Young Readers: As a team, I am supporting a grade 3/4 teacher with her target student. The goal is to support the whole class while targeting one particular student whom we have chosen based on needs, access to supports outside of school, interest in learning and capacity. For this class, the struggles are predominantly with reading and social emotional. We have developed an inquiry question around how we can develop stronger readers by establishing a community of learners who work in mixed levelled groups to explore easy to access literature. For example, we are going to try safe groupings of mixed levelled students and begin with picture books. Students will explore the picture book and make meaning from it, and create an engaging presentation around it. The initiative will be well-scaffolded and once completed, students will move to more complex texts. The goal will be to bring excitement and meaning to literacy through supportive group tasks. This is a year-long initiative. At this point we have established our inquiry question and identified our target student. Next steps include team building positive communication activities that I will start next week with the class.
First Steps in Math: Although math has not been identified as a “red flag” in our school due to two years of in-house Carole Fullerton workshops and directed lessons, it is still a yellow flag in some of our class reviews (coded in an RTI model). In my First Steps in Math course that I am taking, there is a series of diagnostics and a grid that helps to establish where students are at developmentally in their math journey. To support the struggling math students, I will implement the use of these diagnostics in order to determine next steps based on where they are on the grid developmentally. Once I have these diagnostics underway, I will better be able to target specific skills in the interventions I use, based on student’s needs.
Social Emotional / Behaviours for successful learning strategies: Mind UP / Zones / WITS: Mind UP is a program I have been introduced to, but never practiced. There is a teacher in the school who uses this everyday with her students and swears by it. I have seen it in action in her class and it is powerful. As part of the school-wide social emotional / behaviours for successful learning target that was identified in our class reviews, I would like to become well versed in this strategy and approach to mindful learning. I plan to implement this into my practice. As well, the Principal and I will be going in to classes to teach lessons around WITS, Zones, and Mind UP, while teachers use that time to collaborate together on future lessons of the same topics. Next week, I am beginning team building and positive communication workshops with the grades 3/4 and the 5/6’s will follow.
Writers Workshop: I just learned about Writers Workshop. As Writing is another huge red flag in our school, I would like to use this approach to writing when I am supporting struggling learners in my intervention and small group time. Teachers are introducing the idea of it in their classrooms so there will be some consistency. I have never seen it in action or used it myself, but teachers who have received students from a particular teacher who has always done Writers Workshop, say that those students absolutely LOVE to write! I can’t wait to see this in action.
GB+ / FIEPRA: These are French immersion reading assessments. GB+ is a kit in our school, and the LST teacher last year ran assessments on every student in the school and so we have baselines for everybody from last June. We just completed the Faye Brownlie school wide reading assessment. Next step is sitting with the teachers on their collaboration of the FIEPRA to notice patterns, set targets, and identify any new students who are not already on my intervention list, but should be. I will use the information from the GB+ and the FIEPRA to set targets and plans for my small group and 1:1 reading interventions. These may be push-in the students classroom, or pull out depending on the students needs.
Changing Results for Young Readers: As a team, I am supporting a grade 3/4 teacher with her target student. The goal is to support the whole class while targeting one particular student whom we have chosen based on needs, access to supports outside of school, interest in learning and capacity. For this class, the struggles are predominantly with reading and social emotional. We have developed an inquiry question around how we can develop stronger readers by establishing a community of learners who work in mixed levelled groups to explore easy to access literature. For example, we are going to try safe groupings of mixed levelled students and begin with picture books. Students will explore the picture book and make meaning from it, and create an engaging presentation around it. The initiative will be well-scaffolded and once completed, students will move to more complex texts. The goal will be to bring excitement and meaning to literacy through supportive group tasks. This is a year-long initiative. At this point we have established our inquiry question and identified our target student. Next steps include team building positive communication activities that I will start next week with the class.
First Steps in Math: Although math has not been identified as a “red flag” in our school due to two years of in-house Carole Fullerton workshops and directed lessons, it is still a yellow flag in some of our class reviews (coded in an RTI model). In my First Steps in Math course that I am taking, there is a series of diagnostics and a grid that helps to establish where students are at developmentally in their math journey. To support the struggling math students, I will implement the use of these diagnostics in order to determine next steps based on where they are on the grid developmentally. Once I have these diagnostics underway, I will better be able to target specific skills in the interventions I use, based on student’s needs.
Social Emotional / Behaviours for successful learning strategies: Mind UP / Zones / WITS: Mind UP is a program I have been introduced to, but never practiced. There is a teacher in the school who uses this everyday with her students and swears by it. I have seen it in action in her class and it is powerful. As part of the school-wide social emotional / behaviours for successful learning target that was identified in our class reviews, I would like to become well versed in this strategy and approach to mindful learning. I plan to implement this into my practice. As well, the Principal and I will be going in to classes to teach lessons around WITS, Zones, and Mind UP, while teachers use that time to collaborate together on future lessons of the same topics. Next week, I am beginning team building and positive communication workshops with the grades 3/4 and the 5/6’s will follow.
Writers Workshop: I just learned about Writers Workshop. As Writing is another huge red flag in our school, I would like to use this approach to writing when I am supporting struggling learners in my intervention and small group time. Teachers are introducing the idea of it in their classrooms so there will be some consistency. I have never seen it in action or used it myself, but teachers who have received students from a particular teacher who has always done Writers Workshop, say that those students absolutely LOVE to write! I can’t wait to see this in action.
GB+ / FIEPRA: These are French immersion reading assessments. GB+ is a kit in our school, and the LST teacher last year ran assessments on every student in the school and so we have baselines for everybody from last June. We just completed the Faye Brownlie school wide reading assessment. Next step is sitting with the teachers on their collaboration of the FIEPRA to notice patterns, set targets, and identify any new students who are not already on my intervention list, but should be. I will use the information from the GB+ and the FIEPRA to set targets and plans for my small group and 1:1 reading interventions. These may be push-in the students classroom, or pull out depending on the students needs.
Other resources
www.pinterest.com/maxmom2/beginning-of-the-year/
http://littlebinsforlittlehands.com/how-to-make-homemade-flubber-borax-free-sensory-play/
http://www.allparenting.com/my-family/articles/967401/homemade-water-color-paints
www.pinterest.com/brittneymuller/library-loot/
www.pinterest.com/pin/481533385128849524/
http://www.literacyshed.com/the-great-animations-shed.html
www.pinterest.com/pin/481533385128794387/
www.pinterest.com/jackienicodemus/awesome-funny-engaging-videos-for-classes/
http://www.rundesroom.com/2011/07/never-work-harder-than-your-students.html
www.youtube.com/user/Vsauce
www.youtube.com/user/vlogbrothers
http://littlebinsforlittlehands.com/how-to-make-homemade-flubber-borax-free-sensory-play/
http://www.allparenting.com/my-family/articles/967401/homemade-water-color-paints
www.pinterest.com/brittneymuller/library-loot/
www.pinterest.com/pin/481533385128849524/
http://www.literacyshed.com/the-great-animations-shed.html
www.pinterest.com/pin/481533385128794387/
www.pinterest.com/jackienicodemus/awesome-funny-engaging-videos-for-classes/
http://www.rundesroom.com/2011/07/never-work-harder-than-your-students.html
www.youtube.com/user/Vsauce
www.youtube.com/user/vlogbrothers