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My co-teacher and I have differentiated by splitting students into groups based on baseline scores. We then introduced a gallery walk where students with less than proficient reading scores answered worksheets based on art and students with higher proficiency answered written excerpt sheets. The motivation behind this was to allow students with better reading skills to engage in rigorous work while giving both sets of students to complete the worksheets if the first is finished.

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Station Teaching does not work for every lesson. Administrators do not really want teachers to team teach, however different ways of co-teaching work for different lessons. What I like about taking a small group of students to teach them one part of the lesson or to review something they didn't understand is that we're ensuring that all of the students needs are being met. The con of co -teaching is that everyone does not work well together which affects their co-teaching relationship as well as learning styles are different which can create a clash.

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In U.S. History my ninth grade class had a lot of text heavy documents that they had  read and analyze. I suggested we offer students various ways to analyze different parts of the document to strengthen their understanding and see who still needed extra help with reading comprehension. We split the analysis up into different stations where students were able to write, draw, and talk about the documents to show various models of understanding.  

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In U.S. History my ninth grade class had a lot of text heavy documents that they had  read and analyze. I suggested we offer students various ways to analyze different parts of the document to strengthen their understanding and see who still needed extra help with reading comprehension. We split the analysis up into different stations where students were able to write, draw, and talk about the documents to show various models of understanding.  

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Here is a copy of the stations handout.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/15Nwl4l12hjxwi6Ql7ygzEEFrLVHI4qZyOj2DeCk_HD0/edit

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In my social studies class I used (ICT) I was teaching about pre-history and history. For the lesson I used different types of visuals. One was videos on YouTube that was very helpful with students that learned better like that. I also used pictures to add to instruction. It was very rewarding seen my students get into it and enjoying the topic and learning. Another thing that I did was to write on the board things that might've been somewhat confusing for them. I wrote some words that I knew my students had difficulty understanding. The experience of differentiating content so my students could fully understand the lesson was amazing.

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I used and will continue to use Rewordify for all reading handouts. For some of the handouts I changed the words to simpler form and for other handouts I provided vocabulary definitions for the words that may have been difficult for the students. I also used a guide for students to annotate their readings.

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I've been using those two platforms to gauge my students' understanding  of my Social Studies lessons. Along with that, using personal assessments have been very useful. I never like to use just one, I never find that enough. One of the advantages of using these platforms is that students get hooked on them, they have very attractive interfaces and playful.

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My smart goal is to give student access and all of the tools necessary in order to complete tasks and progress past their current level of proficiency. For specific, I will cater tasks and responses to individual students in order to give them a personalized education. For the measurable aspect, I will compare students baseline and first marking period. By giving students rigorous instruction and differentiated material, I will have accomplished the achievable portion. In order to facilitate curricular and cultural relevance, I will find content that speaks to the students as a whole but also resonates with each student individually. The time based portion will be accomplished by setting specific deadlines and parameters for all growth and progress.

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I used a note-taking guide for students that included: Vocabulary with full definition with spaces for students to paraphrase, pictures and charts, and front loaded vocabulary words.

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Sharing: Nolens post on a different page

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Sharing: Nolens post on a different page

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Allowing the students to choose an approach they like,  in order to meet a goal which was to build the tallest free standing structure using just one marsmellow at the top and as many spaghetti sticks as they like along with strings and tape.
Below is screen shot of one of the groups creativity in building such a structure.....

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In social studies this week my class was learning about the factors that influenced the development of early humans and Native American societies, so in order to differentiate the lesson students were given choices, where they choice either to write, draw or do a skit in order to interpret their understanding of the text.

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In social studies this week my class was learning about the factors that influenced the development of early humans and Native American societies, so in order to differentiate the lesson students were given choices, where they choice either to write, draw or do a skit in order to interpret their understanding of the text.

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In a reading about Hinduism (for Global History) that was text-heavy, I embedded several graphics in the text about descriptions of Hindu beliefs and the caste system. And instead of a large section of text with reading questions at the end, I interspersed each question after the relevant portion of the text (I think this last part might be a little bit differentiating process rather than content)

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In a reading about Hinduism (for Global History) that was text-heavy, I embedded several graphics in the text about descriptions of Hindu beliefs and the caste system. And instead of a large section of text with reading questions at the end, I interspersed each question after the relevant portion of the text (I think this last part might be a little bit differentiating process rather than content)

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In a Global History class, we had all students complete questionnaires about their learning styles and share them along with their personal information cards (as a prerequisite for being able to sign out their textbooks. They used the website below, which is available in Spanish as well. We will be using results to inform lesson planning and grouping strategies.

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Learning Style Assessment - How To Study

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Learning Style Assessment Your preferred learning style is the way in which you learn best. Three learning styles that are often identified in students are: Auditory Visual Tactile/Kinesthetic

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I gave the students an assessment for Living Environment on their previous knowledge to access what they may or may not already know. I also asked three questions on their learning style at the end of the assessment: How do they like to learn? (visual, hands on, etc) What do they feel they need to be successful in the class? What are their concerns for this class/ school year?

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I gave the students an assessment for Living Environment on their previous knowledge to access what they may or may not already know. I also asked three questions on their learning style at the end of the assessment: How do they like to learn? (visual, hands on, etc) What do they feel they need to be successful in the class? What are their concerns for this class/ school year?

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During my math class I noticed that most of my IEP students were falling behind. As a result I started taking those students to a different location outside of the classroom distractions to work with them on a more private level. As a result I was able to find out many strengths and weakness these students had. For example, I gave them all whiteboards so they can write their answers and work on it. I turn it into a game that the students love and as a result, I have seen tremendous improvement and growth.

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I differentiated product for my algebra 1 class by giving students an equation ( f(x)=2x-3) and asking them to evaluate at specific points. They could either hand in a coordinate plane with the inputs and outputs plotted as pairs, create a table with the given x values and corresponding y values, or submit a domain and range. This allowed students to create something visual, use a table (which is sort of an embedded graphic organizer), or go super conceptual with domain and range.

A pro of this was that it allowed different points of entry for students to show they knew the skill. A con was that relatively few students opted to create the graph, and now graphing has become something we’ve had to spiral into Do Nows and homework because students are not showing mastery.

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In my Algebra class last week we learned how to add and subtract polynomials. I differentiated the strategy to find the product by using square and rectangle tiles. This helped them a lot because they were able to visually see the representation of each term using the terms.

Pro of this strategy is that each square and rectangle had a red side to indicate a negative term and it had a green side to indicate a positive term.

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In my Math ICT class I gave all of my students a sheet of paper that asked them what types of group work they like to work in ex. discussions, where everyone has a task they can do , small groups using manipulatives to help solve etc. Students gave really great idea and I was able to break groups up with my co-teacher and work with different students in groups that they learned best in. 

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In my Math ICT class I gave all of my students a sheet of paper that asked them what types of group work they like to work in ex. discussions, where everyone has a task they can do , small groups using manipulatives to help solve etc. Students gave really great idea and I was able to break groups up with my co-teacher and work with different students in groups that they learned best in. 

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In Aquaponics this week we had the students checking water quality. We showed them two ways to check the pH of our systems. We modeled how to use an indicator and color chart, as well as an electronic pH pen.

Students were required to demonstrate the use of both of these methods, but they were allowed to complete the rest of their mastery assignment using whichever method they preferred. At the end of the assignment, we had a question asking students to explain what method they used, why, and whether or not they preferred it to the other method.

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My 10th grade global class is made up of students who have a wide range of reading abilities. Every class students are required to take at least some notes. I was noticing some students were falling behind their classmates and would stop taking notes. I decided to print up a notes handout for the struggling students that allowed them to take notes directly on the handout, and they were not responsible for writing every single piece of information down. i noticed that these students were able to stay more focused and I have implemented this in every class since.

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During an assessment for my Forensic Science class in an ICT setting my co teacher and I have used Kahoot to assess for understanding as well as to access what previous knowledge our students have with science. They range from 10th grande to seniors. We found Kahoot to be extremely useful as it kept our students engaged and excited about the content. I have also used anchor charts to facilitate organized discussions as well as a questionnaire of how students prefer to learn whether it be visual, auditory, kinesthetic type learners. I feel when asking students what works best for them they already know. The feedback from the students allowed us as teachers to provide the best supports for our special education students as well as our general education.

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For my science class we were conducting control group vs experimental group experiments. My self-contained class was broken up into pairs where they chose what experiment they wanted to conduct in order to record data on independent, dependent and constant variables. This experiment was so much fun because there were different experiments to choose from and different results for each. It forced students to work using their knowledge of scientific skills.

One experiment required the group to be silent. This worked well with my more quiet students that prefer intimate work where it's mostly reading and writing independently.

The second, was an experiment that required running in the hall with or without sneakers. This was for my more rowdy students. Ones who tend to distract others in experiments. We wanted those guys outside lol.

Finally, our last group was the largest group so there's was something simple where all of them could take part. In that group we had two more talkative and extroverted students with one introverted students with low-tolerance for distractions because he has a hearing impediment. That was my favorite group because it was really the first time I saw collaboration and empathy coming from those extroverted boys. They knew Jacob can't do loud noise so they worked with him and supported each other.

No picture. But it was definitely worth remembering.

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My 7th and 8th grade bilingual self contained students don't know how to read or write in either Spanish or English, which has been an extreme challenge to attempt to overcome. I've tried a few methods to allow them the chance to access the method, but most have proved unsuccessful.

Two days ago, I decided to draw stick figures to explain a few vocabulary words, and it worked. I started adding word banks with pictures at the bottom of all worksheets, and it's been extremely successful so far. I plan to incorporate more art games like pictionary to keep them engaged and motivated!

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My 9th grade English block is diversely made up of students who have a wide range of writing abilities. Out of twenty two students, we have 12 students with IEPS. To make sure I am being inclusive I chose to take the approach to offer every student the opportunity to take the extra step to be a better student by giving all students my differentiation graphic organizer. We had our students do a specific project in which they had to create a timeline of milestones they endured throughout their lives that shaped them into the young adults they are today. Over the course of a week, they created a timeline , visual timeline, outline, 1-3 rough drafts and a final copy that was graded by using and understanding a rubric by putting it into their own words. I noticed that these students were able to stay more focused and I have implemented this in every class since. 

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My 9th grade English block is diversely made up of students who have a wide range of writing abilities. Out of twenty two students, we have 12 students with IEPS. To make sure I am being inclusive I chose to take the approach to offer every student the opportunity to take the extra step to be a better student by giving all students my differentiation graphic organizer. We had our students do a specific project in which they had to create a timeline of milestones they endured throughout their lives that shaped them into the young adults they are today. Over the course of a week, they created a timeline , visual timeline, outline, 1-3 rough drafts and a final copy that was graded by using and understanding a rubric by putting it into their own words. I noticed that these students were able to stay more focused and I have implemented this in every class since. 

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TRUST THE PROCESS-SARA ZUCKERBERG

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As i discussed My 9th grade English block is diversely made up of students who have a wide range of writing abilities. Out of twenty two students, we have 12 students with IEPS. To make sure I am being inclusive I chose to take the approach to offer every student the opportunity to take the extra step to be a better student by giving all students my differentiation graphic organizer.Here are some of the steps I gave them

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In the beginning of the year while trying to get to know our students I gave them a short survey featuring three questions
1. What is your full name?
How do you feel about your name? Does everyone call you by your given name?

2. Discuss your feelings about school (Likes & Dislikes)

3.What do you want your teachers to know about you? ( What can help us better understand you and your needs as a student)

By asking these questions it not only shows the students we care about them but it lets us monitor progress over the year.

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For my 6th grade science class I noticed that many of my students struggle with completing notes and following along with the mini lesson. To assist I have been making power points with visual 🤬 to support my lessons, as well as guided note worksheets. It keeps the students on task and helps them to absorb the information and gives them something to reference to for future lessons.

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For my 6th grade science class I noticed that many of my students struggle with completing notes and following along with the mini lesson. To assist I have been making power points with visual 🤬 to support my lessons, as well as guided note worksheets. It keeps the students on task and helps them to absorb the information and gives them something to reference to for future lessons.

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So after we met on 9/18/2019, I decided to switch up the Do Now for my self contained 8th grade Social Studies class.  The lesson I was teaching that day was on the forms of resistance practiced by the slaves in the Antebellum South. When I explained student choice for the Do Now, my students, unsurprisingly, chose to analyze the photo. They had a lot to say, but wrote very little (I'm still working on that.) However, one student did choose Option 1. But like the others, he too did not write his response down.

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One struggle I've seen while practicing  parallel teaching is at times, the kids a little reluctant to split up into groups. Although my co- teacher and I create our heterogeneous groups the kids always think if they are leaving the classroom then they are the "dumb" kids. We explain to them that's not the case and that the groups are just a way to get everyone engaged but it's usually a struggle.

Pros:
When we split up groups sometimes the kids ask to join in on my group if their names were not called.

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We used stations to help students with regents test taking strategies. There were three stations for three groups who were heterogenous in grouping. At one station, students worked on MC questions independently within their group to find the correct answers. The second station addressed graphing questions and how to pull key information from the directions. And the third stations went over the short response questions. The last two stations had a teacher present to help guide student learning.

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In the middle school in which I teach we are encourage to used all six principals of co-teaching, which is difficult when you work with educators who don't understand the importance of such. The pros of co-teaching is you have an extra pair of eyes in the classroom that give not only you as the teacher support, but to help keep students focus and scaffold lessons that are more student center and engaging.

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In attempting to use alternative teaching with my co-teacher, I have noticed significantly more cons than pros.

One pro is that, if done in a uniform way, it does decrease the number of formative assessments each person checks. It also helps circumvent one of the issues my co-teacher and I have, which is occasional interrupting. For what it's worth, we make our groups heterogeneously.

One con that has been prevalent is that my co-teacher and I don't always stick to the same script, or his group gets wayyyy ahead (he's far more directive than I am and in turn gives less time in independent work). He gets ahead and is very loud, so he will often be going over the answers as the students I have been teaching are doing the work independently. He has not responded to my asks that he is quieter or less directive with answers.

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This is the most common model of co-teaching, and while it gets sort of a bad rap (and has some real cons), I have found that it has a lot of pros as well.

Firstly, it's important to state that the way I implement this strategy with my co-teachers is more or less a 50/50 split in terms of who is up front giving direct instructions and who is assisting. We've co-planned the lessons to say who will be "up front" during which section of the lesson.

The pros of doing it this way is that the whole class sees both myself and the co-teacher as equal lead instructors. It also means that we each become experts at both content instruction and individual help.

The main con of this model is that the "assisting" teacher is often engaged in classroom management that can keep them from being able to do more intentional small-group or 1:1 work that they could be doing

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My co-teaching environments have been heavily 1 Teach 1 Assist, but there has been one teacher who has shown interest in real-time team teaching. It usually not planned far ahead in time, and sometimes consists of spontaneously tagging each other in and out of parts of the lesson. A pro of this pseudo-improvised setup is that it gives time for one of us to gather student data (check homework, check with individual or group progress on daily tasks) while the other is leading discussion or a larger class activity. Students are familiar with both of our voices in leading the larger class. A con is that we often encounter hiccups in timing with limited or no planning for transitions or hand-offs, despite our mutual attention to assessing student timing needs and our own intentions for moving from one portion of class to the next. This structure often feels like it morphs into the alternative teaching model, in which I move into working with a small group with a modified output for that lesson.

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Due to the nature of a transfer school, we often find it difficult to build upon previous lessons as students are not only at different reading/writing/problem solving levels, but also have experienced different lessons based upon which days they were in attendance. My first period hydroponics class has a roster of 30 students. However, we rarely have more than 3 or 4 students in the morning when the bell rings. By the time the period is over, we are typically approaching half of the roster. We often find ourselves forced to parallel teach. This seems like the only pragmatic solution to our low attendance issues. I have found that parallel teaching can often become very loud. This is perhaps the biggest con to the arrangement. Parallel teaching also often results in us having to triage content based on the students we have. We have had to make many lesson adjustments in the past due to the students in attendance on a given day not having requisite prior mastery to move on.

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My co-teacher and I have an interesting relationship. As I mentioned in class the last session, I got stuck with the teacher that no one else wanted. They warned me about him before I was even assigned to co-teach with him. He was the "moody" black sheep that every other teacher on staff avoided.

I, however, still would not let others' perceptions of people dictate how I treat or feel about him. I do, however, take what they say into account when I see him act irrationally.

As was the case last week when he abruptly left the classroom and without warning left the school and didn't return for 3 days. In those days I developed a little resentment towards him.

I didn't appreciate his hostile banter against the principal in front of the students. I also did not appreciate him just leaving without a care of what would happen to them. It was not professional and it put me in a weird position.

The pro= I stepped up. I love those students. I wasn't about to have them feel bad throughout the whole period for his sake.

From this experience, I developed a few pros and cons. They are pretty straight forward and I bet some can relate.

PROs
- I'm the teacher the students feel better around.
- I don't have to make lesson plans for that class.
- I do more one-on-one work with the students.
- We are working collaboratively to give students feedback on their work.
- We are seeing eye-to-eye on affirmative action for students with IEP and ones without.

CONs
- Because I don't make the lesson plans, I feel there are things the students miss out on like modeling and giving them more time.
- Lack of communication has us stumbling in class sometimes. Like if I tell a student they can do something he'll react abruptly towards them and the student will respond: "but Ms. Lara said..." and he'll apologize. I do the same sometimes.

--Elibeth

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I believe its a huge advantage having two teachers in the classroom. Todays students, whether Special Education or General Ed, require a lot. In our high needs schools the social-emotion deficit has created a disconnect between the children, their lives and their desire to learn. It's often very difficult to get students engaged because of all the sub cultural groups fighting for their attention. Two teachers offer multiple perspectives and strategies. Its beautiful when the Co-Teaching model supports the students learning.
Con-
Co-Teaching is a science. Its a marriage of chemistries, temperaments, learning and teaching styles. The union of these things are challenging to align. They require almost "marriage counseling: to unify and implement different views. If not handled with care multiple perspectives turns from an advantage to another that contributes to the educational gap.

Right now in my main co-teaching classroom we follow one teach one observe. Of course I as the Special Education teacher is always Observing. Its discouraging as my voice is often shut out or made unwelcomes. I welcome the new friend.

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Math has been easy to do station teaching for reviewing topics for the current unit we are working on.
Pro: My co teacher and I make it interactive and will use manipulatives for many of our students since not a lot of them are on grade level. Also, because a lot of the class is not on grade level I use modifications and scaffolding to help my general education students as well.
Con: My students are sometimes off task when stations are set up once they are finished with the task .

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Often times, the one teach one assist model will have some sort of negative connotation attached to it. However, I believe if done correctly it can have some very positive benefits.

My co teacher and I implement the one teach one assist model most often in our classroom. My co teacher and I both take turns delivering content so it does not seem as one is a glorified para in the classroom. One pro from one teach one assist, is that it allows the entire class to stay engaged in a topic, but if a student is struggling, someone is there to help them out.

I believe one con to one teach one assist is if one teacher is taking up much of the delivery of instruction. This is where students might start to view one teacher as the
"real" teacher, and the other one as a para.

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Pros:

My co-teacher and I had a rocky start.  Being a first-year teacher and brand new to the DOE myself my co-teacher a 12 year veteran teacher was a struggle.  The dynamic was beneficial in that she provided me with very useful information from her experience.  I’ve learned a lot watching her style of teaching but I started to feel as if I was only supplemental support.  A glorified para if anything in a one teach one observe/assist type setting.  Over the course of the last few months we have been able to find a what works for us in which we are co-planning effectively for our ICT class.  It has now evolved into an inclusive team-teaching dynamic.  I feel comfortable voicing opinions and implementing my strategies in the classroom as well.

Cons:

High school students seem to understand that ICT classes consist of a mixed population of kids.  That one teacher is the general educator and the other support for students with challenges.  The special education students know that I am there for the extra support and the gen ed kids often wonder why certain kids get special treatment and extended time.  We have found it best during testing to take the first 15 kids (special needs or not) that walk-in into a separate testing space so no student feels singled out.  My co-teacher and I have been successfully tackling one challenge at a time together as they present themselves.  It is truly becoming a team-teaching situation.

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Station teaching and teaming is used in our class. Team teaching has been very helpful for the students because the structure of the lesson changes. Usually my co-teacher and I will plan out the week to see who will be teaching and part of the lesson we will speak out that we way we each get a turn. I've been doing station teaching for a couple of weeks and it has been very beneficial to the students that I work with. The students that are with me during station teaching are ISS and I'll usually have 5-7 students who I'll work with and they like it because they have that extra support needed. The con is that certain students don't like the station teaching because of who their with in the group.
For my geometry I will do either one teacher observe under certain parts of the lessons or it will be a one teacher one assist.The con is that I struggle to do station teaching in this class or to even team teach due to the fact of not having a lesson plan given or presentation not being presented ahead of time.

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Myself and my ELA co-teacher are both new to teaching and the school. We co-teach a class of 31 students, some have IEPs while others do not. For the 1st month it was very difficult to teach and get them motivated to learn. They would test our patience every minute of everyday even when we gave out discipline actions like lunch detention or a phone call home. One day I suggested splitting up the group, 16 for myself and 15 for her. It has been about 3 weeks now and we have seen a drastic change in attitudes and learning. It is still not perfect but as of now, it is heading in the right direction.

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My personal SMART goal is to gain more knowledge of my content area Living Environment and Earth Science because it is not a subject that I am fluent in and I was originally hired for the subject I wanted and was switched out once I hired and school started. So I am giving myself to the next marking period to gain more knowledge and to be able to balance everything.

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By the beginning of Unit 4, I will have planned at least 3 pull-out lessons for U.S. History, including graphic organizers that help at least 75% of students with IEP's to write practice SEQ essays (for the U.S. Regents) at a "passing" level (65) or above.

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My smart goal is to gain more knowledge and teaching strategies to use as a new teacher. My goal is to use different teaching strategies in my Geometry class. My goal is also to help my graduating students pass Algebra regents by preparing them with regents practice.

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I co-teach with a 21 year DOE veteran, which is definitely a bit intimidating. He is a lovely person, but most of the time I feel like his assistant.

Pros- Classroom management is much more productive when there are two adults circulating the room. Also, we are able to provide more one-on-one attention to students who require assistance. Since I work with a veteran teacher, I am able to implement and learn some of the effective strategies he executes in our ICT classroom in my self contained classes.

Cons- Feeling like an assistant and not having my voice heard in the classroom, not being able to lead the class.

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My co-teaching experience has been interesting.  At the present moment I co-teach both 7th and 8th grade Social Studies and I have witnessed the preferential treatment of honors classes in comparison to ICT classes.  In both my ICT classes I have seen a reluctance to stretch and push the students beyond their comfort zones.  When I try to do it, I am met with comments like, "This is too advanced for them." Or my favorite, "You're new.  This is why you're so optimistic and enthusiastic."  Then there's the stigma surrounding the ICT classes with regard to behavior.  Because this has followed the students throughout their middle school careers, they live up to the stigma and act out in class.

But back to co-teaching. The model that is used in both my classes is the 1 teach/1 assist model. However, there are times when either myself or my co-teacher jumps in.  As of right now, I lead teach in both of my 8th grade ICT classes and provide assistance in my 7th grade ICT classes.  However for the 7th grade class, my co-teacher and I do plan together and brainstorm lesson ideas.  We even share powerpoint presentations. But then again, she is also my mentor.

My only issue is the whole concept of co-teaching is not being performed in the manner in which it was explained to us in PST.  Since I have started, not once has any of the teachers given me a lesson plan to differentiate.  Nor have I received a powerpoint presentation so I can understand the flow of the lesson and make adjustments for the students who may need it.  Instead I find out the flow when I get to class.

Now that I am lead teaching in my 8th grade classes, I try to be as transparent as possible.  I share my lesson plans, but not the powerpoint.  I was advised not to because I'd be giving my entire blueprint away.  However, in lieu of the powerpoint, I do also provide a very detailed outline which is easy to follow if one is unable to comprehend the NYCTF lesson plan template.

Despite my grievances with co-teaching, the students do benefit greatly from having two teachers in the room.  There have been many instances where my students are far more comfortable interfacing with me than with my co- teacher.  Furthermore I have had instances where my interception on a student's behalf has led to the production of great work that the lead teacher didn't even know they were capable of creating.

So yes I may be new, enthusiastic, and optimistic but all of this resonates with the students and helps them tap into their potential.

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My smart goal for the year is to develop deep seeded relationships with my most problematic students so that I may teach them. I am a firm believer in the concept of you need to reach them in order to teach them, so establishing a grounded relationship with them will help me relay the information they need to pass my class and progress forward in high school. Although I have developed relationships with some of my students, there are still several who can benefit from knowing there is a teacher who cares about them outside of that 43mins time block.

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S: My smart goal for this year is too change the mindset of my students the best I can by getting to know and understand them on a deeper level by sharing my learning journey. I was never the best student but I always persevered.

M: I will know i achieved my goal when I see my students who have doubted they're ability succeed in class but doing group work and asking questions and passing my class.

A: The actions i will put in place is having a behavior chart to hold them accountable to get work in on time.

R: This goal aligns with my role as an educator because it not only holds my students accountable but it holds me as an educator accountable with my data.

T: Luckily i am in a freshman block all year long this gives me the entire year to see each student live out their goals over the year. Gives them many opportunities for greatness.

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One SMART goal I have for this year is, by the end of next semester, to create and deliver a SETSS 'unit' based on my collected student data to address an overarching literacy need for that group (ex: identifying implied meaning in text) and creating their own pieces of writing accompanied by phrase/word 'banks' of alternative ways of saying something explicit - with 80% of students successfully completing a piece of prose with an accompanying phrase bank of 6-10 terms.

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Something I have noticed in my experiences facilitating IEP meetings (5 so far this year) is that much of the process in my school focuses on supports as opposed to goals. In fact, from the math perspective, the goals I end up assigning to students (and I say assign because I am given a drop down menu of goals to choose from by the IEP support team) tend to be the goals of the curriculum itself. Take for example: solving multi-step word problems or finding out the next value in a function; these are required skills for every student. This makes me feel as though the process is sort of disingenuous.

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ELIBETH:
I once made an assessment be a slideshow presentation of questions. Kind of like a game. The test was on geography's basics: Continents/Oceans.

They were all given a certain amount of time on each slide (depending on the length of the question).

What I was measuring was not just their understanding of the information, because I was pretty sure they had it down. I was measuring their pace. It was a way for me to see if these students actually needed a lot of time on the assessments I was planning on having in the future, or not.

The results were cool. They all finished at the same time. The students liked how untraditional this was and we moved on smoothly with different assessment activities ever since. I'll try to get a picture for today's assessment.

It's a gallery walk project they are making to have their classmates "Guess Where" they are according to the 5 themes of Geography.

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Nolens D:            The co-teaching model that I have setup in all of my classes are 1 teach one assist.  I generally chime in when i feel a burning need to; however I do hesitate to chime in Math class as my co-teacher is not on the same page as I am to put it mildly.       The Pros:           About co-teaching, it allows me to step back at times and assess the class dynamics and learning style while providing guidance to individual students based on my observations.  It also provides the students with more than one resource to reach out to when they need assistance.  Lastly, I find the students are able to grasp certain materials better when they are presented the material in various styles which would be the case in a co-teacher setup whereby one teacher presents the material one way and the co-teacher provides the material from another perspective in order to check for understanding.        The Cons :           When you have co-teacher who dominates the class and insist on leading the instruction time and requires you to play the role of a glorified para.  Worst you end up in a scenario I recently experienced as described below:Co teacher did not show up to math class Today. I was not told she was not in today; nor did she provide me with a lesson plan as she typically creates the lesson plan which I am not privy to until I walk into the class.   As a result, I walked into a classroom filled with kids who have already lost hope about them passing the class, with no lesson plan and no idea where my co-teacher is.   Talk about having to plan on the fly, It was almost comical.  The students were overjoyed to the point where it took me 15 minutes to bring the class in order.  I felt like a substitute teacher where no one is paying attention to you at this point because the wicked witch is gone.  Anyways, after finally getting the class in order, I had one of the students make copies of last night’s homework as only 5% of the class did the HW or even had a copy of the HW.   I spent the rest of the class going over the homework and trying to get the student to participate in answering the questions and trying to solve it on the board.  I feel they have come so far along in the class with the attitude of “I don’t care any more” having failed so many quizzes and test and being talked down to by the co-teacher that at this point, most of them could care less about solving homework problems.  How do I bring the students back on track, when I am a glorified para in the co-teacher’s eyes?

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Nolens D:            The co-teaching model that I have setup in all of my classes are 1 teach one assist.  I generally chime in when i feel a burning need to; however I do hesitate to chime in Math class as my co-teacher is not on the same page as I am to put it mildly.       The Pros:           About co-teaching, it allows me to step back at times and assess the class dynamics and learning style while providing guidance to individual students based on my observations.  It also provides the students with more than one resource to reach out to when they need assistance.  Lastly, I find the students are able to grasp certain materials better when they are presented the material in various styles which would be the case in a co-teacher setup whereby one teacher presents the material one way and the co-teacher provides the material from another perspective in order to check for understanding.        The Cons :           When you have co-teacher who dominates the class and insist on leading the instruction time and requires you to play the role of a glorified para.  Worst you end up in a scenario I recently experienced as described below:Co teacher did not show up to math class Today. I was not told she was not in today; nor did she provide me with a lesson plan as she typically creates the lesson plan which I am not privy to until I walk into the class.   As a result, I walked into a classroom filled with kids who have already lost hope about them passing the class, with no lesson plan and no idea where my co-teacher is.   Talk about having to plan on the fly, It was almost comical.  The students were overjoyed to the point where it took me 15 minutes to bring the class in order.  I felt like a substitute teacher where no one is paying attention to you at this point because the wicked witch is gone.  Anyways, after finally getting the class in order, I had one of the students make copies of last night’s homework as only 5% of the class did the HW or even had a copy of the HW.   I spent the rest of the class going over the homework and trying to get the student to participate in answering the questions and trying to solve it on the board.  I feel they have come so far along in the class with the attitude of “I don’t care any more” having failed so many quizzes and test and being talked down to by the co-teacher that at this point, most of them could care less about solving homework problems.  How do I bring the students back on track, when I am a glorified para in the co-teacher’s eyes?

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Nolens D.           SMART Goal for the year is to implement the CER(Claim Evidence Reason) strategy in all four of the different subject matters I co-teach(Math, Science, English, and History).  This strategy will provide me with the tools I need to ensure my students are internalizing the material and is able to communicate their understanding in written form.  Having accomplished this goal, I believe everything else will fall in place as it relates to passing the regents exams.

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Nolens D.           SMART Goal for the year is to implement the CER(Claim Evidence Reason) strategy in all four of the different subject matters I co-teach(Math, Science, English, and History).  This strategy will provide me with the tools I need to ensure my students are internalizing the material and is able to communicate their understanding in written form.  Having accomplished this goal, I believe everything else will fall in place as it relates to passing the regents exams.

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Uniques assessment strategy:

Having researched the Kahoot.com learning and assessment tool as part of a group presentation I was responsible for during our class this week, I used my new found knowledge of this tool with my students.    It was a major hit!!!  The Math class, today was without a co-teacher as she accidentally fell off her chair and had to go to the emergency room.  This unexpected situation put me in a bind, as she usually prepares the lesson plan.  I immediately thought of “kahoot” as this was fresh on my mind.  I scrambled up various questions and pooled them together as part of a test/game.   I had each student use their phone to get to the Kahoot website to enter in the kahoot code I provided them with.   They really enjoyed the engagement of the activity, the progression status and the competition it ensued as each name would appear on the screen and where they ranked.  In the end I was able to generate a report and input their grades into our schools student reporting system “skedula”.  This approach is very useful as it motivates them to get the correct answer because it is being actually graded and recorded in our system which each student have access to, in order to see their individual status in any given class at any given time.

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In my Algebra class my co-teacher and I will use exit tickets or short summary to check for understanding of the lesson. We will also do class discussions, turn n talk where we will each walk around and hear students conversations. In our class we've been using Class Dojo, our students are first didn't like it but now they have engaged more into participating and avoiding cellphone usage in class. The points that the students accumulative will be added to their grade or an assignment missing.

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An assessment I have used before has been pairdeck. It allows for a fun and interactive way to individually assess each student on topics they learned so far. The competitive nature of the program instantly hooks students in the review. Additionally, the game can be slowed down or paused to discuss places where most of the students got the answer wrong. The cons of the program is that it can be time consuming and the students would want to play for the entire period. Additionally, some students cannot handle the time component of specific games, and can become discouraging for them.

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My personal goal for the year is to grade papers, homework, exams and classwork within 48hrs of receipt. Grades are to updated to skedula for parent visibility and to ensure that grades are submitted on time for each of my schools 6 semesters.

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My smart goal for 2019/2020 school year is to have better time management strategy.

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My smart goal for 2019/2020 school year is to have better time management strategy.

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1.first I will get myself a planner and assign time to get task done base on urgency.
2.Second set aside time for self to incorporate balance.

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Co-Teaching can be fun when you have reached the level where you can truly team teach. You play off one another, team with one another, and support each other. It can be amazing to watch an a great team of teachers managing the behavior and the instruction and the activities all at once. When the two to three teachers really mesh well, and they both know the subject well, team teaching is something amazing

Benefits of Team Teaching

-Creates effective, fun learning

-Teachers can use their knowledge effectively together

-Keeps co-teacher involved in class

-Allows for shared ideas including enrichment and differentiation

-Breaks up the monotony of one person doing all instruction

-Creates many spontaneous teachable moments

Challenges of Team Teaching

-Co-teachers must click, not conflict

-Requires supporting and carrying 100 percent of the load by both teachers

Both teachers may have to be equally involved in the planning, grading, correcting, and supporting in the classroom

Unless they are at the stage where they are finishing each other’s sentences, planning may take a long time

I wish my Co-teaching partnership was more like the pros i listed about. I've had a rough time finding my place with in my co team.

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An assessment tool I have used with my co-teacher is kahoot. In ELA we assign chapter readings for homework. Its a good way of assessing if the children did the readings. With written summaries students often copy from google. In our kahoot sessions we try to create questions that verify the students are reading closely. 

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An assessment tool I have used with my co-teacher is kahoot. In ELA we assign chapter readings for homework. Its a good way of assessing if the children did the readings. With written summaries students often copy from google. In our kahoot sessions we try to create questions that verify the students are reading closely. 

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I have used Kahoot as a way to review answers (students submit answers to an independent practice worksheet as a kahoot game), which I like because it provides a good sense of where the class is at and also circumvents the short time frame of most Kahoot questions. It is also helpful to have an "all correct" confidence question, so you can see how students feel in terms of confidence in an anonymous way.

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I once used pictures in class that correlated with the theme of the text. I wanted students to make the connection between the theme and the picture by using the detail in the images. I think the strategy was successful because many students were able to convey the theme.  

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I once used pictures in class that correlated with the theme of the text. I wanted students to make the connection between the theme and the picture by using the detail in the images. I think the strategy was successful because many students were able to convey the theme.  

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My personal SMART Goal for the year is to ensure completion of all annual IEP reviews on my caseload and my colleagues' caseloads within compliance.

I will achieve this goal by constantly monitoring student intake and collaborating with my fellow Special Education colleagues.

The goal will be considered met if all sections of each IEP are completed by their Annual Review dates, excepting extensions requested by parents.

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I have always been a fan of low stakes testing and interviews. The problem with low stakes testing is motivation. A lot of my students don't try if they know that they're being graded. A compromise I've found is that if a student does not perform well on a summative MASTERY assessment from a previous class, my co-teacher and I will find opportunities to quiz them verbally in a low stakes environment. If they are able to provide satisfactory answers and demonstrate understanding, we will modify the previous grade. We are fortunate in that our curriculum is non-regents based and flexible enough that we can often revisit topics that we have built upon. Often our quiz questions are far more difficult in the realm of critical thinking, but rely very little on rote memorization of content related details. Our ultimate goal is to assess a student's ability to problem solve. We want our students to be able to advocate for their own learning and lessen their reliance on others.

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and to So now that I teach Living Environment I assessed my students by giving them a project based on everything we have been learning. They were tasked to create a children's book in order to show the different functions of the organelles in a cell. They were given total creative control on how they want the book to look, however it must include all of the organelles that need to be included. They were tasked to provide an analogy to show the similarity between each cell organelle and an everyday object that they use or may not use and to include their justification for why they chose that analogy. I know that students cannot always relate science to real life, however it was a creative way to assess what they know.

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I often struggle with identifying all the pieces to my S.M.A.R.T. goals. Yet,because of that struggle, I’m much more vested in seeing my goal through to the end. My goal is to be able to build meaningful student-teacher relationships while delivering clear instruction and gaining as much knowledge about my craft as I possibly can. By the end of the year I hope to feel more confident in all of these areas.

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One challenge at my school is being able to collect reliable assessment information for individual students, especially in Math, since many are reluctant to offer verbal explanations of their process in English. Both of my Math co-teachers will periodically have students complete questions in iXL to gauge their learning in a specified skill set. Student averages, as well as how many questions they have answered, can be shared with the whole class. While there is a goal to get at least a 90 before moving on to a new section, and there is an element of competition once students take note of their fluctuating scores, teachers are able to get more accurate information about what individual students are able to complete on their own (as opposed to collecting a uniform exit ticket).

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I decided to assess my students by using an academic version of Family Feud. I wanted to assess their understanding of similes and metaphors, and I knew I had to do it in a creative way in order to engage them. My class is extremely competitive, so I decided to use a game show as their exam. I asked them three rounds of questions, and the fast money round was all based off identifying whether statements were similes or metaphors. This was extremely successful and I plan on using a similar fun and creative style to assess my students.

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The gvablA personal SMART goal that I have is to incorporate self care into my schedule, no matter how busy I am.
Specific- I plan to go to the gym for one hour, three times a week.
I will track my progress on the Health app on my apple watch/iPhone. This goal can only be achieved if I learn how to use my prep periods effectively to plan my lessons in advance (which should probably be my first goal!) I am going to measure this for the first 4 weeks, then I will decide if any changes need to be made to the goal.

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My co-teacher and I have used Kahoot in our classroom to assess our students for understanding. It not only gives us an instant idea of where our students knowledge lies but its also a creative way for the kids to participate and actually have fun!

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Having researched the EdPuzzle tool in last TAL885 class, I used it to great effect this week during a pull-out. The students finished their modified quiz, and instead of sending them back to rejoin the rest of the class, I engaged them with a video on the Industrial Revolution with embedded questions that asked for verbal responses. It provoked a lot more participation from students who usually do not tend to write much when we do out embedded written questions. However, I couldn't tell whether this mode of instruction was actually teaching them more effectively, or whether it was actually the format of the assessment that allowed them to show their learning more easily. As I continue with the year, I will continue to experiment with EdPuzzle and see how this method of instruction and assessment allows students to show their learning in different ways.

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I want my students to be able to understand political differences between tribes of Native Americans by the end of the unit. My class is a Special Ed, and for them is somewhat harder to get certain concepts. My plan is to use more videos and manipulative, since that's their preferred choice for studying.
I've been teaching my students the history of the many Native American groups in US, and through every lesson, I've noticed that videos and manipulative engage them more.

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My personal SMART goal for the year is putting 45 minutes aside 4 times a week for studying for my Math CST. I will track my progress by answering 15 questions in my CST test booklet from now until the next time I take my exam at the end of December. I have chosen this goal because I need pass this exam still and I need to focus on studying material more. 

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My personal SMART goal for the year is putting 45 minutes aside 4 times a week for studying for my Math CST. I will track my progress by answering 15 questions in my CST test booklet from now until the next time I take my exam at the end of December. I have chosen this goal because I need pass this exam still and I need to focus on studying material more. 

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An assessment strategy that I have used in my self contained classroom is formatting a google form for my students in math. My student would be presented a problem and they would input their scores onto the google form. If it was correct it allows them to continue with the lesson. If it is incorrect it will present the student with a scaffold. If the student continues to get the question incorrect more than 2 times the google form tells them to go to the small group and I will pull them and do a reteach.

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An assessment strategy that I have used in my self contained classroom is formatting a google form for my students in math. My student would be presented a problem and they would input their scores onto the google form. If it was correct it allows them to continue with the lesson. If it is incorrect it will present the student with a scaffold. If the student continues to get the question incorrect more than 2 times the google form tells them to go to the small group and I will pull them and do a reteach.

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For my unique assessment strategy, I used Poll Everywhere. The question being asked was: "What is one aspect of a complex society?" Examples of correct answers were: Education, Currency, Culture, Trade, Government, etc. Students were tasked with logging in on their phones to give their answers. While this went on, they could also vote up or down on other students answers, adding an interactive component to the activity. The overall engagement was great with 8 out of 8 students in my class participating. The option to agree with other answers allowed students to see which aspect they believed greatly contributed to a Complex Society.

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The assessment tool I attempted to use was Ed Puzzle. As noted in my blog, it was an epic fail. It's not that my execution did not go well. My 8th grade class's behavior sucks! I couldn't get pass the Motivation so I aborted the mission and gave them a graphic organizer. Despite this, I will try again.

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After our class presentation on Plickers I decided to use it in the classroom for my Co-teaching Social Studies Class. As we have reached the end of our unit, my co-teacher and I designed a review lesson for our students to prepare for their upcoming exam. We used the Plickers cards game towards the end of the period as a kind of flash review for important information not included in the lesson.
It was a fun experience explaining it to the kids and trying it out with them. They were really into it and seemed excited to participate and answer the questions. It also gave my co-teacher and I a gauge of student understanding of cause and effect for out unit. We were also able to monitor student readiness for the exam.

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My personal smart goals for the year are to plan out my time and set aside more personal time for myself. As of lately, with lesson planning, IEP meetings and writing, and college classes it seems like I've been working 7 days a week. On the week days I find myself working from 7:30am - 9pm, and what ever I don't finish I try to catch up on the weekend. That often results in me working all weekend and not having time to relax for the work week or complete personal chores. So my goal for the rest of the year is to follow an agenda that will organize my time where I am not over working myself and give my self a cut off time.
I will achieve this goal by keeping a daily planner with a checklist of no more that 5 daily To-Dos'. I will also schedule at least one personal day a week to my self to avoid burn out and reduce personal stress.

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One of the most important goal I want to set is to balance my personal life,work life and school life. Once that is maintained, the level of stress will definitely go down and I have noticed that over the past couple of months. Speaking to my fellow teachers they always tell me to take care of myself first then worry about everything else because being stressed and working in a stressful environment is a recipe for disaster.
To help maintain this, I will use my calendar on my phone more often to remind me of important events. Working out more and eating healthier will begin after the new year (my new years resolution). If the students have a non stressed teacher, they will get the education they deserve.

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After learning more about Kahoot, I introduced it to my ELA classroom and the students loved it. At first I was nervous to see how they were going to react to it but they could not get enough of it and everyday keep asking me when we are going to play it again. Kahoot is definitely a great tool to use in the classroom and would recommend it for all middle school, high school 4th and 5th grades as well. Definitely a useful tool for assessing student growth.