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This website offers quick lessons that teachers or students can work through. It is free to create an account. It has accommodations such as being able to read the text aloud, and implement a "focus" feature.

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About Us

Backed by a leader in online learning.

Learning Hub gives parents a new way to support their child's education, but we're not new to extended learning. We're part of Stride, a pioneer in online K-12 education which in the last 20 years has helped more than 2 million students catch up and get ahead.

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Learning Hub gives parents a new way to support their child's education, but we're not new to extended learning. We're part of Stride, a pioneer in online K-12 education which in the last 20 years has helped more than 2 million students catch up and get ahead.

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These are examples of alternative formative assessments that teachers could use instead of paper and pencil. These could benefit students who struggle because they can still show what they know without having test anxiety.

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10 ways to teach Social Studies to struggling students.

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10 ways to teach Social Studies to struggling students.

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Effective Social Studies Teaching Strategies – Love Learning

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My first year of teaching, I asked my students what their least favorite subject was. They, without even thinking twice, said social studies. I made it my mission to change that. I needed to learn how to teach social studies and make social studies interesting for my students.

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Sample note taking PDF for students who need help organizing their papers during lectures.

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This post discusses how to implement a Socratic seminar in the classroom. Students lead the conversation and can show what they know without paper and pencil.

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A Socratic Seminar invites students to facilitate a discussion in order to work together toward a shared understanding of a text.

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Different ways for students to work collaboratively.

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Think-Pair-Share is an old strategy that works! However, if it is used often in your classroom, it can become stale, and less effective. So, change it up!

Here are a few how-to suggestions for ramping up your Think-Pair-Share lessons:

Think-Pair-Talk: The simplest variation on the original. Students think about the question/term/or task on their own, pair with a partner to discuss their ideas, and then talk with a small group for further discussion.

Think-Pair-Walk: Instead of wrapping up with a small group, one student from each pair walks up to the front of the class to present their findings. This is perfect for larger research topics or current events.

Think-Pair-Chalk: In this variation, students can silently go up to the board to add their research findings. When discussing controversial topics, this quieter method helps to maintain respect for all perspectives or points of view.

Think-Pair-Post: Using a Facebook template, students can report out their topic research and post them around the room to create a Facebook Feed on the unit content.

Think-Pair-Toast: With this twist on the original, students will create toasts to their assigned topic. This can be a fun wrap-up for concluding a unit and reviewing content topics or vocabulary.

Think-Pair-Roast: Just like the toast option, students will have a little fun while reviewing prior knowledge. Encourage funny stories, tall-tales, or the telling of jokes to share the main ideas.

Think-Pair-Tweet: For vocabulary or people review, have students write simple tweets on the key terms. Learning to summarize in 160 characters or less can be a huge challenge!

Think-Pair-Meet: Similar to the original, after pairs have discussed the topic or term, they draw out table numbers where they go to meet up and share their findings. (Similar to a Jigsaw)

Think-Pair-Draw: One of my favorites, students draw to illustrate the meaning or significance of a topic. Doing character collages can also help students bring significant people back to life for class discussion.

Think-Pair-Find a Flaw: When looking at conflicting points of view or arguing cases, this method is fun and engaging. As students post their findings, others search for opposing points of view to counter each statement. Build up the activity by allowing students to continue the activity over days or weeks through the unit.

How have you modified Think-Pair-Share for you classroom?

H appy Teaching!

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How To Use Variations on Think-Pair-Share in the Secondary Classroom - A Lesson Plan for Teachers

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Think-Pair-Share is an old strategy that works! However, if it is used often in your classroom, it can become stale, and less effective. So, change it up! Here are a few how-to suggestions for ramping up your Think-Pair-Share lessons: Think-Pair-Talk: The simplest variation on the original.

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This blog describes interactive notebooks and provides examples/freebies for teachers to try. This can be beneficial for students who struggle because it makes it interactive without bogging them down with the same old notetaking.

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A Social Studies Interactive Notebook is a great way to engage students and to help students focus as they organize social studies content and/or take guided notes. One of the great things about this social studies interactive notebook is that you can adapt it to meet the needs of your classroom. There is no one right or wrong way to use these lessons. You can complete it together as a whole group, in small groups, or have students complete this independently.

You can read about how I incorporate interactive notebooks into my social studies (and science) instruction here.

Social Studies Interactive Notebook - Organization

To keep students' social studies interactive notebook organized, I recommend giving each student a spiral notebook. They can add their entries to the spiral notebook. You can also have students add these pages to a small 3-ring binder.

When using digitally, I highly recommend the free Google Chrome extension Slip-in-Slide. It lets you add slides to your students' digital notebooks. This is amazing, because most teachers don't want to assign an entire notebook at once. This add-on will allow you to select a slide or set of slides and automatically insert it/them into presentations that students have already been assigned.

Social Studies Interactive Notebook-Geography

Some of the geography activities in the social studies interactive notebook include types of maps, landforms (shown below), the seven continents, and hemispheres (shown below).

In this social studies interactive activity, there is a geography activity for demonstrating longitude and latitude!

Other geography activities include major rivers, mountain ranges (digit version show below), cardinal directions, and types of communities (digital version shown below).

There are slides for teaching the regions of the United States. The digital version of the activities is shown below.

Government

In the social studies interactive notebook, the government entries include topics such as levels of government (shown below), branches of government (shown below), and the Bill of Rights (shown below). There are also activities for each individual branch of government, checks and balances, and direct democracy vs representative democracy.

There is an activity for the two parts of Congress (digital version shown below), how a bill becomes a law, rights & responsibilities, important documents (digital version shown below), and U.S. symbols (digital version shown below).

History

In the history portion of the social studies interactive notebook, there are entries for Ancient Greece, European Exploration (digit version shown below), Native Americans (digital version shown below), and Plymouth and Jamestown colonies (digital version shown below).

There are also pages for the colonies (shown below), westward expansion (shown below), Lewis and Clark Expedition, Louisiana Purchase, the Gold Rush, The Trail of Tears, and The Underground Railroad.

More recent historical events include The Great Depression, The Civil Rights Movement (shown above), and The New Deal.

Social Studies Interactive Notebook

Wars, Conflicts, and Battles

I wanted to provide a lot of flexibility when it came to teaching about different wars. Standards and expectations vary greatly from state to state and from grade level to grade level, so I created open-ended options where the teacher determines how in-depth students should go in the entry. Each of the three graphic organizers include the following:

The first section includes a cause and effect activity where students describe the major causes and effects of the war. The French and Indian version is shown below. The teacher can set the parameters of this lesson (list five causes, in a paragraph describe the causes, etc.).

The second activity is also extremely open ended where the teacher determines how in-depth the responses should be. Students share major events from the beginning, middle, and end of the war. When doing activities like this, be sure to clarify your expectations with students.

The third activity has students describe major battles of the war. There is a blank version, so if the battles list are not the ones you want/need, you can modify it to meet the needs of your classroom.

Social Studies Interactive Notebook - Historical Figures

There really isn't a way to list everyone that should be listed. At the time of creating this resource, I included all requested individuals. However, we all know how frequently our state standards change, so it's almost impossible to keep up with all states' updates. That's why there is a blank page for each type of historical figure activity. You can see the digital blank version as well as the Harriet Tubman version below.

This is the printable version of the same activity using Paul Revere.

Another version includes similar content in a different format. You can see the digital version below, which does include a blank version.

A few of the other formats include the images shown below. The Susan B. Anthony option is for the printable version (and is a great stand alone activity) and the other options are the digital version.

Economics

The entries to use with economics include supply and demand, productive resources (shown below), and economic vocabulary (shown below).

Other activities include imports & exports, needs vs wants, spending vs saving, taxes (digital version shown below), producer & consumer (digital version shown below), and goods & services (digital version shown below).

My students found my interactive notebook before they started their notebooks and couldn't have been more excited to get started! Here's a link to the Social Studies Interactive Notebook.

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To make sure your upper elementary students receive high quality social studies, use this social studies interactive notebook!

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This blog describes the benefits of implementing simulations in the classroom. It provides diagrams and examples of how to use simulations effectively.

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I am really excited about my next several blog posts. Why? Because I want to help you bring excitement and true engagement to your social studies classroom. Between my husband and myself, we have almost 40 years of teaching experience, with most of those years teaching social studies (and I still can't believe that number is close to 40!). We know how important it is to implement a variety of teaching strategies, and one of the most used strategies is the ever-popular PowerPoint. Not to knock the PowerPoint lecture and notes thing because some kids really do learn better that way, and students do need to have experience with it because they are going to see it for the rest of their school career. I have had several students who actually prefer this method, and they actually learn more from this delivery method than others. With that said, I have had WAY more students who benefited from other, more hands-on strategies. I hope you will check back with me over the next few months to learn "7 Ways to Step Away From the Lecture Podium & Revitalize Your Social Studies Classroom." Be sure to read about how you can use STATIONS and INTERACTIVE NOTEBOOKS in your social studies classroom when you finish this post 🙂 There may be a FREE mini-stations pack and INB pack for you! Or you can learn how to incorporate POLITICAL CARTOONS in your classroom (with a FREE analysis page!). SOCIAL STUDIES ESCAPE ROOMS can intimidating, but I break it all down for you into manageable chunks 🙂

I know that it is really hard to get some of our students excited about social studies because a lot of them see it as irrelevant past events. They think history is dead. They have no idea how those past events have actually impacted their lives today, that those past events can be a good predictor of future events, and that they can use those past events to make better informed future decisions for themselves and their communities. Part of our job as educators is to help them find relevance in past events and help them connect those events to their own lives. Let's face it: our students can be very egocentric. If they don't think something applies to them, they probably won't have a lot of interest in it.

It's a challenge to find teaching strategies beyond that PowerPoint lecture and notes because there is SO much information students need to learn, and that lecture is one of the easiest and quickest ways to deliver it. However, do most of your students remember the information days, weeks, months, or even years later? Social studies standards vary state to state, and I have found that a lot of states will visit a topic in an early grade, then a few years later circle back to that same topic and go more in depth. For example, in Georgia the Civil War is taught in the 5th grade and then again in high school during US History. How many of those students do you think remember what they learned in 5th grade to be able to dive deeper years later in high school? I am willing to bet many of those high school teachers have to review a lot before they can even get into their curriculum.

I am not saying that if you use other methods to deliver your instruction students will remember EVERYTHING, because we know that just isn't realistic. BUT maybe they WILL remember the important pieces that will give them that solid foundation they need for later years.

With all of this in mind, I decided to write a series of blog posts called "7 Ways to Step Away From the Lecture Podium & Revitalize Your Social Studies Classroom" to help you add some new instructional strategies to your toolbox or to simply give you the push you need to try something new!

This first strategy I want to share is Social Studies SIMULATIONS (and simulations might be my favorite one!)

What is a simulation?

A simulation is an open-ended scenario presented to students for them assume the roles of other people, make decisions, resolve conflicts, and make predictions to gain a deeper understanding of concepts or events. Simulations make it possible for students to repeat the scenario and make different decisions to see how the outcome is affected. Simulations can have multiple outcomes, depending on the choices the student makes, so students can see how events are connected. A simulation is a form of experiential learning that is student-centered. Some people call simulations "role-playing" because students are pretending to be someone else and assume various viewpoints. Students do not have a specific script to follow or series of actions they must complete. A simulation allows some free-choice for students. Some simulations can be completed in under an hour, while others might take days or weeks.

Why use Social Studies Simulations?

Deeper understanding- Simulations allow students to gain a richer understanding and evaluate multiple perspectives of a specific scenario. They can help students better understand historical concepts that they can't experience. It's hard for students to really connect with events and people from the past. Unlike science, you can't perform experiments in social studies, but simulations can offer that hands-on experience students need. You won't have to motivate students because they will want to learn. Most students retain more information learned and applied in a simulation than if they sat through a PowerPoint lecture and took notes. Students aren't observers and listeners during a simulation. They are living through an experience that they can modify. They begin to understand the relationships between events, and they begin to apply learned knowledge in new contexts.

Fewer discipline issues- When students are self motivated, we don't have to monitor their behavior. We don't have to redirect their attention. We don't have to ensure they are on task and doing what they should be doing. They are invested and interested. This leads to fewer discipline issues that you have to handle. Who doesn't want that?!

Increased engagement- When students participate in hands-on activities, they become more engaged and involved in learning the content as well as using the knowledge to solve problems, explore alternative actions, and come up with their own solutions. Simulations help students move beyond the surface-level learning.

Critical thinking- Primary documents can be integrated into simulations to help students make decisions in response to the scenario they face. Students have to be critical thinkers and analyze events to make informed decisions. Simulations help develop the skills of communication, working cooperatively, problem-solving, and critical analysis. Students learn how to use multiple sources of information, visualize and model an event or concept, and evaluate how their actions might affect an outcome. Students better understand their own thought process as they reflect and think about their choices and why they made those decisions.

Improved writing- Students are more articulate and thoughtful in their writing after completing simulations, too. Because they have been able to "feel" the emotions, they are better able to convey their thoughts. How many times have you asked students to write from someone else's point of view, and what they turn in is less than stellar? It's because you are asking them to take on another person's perspective, but you have provided the opportunity for them to really connect with that person. Simulations help bridge this gap.

Simulations are effective- Pilots have to log simulator hours, the Pentagon simulates possible conflicts, medical students perform procedures on cadavers, and lawyers perform mock trials. These are just a few examples of how simulations are used in extremely important situations.

Simulations are FUN! They allow students to relive history in a sense, and often they can feel like a game. What student doesn't love playing games? The trick is to make sure students don't forget it's more than a game, and I will explain how in the "Roadblocks" section below. I know students love simulations, not because THEY tell me, but because their parents tell me that it left such an impression on their child, they have talked nonstop about it. And wasn't because it was "fun," it was because they had a better grasp of the content and learned it in a fun AND meaningful way.

How do I implement a simulation?

Simulations can take varying amounts of time, so you need to make sure you accommodate enough time. You don't want to rush this! Depending on the simulation, you could use it as a hook before beginning a unit, or you could use it as a concluding activity after a unit. I have done both, and both are equally effective. It just depends on what your purpose is.

Simulations have multiple stages. Before implementing a simulation in your classroom, you have to make sure students understand what a simulation is and what the purpose is. It is helpful if you have students do a simple "role-playing" situation so they can understand they are going to assume the identity of someone else. It's important the role is someone students would be familiar with: they could be a new student; they just lost a game; or they have just seen a friend they hadn't seen in a long time. These are simple roles, but it will help you explain to students they have to think from someone else's

perspective.

A typical simulation has the following stages:

1. Background- Depending on the purpose of the simulation, students might need to have specific background knowledge before they go through the simulation. For example, you can't expect students to understand how a World War 1 soldier would feel and react in the trenches if they haven't learned about trench warfare and the new weapons and technologies of WW1. Make sure you equip students with the knowledge they need to be successful.

2. Assume identities- Students will need to be either assigned a role, or they can choose a role. Again, ensure students understand the role they are playing.

3. Actual simulation- Once students have a solid background and understand the role they are assuming, you can go over the purpose and directions of the simulation. I always do a few sample turns with them, so they can see how it works. Sometimes I have my students go through it whole group, sometimes in a small group, sometimes with a partner, and sometimes independently. It really depends on what the simulation is and the purpose. One thing is consistent, though: Don't stop students, interrupt them to give advice, or try to steer them in another direction than what they chose for themselves! Obviously if they need help on how to play it, by all means help them. But even if they ask for advice on a decision, use all your restraint to NOT help them. It's important for them to think critically and make their own choices. Once students have completed the simulation, you might have them choose another role and go through it again, or they could keep the same role and just make different choices.

4. Debriefing- I know it's tempting to quickly wrap up after your students finish a simulation, but if it's their first time completing this specific simulation, please spend some time following up with students. This debrief period is an opportunity for your students to analyze their actions, the events that occurred, and discuss what happened and why. This is when most of your students deeper understanding will actually happen because they are able to communicate and interact with other students and you about their experiences. This is also a very important moment to let students talk about their emotions and how they felt. If the simulation is one that could stir up emotions, you need to help students understand why they are feeling that way and how to adjust to the simulation being over (I will address the appropriateness of simulations in the "Considerations" section below). You will need to make sure students are able to understand the relationship of the simulation to the historical concept, and how emotion helps tie them together. Here are some follow-up questions you can ask them:

What did you learn from this experience?

How did you feel during each of the roles?

How was this simulation similar to the real events that occurred? How was it different?

What do you think you should have done differently? Why?

How were the events connected to ___________?

These are just a few questions you can ask your students, and they can even discuss these in a small group.

It is also a good time to get feedback from the students about the simulation.

How can you improve it next time?

Did the simulation help them better understand the concept?

What are some possible roadblocks?

Tips to make it run smoothly

1. Explicitly go over the learning target, purpose, rules, and expectations of the simulation. Students have to thoroughly understand what is expected.

2. Have all materials in an easy to access location. Using envelopes, tubs, and baggies help keep things organized.

3. Hold students accountable for their participation. Let them know how they will be assessed: informal observation, discussion participation, RAFT writing task, etc.

4. Anticipate how it could go wrong and discuss this with your students. If you have never done a simulation before, you won't be able to do this.

5. Even though you are hands-off during the simulation, you still need to be monitoring your students closely to ensure they understand the purpose and benefits of the stimulation.

6. If students are working in small groups, try to have one student in each group that has a clear understanding of the simulation. This student can help his group members if they get stuck and you are unavailable to help.

If you are wanting to try out a social studies simulation, but aren't sure how to create one or where to find one, I have this free World War 2: Battle of Iwo Jima simulation that I created. Try it out, and see how you and your students like it! If you want to learn more about how students play this simulation, I embedded a video where I talk you through the simulation below.

If you have experience with implementing simulations in your classroom, I would love to hear about it in the comments below!

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SIMULATIONS | 7 WAYS TO STEP AWAY FROM THE LECTURE PODIUM & REVITALIZE YOUR SOCIAL STUDIES CLASSROOM - Brainy Apples

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Guide to using Social Studies Simulations to step away from the lecture podium and engage your students with hands-on history activities.

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Students who struggle to read could really benefit from having hands-on activities where they can work in groups for support. This video describes the activity and how to implement simulations in your social studies classroom.

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World War 2 Battle of Iwo Jima Simulation

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One-pagers are also a great way to assess student understanding. They allow you to quickly gauge whether or not your students have grasped the material, and provide an opportunity for you to give feedback to students about their work.

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As a social studies teacher, you understand that the subject is one of the most important aspects of education, and it is vital to keep your students engaged and motivated in their learning. One way to achieve this is through the use of one-pagers, a creative and visually appealing way to summarize information and showcase understanding. One-pagers offer a chance to showcase a student's creativity, critical thinking skills, and grasp of the subject. In this blog post, we will explore ten creative one-pager ideas for social studies that will not only maximize your students' learning but also spark their creativity and critical thinking skills.

Why Use One-Pagers in Social Studies?

One-pagers are an excellent way to get students engaged in the learning process. They are a creative and visually appealing way to summarize information and showcase understanding. By utilizing one-pagers, you can help your students to:

Process information more effectively

Think critically about the subject matter

Develop their creativity

Practice their summarizing and synthesizing skills

One-pagers are also a great way to assess student understanding. They allow you to quickly gauge whether or not your students have grasped the material, and provide an opportunity for you to give feedback to students about their work.

Benefits of Using One-Pagers

There are many benefits to using one-pagers in social studies. One of the most significant benefits is that they allow students to showcase their creativity and critical thinking skills. One-pagers require students to think beyond the facts and figures presented in their textbooks and to synthesize information in a creative and visually engaging way.

One-pagers also help to promote student engagement in the learning process. Because they are a more creative and interactive way to learn, students are more likely to be interested and invested in the material. This can lead to a deeper understanding and retention of the subject matter.

Finally, one-pagers can be a valuable tool for formative assessment. They provide a quick and easy way to assess student understanding, and they can be used to provide feedback to students on their work.

One-Pager Examples for Social Studies

Now let's take a look at ten creative one-pager ideas that you can use in your classroom.

Timeline One-Pager

A timeline one-pager is an excellent way to help students understand historical events and their significance. Students can create a timeline of a historical period, highlighting key events and dates. They can also use images and text to provide additional context and information.

Cause and Effect One-Pager

A cause-and-effect one-pager is a great way to help students understand the interconnectedness of historical events. Students can create a diagram that shows the causes and effects of a particular event or historical period. They can also use images and text to provide additional context and information.

Compare and Contrast One-Pager

A compare-and-contrast one-pager is a great way to help students understand the differences and similarities between two historical periods or events. Students can create a diagram that highlights the key differences and similarities, using images and text to provide additional context and information.

Map One-Pager

A map one-pager is an excellent way to help students understand geography and its significance in historical events. Students can create a map that highlights key locations and their significance in a particular historical period or event. They can also use images and text to provide additional context and information.

Character Analysis One-Pager

A character analysis one-pager is a great way to help students understand the motivations and actions of historical figures. Students can create a diagram that highlights the key traits of a historical figure, using images and text to provide additional context and information.

Primary Source Analysis One-Pager

A primary source analysis one-pager is an excellent way to help students understand the significance of primary sources in historical research. Students can create a diagram that highlights key information from a primary source, using images and text to provide additional context and information.

Graphic Organizer One-Pager

A graphic organizer one-pager is a great way to help students organize their thoughts and ideas about a particular historical period or event. Students can create a diagram that highlights key information and ideas, using images and text to provide additional context and information.

Creative Writing One-Pager

A creative writing one-pager is an excellent way to help students understand historical events from a different perspective. Students can create a piece of creative writing that puts them in the shoes of a historical figure or that imagines an alternate history. They can also use images and text to provide additional context and information.

Political Cartoon One Pager

A political cartoon one-pager is a great way to help students understand the political climate of a particular historical period. Students can create a cartoon that highlights key political figures and events, using images and text to provide additional context and information.

Cultural Comparison One Pager

A cultural comparison one-pager is an excellent way to help students understand the differences and similarities between different cultures throughout history. Students can create a diagram that highlights the key differences and similarities, using images and text to provide additional context and information.

Check out some of my other One Pager lessons!

"The Puzzle of Motivation" by Daniel Pink TED Lesson

Are you an Economics teacher? Check out my Economics One Pager lesson!

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10 Creative One-Pager Ideas for Social Studies

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An education blog focusing on High School Social Studies.

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NEW K-8 Math Lessons Now Available

Get instant access to hours of fun, standards-based videos, reading material, quiz games, simple DIY activities & more.

Get instant access to hours of fun, standards-based videos, reading material, quiz games, simple DIY activities & more.

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Our science videos for kids cover all major topics in grades K-8 and come with lesson plans, activities, quizzes, vocabulary & more. Try it free.

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Tips for engaging students in the science classroom

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Tips for engaging students in the science classroom

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5 Tips For Teaching Science In Special Education - Where I Aut-a Be

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Special Education Science Curriculum Science can be one of the most abstract concepts to teach. It's rare to be given a special education science curriculum. So it can be such a challenge to come up with hands on science activities.

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I added this resource because many students need to learn how to properly interact with each other in order to perform labs correctly.

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For many years, the focus within classrooms has been centered on high-stakes assessments. How students were performing on state exams was supposed to tell the story of student achievement-or, at least, most of the story.

However, the number of research studies has increased on this topic and the evidence for why social-emotional learning is important-indeed, essential-for student success is overwhelming. Let's explore this point.

What is social-emotional learning (SEL)?

A common social-emotional learning definition states that SEL is the process of developing the...

Self-awareness;

Self-control; and

Interpersonal skills

...that are vital for school, work, and life success. This social and emotional learning definition encompasses skills like:

Developing healthy identities

Managing emotions

Achieving personal and collective goals

Feeling and showing empathy for others

Establishing and maintaining supportive relationships

Making responsible and caring decisions

Why is social-emotional learning so important?

Studies have shown that many risky behaviors-including drug use, bullying, and absenteeism-are often linked to poor social and emotional skills. What's more, SEL has been linked to actual performance within the classroom and on assessments, solidifying why it is so important.

According to Roger P. Weissberg, the editor of the Handbook of Social and Emotional Learning: Research and Practice, citing Durlak et al.: "SEL not only improves achievement by an average of 11 percentile points, but it also increases prosocial behaviors and reduces depression and stress among students."

With new insights and ongoing research, many schools are now strengthening their efforts to properly develop and assess a teaching methodology that will account for social-emotional learning concepts and skill sets.

How does social-emotional learning impact education overall?

This approach towards the overall health of children and their mindset to embrace learning is critical. When educators approach SEL from a perspective of equity and wanting to ensure that the conditions of a school are appropriate for healthy learning, students will be given the best chance to succeed in their education and in life.

When did SEL become a priority?

In 2001, Congress passed the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) to establish greater accountability for student achievement. Its plan was to measure academic performance through state standards and assessments, with a special focus on boosting the performance of certain groups of students such as Emerging Bilinguals (EBs) and socio-economically disadvantaged students.

Schools were required to meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), which would result in rewarding schools that did well and providing sanctions for schools that didn't. Sanctions included possible student transfers and potential loss of federal Title I money.

What happened over the next decade and a half was a gradual realization of the limitations surrounding NCLB. Complaints soon surfaced about its narrow focus on testing, and that it failed to compensate for other social factors like behavior and attendance.

In 2013, several California districts received waivers from penalties under NCLB. This freed districts from key sanctions and provided additional funding for school improvement. The California Office to Reform Education (CORE) also proposed reducing the number of students within a subgroup from 100 or more to 20 or more, which would account for another 150,000 students who were left unrepresented in the CORE districts under NCLB.

Under CORE, students would be measured not only by state assessments but also by a more holistic view of SEL and engagement:

60%: Scores on state exams and high school graduation rates

20%: Parent and teacher surveys (perception data)

20%: SEL factors like chronic absenteeism, suspensions, and expulsions

These changes have resulted in at least two critical outcomes:

1. There is greater insight into the academics of specific student groups, which has sparked conversations around issues of disproportionality (especially among Black and Latinx students).

2. New initiatives are being introduced to teach soft skills as part of educating the whole child.

What is the goal of SEL?

The goal of social-emotional learning in education is to promote and improve students' attitudes and beliefs about themselves, their relationships with others, and their education.

The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) has identified five areas of social-emotional learning (SEL) competence that support students' development and well-being-known as the CASEL framework. These five SEL competencies are intended to cultivate skills that advance students' learning and development:

These sets of competencies are related to one another in various degrees and involve multiple cognitive and behavioral skills. All of these skills can and must be developed within the school and home environments.

What are the CASEL 5 core competencies of social-emotional learning?

The SEL core competencies are:

Self-management: Managing one's emotions, thoughts, and behaviors effectively in different situations and achieving goals and aspirations. This includes the capacity to manage stress and maintain motivation and agency to accomplish personal and collective goals.

Examples: Identifying and using stress management strategies, keeping materials organized, and being on time.

Responsible decision making: Making caring and constructive choices about personal behavior and social interactions across situations. This includes the capacity to consider ethical standards and safety concerns and to evaluate the benefits and consequences of various actions for personal and collective well-being.

Examples: Completing homework on time, studying, and anticipating and evaluating the consequences of one's actions.

Relationship skills: Establishing and maintaining healthy and supportive relationships and effectively navigating settings with diverse individuals and groups. This includes the capacities to communicate clearly, listen actively, work collaboratively to problem solve and negotiate conflict constructively, navigate settings with differing social and cultural demands and opportunities, provide leadership, and seek or offer help when needed.

Examples: Cooperating with peers, developing positive relationships, demonstrating cultural competency, practicing teamwork, and collaborative problem-solving.

Social awareness: Understanding the perspectives of and empathizing with others, including those from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and contexts. This includes the capacity to feel compassion for others, understand broader historical and social norms for behavior in different settings, and recognize family, school, and community resources and support.

Examples: Being polite to others, demonstrating empathy and compassion, identifying diverse social norms, and understanding and expressing gratitude.

Self-awareness: Understanding one's own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence behavior across contexts. This includes capacities to recognize one's strengths and limitations with a well-grounded sense of confidence and purpose.

Examples: Identifying one's emotions, demonstrating honesty and integrity, linking feelings, values, and thoughts, examining prejudices and biases, and having a growth mindset.

Social-emotional learning (SEL) is directly linked to student achievement, equity, and long-term well-being. One study found that students who participate in SEL programs have, on average, an 11-point gain in academic achievement, as noted earlier. SEL has also been linked to the development of important study skills, such as homework completion and engagement.

The importance of supporting the 5 SEL competencies: research on the pandemic's effect on students' social, emotional, and mental well-being

Although providing resources to support students' well-being was already a top priority for many districts, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the need. Research conducted by the Center on Reinventing Public Education ( CRPE) summarizes what is currently known about the pandemic's impact on students' social-emotional well-being:

A significant portion of young people have experienced negative impacts on their mental or social-emotional health during the pandemic.

Students who learned remotely for long periods of time and historically marginalized students were more likely to experience negative effects.

Rates of anxiety and attempted suicides, already on the rise pre-pandemic, appear to have increased among all students, especially among girls.

While some students fared well initially-or even fared better-when learning remotely than they did in person, these positive effects did not last. Negative effects for students increased over time.

Schools and districts, especially in rural areas without a strong social-service infrastructure, lacked systems to track student well-being or strategies to address and improve it.

A report from the Centers for Disease Control reinforces the need for mental health resources. In 2020, there was a 24 percent increase in emergency room visits related to mental health for children ages 5 through 11, and a more than 30 percent increase in visits for those between 12 and 17 years old.

In addition to these impacts, the pandemic is also affecting some students' growth in core subject areas, including math and reading. The latest iteration of the Nation's Report Card also revealed a growing gap between high- and low-performing students-a "matter for national concern."

So, how can schools help to mitigate these impacts and effectively bolster student success? Let's return to our discussion of the five SEL competencies.

How should we approach the SEL 5 competencies?

Understanding the various elements and standards that constitute SEL is just the first step in the process. The next step is to determine how to build an effective implementation of a system-wide SEL program. This requires a three-pronged approach: professional learning, curriculum, and measurement.

#1: Professional learning

Critical to the success of any new initiative is ongoing, job-embedded professional learning for teachers and staff. SEL programs are no different. Educator teams need support to understand what SEL is and to implement evidence-based SEL practices and programs.

They also need training on how to validly administer SEB assessments, how to interpret the results of screening, and how to take action on the data.

High-quality professional learning increases team buy-in and accelerates the effective system-wide implementation of SEL curriculum and screening tools. But most importantly, it amplifies the impact of your programs, ensuring that the benefits of integrated SEL programs are fully realized.

#2: Curriculum

Social-emotional skills can be taught, and there are many SEL curricula and programs available to support the development of social-emotional competencies. As with math and reading, students need explicit social-emotional instruction using an evidence-based program.

Various SEL programs take different approaches. Some focus on teaching core competencies such as self-awareness and responsible decision making, while others focus on the development of specific SEL skills such as setting and achieving goals and developing positive relationships.

When selecting a curriculum or program, it's important to identify your SEL goals so you can determine whether the curricula you're evaluating have the content and support to help you meet those goals.

Context is also an important factor to consider. Curricula that take into account different cultural backgrounds, beliefs, and social settings when designing their lesson plans will be more effective with a broader range of students.

While an SEL curriculum plays an important role in a school-wide program, SEL should not be relegated to a specific time, class, or stand-alone lesson. Rather, incorporate SEL into the fabric of the school day, from a morning check-in on how students are feeling to pointing out a character's social-emotional skills when reading a book.

Integrating SEL into every part of students' educational experience provides opportunities for them to practice and build their skills.

#3: Measurement

While curriculum is a key component of an effective SEL program, too often districts choose a curriculum before identifying which SEL skills their students are strong in and which they may need instruction and practice to develop.

Prior to selecting and implementing an SEL curriculum, educators should first select a social-emotional behavior screener and measure their students' social-emotional skills. With this data, educators will have insight into where to focus instructional efforts in order to best address the specific needs of their students.

Similar to how we monitor students' academic progress to gauge the effectiveness of core curricular programs and teacher professional learning, social-emotional screeners provide insight into the effectiveness of school-wide SEL efforts.

Other considerations when approaching SEL competency data for student success

What other key points should we consider?

First, we need to understand that every student comes into the classroom with various outside factors that could affect their learning ability. If students are dealing with issues like family dysfunction or peer pressure, they won't be as prepared or focused on learning. For this reason, it's essential to come up with ways to identify those problems and address them early on.

Second, we need to apply our efforts in figuring out a student's beliefs towards education. How willing are they to learn? What are their motivations for school? What things actually support, enhance, or reinforce their beliefs about education?

Addressing their purpose within the classroom and helping to define their "why" is crucial in getting students to participate as much as they can in their own education.

When we consider these two points, we'll be more equipped to educate the whole child. A resource that could be helpful in this process is an MTSS collaboration and management solution. Having a system that will measure, track, and analyze data in regard to student behavior and performance will allow educators to keep a pulse on student progress and identify any red flags along the way.

Facilitate early intervention and prevention efforts using the five SEL competencies with SAEBRS

Today, districts are launching robust initiatives to help students build solid SEL foundations necessary to prevent long-term mental health problems. To find success in these efforts, districts should leverage evidence-based SEL resources and supports to help students succeed socially, emotionally, and academically.

Universal screening is an efficient, research-proven way to address social-emotional behavior (SEB) concerns and support early intervention efforts and SEL programming. Screening can inform educators where to target universal and prevention efforts including:

Selecting an SEL curriculum that matches students' specific and unique needs

Pinpointing social-emotional needs in the classroom

Identifying students in need of more intensive support

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SEL competencies: Why do they matter? | Renaissance

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Discover the new importance of social-emotional learning and explore the SEL five core competencies. % %

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Science Instruction for Secondary Students with EBD

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Science Instruction for Secondary Students with EBD

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Teaching students to self-regulate -for students with EBD.

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Teaching students to self-regulate -for students with EBD.

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What does self-regulation mean? Well, the obvious answer means for students to keep their feelings in check. But that's a bit misleading. It implies that students need to squish down their feelings. Emotional regulation is a skill that students need to be taught. It does not come naturally for everyone.

Students that are having a hard time with self-regulation often appear to be disengaged, rude, helpless or otherwise frustrating for teachers. For many teachers, this means ramping up the WOW factor to try to entice students into wanting to learn. This might mean costumes, balloons, candy and confetti for math-but imagine if it could be something so much simpler?

How are you feeling today?

Imagine all you might learn from your students with a simple question as they enter the room in the morning. It's so simple. In fact, it's so simple many people forget to check in with their students.

Being able to identify, express and regulate emotions is a difficult skill in a society that aims for happy HaPpY HAPPY! Thanks to a little Pixar movie, parents are starting to warm up to the idea that sadness is not a villain.

Everyone needs to be able to feel, express and control their emotions and as teachers, we are on the front line. To be clear-controlling emotional regulation does not mean stopping feelings from happening. It means finding healthy ways to deal with them.

We use these Feelings Check pages. You can find them in our Resource Library, or we can send them to you when you sign up for our email list.

Let's Take a Look at a Case Study

Little Janie is angry. She rips up her math book, throws it on the floor and stomps out of the room, slamming the door in the process.

First, assure the rest of your class that Janie is ok. She's obviously struggling with her feelings right now, so let's give her some time to calm down and sort them out.

This tells students that Little Janie is not in trouble for having feelings. It also gives them an example of a strategy they might use if they are ever feeling well. It also lets students know that acting like that is not going to get immediate attention (hopefully deterring students from joining in).

Back to Little Janie

We went to search for her and from a distance said, "Janie, I can see you are angry. When you are calmer, we can talk about it."

And then walk away. Let the student learn to calm. Do not threaten, punish, shame or engage with negative behaviour. (Also, ensure the child is safe before leaving them alone). There will be time to sort out the reasons for the behaviour later. There is no point in talking about everything at that moment because the student is far too upset and angry to talk rationally.

Your school might have a policy about students being in the hall. In our school, we have an arrangement that students can be in the hall, but everyone keeps an eye on everyone. This strategy does not work if your child is a runner. In that case, arrange a designated spot where the child can work out their feelings.

In the meantime...

We asked the class to ignore the behaviour and be supportive and kind when Little Janie returned. She did, about five minutes later, and we let her take her place in the class not pointing out or discussing what had happened, but welcoming her back instead.

After the lesson, we moved to a quieter space without an audience full of classmates and asked, "How are you feeling?"

She spilled the beans so we let her get it all out, reminding her in a calm quiet voice that we were listening. Kids will spill it, and no matter how irrational their reasons are-validate their feelings. She felt angry and frustrated and we responded with, "Yes, you were very angry, but we cannot rip books and slam doors no matter how angry we get. What can you do differently when you get angry next time?"

Teach Your Students About Feelings

We tend to overlook "soft skills" like mental health and wellness because we have so many other things pulling at our attention. Teaching students about feelings is very important if you want your students to be able to develop emotional regulation skills and take care of their mental health.

We have an entire post about why health class is important: Stop Overlooking Health Class if you want more information.

Some students struggle with feelings because they don't have the words to describe how they are really feeling. We wrote an entire unit about how to teach the vocabulary needed for your students to be able to express how they are feeling.

The Managing Feelings Unit is set up to help your students in Grades 4-6 through a variety of activities that teach students how to describe their feelings and what to do with them once they know what they are feeling. You can find the Managing Feelings Unit in our TPT Store and BN Shop.

We also have a version written for younger students in our Managing Feelings Unit for Grades 1-3. This also deals with vocabulary and self-talk, but it is written at a level for younger students. The Managing Feelings and Social Emotional Learning Unit is available in our TPT Store.

There is also a Managing Feelings Word Wall Set which will save you the time of coming up with a huge list of words. The set is editable digitally so you can add any words you need. You can find the Managing Feelings Word Wall Set in our TPT Store and BN Shop.

It turns out that in our case study, Little Janie was frustrated because she didn't understand how to do division. She just needed help expressing her frustration in a healthy way. She cannot be punished for not understanding division. Correct the behaviour, but punishing her, in this case, will only result in more issues with division later.

This is why teaching students to identify and express their feelings is so important to emotional regulation.

Once They Know Their Feelings, Now What?

Once students are aware of their feelings, they can start to look at what is causing the feeling. Knowing the cause can help alleviate the feeling. For example, knowing that Janie was struggling with division was enough to lower the level of frustration.

We practice using positive self-talk with our students. This means we help students acknowledge their feelings and then think about how to turn that around so it doesn't stop them from continuing with their day.

An example of this might be Janie saying, "I am really frustrated with division." With positive self-talk, her statement becomes, " I am really frustrated with division, but I am lucky that I have extra time to practice and keep trying."

Self-talk doesn't eliminate the feeling, but it allows students to see there will be a positive in the future. Some students gravitate towards this naturally, and others need lots of practice. This just comes down to personality and whether the student is an optimist or a pessimist.

Come up with a plan before you need it.

Frustration Breaks

We use code words to allow students to take a frustration break. A frustration break needs to be asked for BEFORE a blowout. Students learn when to ask. We have arrangements with other teachers to let students walk it off in the hall. Even just taking a walk to the water fountain or washroom can be enough to let a student reset their emotions.

Calm Boxes

We have a calm box that any student is allowed to use. It contains a few fidget tools, some play-dough, and colouring pages, and it is placed in a quiet space. Only one student is allowed to use it at a time, and we have a few basic rules about when it can be used (not during a test). We don't worry about students using it to avoid doing work because students need to request its use. They learn quickly how and when we'll allow it.

Individual Plans for Students

Little Janie has an EFP (Emergency Frustration Plan). It includes a code word. We have learned she needs to know about changes in advance whenever we can. This helps her accept the changes to her routine. She has some of her own calming tools that no one else has access to, but she also doesn't use the calming box.

Model

Self-regulation doesn't need you to be a disciplinarian. It needs you to be a teacher who shows students how to respond to feelings. You should share how you are feeling (and the why, too) with student-appropriate examples. Include the self-talk so students can see that everyone - even adults - has to manage their feelings.

Your Classroom Environment

Use your classroom environment to help with your self-regulation. Offer opportunities for quiet. Turn off the lights. Put on meditation music. Allow students to have a quiet moment (especially when they've just come back in from a crazy recess).

Transitions

One of our best ways to transition from exciting activities like gym or lunch to learning activities is to turn off the lights and invite students to put their heads down on their tables or desks. We read to them. We read very quietly in a calm voice. They mimic our tone, so it's important for your voice and body language to match the level you are wanting them to match.

Classroom Culture

Create a culture in your classroom that allows students to talk about their feelings. This can be done through class meetings, checking in with your students, talking about your own feelings, being proactive about possible feelings (like changes to routines or when the school nurses come to do vaccinations) and using the vocabulary for emotional regulation whenever possible.

We even created an Emotional Regulation Bingo Game to continue to have conversations about self-regulation with our students. You can find this resource in our TPT Store and BN Shop.

Breathing

What if students could self-regulate on their own? This video by Julie Bayer Salzman and Josh Salzman highlights the importance of just breathing. Take a breath...everyone.

Stretching

Sometimes we just need a great stretch to help reset our brains to get ready for more work. Show students a few different stretches they can do and use anytime.

A calm activity we learned was tracing shapes in the air slowly and calmly. We also have pictures of shapes on the wall that students are encouraged to touch and trace with their fingers. A task like this usually calms the brain and allows students to sort out their feelings before returning to work.

Noise-Cancelling Headphones

Students who know they need quiet need to know there are options for quiet working time. We allot certain times of the day for quiet work, but we also offer students noise-cancelling headphones they can use any time.

Wiggle/Move/Bike Time

We have several seating options for students that need to move. They learn to use these tools to help get their wiggles out so they can get back to work. We have wiggle cushions, Hokki stools and several under-the-desk pedal bikes. After the novelty wears off, the students who actually need to move to do it, while the others don't bother.

We have a few standing desks that don't have chairs. Students who like to stand while they work are given that option.

A few of our chairs have rubber bands tied to the legs so students can push and pull on them.

We even had a little trampoline in our classroom for a while. Students could take off their shoes and then jog on the spot for one minute. We just left a timer beside the trampoline. Students were allowed to use it when it was independent work time.

Once students can trust you (and their classmates) with their feelings, many of the dramatic behaviours tend to go away (well, many of them). They need to know they can take care of their needs, and the more they can learn to do this on their own without prompting, the better.

When students know their feelings will be heard and validated, they will feel confident. They need to know that others feel the same way. It's part of what makes them human.

If you're looking for some books and other resources to use to help your students learn skills for emotional regulation, you might want to read our post: The Secrets to Teaching Social Emotional Learning That Will Work for Kids.

What other emotional regulation strategies do you use to help your students learn to self-regulate? Let us know in the comments below.

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How to Teach Students to Self-Regulate - Ninja Notes

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Emotional regulation isn't an innate skill that students magically have. Read about ways you can teach students to self-regulate.

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Tips and examples for teaching science in the special education classroom

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Tips and examples for teaching science in the special education classroom

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Teaching Science In Special Education Classrooms · Mrs. P's Specialties

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Science units are wonderful for teaching science concepts in a special education classroom... especially those with multiple grades. The science units help me differentiate and teach and reteach the science concepts year after year. Focus On Vocabulary Many students struggle with all of the vocabulary and language that come with science concepts.

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Hands-on Science for Special Education classrooms for students with EBD.

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Hands-on Science for Special Education classrooms for students with EBD.

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As a special education teacher, I know the challenge of differentiating instruction.

While my district provides a specialized reading and math curriculum for special education classrooms, they are seriously lacking in the science and social studies department.

"Oh, just take what the grade level is doing and modify that," I was instructed, as a general education teacher handed me a 6-page multiple choice test to review as a guideline.

I will tell you this, though: one can only adapt the Declaration of Independence so much.

Differentiating Curriculum is Time-Consuming

I would spend hours planning my lessons and nearly twice the amount of time searching for resources and making accommodations and modifications to everything. It was truly exhausting.

The sole purpose of my TPT store is to provide teachers with resources that have already been adapted and meet the needs of their students.

I take the prerequisite skills needed to master grade-level standards and provide you with engaging, hands-on activities that make learning exciting and appropriate.

My students LOVED them.

Hands-On Science Curriculum Kids Love

My students were excited to make predictions with their table tent prediction cards.

They were dashing around the room to test the magnetic properties of anything and everything in the classroom.

Most importantly, they were the little scientists I knew they could be and were accessing the grade-level curriculum in a way that best met their needs.

I love science and am so happy I found a way to make my students care even just a little bit more!

below are a few more in the Especially Education "All Sorts of Science" series

Click below to see all my TpT science downloads.

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Hands-On Science in the Special Education Classroom | Especially Education

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Discover engaging hands-on science activities and lessons at Especially Education. Our comprehensive collection of educational resources fosters interactive learning experiences for students of all abilities.

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Science Curriculum for Special Education

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Science Curriculum for Special Education

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If your class is anything like mine, you are constantly modifying and searching high and low for age appropriate on level curriculum. You probably spend most of your time searching for math and ELA, and science is often forgotten. I know in my class it was.

NOT ANYMORE. I started created the simple science curriculum in the beginning of last year and it is not done yet! The first bundle of units has been released and are ready to use to implement some GRADE LEVEL science topics at your students levels!

The simple science curriculum includes Simple Science Comprehension, Simple Science Adapted Book Bundle, Simple Science File Folders, and supplemental Simple Science Experiments. All of the units focus on the same 6 topics. Matter, Simple Machines, Living/Nonliving, Hot or Cold, Planets, and Five Senses.

Each adapted books works on the sight word vocabulary for each topic, picture matching or matching picture to word. This built in differentiation works for every level in your classroom. For higher students, you can use the book as a reference guide for writing about the topic, while lower students can work on mastering matching and identifying words. The velcro pieces make it easy for students who are non-writers and have difficulty managing small pieces.

These file folders focus on the same 6 topics as the adapted books, but include 2 levels of folders for each. One level focuses on matching picture to picture, which gets your lower level students interacting with the material and becoming familiar with the language and images, the 2nd level focuses on matching picture to word, mastering vocabulary and building independence.

These comprehension sheets have really made this curriculum complete. It's perfect to get higher level kids really interacting with text, making inferences, an using what they learned in the lessons to answer. It comes with 3 levels of passages and 3 levels of worksheets for each passage. The levels accommodate full sentence writers, beginning writers, and non writers with the picture comprehension option!

The fun stuff. We do a science experiment a week to reinforce topics, or just have some fun! We love talking about WHY the experiment worked or didn't worked, listing our ingredients, and deciding what we need! This is even a reward for some kids!

This curriculum is seriously life changing, requires VERY little prep if you get the file folders and books ready to go before the school year, and will keep your kids ENGAGED learning grade level topics at their level.

Grab the Simple Science Curriculum Here.

Any requests for the next bundle?

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Simple Science Curriculum for Special Education - Simply Special Ed

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If your class is anything like mine, you are constantly modifying and searching high and low for age appropriate on level curriculum. You probably spend most of your time searching for math and ELA, and science is often forgotten. I know in my class it was. NOT ANYMORE.

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Earth Day activities for Special Education Classroom

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Earth Day activities for Special Education Classroom

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25 Excellent Earth Day Activities for a Special Ed Classroom

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Get 25 awesome free resources for Earth Day perfect for a special education setting. Math, ELA, Science, Art and more. I have you covered!!

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What is Inquiry-Based Learning? Hint: by asking this question, I'm engaging you in inquiry. Put simply, it is triggering and engaging student curiosity. Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) is an approach that emphasizes the student's participation in the learning process. Instead of the teacher telling students what they need to know, students are encouraged to explore the materials, ask questions and share ideas. IBL emphasizes small-group discussion and guided learning as opposed to memorizing of facts and materials. In other words, students learn by doing, building knowledge through exploration, experience, collaboration and discussion.

This type of learning allows students to better understand and recall material by actively engaging with it and making their own connections. New knowledge becomes stored in long-term memory-not just quickly regurgitated facts that are lost as soon as the exam is complete. Inquiry provides a deeper understanding of content knowledge while improving critical thinking, executive functioning and collaboration skills. For special education students specifically, inquiry has been proven beneficial as it supports alternative learning styles while reducing the emphasis on memorizing facts.

What Is Inquiry-Based Learning?

Well, we gave it away in the title"¦ it's an approach designed to boost student engagement! We retain 75 percent of what we do, compared with 5 percent of what we hear and 10 percent of what we read. Maslow's hierarchy naturally emphasizes inquiry-based strategies and exposures. IBL is an effective method of instruction for all students, including students with unique learning needs, and should be used as much as possible when appropriate. Studies have found that this method of teaching is beneficial for students who are in a self-contained classroom, resource room and inclusion settings. This method of instruction and learning is critical in creating meaningful experiences across multiple subjects and is most easily implemented in science lessons for students with special learning needs.

IBL asks students to take more responsibility for their learning and ensures they remain on task and motivated because the direction of the learning is being controlled by the students, which naturally encourages engagement and participation. The cognitive skills that students develop can also be used to demonstrate and improve comprehension across all subject areas, as well as being generalized in day-to-day life and living skills.

How to Encourage Inquiry in the Special Education Classroom

Answer/acknowledge all questions. If a student's question is not at least acknowledged they are significantly less likely to continue to inquire in the future. Something I introduced in my classroom this past school year is a Wonder Wall. If a student asks a question that is not on topic, or we are not able to address it at the moment, it is written down on a Post-it and placed on the Wonder Wall. This allows the respect to be given to the question and, depending on what the topic is, I can either build a lesson around it, find resources or simply open a discussion about it during snack time. The important thing is that the students' voices are heard. This can be adapted in any number of ways: students can write the question, fill in the blank, respond to a sentence prompt or illustration provided by the teacher, or you can try teacher scribing. Make it work for your classroom needs.

Writing, drawing, speaking, scribing, pointing to a picture exchange system, visuals, photos-these are all appropriate, adaptable and inclusive options in any environment.

Inquiry Discovery Model: The 5 E Model is a recommended breakdown of IBL. The 5 E Model steps usually include:

1. Engagement-motivate the student, ask questions

2. Exploration-students manipulate materials and discover on their own

3. Explanation-students share their discoveries and the teacher may introduce theories and content

4. Elaboration-students create new connections to other concepts or real-world problems

5. Evaluation-students should evaluate themselves and the teacher should use formal and informal evaluations to check for understanding of the concept.

How to Adapt Inquiry to Make It Accessible for All Learners

1. Use the 5 E method with all students.

2. Set inquiry objectives with consideration of the specific learners in your classroom.

3. Program AAC devices with questions or question prompts ("can the" "does it" "will he")

4. Be open-minded as to how the model could apply to communicating through writing, drawing, speaking, pointing, AAC, etc.

5. Model inquiry yourself (point to the cover of a book and say, "I wonder ______," "I am curious if _____," "How does that work?" Then build on this over time by asking your students, "What do you wonder?" after presenting material).

6. Use visuals to cue beginning a sentence: who, what, will, is, does, why.

7. Photos are good prompts for inquiry: What do you wonder about this photo? What can you add on to this photo? What does this remind you of? What do you think happens next? Begin to allow students to question, respond and lead the conversation. Go on the journey that they take you on.

8. Project-based learning: Unique Learning System has weekly lessons that are already adapted and ready to use in the inquiry-based models for science experiments, cooking lessons and much more. These are great resources to begin your journey and help you focus more on the discussions, communications and embodiment of sustained student engagement.

9. An example of building inquiry into a reading lesson summative:
Following a book: "What questions would you ask the author/character?"

How to Get Started with Inquiry‑Based Learning

Sometimes we have to bring it back to the basics. Below are some tips or ideas for implementing IBL in your classroom. Think about what would work best for you and your students. This may be a starting point, sparking you to consider a variation that would work best.

Make inquiry an expectation. Think of all of the "how cans" instead of the "why nots." Our students often rise to the occasion when we provide access to higher-level expectations with support.

Ask "What questions do you have?" instead of "Does anyone have any questions?"

Teach and model how to ask questions. I have tried to frame my teaching mindset around it being my job not just to give my students information, but to teach them how to ask the questions that will prompt them to find the information themselves.

Once they are asking the questions we then look to find the answers together through hands-on experiments, looking up information (from a reliable resource) or even asking an expert.

Share examples of this process, either from other students or teacher-created, if necessary. This is a great opportunity for inclusion and peer modeling.

Start small, and allow for initiating inquiry with: choices, predictions, opportunities for personal responses and personal connections.

If this is new for you, introduce IBL during a certain day of the week or subject area. Examples: mystery Monday, genius hour, science or reading class.

IBL teaching doesn't need to feel daunting, it just needs to feel inclusive and allow for students to participate and engage in their own learning.

Reflection: The Final Stage of Inquiry

If we are going to teach inquiry-based learning, we should try it ourselves, right? Reflection does not have to be complicated, it just has to be accessible. Building inquiry will sometimes go better than expected and at other times you may miss the mark completely-keep working toward finding your balance.

Commend yourself for trying something new and reflect on:

What went well?

What can I do differently next time?

How can I get all students to be inquirers each day?

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Inquiry-Based Learning to Boost Student Engagement

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Learn ways to boost student engagement, comprehension, and recall through inquiry-based learning in n2y's blog article.

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Science Presentation for all levels and subjects

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Science Presentation for all levels and subjects

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Free PowerPoint Presentations about Science for Kids & Teachers (K-12)

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Pete's PowerPoint Station is your destination for free PowerPoint presentations for kids and teachers about Science, and so much more.

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What is a maker space? It's a place where students can access shared materials to explore design, engineering, and problem solving. If you teach science, math, or art it's a great addition to the classroom. It's also a great space to address social emotional learning, working as a team, and grit that comes from failure. As a special ed teacher, I love the hands on aspect of learning. Recently a teacher asked me how to create a maker space in the classroom. I broke it down for here, but am sharing it here too so you know exactly how to create a STEM challenge station in your classroom.

How To Prepare Your STEM Challenge Station

I created a complete set of visuals and STEM challenge task cards so it was easy to prep this station. If you're interested in getting the complete printable, click here. Otherwise, you can create your own. Some classic maker space challenges are building bridges, houses, musical instruments, and egg drops that keep the egg from breaking. All of these are great STEM challenges.

If you choose to get the printable comes with directions to set up, but it's pretty simple to set up a maker space in the classroom.

GATHER THE MATERIALS

4. Print out the Shopping List on page 42 and look for the materials in your classroom or at your local dollar store.

5. Gather the materials and place them in bins, baggies, or small buckets. Print the materials labels in color or black and white to label them clearly and help with student clean up.

SET UP THE CLASSROOM SPACE

6. Designate an area to store the materials, use the label to indicate your Maker Space. Remember, this can be a static location that is available most of the time... or it can be an area that you place the materials on as you need it. The setup here depends largely on your students and their learning needs as well as your physical classroom space.

Adapted Resources from Noodle Nook

How to Use a Maker Space in the Classroom

Once you set up your classroom Builder Bins, it's time for some logistics on how to use a maker space in the classroom. Those steps are pretty easy too:

PICK the MATERIALS

3. Have students choose builder materials. You can do that a few different ways:

Students can choose up to a certain number of building tools. This makes pre-planning critical.

Students can choose any tools in any volume.

Students must choose from a certain set of materials (ie: your build today must include popsicle sticks).

The teacher chooses the build materials and lists them on the board or at the center. Use the building icons to list the available building tools with visual support.

BUILDERS SHOWCASE

7. You can choose to have students present their builds or put them on display if you like. At the end of a building cycle, students clean up the area, returning any unused materials to the appropriate builder bin.

How to Get Started with STEM Challenges

Article Citation:

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How To Create a Maker Space in the Classroom -STEM Challenge

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Ideas and tips on how to use STEM challenge task cards as a science center or station & how to create a maker space in the classroom. Helpful ways

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7 Stem activities for students with developmental delays

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7 Stem activities for students with developmental delays

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Teaching STEM is now a standard component of early childhood education, but do we pay enough attention to students with special needs?

Educational institutions - from traditional schools to home school programs - are recognising the value of early childhood STEM programs in teaching critical thinking, encouraging curiosity and fostering a love of collaborative learning and problem-solving.

However, as educators continue to build out their STEM offerings for younger children, it's important they pay attention to the needs of students with developmental disabilities. All too often, students with disabilities find that STEM activities aren't designed with enough consideration for their needs. That lack of consideration is an especially big loss considering that STEM-focussed activities can be especially stimulating and enjoyable for many students with disabilities and that disability-inclusive STEM education can have substantial benefits for childhood cognitive development.

Fortunately, incorporating STEM education for kids with disabilities doesn't have to be difficult. If you're an educator interested in creating fun and interesting STEM activities for younger children with developmental disabilities, try these seven easy and fun activities in your classroom. They're designed to be accessible, interesting and rewarding for students of many different ability levels, and they help lay the foundations of logical and creative thinking that lead to a world of discovery.

1. Sticky-note matching numbers

A Post-It Number Match Game is a great way to teach basic math skills using a method that also provides the kinetic stimulation that many learners with disabilities need in their lessons. All you need for this activity are some markers, sticky notes, painter's tape and butcher paper.
RELATED: The rise of cybersecurity education
Create a wall display with dots for each number, as well as a numeral on a sticky note to match. Then, hide the numbers around your classroom and send your kids on a hunt. Kids will love the accomplishment of finding each number, counting out the dots and applying each note to its spot! Best of all, the activity can be easily modified for identifying shapes, colours or any other learning goal.

2. Microscope activities

Microscopes are a classic way to get kids interested in the world around them, and starting with a student microscope kit will help introduce these important tools in a way that's accessible for young children with disabilities.

Learning to manipulate the different parts of a microscope can be an excellent sensorimotor experience for students with disabilities and can help improve their confidence in operating STEM equipment, with many student microscope kits also coming with learning aids such as books, experiment cards and prepared slides. Finally, microscopes with digital cameras are also available that are great for guided learning exercises, as they make it easy for educators to display specimens on larger screens for easy viewing.

3. Popsicle stick builders

Experimenting, creating and building are all key parts of the STEM process, and popsicle stick builders can be an excellent way to get kids going on these key concepts. All you'll need are a few velcro dots and a big bag of multicoloured popsicle sticks (also called craft sticks). Each dot should come as a pair with a hook and a loop side. Place one of each on each end of the craft stick and you've got a fun and versatile building toy great for building letters, numbers, shapes and anything else a child's mind can dream up!

4. Classroom caterpillars or tadpoles

Classroom caterpillar or tadpole kits can be a great choice for STEM classrooms with students with disabilities. Watching and caring for a living creature as it grows and develops is a priceless STEM experience that can foster a lifelong love of life sciences. Students of all different ability levels will learn about the life cycles of the animals around us, and they'll love watching the amazing transformation of caterpillars into butterflies or tadpoles into frogs. On top of that, these kits help teach responsibility and care for living things, which can benefit children's social and emotional learning.
RELATED: 7 Benefits of inspiring STEM education in young girls
5. Easy stick blocks

With bristles that let them stick together on all four sides, these fun building blocks (also called bristle blocks) offer all kinds of building opportunities that other block toys don't. They're easy to stick together, but also require effort and concentration, so they can help students with disabilities learn to solve problems and work independently. Grab a big lot of them and let your learners' imaginations run wild, or challenge them to build structures that support small objects in the classroom.

6. Solar UV Beads

A box of solar UV beads offers two activities in one - a creative exercise that children of different ability levels can do, plus an awesome demonstration of a key concept in STEM. Making jewellery with these clear white beads is a great fine motor skill activity that offers simple, creative fun, but the real enjoyment begins once you take them out in the sun. Kids will be amazed to watch the colours of the beads change when they're exposed to sunlight, and it offers a great opportunity to show them the power of the sun and how natural forces can change the things around them.

7. Pattern Blocks

Recognising, matching and manipulating patterns is a key early skill for STEM learners of all ability levels, and pattern blocks are an accessible and fun pattern-teaching tool that has been used for decades. These brightly-coloured blocks are an early childhood classic that give children a dazzling array of shapes that they can rearrange to learn critical STEM concepts such as how parts come together to form a whole, shape symmetry and measurement. They're also great for many different kinds of learning, from structured lessons in which learners work to imitate a design, to creative play exercises in which they make their own.

A disability-inclusive classroom is one in which all students are given opportunities to thrive, and inclusive STEM education is a key part of cognitive development for students with disabilities. With these easy and fun activities, educators can provide a range of appropriate STEM lessons that will ensure students with disabilities are included in the thrill of discovery.

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7 easy STEM activities for students with developmental disabilities

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as educators continue to build out their STEM offerings for younger children, it's important that they pay attention to the needs of students with developmental disabilities.

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Special education students need assistance with learning what to focus on. This is a good example of how students can be supported in a whole classroom.

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Teaching strategies for students with EBD.

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Teaching strategies for students with EBD.

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I have included this resource because there is a significant link between behavior of students with EBD and their academic gaps.

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4 quick RTI strategies for the math classroom.

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4 quick RTI strategies for the math classroom.

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4 Response to Intervention (RTI) Strategies for the Math Classroom - Wowzers

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4 Easy Response to Intervention strategies to being to implement TODAY in your classroom and see results with Wowzers Learning!

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Pinterest board for math vocabulary strategies.

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Pinterest board for math vocabulary strategies.

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Tier 2 Math Intervention Strategies List

Overall, Tier 2 supplemental instruction strategies aim to provide targeted support to students. With Tier 2 math intervention, students who have not yet demonstrated proficiency in a given unit are provided more instructional time and differentiated supports. This instruction is typically delivered in small homogeneous groups based on specific learning needs. Here are some strategies you can use to provide small-group intervention:

Explicit Instruction

Explicit instruction, or teaching the content in a direct, structured way with clear modeling, such as verbalizing your thought process while problem-solving, can be a lifeline for students who struggle to grasp the content. This type of instruction helps students develop conceptual understanding and content knowledge. Students must also be given opportunities to practice these new skills and communicate their understanding while receiving timely feedback.
Some ways to use explicit instruction in Tier 2 intervention:

Solve Related Problems: Model multiple problems of varying difficulty to help students understand how to apply different strategies in different contexts.

Have Students Teach Each Other: Curate collaborative problem-solving activities that directly match instruction. Assign students a partner or place them in small groups so they can hear each other's thinking and share their own problem-solving strategies.

Reteach Previous Concepts: Provide regular cumulative review to reinforce previously learned concepts and strategies and make connections between old and new material.

Schema-Based Instruction

Schema-based instruction is an evidence-based strategy that can be used to help students recognize patterns in word problems. All teachers have had students who struggle to understand what a word problem is asking. To overcome this challenge, introduce students to a schema, or an underlying structure that can be used to illustrate problems and adapt new word problems to the same schema.
Some ideas for schema-based instruction:

Additive: Use bar models for word problems involving unknown addends or sums so that students can visualize the relative sizes of the quantities and see how they are related.

Multiplicative: Use schema for word problems that are setups for multiplication and division. For example, using the schema "Total ÷ Groups = Number per Group," students can solve partitive division problems by filling in the values they know and solving for the unknown value.

A non-example might be circling values and underlining the question. While circling numbers and underlining the key words might help some students, note that it does not help many students recognize patterns and relationships for organizing and connecting information across different word problems.

Visual Representations

While using multiple representations helps all students, those who need targeted instruction benefit most from special attention given to visual representations. Having students find connections among visual representations can help them uncover the structure in the math and make generalizations.
Some examples of visual representations:

Physical or Virtual Manipulatives: Teach student groups how to use virtual or physical manipulatives, such as base ten blocks, fraction bars, geometric shapes, and algebra tiles to model and solve problems.

Pictures and Drawings: Provide explicit instruction to student groups on how to accurately draw area models, graphs, diagrams, and charts to represent mathematical situations.

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Teaching with RTI: Math Tier 2 and Tier 3 Strategies

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These RTI math Tier 2 and Tier 3 strategies strive to provide teachers with a systematic approach to early math intervention.

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Math interventions and tips for how to implement each one.

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Math interventions and tips for how to implement each one.

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Dyscalculia: Teaching Strategies & Modifications

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Strategies to help support students with math anxiety

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Strategies to help support students with math anxiety

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As teachers, we all know that math is essential. It is at the foundation of many of the daily activities that students will need throughout their lives. But, unfortunately, some students have a fear of math that can lead to anxiety, problems with math, and difficulty in math classes. Studies suggest that between 8% and 20% of kids (and as many as 45% of adults) experience math anxieties - defined as fear, stress, or anxiety when doing math.

These students often arrive in our classrooms loudly announcing that they are "just bad at math." They fear getting answers wrong, worry about how others perceive them, and do their best to fly under the radar in class. This anxiety leads them to avoid activities that require quick math calculations and, without intervention, can even dissuade them from taking advanced math classes, even if they can succeed. The good news for these students is that math anxiety can be overcome. In this article, I want to share a bit of what causes math anxiety, how to recognize it in your learners, and how you can help them overcome it.

What is math anxiety & what causes it?

Math anxiety is the feeling of dread, nervousness, and worry some people experience when confronted with numbers, problem-solving, or other mathematical concepts and operations. Students with math anxiety are not necessarily bad at math, but they tend to have less confidence in their abilities. Several factors are believed to contribute to someone's negative feelings about math, including:

That being said, the research is much less straightforward when it comes to how math anxieties develop. It's very much a chicken-and-egg situation. While there is solid evidence that math anxiety and mathematical abilities are related, there is less clarity about which comes first.

Are students anxious about arithmetic which makes the subject more difficult to learn?

Or are students who struggle with math more likely to end up with math anxiety?

Right now, the jury is still out.

What are the signs of math anxiety?

Math anxiety can affect people of all ages, but is especially prevalent among young children. A child with math anxiety might find it hard to concentrate when solving a math problem, and while every child is different there are some commonly observed signs that a child might be experiencing math anxiety.

If you suspect that any of your students are experiencing math anxiety, it's important to know what to look for and how to approach it so you can develop a plan that addresses their needs.

Here's what you should look out for in the classroom:

The student avoids mathematical tasks.

For those who experience math anxiety, even thinking about the subject can be stressful. As a result, these students will go to great lengths to avoid these feelings because their body has quite literally gone into fight or flight mode and will do all it can to avoid mathematics while in this hyper-aroused state.

This can appear as repeated trips to the pencil sharpener, bathroom breaks, or misbehavior in the classroom. However, this can be the student with the tall pile of incomplete work, as many of these students do their best to avoid extra attention yet fail to complete many assignments.

The student tends to do poorly in math.

As I mentioned in the article, many students with math-related anxieties also struggle in math. Since these students tend to avoid math tasks, they will likely have had less practice than their more proficient peers. As a result, their grades are often lower. They are often your students who have had years of math interventions.

As this pattern continues, these students develop lower self-efficacy in mathematics, which only serves to perpetuate the cycle.

They freeze up when asked a question & prefer not to participate.

This often shows up in a couple of different ways. These are your students who seem to freeze whenever they're directly asked a math-related question, and there's actually substantial evidence that supports that this is beyond their control.

Brain research has shown that working memory resources get overworked when students experience mathematics anxiety. This means even if they can do the math, they don't have the cognitive resources left to do it.

You might also recognize these as your more passive students. Their fear of failure and worries keep them in constant learned helplessness. Avoiding participation protects them from risking embarrassment.

While some students freeze due to feeling anxious, others have an uncharacteristically emotional response. For example, a student who breaks down into tears or gets angry may be experiencing anxiety, especially if this behavior occurs only when doing math tasks. This is often related to these students' internal frustration because they falsely believe everyone else can do the work more quickly and easily.

The student engages in negative self-talk.

As with other types of anxiety, negative thoughts are common among students who struggle with math anxiety. While much of this is internalized, the students are often overheard in class complaining that they hate math or aren't good at it.

This negative self-talk frames their experiences with arithmetic - highlighting their successes as exceptions to the rule and their failures as illustrating the truth in their feelings.

How to support students with math anxiety

1. Utilize think time when asking questions.

It's perfectly acceptable to ask a question and give kids time to think before calling on someone to respond. We have lots of research that shows this helps kids learn, improves their math performance, and creates a positive classroom climate because it reduces the pressure and allows everyone time to participate instead of just the 2-3 fastest responders.

As mentioned above, research has found that math anxiety taxes the working memory system. This system is heavily utilized in math. Giving think time allows students to move past the mental block related to the overworked memory system.

In addition, think time allows all students to process the question. They can begin to think about the answer without the instant comparison between peers who may be working more quickly. Since this comparison often leads to negative self-talk for math-anxious learners, eliminating that opportunity before it arises can be helpful.

2. Start by building confidence.

There are several ways to do this. First off, if you've got an anxious student who freezes when asked a question in class, it can be helpful to set them up for success for a while. This means instead of calling on them randomly. Carefully select times where you can be nearly 100% certain they'll respond correctly.

For example, after students finish working a problem in their notebook, check the student's answer. If you know he is correct, praise him when you walk by. Tell him to raise his hand, and you'll call on him to answer.

This strategy works for two reasons. First, it takes away the risk. The student already knows his answer is correct, so there is no risk in sharing it. Second, it prepares the student that you'll be calling on him, so he begins to feel comfortable participating in class.

3. Focus on conceptual understanding as the foundation.

Many kids think math is really about memorizing procedures or formulas, instead of fundamentally understanding how numbers work together in interesting ways. Sometimes this is perpetuated by well-meaning teachers who are pushed into test prep as spring approaches.

It is easy to focus on having struggling learners memorize the steps and worry about understanding why later. Instead, focus on building conceptual understanding. When students understand the underlying principles of math, they are less reliant on their procedural memory.

Concept-building often begins with hands-on activities that utilize manipulatives to make math visible. This can alleviate stress because students are moving the parts and seeing how the concept looks.

It is important not to move to the abstract (or just the numbers) until the student is confident and deeply understands what they are doing. This means students need enough time to practice so that they have the opportunity to move beyond a surface-level understanding.

For younger learners: Be sure to avoid taking the manipulatives or moving toward representations, like drawings, too soon. This can cause anxiety to spike for math-anxious students.

When students only know the steps of a process, forgetting any step only exacerbates their anxiety. Understanding the underlying concepts bridges the gap to efficiently guide learners through the steps.

For more advanced students, this includes understanding why and how the formulas work more than memorizing them. Being able to understand the components

4. Use positive reinforcement.

It's really important to avoid giving kids a negative environment regarding math. Negative self-talk is a standard part of math anxiety. Therefore, these students require consistent, external positive reinforcement to counteract the internal voice telling them they can't be successful with math.

That can be difficult when you're busy trying to cover a lot of material. But here's the thing, if kids don't have time to figure out how the math works, they're going to feel like they're never getting it right.

Take time to point out growth, effort, and focus on what the student did correctly over what she needs to improve. When you do have to correct or reteach, be sure to sandwich your corrections between praise to help the student internalize the positive.

In addition, purposefully partner math-anxious students with positive, encouraging peers. This can help them persist and feel less self-conscious when tackling partner or small group math tasks.

5. Approach math from a growth-mindset framework.

We know that students who believe they can improve their math skills through effort and practice generally do better in math. In fact, research has shown that teaching students a growth mindset can improve math scores.

Focus on the concept of "yet" instead of the permanency of "can't". This helps create a mind shift for the learner. It can also help them separate their math difficulties from their personal identity and self-concept.

Remember that you'll also want to find ways to acknowledge that mistakes are okay. They are a normal part of the learning process. It is important to find a balance between acknowledging the students who are making progress and those who consistently excel.

6. Implement anxiety-busting strategies before tests.

Research has shown cognitive-behavioral techniques are effective in helping to reduce the effects of math anxiety on test scores. For example, journaling can help. Writing about worries before a test has been shown to reduce stress and improve test scores. Similarly, mindfulness activities and breathing exercises have both been shown to help reduce test anxiety.

There are many great options, but here's one I like to use for elementary students.

7. Seek family support.

Another tool for supporting a student who is struggling with math anxiety is to build strong home-school connections. While this strategy is suitable for all learners, it can be beneficial for those who feel anxious or lack confidence in their academic abilities.

This connection can allow you to communicate areas where the student is doing well and areas that may benefit from additional practice. It can also be helpful because students often tell parents things they don't mention at school and vice-versa.

While not always possible, if parents ask, one-on-one tutoring has been shown to help reduce math anxiety.

Unfortunately, you may also find that this conversation may guide you to take care in how much you share negatives about math with families. If you notice that there is a high-pressure environment at home, you may want to take care and consider how best to communicate about math to the student's family as not to make anxieties worse.

8. Help students find the fun in mathematics.

Purposefully planning fun, low-pressure math activities is another essential aspect of helping reduce student fears. Creating positive experiences where students can be successful and find joy in mathematics helps to foster a positive association between the subject and the learner.

Games, escape rooms, and puzzles are commonly included in classrooms to review and practice essential concepts and skills. Ensuring that these are utilized so that students are working to review previously mastered materials is the most critical aspect of this strategy.

Taking control of math anxiety in the classroom

The first step to helping reluctant learners take control of their math-related anxieties is by recognizing the signs in the classroom. Teachers need to be aware of what this looks like and how they can best address it to help set these students on a path for a lifelong positive relationship with mathematics.

I hope you found some helpful strategies in this article, and if you'd like to learn more about helping engage your students with arithmetic, check these out:

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Supporting Reluctant Learners with Math Anxiety

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As teachers, we know math is essential. It is the foundation of many daily activities that students will need throughout their lives. Unfortunately, some students have math anxiety that keeps creates a barrier to math confidence and success. Here are some tips to help them overcome this challenge.

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Teaching strategies for supporting students with Emotional Disturbance.

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Teaching strategies for supporting students with Emotional Disturbance.

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9 Effective Teaching Strategies for Students With Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

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Children are the beacon of hope for our future. Their mental health and emotional well-being are the very foundation upon which future success and happiness are built.

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Dyscalculia is a mathematics-related disability resulting from neurological dysfunction. Students who are diagnosed with Dyscalculia have average to above-average intellectual functioning and a significant discrepancy between their math skills and their chronological-age-peer norms. For a diagnosis of Dyscalculia, it must be determined that the math deficit is not simply related to issues such as poor instruction, vision, hearing or other physical problems, cultural or language differences, or developmental delays.

In Accommodating Math Students with Learning Disabilities, author Rochelle Kenyon lists the following strategies for teaching a student with math-related learning disabilities.

Avoid memory overload. Assign manageable amounts of work as skills are learned.

Build retention by providing review within a day or two of the initial learning of difficult skills.

Provide supervised practice to prevent students from practicing misconceptions and "misrules."

Make new learning meaningful by relating practice of subskills to the performance of the whole task.

Reduce processing demands by preteaching component skills of algorithms and strategies.

Help students to visualize math problems by drawing.

Use visual and auditory examples.

Use real-life situations that make problems functional and applicable to everyday life.

Do math problems on graph paper to keep the numbers in line.

Use uncluttered worksheets to avoid too much visual information.

Practice with age-appropriate games as motivational materials.

Have students track their progress.

Challenge critical thinking about real problems with problem solving.

Use manipulatives and technology such as tape recorders or calculators.

This list was adapted from the following source: Garnett, K., Frank, B., & Fleischner, J. X. (1983). A strategies generalization approach to basic fact learning (addition and subtraction lessons, manual #3; multiplication lessons, manual #5). Research Institute for the Study of Learning Disabilities. New York, NY: Teacher's College, Columbia University.

For additional resources on how to make mathematics accessible to students with disabilities, consult the DO-IT Knowledge Base article Where can I find tips on making math accessible to students with disabilities?

For more information regarding challenges faced by students with math-related learning disabilities, consult the DO-IT Knowledge Base article What are typical challenges students with math-related learning disabilities face?

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What are strategies for teaching a student with a math-related learning disability?

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Dyscalculia is a mathematics-related disability resulting from neurological dysfunction. Students who are diagnosed with Dyscalculia have average to above-average intellectual functioning and a significant discrepancy between their math skills and their chronological-age-peer norms. For a diagnosis of Dyscalculia, it must be determined that the math deficit is not simply

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Tier 2 instruction and interventions should be high-quality and evidence or research-based. Tier 2 instruction and interventions are supplemental to the core instruction, meaning that as identified students begin to receive Tier 2 instruction and interventions, they continue accessing their high-quality education.

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About two years ago, I was a district administrator for school climate improvement. In this role, I was asked to support a group of administrators that were handling intense behaviors on their campus. The campus had maxed out its intensive support resources, and determined that they had no other option than to create a new tier of support-what they referred to as "Tier 4."

I have noticed this trend quite often. I hear different variations of this new level of need: "Tier 4," "deep red," or even "too many red students."

What does this mean?

A Multi-Tiered System of Supports is based on the three-tiered public health model. This means that we must identify the root cause(s) within our current system and identify why it's not serving our student population. By creating an additional tier, we ignore a problem that is perforating our entire system.

There is no Tier 4. However, there is a Tier 2. And this tier is often overlooked in how powerful of an intervention tool it can be.

I also found that my MTSS teams were extreme advocates for student support. They could create an individualized, intensive for a student. We allocated individual staff and connected resources at this level with ease. But where does this leave Tier 2? What I find are two scenarios.

The first scenario is a misunderstanding between Tier 1 support and Tier 2 intervention. The second scenario is directly related to confusion between Tier 1 and Tier 2, leaving schools to allocate too many resources to provide an over-abundance of students with intensive, individualized instruction-having nowhere else to turn. Unfortunately, because Tier 2 is so hard to define in practice, it sometimes becomes ineffective or even nonexistent.

Fortunately, I know that educators try to do what is best for their students when given the proper information and tools. I believe that a lack of appropriate Tier 2 support exists because of two important truths.

My goal is to share how you can build a foundation for Tier 2 instruction and support, create structures that allow the opportunity for Tier 2 instruction and support to exist, and make Tier 2 fit within your school, district, and state constraints.

Moreover, we'll take a peek at best practices for grouping, providing Tier 2 instruction and intervention for reading, math, and social-emotional learning.

Before we dig into Tier 2, let's make sure we understand what each of the tiers within a multi-tiered framework means.

The three tiers are also known as levels of support or instruction and intervention that educators provide to students. There are various resources, strategies, and tools within each level that support our students' various needs.

The Differentiation Deal

Because Tier 1 instruction provides the foundation for Tier 2 instruction and intervention, it can sometimes be tricky to identify when you have moved from instruction to intervention. The following chart is a quick check reference for determining if you're differentiating or providing Tier 2 instruction and intervention.

Standards-driven, grade level expectations

Designed for ALL students

Accessible for ALL students

Use universal screener data to promote differentiation

High-quality

Monitoring progress with screeners and curriculum embedded assessments

Provided by the general education teacher

Linked to best practices for designing differentiated lessons

Targeted skills-driven

Designed for a group of students with the same skill deficit

Explicit instruction and feedback

Occur in addition to a strong Tier 1

Delivered to students with an identified need (less than 15-20%)

Identified through universal screeners, diagnostics, and monitoring progress

Evidence or research-based

Progress monitoring assessment and tools matched to skill needs

Provided by the general education teacher or by another trained instructor, within or outside the general education classroom.

Linked to Tier 2 Support Plans which include SMART goals, progress monitoring tools, and intervention selection and dosage

A Basic Foundation for Tier 2 Instruction and Intervention

Tier 2 instruction and interventions are seamlessly layered onto Tier 1 Differentiated Core Instruction.

Tier 2 instruction and interventions build upon a strong Tier 1 instruction foundation. A strong Tier 1 foundation means that about 15% of our total population may need additional support to meet grade-level standards.

Like Tier 1 Instruction, Tier 2 instruction and interventions should be high-quality and evidence or research-based. Tier 2 instruction and interventions are supplemental to the core instruction, meaning that as identified students begin to receive Tier 2 instruction and interventions, they continue accessing their high-quality, Tier 1 instruction. When we consider the MTSS pyramid, we look at it as layers upon layers-instead of isolated places of support.

Tier 2 instruction and interventions rely on an analysis of screening data to identify at-risk students and determine the health of the Tier 1 Differentiated Core.

Another foundational component of Tier 2 instruction and intervention is the use of universal screening data. Universal screening data can serve two essential purposes:

1. Identify the effectiveness of Tier 1 instruction.

2. Identify students who need additional support.

That second purpose is the foundation of our discussion. Through a thorough analysis of student data, collaboration teams can group students with similar needs or skill deficits. Through this process, interventions can occur in group support plans-providing more targeted instruction and intervention.

Important note: If you notice that more than 15% of your population demonstrates a need for Tier 2 targeted instruction and intervention, your team of professionals should examine your Tier 1 instructional practice, materials, and environments to ensure it is differentiated to meet current student needs.

A Quick Review of MTSS Supports, Interventions, and Accommodations

Best Practices for Tier 2 Instruction and Intervention

While Tier 2 begins with a strong Tier 1 foundation, additional best practices for Tier 2 instruction and intervention are needed.

Tier 2 instruction and interventions provide targeted support for small groups of students who are unsuccessful with Tier 1 instruction alone.

A key difference between Tier 1 instruction and Tier 2 intervention is the focus on targeted skills.

Tier 1 instruction is standards-driven, focusing on students' broad skills and generalizing to a learning target.

In contrast, Tier 2 interventions target a specific skill deficit that has been identified through assessment. Instruction and intervention targets this specific skill, and educators monitor growth on that specific skill with a normed progress monitoring tool.

In a group setting, a team can look at the group as a whole to determine students with similar skill needs to create intervention groups. It is important to remember that progress monitoring tools are essential components of these plans. These tools ensure that students respond to group intervention plans and provide insight into further action.

Tier 2 instruction and interventions should be readily accessible to support students as they demonstrate need.

Most research indicates that once a student demonstrates a need for targeted instruction or intervention, they should have access to it within 72 hours.

This means that our Tier 2 supports should be pre-designed, scheduled, and require low effort for teachers or interventionists to support. Here are some steps to make this actionable within a school setting:

Across campus, plan to implement three to four academic and three to four SEL/behavioral Tier 2 interventions with strong evidence that are readily accessible.

Allocate resources (like time, staff, and materials) to targeted interventions at the beginning of the year so there are no surprises.

Ensure that teams know how and when to access or apply targeted supports.

Skip adding interventions, programs, or tools mid-year unless there is a data-driven need. Teams can become confused and unsure of what to do next. If Tier 2 is too challenging to access, teachers may skip that step altogether.

By following these steps, teams will not have to spend hours thinking about what Tier 2 intervention will work best, and they will not have to navigate how to implement it. This streamlined process aids in creating an environment where Tier 2 is a viable option.

Tier 2 instruction and interventions include systematic and explicit instruction and interaction between the educator and the student.

Tier 2 instruction and intervention should be closely linked to Tier 1 instruction though there are some important differences. Explicit instruction is a way of teaching where the teacher provides overt instruction on the skill and allows the student to practice with scaffolds until they achieve mastery systematically.

We support the learner by giving clear directions and expectations, using clear and direct language and vocabulary, and monitoring the student's progress , positively providing immediate, specific corrective feedback.

Luckily, many databases, such as What Works Clearinghouse , curate interventions. These databases take the guesswork out of identifying quality interventions by evaluating the trustworthiness and validity of the research behind the interventions. The higher the evidence rating, the more likely the intervention includes systematic, explicit instruction with continuous opportunities for positive corrective feedback.

In addition to these best practices in explicit instruction, students receiving behavioral interventions benefit from pre-corrections; or providing reminders before the student engages in non-preferred tasks to support their application of the preferred response.

➡️ To learn more about supporting students in need of tier 2 support, check out this on-demand webinar

Tier 2 instruction and interventions must be frequently progress monitored through the use of progress monitoring tools.

Students identified as needing interventions should be provided with frequent opportunities to demonstrate progress toward acquiring a particular skill.

Progress monitoring tools provide insight into how well an intervention is supporting a student's growth toward their skill-based goal. Progress monitoring assessments and tools are

These assessments/tools are also often normed, demonstrating how same-age peers perform consistently over time. They are given to students receiving intervention support and are administered at a consistent cadence based on need and as written in the student's plan.

A quick note on Progress Monitoring Assessments and Curriculum-Embedded Assessments...

Before we go any further, I want to clarify a common misconception. Progress monitoring assessments are not to be confused with curriculum embedded assessments.

We use summative and formative assessments ongoing throughout our instruction to gather data on student performance related to a particular learning outcome. These assessments are known as curriculum-embedded assessments. Curriculum-embedded assessments may be a part of your intervention tool or program. Don't confuse these embedded assessments with progress monitoring assessments.

Progress monitoring assessments measure specific skill growth. These tools effectively help us determine if the intervention we have selected is appropriately aligned to the student's skill deficit and if a plan is working. It helps teams have the data to decide on continuing or discontinuing interventions.

➡️ Check out this MTSS Intervention Process Flowchart

Structuring Your MTSS To Support Tier 2 With Fidelity

Tier 2 is challenging and a common trend is skipping it altogether. So how can you ensure your Tier 2 instruction and intervention is available to all staff and any student that needs it?

To ensure we create a system that includes strong Tier 2 instruction and intervention support, we must think about how the resources and people will flow around the building to ensure these interventions are easily and quickly accessible.

Complete a Resource Audit

Resource auditing (or mapping) is not a new technique. Resource mapping helps us align our resources with student needs more efficiently. It's also a clear visual representation of how your MTSS supports learners at various levels.

Round up your resources and lay them out (yep, all of them!) Take time to identify what needs the resource meets and when it should be used. For example, check out the table below for a sample of this resourcing:

Good news: you can use the Branching Minds Resource Audit Worksheet to help your team!

Determine Your Wants and Needs for Your Student Population

Write down your wants for your students and your school. Think about your vision and your beliefs.

Then, work with a team of stakeholders and analyze your data to determine your needs. Consider the following in this list:

Demographics

Population

Geographic location

Access to resources outside of school

Early warning indicators (EWI)

Screening data

Progress monitoring assessment data

Any other pertinent data

Rather than think about individual or small group student needs, think about your data from a larger perspective; that of your allocation of resources, time, and staff.

Reduce, Repurpose, Recycle Your Resources

Once you have completed your audit and determined your wants and needs, you can begin to reduce, repurpose, and recycle (toss!) resources to better align them based on your current constraints and your student and teacher strengths.

narrow and streamline your resources. More does not always mean better! Identify the instructional resources that best match your campus and eliminate the rest. Focus on implementing a few interventions at Tier 2 WELL!

I have worked on many master schedules and position control. Para-professionals and classroom aides are often scheduled along with the same guidelines as a teacher from bell to bell. Be creative. Repurpose staff to provide intervention minutes during transitions and other moments on campus.

Recycle: Is your master schedule stuck in the 90s with RTI? Do you plan for Tier 2 intervention when you design your master schedule, or do you plan for it the first day the need arises? The most dangerous statement I hear is, "that's the way we've always done it!" It's okay to toss programs, resources, schedules, and data sources that aren't serving you or your students.

Once you create an appropriate schedule and align staff, time, and instructional resources, planning to implement Tier 2 interventions with fidelity will be a breeze. All that's left is progress monitoring to ensure your interventions meet your student's needs.

Designing Your MTSS Practice With Tier 2 Data in Mind

Data routines help us identify how well our interventions are working and to what extent we are implementing our plans with fidelity. By answering a few simple questions at our grade level PLC meetings or our school-wide meetings, we can identify if our Tier 2 targeted interventions support identified students in meeting their goals with independence.

Have we identified who needs additional targeted skill support?

Have we grouped students by similar skills or functions?

Are we implementing the plan as it was designed?

What are the progress monitoring data saying about the intervention and skill gap?

As educators, we engage in data routines ongoing throughout the year. But what do we do at the close of the year? Beyond ensuring that students continue to have access to appropriate support over the summer, what can we do with the end-of-year data, especially when considering Tier 2?

Plan for a comprehensive articulation of the student's Tier 2 plans to the next grade level.

Regroup with your MTSS School-Level team and review universal screening data to see how students moved along the tier levels. As students receive Tier 2 interventions, their needs should decrease. Check to see how many of your students that received Tier 2 interventions saw a positive change in their screening scores.

Identify trends from particular interventions that worked for your campus' needs. Perhaps a particular intervention or staff member had more impact than others. Find out why! And extend that work within your master MTSS plan for the following year!

Tried and True Tier 2: Experience From the Field

On a personal note, I have to say Tier 2 has always been my sweet spot. I love to get to know students on a deeper level, and instructing small groups since I have left my classroom has always been an outlet for me.

As I support schools in their MTSS implementation, I love watching teachers and teams smile when they begin to see the bigger picture for Tier 2 through a systems vantage point instead of siloed in their classroom.

The place between Differentiated Tier 1 and Intensive Tier 3 can be a turning point for so many of our students when implemented with fidelity. It's never too late or too early to start planning a systems-level review of your Tier 2 practices.

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What You Need To Know About Utilizing Tier 2 in MTSS

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Tier 2 instruction and interventions should be high-quality, evidence or research-based, and supplemental to core instruction.

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This provides a list of intervention strategies for Tier 2 and what they should look like when implemented.

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Tier 1 systems, data, and practices support everyone across all settings. They establish the foundation for delivering regular, proactive support and preventing unwanted behaviors.

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What is Tier 1 Support?

The PBIS Triangle-The green area represents Tier 1 that supports all students.

Tier 1 systems, data, and practices support everyone across all settings. They establish the foundation for delivering regular, proactive support and preventing unwanted behaviors. Tier 1 emphasizes modeling, teaching, and acknowledging positive social, emotional, and behavioral (SEB) skills. Teams, data, consistent policies, professional development, and evaluation are essential components for these practices to work effectively.

The core principles guiding Tier 1 PBIS include the understanding that we can and should:

Foundational Systems

Tier 1 systems serve as the foundation upon which all other tiers are built. With school-wide systems in place, schools can ensure students and staff are thriving and quickly identify which students need additional support. These Tier 1 foundational systems are:

Leadership Team

The Tier 1 team represents multiple and diverse perspectives to co-create the systems and practices for Tier 1 support. This team is responsible for uncovering strengths and needs by monitoring school and community data, ensuring students receive equitable access to these supports, and evaluating overall effectiveness.

Regular Meeting Routine, Schedule, and Structure

The Tier 1 team meets at least monthly. Team members should have availability to attend at least 80% of all scheduled meetings to provide consistency around action planning and tracking progress. Meetings should include an agenda, minutes, team agreements, defined roles, and a current action plan linked to the school improvement plan.

Commitment Statement for Establishing Positive School Climate

The Tier 1 team's role is to establish the priority for improving the conditions for learning through the adoption of evidence-based practices. If it is not identified as one of the school's top three needs, it is unlikely anyone will allocate the time and effort needed to accomplish implementation. Although not a requirement, It is beneficial when a majority of school community members also agree PBIS implementation is critical to addressing issues related to SEB growth of all students.

School systems can either reflect a biased society or provide a protective buffer against it. To make it a protective place, teams should adopt a behavior framework that is preventive, instructional, and flexible enough to be tailored to the strengths, needs, and values of its students, families, and community. Tier 1 can be implemented with fidelity only when it is equitable and adapted to fit the local context, which means attending directly to aspects of culture.

On-Going Data-Based Monitoring, Evaluation, and Dissemination

Tier 1 teams review and use multiple data sources regularly to guide decisions. Reviewing fidelity data measures how closely the school implements the critical components of PBIS at Tier 1. Annually, teams evaluate the overall effectiveness of Tier 1 supports and share their findings with interested parties. School community members should see school and community data regularly and have opportunity to provide input on Tier 1 foundations.

Procedures for Selecting, Training, and Coaching New Personnel

The key to PBIS implementation is staff consistency. All staff members are involved in the development of goals, process, and measures. Tier 1 implementation may require professional development to orient all school personnel - particularly around five core practices:

Core Practices

Before schools start implementing Tier 2 and Tier 3 practices, Tier 1 practices must be in place. These include:

Schoolwide Positive Expectations and SEB Skills are Defined and Taught

Rather than establishing specifically what not to do, schools define and teach expectations and SEB skills they want to see. Schools should identify 3-5 positively stated, easy to remember expectations. These should create the conditions for a positive school climate to support teaching and learning. Anyone should be able to walk into the school at any time and ask 10 random students to name the school-wide expectations. At least 80% of the time those students should be able to say what they are and give examples of what they look like in action.

For students to know the expectations, they must be taught. The Tier 1 team should decide how students will learn expected academic and social behaviors across various school settings.

Procedures for Establishing Classroom Expectations and Routines Consistent
with Schoolwide Expectations

Students spend the majority of their day within classroom settings. It's critical the expectations in the classroom align with the broader school-wide systems. This consistency supports better behavioral outcomes for all students. Teachers and students co-design agreements and routines that align with school expectations.

Continuum of Procedures for Encouraging Expected Social, Emotional Behavior

A school's Tier 1 team determines how to acknowledge students positively for prosocial behaviors. Schools might use an acknowledgment system to support offering specific praise when students do what's expected. No matter the system, it should be:

Continuum of Procedures for Discouraging Unwanted Behavior

All discipline policies should include definitions for behaviors interfering with academic and social success. They offer clear policies and procedures for addressing office-managed versus classroom-managed problems. Defining both the behaviors and the procedures promote consistent application of Tier 1 across all students and school personnel.

Procedures for Ensuring School-Family Partnerships

Teams should solicit stakeholders, including families, for input on Tier 1 foundations. Opportunities to provide ongoing feedback and direction should happen at least once a year, if not more regularly. This input ensures Tier 1 is culturally responsive and reflects the values of the local community.

The Tier 1 Team

In addition to monitoring Tier 1 systems, the Tier 1 team meets regularly to refine school-wide practices and evaluate their effectiveness. The team reviews discipline data, curriculum-based measures, state tests, and other data sources related to improving school-wide outcomes. Individuals with the following positions are often included on Tier 1 teams:

In addition to these suggested roles, the team should have the following skillsets represented:

SEB expertise

Applied behavior support

Mental health and trauma

Academic instruction

Coaching expertise

Equity

Physical health and wellness (e.g., nurse)

Knowledge of student academic and behavior patterns

Knowledge about how the school operates across grade levels and programs

Assessments

The Tiered Fidelity Inventory (TFI) assesses how closely school personnel apply the core features of PBIS. The TFI includes three separate surveys - one for assessing each tier - schools can use separately or in combination with one another. Schools at every stage of implementation may use the TFI to assess any tier.

Explore the Evidence Base for Tier 1

At its foundation, PBIS is a framework supported by research spanning decades. Study after study confirms the positive impact Tier 1 systems and practices have on improving student outcomes. The evaluation brief, " Is School-wide Positive Behavior Support an Evidence-based Practice?" and " References for the Evidence Base of PBIS" each lay out some of the research and provide additional resources to explore the topic further.

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Tier 1 systems, data, and practices impact everyone across all settings. They establish the foundation for delivering regular, proactive support and preventing unwanted behaviors. Tier 1 emphasizes prosocial skills and expectations by teaching and acknowledging appropriate student behavior. Teams, data, consistent policies, professional development, and evaluation are essential components for these practices to work effectively.

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This video describes the importance of Tier 1 and how to properly implement these interventions.

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This website will take you to a multitude of suggestions for interventions such as breaks, rewards, praise, and many others.

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Avoid power struggles Call parent or note home Card Flip Clear, consistent, and predictable consequences Do unfinished work during recess or unstructured time Have student say a nice thing to the student they called a name Logical consequence Natural consequences Office referral Reflection sheet Remove from room Speak in calm and neutral tone Take away privileges Take away unstructured or free time

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This resource will explain the importance of equitable learning environments. It also provides 4 examples of how to create your desired environment.

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Classrooms today no longer resemble the classrooms that most adults remember from their youth. While de facto segregation persists in schools and districts across the United States, today's student population is more diverse than ever before. More than half of today's K-12 students are culturally and linguistically diverse. Combine this reality with the technological advances in education. In 2015, more than 75% of public school districts offered options for online learning; this expanded exponentially with the onset of COVID-19. Taken together, increases in student diversity and the proliferation of online education have redefined the American classroom, and call on us to reimagine how and where teaching and learning occur. In person and online, teachers can create Dynamic Equitable Learning Environments (DELE), which is the framework that we created for our book Culturally Responsive Teaching Online & In Person.

Dynamic Equitable Learning Environments (DELE) transcend the where of education to emphasize the quality of the culture and climate of the learning environment itself. Whether in person or online, DELE are . By incorporating instructional technologies to enrich the learning environment, teachers can adapt and innovate teaching and learning. DELE are . With adherence to the principles and practices of culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogies, teachers endeavor to redress systemic inequities by leveraging learners' assets and strengths to facilitate learning. DELE promote . Understanding that relationships are the building blocks of teaching and learning, teachers create caring bonds with and among their learners in order to nurture engagement and collaboration. DELE create environments. Fostering courage and inclusivity, teachers cultivate learning communities where students feel safe to be themselves, take academic risks, and explore intellectual curiosities. Take a look at the figure above for a quick summary of the characteristics of DELE.

Here are four ways to create Dynamic Equitable Learning Environments:

#1: Use Adaptable and Innovative EdTech Tools

One way to create dynamic equitable learning environments is to use flexible and emerging EdTech tools that provide culturally responsive opportunities. Move away from relying on traditional pedagogical approaches that do not equitably meet with the needs of all learners. As an alternative to looking at pictures in social studies textbooks, use the Google Earth EdTech tool to provide learners with the opportunity to view landscapes, places, and cultures of those around the world that align with their own backgrounds and that interest them. Or, use virtual conferencing tools to bring in guest speakers to share multicultural and varied traditions that represent students in the class, where geographical location will not limit who can share. In math, offer students the option to use virtual manipulatives where students can explore online algebra tiles, pattern blocks, and number lines that fit better with their individual learning styles. Also consider offering shared online spaces such as Wakelet that can support dynamic and connected learning that goes beyond the physical classroom space.

#2: Engage in Self-Examination and Reflection

As educators, our lived experiences and positionality shape who we are and how we cultivate equity in our teaching. To create an equitable learning environment, we begin with reflection on our beliefs and interrogation of our biases. There are several tools and techniques available to facilitate this process of self-examination. For example, Harvard's Project Implicit offers a powerful implicit bias test. The results of this test can be used to help address the ways bias shows up in your teaching. The Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium offers tools to complete an equity audit of your classroom and school overall. This assessment will support reflection on your teaching and help identify areas for growth in the establishment of equitable learning environments. Lastly, journaling remains a critical tool and technique for careful self-reflection. Journaling allows us to put our thoughts on the page and consider them anew. Journal writing can be coupled with reflection-generating activities, such as reading or watching equity-related sources (i.e., books, documentaries, etc.).

#3: Facilitate Diverse Educative Experiences

Provide learners with varied opportunities to experience learning in ways that bring in their assets, strengths, and connect with their cultural capital and backgrounds. Integrate experiential learning activities such as service-learning and project-based learning that allow students to connect to the course curriculum by contributing to addressing issues in their communities. Go beyond celebrating the common heroes and holidays that are typically focused on in schools, and take learners on virtual museum tours that connect with a wide range of people from cultures they may not be familiar with. Makerspaces and inquiry-based opportunities will allow students to use their own knowledge and experience to build, create, and expand existing ideas. You can even use online simulations and augmented reality sites to facilitate diverse educative experiences for students.

#4: Cultivate Inclusive Communities

In inclusive learning communities, all learners feel a sense of belonging regardless of their background, identities, and learning preferences. The first step to cultivating a sense of belonging is knowing your learners. This can be accomplished in one-on-one meetings with students and their families to create a personal connection and relationship. Through activities and assignments, students can be given opportunities to express their identities and share their stories. For example, students could be assigned to write a letter to their future selves. Such a letter could help to identify a student's interests and aspirations, and these insights can inform efforts to connect with students in authentic ways. Authentic bonds should also be established between students. This can be accomplished through collaboration. For example, together students can discuss and decide upon rules to govern the way the class cares for and connects with one another.

Regardless of whether learning takes place online or in person, teachers can create Dynamic Equitable Learning Environments that leverage a wide range of adaptable and innovative EdTech tools, incorporate culturally responsive practices into instruction and assessment, facilitate learning experiences that are engaging and collaborative, and cultivate inclusive communities where students, their families, and surrounding community members feel like valued members and know they matter. Consider using some (or all!) of the ideas mentioned above in your journey towards using culturally responsive teaching practices across learning environments. Check out our book for more ideas, strategies, and resources that you can use to build your practical application in creating dynamic, equitable and inclusive culturally responsive teaching that transcends learning environments.

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author: Stephanie Smith Budhai and Kristine Lewis Grant

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Four Ways to Create Dynamic Equitable Learning Environments - Corwin Connect

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Consider four tips to create a Dynamic Equitable Learning Environment in your virtual, in-person, or hybrid classroom.

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This tools chart presents information about academic progress monitoring tools. The following three tabs include ratings on the technical rigor of the tools: (a) Performance Level Standards, (b) Growth Standards, and (c) Usability.

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Academic Progress Monitoring Tools Chart

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Use the briefs to evaluate academic interventions available on the academic intervention tools chart across the seven dimensions of the Taxonomy of Intervention Intensity.

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Example of Tier 2 in the elementary classroom.

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ELEMENTARY Teacher Role TIer 2 PBIS- CICO

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This resource gives examples of interventions and supports at the Tier 2 level.

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PBISWorld.com Tier 2 Positive Behavior Interventions And Supports | PBIS World

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PBIS World is in no way affiliated, associated, or connected with any other website, entity, organization, or federal, state, local, or other government agency, department, program, policy, organization, or initiative.

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https://www.branchingminds.com/blog/mtss-tier-2-instruction-intervention

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Link to Dolch PK examples for Tier2-3 Interventions and Assessment tools. 

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Link to Dolch PK examples for Tier2-3 Interventions and Assessment tools. 

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This document will take you to a link that allows you to download a zipped file of Dolch Pre-K interventions and assessments.