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  • Long Range Planning in Regards to Math for Students Receiving Special Ed Services

    Below is a photo of a hyper-doc that I use to map out a long range plan for math services and academics for students receiving special education services. Here is a link to a video explaining how the document is organized and how it “works.” (Note, the image of the document on the video is…

  • Overlooked Skills for Success

    Overlooked Skills for Success

    Ask employers what skills are desired in graduates and you will not see academic competence at the top of the list. In schools we talk about creating life long learners and similar qualities but the major focus in the 7+ K-12 schools in which I have served is academics, or more appropriately grades as a…

  • Address Skills at Performance Points

    In the photo above you see a contrast between how children learn and how educators often teach necessary skills. Children learn to ride a bike by actually performing the target skills. This is a performance point – the setting in which the child actually performs. In school students are often taught necessary skills in isolation,…

  • Perseverance in Math

    A major challenge for students is not content but how to “do math” which includes perseverance. The photo above shows a table that can be used to monitor progress on perseverance. It addresses two situations involving perseverance (see below). The focus of perseverance in math is making an informed attempt when a path or next step is unclear…

  • Independent Study Skills List

    The purpose of special education is to provide students with skills for future education, employment and independent living. A major obstacle for our students who have the potential to pursue post-secondary education is they do not develop effective independent study skills. Here is a list (link to WORD document) I have generated from professional experience…

  • Self-Help Skills Video Presentation

    See the video (link below) to find out about this photo.I believe one of the greatest problems in education is the challenge students have in taking an active role in the learning process. This is a video of a presentation on issues related to academic self-help skills and how to develop them. This is especially…

  • Subtraction Poem

      From the blog Bits and pieces. This would be a great poster to put on a learning wall while kids are learning the rules. In lieu of showing the kids repeatedly what to do simply have them follow this – training to follow examples.

  • Questioning and Critical Thinking

      This is a page from an Elmo book in which a cutout figure of Elmo can be inserted into various settings such as a bakery. In lieu of reading the book I asked my 4 1/2 year old son questions about each setting, e.g. “what is Elmo now?” The questioning approach I used was…

  • Conceptual Understanding

    I gave a student a pop quiz on percent change – find discount and tax – after she completed  independent practice on this objective. The student followed the steps very well, as you can see in the photo (I added the ink later) up to the very end. At that point she added the tax…

  • Middle school to college

    This is a photo of a table I created for a former 7th grade student of mine. It laid out his academic future leading up to college. The arrows were a visual part of my explanation of how college applications are largely based on the 9th, 10th and 11th grade high school years. This is…