Read the required text chapters and articles, and view the video for Week One. Use these resources to inform and support your responses to the prompts below.
Describe the special education teacher's responsibility in planning instruction that is aligned with both Common Core State Standards (CCSS) as well as the needs of a child based on their individual education plan (IEP).
What challenges do you anticipate in planning instruction for students with disabilities to meet CCSS and/or IEP goals?
Based on your experience and the literature, what are several solutions to overcome these challenges?
Guided Response: Respond to at least two of your classmates. Based on their stated challenges and solutions, suggest several divergent solutions that could address the challenges or analyze their solutions by carefully considering the positives and negatives of each solution. In your response, take the view of either an elementary school teacher (who plans for all subject areas) or a middle/high school teacher (who plans for specific content areas), and be sure to specify which view you are choosing.
Week 1 - Discussion 2
Designing in Mini-Lesson in Reading Comprehension
Create a mini-lesson in reading comprehension to teach a small group of students (group description below) using an evidence-based strategy from the textbook. Plan a 15- to 20-minute mini-lesson that addresses the needs of all four students in the group through effective strategies and accommodations for the learners. Respond briefly to the two reflection questions (in the template) about your lesson. Use this mini-lesson template to develop your mini-lesson, and then copy and paste it into the discussion forum to obtain feedback from your peers.
Small group description:
There are four students in this group who are in third grade. Two of the students have a learning disability in reading and are both reading at a first-grade level, there is one student with an intellectual disability who reads at a first-grade level, and a student with a visual impairment who reads at a second-grade level.
Guided Response: Please respond to two peers by providing feedback on their mini-lesson in at least two of the following four areas. Please be sure that your feedback is clear and specific. Terms such as "good job" and "nice work" are too general to be helpful. Please equally distribute your responses.
Is the objective of the mini-lesson clear, and is the activity clearly aligned to Common Core State Standards? What are your suggestions in this area?
Does the strategy used in this mini-lesson effectively teach the concepts to be learned? Why or why not? Do you have suggestions for any alternative strategies?
What further accommodations or modifications would you use in this lesson and why?
Do you have any suggestions for using assistive technology in this mini-lesson to assist the learner in accessing the content or environment? Be creative here. It can be something high tech like a SMART board or low tech like PECS cards