Article+Reviews

Article Reviews

1. [] __**To accomodate, To modify, and To Know The Difference: Determining Placement of a Child in Special Education or "504"**__ This article is all about different levels of services that are now available to students. I really liked how it used a visual of a egg sliced vertically, and leaving the middle to describe the relationship of all students in a school. The eggs shell represents all the students in the school. The egg white represents any student who has special need or condition that could impact his/her life. The egg yolk represents the children who have a condition that limits their learning. They have been approved for special accommodation under the 1973 Rehabilitation Act Section 504. Finally, the ruby center of the egg yolk represents students who need modification. These accommodations for each special needs student can help determine the most effective placement. Parents need to work with the schools to determine this depending on what is best for their child. This article provides some teaching strategies for teachers to accommodate their students in the classroom. I really think this will be very useful, and I definitely could use these in my classroom to help guide me to providing my students with the help they need. These strategies include: pacing, environment, presentation, materials, grading, assignments, reinforcement, and testing adaptations. In my future classroom, I want to create a positive atmosphere that all students will be eager to learn in. I think that is one of the main essentials to effective instruction. I really agree with the quote, “Special Education is a service, not a place.” Basically this means that students should be provided this special education to help them and accommodate them to a level they can learn on without any special services. The goal for all teachers and parents should be to get to a level where these students don’t need any assistance. 2. [] This article is all about the way that teachers teach information to their students. All students need to be taught the material directly for efficient and beneficial learning to be occurring. This website lists points that teachers can focus on to make sure they are getting the material across to their students. The key to this is that instead of focusing on ‘teaching’, the focus should be on ‘learning.’ Teachers should want their lessons to maximize the student learning throughout the classroom. I feel this information or key points can be very beneficial to me in the teaching profession. I know that all teachers tend to question themselves of whether their students understood and learned the material or if the material being taught, went in one ear and out the other. I feel that one of the biggest key points on the list was checking for understanding and follow up. I believe all teachers need to make sure that their students understand what is being taught before they dig deeper into a lesson. 3. [] This article is all about the Response to Intervention (RTI) approach to help students who are struggling by providing them with academic and behavior support early on so they don’t fail later. The RTI approach is used by schools and parents that will help them determine the educational needs of the child. Each child has to be eligible for special education, they must have been provided effective instruction and progress monitoring through assessments. The scores must be given to the parents so they can see where their child is at. All parents are concerned about how to help their child who is struggling in school, so, I think this is a great approach to help them get ahead instead of watching them get behind and then trying to do something about it. I personally feel that this information can help me in my classroom in the future because I now know the RTI process, and how to help students from falling behind. As educators, we want all students to excel in school, meaning we need to provide them with the correct resources and effective instruction. I personally think keeping in contact with the parents, and having them help you and their children along the way is absolutely necessary. These children don’t only need effective instruction in the schools, but at home as well. We all want to help these children to succeed and not fail in school. This is their future, and ours as well!
 * __ Direct teaching for children with special needs __**
 * __Response to Intervention (RTI): A primer for parents__**