SPED class: Week 10

This past week was Thanksgiving week. Huzzah! 
I ate SOOOO much food. It was probably the best thing ever:)

Here are the main points that I learned this week:

1. A sensitivity to the needs of and compassion for those with special needs.
2. A multidisciplinary view of exceptionality, cultural differences, individual and family dynamics, poverty, and abuse.

Going off of that we learned a lot about reading strategies this week. I found it quite helpful. Here's just a few of the strategies that I learned that I found the most helpful:

• Teaching independent learning strategies
• Select successful strategies
1. Decide whether individual, small or large-group problem
2. Assess current strategy usage
• Begins with an assessment of how well your students can currently perform a skill
3. Clarify expectations
• Has the potential of empowering your students because they enable them to learn and succeed in and out of school on their own, without getting too much help from others
4. Demonstrate strategy use
• Carefully explain the process
• Present both positive and negative examples
• Ask frequent questions to monitor student understanding
5. Encourage students to memorize strategy steps
6. Provide guided and independent practice 
7. Administer post-tests
• If more than 20% still need extra help--->small/large group

Hope you have a WONDERFUL week!! The semester/year is almost done! Hang in there!