Blog Posts

The Check Box Strategy

3/18/2019

Many of the students I teach struggle with lengthy, multi-step directions. While I can help direct them, it is more valuable if I can teach them strategies that will lead to independence. This is especially true as we head into high-stakes testing season, when students must comprehend and follow test directions on their own. Now is a great time to start teaching and using the Check Box Strategy with your students, so that they are comfortable with it before your high-stakes tests begin.

How to:

1. Provide the students with a print version of a lengthy, multi-step direction. It is best if it is an authentic task. Here is an example from one of our recent language arts lessons.
2. Place a copy of the directions under your document camera and project to the class so that you can model the strategy.
3. Tell students that you will be teaching them the Check Box Strategy, placing boxes wherever specific tasks are mentioned. Explain to students that as they go through the tasks, they will be able to check them off to insure that they have completed everything that was required.
4. Ask students to read along. Stop whenever a “to do” or task arises, and model how to place a small check box over the direction. Continue modeling two or three times.
5. Direct students to read the next few sentences and talk with peers about where they think they should put check boxes.
6. Bring students back together to share ideas and discuss.

Some students will need more direct instruction and practice with this strategy than others. This is a great opportunity for brief, small group work.

Taking assessments in a digital environment? Tweak this strategy by having students make a numbered list on scrap paper, drawing a box next to each number and writing a word or phrase that captures the idea of the task. They can then check these off as they complete the assignment.

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How to Hook Your Reader

2/18/2019

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Mnemonics can be extremely helpful for students who struggle with memory issues. Here is one we created recently to help students remember the variety of ways to write an engaging introduction or hook sentence. In addition to showing the visual and having students draw it, we had them chant “QsquaredFad” several times, then hung an anchor chart on the wall.

Click here to download a copy.

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Evaluating Text Evidence for Writing - An SDI Example

2/3/2019

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The Commonn Core Standards include two that I jokingly call “the challenging twins.”

RI.4.8. Explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points in a text.
W.4.9. Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection and research.

“Challenging” because teaching students how to do this is not easy, and “twins” because they are linked – one is what the writer does and the other is what the reader has to figure out about what the writer does.

Challenge accepted! My co-teaching team wanted to tackle these and asked me to help plan for specially designed instruction. We clarified a one-lesson target of “I can evaluate and choose the best text evidence to use in my writing.” We checked to see what IEP goals might be relevant and then followed the rest of my 7 Steps for Specially Designed Instruction.

Steps 4 and 5 really seemed to be where the bulk of the work lay for this lesson. What is the metacognitive process a successful learner uses to accomplish this task? I searched for information regarding how text evidence might be evaluated and came up mostly empty handed. That meant I had to use my own metacognition to figure it out. The result is the following flow-map.

Everyone also hadStep 5 – “How can me make it more multi-sensory?” – led me to create the flow map on a shower curtain liner to place on the floor. This strategy, which I call a Hop-Step Curtain, allows students to walk through the process before writing. Adding movement keeps engagement high and improves memory.

To help support participation, we worked in two groups, but if you are by yourself the lesson can still be successful. I also created an “Expert” version of the flow map so that students who needed extra prompts could have it in front of them as a scaffold. Because we called them “experts, “ there was no negative stigma and they chose to help their peers out, simultaneously reinforcing their own learning. Everyone was also given an empty chart so that they could actively retrieve the steps as a lesson closure.

All the documents you need for this can be downloaded right here. Let me know if you have questions. I am happy to help!

All the documents you need for this can be downloaded right here. Let me know if you have questions. I am happy to help!

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Why You Should Delete This Word From Your Speech

1/30/2019

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Words matter. They paint a picture for the listener and impact others in ways we can not always even perceive. Maybe that's why I am on a campaign to remove a word from use.

"Push-in."

A quick search on my favorite image site (www.pixabay.com) brought up these images.

"Push-in" is commonly used to describe an inclusive service that is the opposite of "pull-out." As an advocate of inclusion, I enthusiastically support a reduction of "pull-out" services. But the image of pushing myself into classrooms, or worse, feeling like I have to push a student into a classroom makes me uncomfortable. Inclusion should be about belonging, welcoming and embracing! When we perpetuate language that is exclusive and resistive, we increase the challenges for students with disabilities.

If you'd like to join me in banning this negative word from our discussions, consider any of the alternatives to describe your service:

in-class support
inclusive instruction
inclusion
collaboration
collaborative teaching
collaborative consultation
Tier 1 collaboration
inclusive SDI

Let's change the image!

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Essential Co-Teacher Discussion Questions

1/18/2019

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Whether you have just started a new semester or are about to start one, here are the 16 discussion questions that co-teachers find essential. Take some time to look them over and talk about the best ways you can collaborate. Your students will benefit!

How will we introduce ourselves to our students? To parents?
How will we handle correspondence: parents, newsletters, emails, report cards?
Where will we keep confidential information regarding students?
What format will we use for lesson planning?
Will there be a designated space (desk, storage) in the room for Teacher B?
How will we arrange the room?
How will sub plans reflect our co-teaching relationship?
How will we handle disruptions (phone calls, visitor at the door, student behavior)?
How will we handle copying and other materials?
What classroom routines do we want to establish (restroom breaks, students late to class, missing assignments, attendance, pencil sharpening)?
What behavior management practices will we have in place? How will we respond to inappropriate behavior?
What will be our approach to homework?
What formative and summative assessment data will we collect? Where will we keep this information?
Which methods of communication will work best for us (email, text, wikis, phone, face-to-face, online)?
When and where will we meet for co-planning and reflection?
What pet peeves do we each have?

Want more ideas for making your co-teaching successful? Check out Co-Teaching that Works

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Adapting Instruction for Identifying Main Idea and Supporting Details

1/17/2019

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An essential standard for every literacy program is for students to be able to identify the main idea of a passage and explain their thinking with supporting details. This same goal finds its way into a majority of IEPs for students with disabilities. The typical teaching approach for this standard doesn’t always work for them, and so special educators must provide specially designed instruction (SDI).

I love the phrase “specially designed instruction” because it tells us exactly what we should be doing. The lesson should be special – something different than the typical general education approach. The approach should be designed – intentional and planned. The intervention should be instructional – not just helping or monitoring, but teaching in a way that will provide progress toward the IEP goal.

Here’s an example from a lesson I recently co-taught.

What you will need:

reading passage
several sticky notes, cut with a point to look like arrows
chart paper with a 3-circle target, the center of which is large enough for only 3 of the sticky notes

This lesson is best done in small groups. If co-teaching, split the class into two groups, each group with its own chart.

Show students a 3-circle target on the board. Ask them if they have seen one before and do they know what the center is often called.
Discuss how the bull’s eye is the most valuable – worth 100 points, the middle circle is a bit less valuable – only 50 points, and the outer circle is nice, but not as valuable – only 25 points.
Give every student several sticky notes, cut to look like arrows.
Explain that as they read through the passage, if they come across a detail that they think might be important, they can share it aloud, then write it on their sticky note. (Try to avoid duplications.)
Once the detail is on a note, ask the student to place it on the target, in whichever circle they believe it belongs. Is it highly important and valuable? Do they think it might be the main idea or a lesser one?
Continue on through the passage, following steps 4 & 5.
As soon as the center has 3 sticky notes in it and a student wants to add a fourth, explain that there isn’t enough room – not everything can be equally valuable. Have students discuss which detail might be moved to one of the other circles. Ask them to explain their thinking.
When finished with the passage, ask students to reevaluate their decisions now that they have the total picture. Encourage them to move notes around if necessary. Remind them that the three in the middle should be most important and capture the main idea of the passage.
Work with the students to turn the three bulls-eye notes into a main idea statement.

If two or more groups do the activity simultaneously, bring the whole class back together and compare the two main idea statements and charts. Ask students what they notice that is similar or different.

To solidify the learning, use the activity several times. If you find it works especially well for some students, provide them with an individual target handout and guide them to using it on their own. In this way, the skill can become generalizable to independent study or other classes.

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Simple Way to Support and Motivate Student Discussion

11/8/2018

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Here’s a simple way to support, motivate and hold students accountable for participation in discussions.

1. Use this sheet or create one with sentence starters relevant to your students’ needs.
2. Place the sheet in the middle of a group work table so that all can see it.
3. Explain to students that you want them using these statements today. If they use the sentence, they get to put their initials in one of the boxes. (There are enough boxes for small groups of 7. Add boxes if you have larger groups.)
4. Throughout the lesson, remind students that they can use the sentences on the sheet to enter into the discussion.

My co-teachers and I used this today with five different classes, 15 groups in all. Many students who are typically quiet jumped right into the conversation and were excited to initial the box.

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"Close Your Eyes and Visualize"

10/14/2018

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Attending to the details in a story helps a reader to visualize the setting, characters and plot. If you have students that struggle with this process, try the Director’s Clapboard Visualization strategy.

Obtain a Director’s Clapboard (they are available at all different price points) or make one out of cardboard.
Show it to students and explain how a writer and a director have to clearly describe what they want their set and costume designers and actors to do before they begin.
Teach students the following chant “Close your eyes and visualize.” Explain that you will say that phrase and then clap the board, which means they are to close their eyes and picture an image as your read aloud some text.
Read the following sentence aloud – “The firefighter went down the hall.”
Direct students to open their eyes. Ask the following questions and allow for discussion.

Did you picture a man or a woman?
Was the firefighter wearing a uniform?
Where was the hall that you pictured? School? A home? An office building?
Did you imagine smoke or flames?

Explain that the original sentence didn’t have any of these details, so it could have been a female firefighter in her pajamas walking from her bedroom to her kitchen. It is the details that make the story difference.
Continue by reading each of the following aloud, allowing discussion in between.

Emerging from a cloud of menacing gray smoke, the firefighter quickly scanned right, then left, searching for animals she could carry out of the building.
“Goal!” shouted the fans as the small but powerful forward kicked the ball past the goalie and into the net.
Lee pulled on the thick, scratchy long underwear and a heavy beaver coat before heading out to hook up the horse and buggy.
He awoke to the click-clack of a typewriter, the aroma of coffee and the gentle “ahem” of someone standing at his door.

If desired, you can tie this lesson into a writing activity, asking students to find a sentence in their own writing that could benefit from some extra detail. Provide them with the Director’s Clapboard worksheet and ask them to revise it.

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What Do Crime Scenes and Expository Texts Have in Common?

9/30/2018

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What do crime scenes and expository texts have in common? Students investigated this question today during literacy.

1. We started with setting up a crime scene using crime scene tape, a half-empty bag of snacks, scissors covered in orange dust and my co-teacher with orange dusted fingertips.

2. We discussed how detectives use tools to find evidence, and then distributed “TSI” (Text Scene Investigation) tools.

3. Three leveled groups investigated the same text for different things, based on their learning needs and the lesson target.

Students were highly engaged and even made unprompted requests for the tools the very next day!

If you would like to try something like this, you can download the lesson plan and the TSI tool here.

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Engaging Students with Higher Level Thinking and Rule Breaking

9/17/2018

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Writing on the desk is off limits in most classrooms - which is probably why students try to get away with it! These high school co-teachers decided to let their students break the rules using dry erase markers to capture their thinking.

The economics lesson was on the general principals of supply and demand. After presenting a mini-lecture and review of vocabulary, they asked each student to draw an object of their choosing that could serve as a metaphor or visual analogy for the ideas. Students were highly engaged in drawing and explaining their thinking to peers and the co-teachers.

Think of a concept that you'll be teaching in the next few weeks that would lend itself to a visual analogy. With younger students, you will need to model the process with your own object. Then encourage them to think of alternate objects that could also represent the concept. Hesitant to have students draw on the desks? Use whiteboards, paper plates, napkins or some other unusual surface to make it novel and engaging.

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Forward>>

The Check Box Strategy

How to Hook Your Reader

Evaluating Text Evidence for Writing - An SDI Example

Why You Should Delete This Word From Your Speech

Essential Co-Teacher Discussion Questions

Adapting Instruction for Identifying Main Idea and Supporting Details

Simple Way to Support and Motivate Student Discussion

"Close Your Eyes and Visualize"

What Do Crime Scenes and Expository Texts Have in Common?

Engaging Students with Higher Level Thinking and Rule Breaking

Anne M. Beninghof

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