Final Report

At our last study group meeting, we worked on defining special education placements. We wanted to create a user friendly handout that explained the difference between a pull out, integrated, CT (consultant teacher), and PA (program aide)placement. Also, we wanted general education teachers to have a clear understanding of the roles in each. We discussed the general educators versus the special educators role in planning instruction, delivering instruction, modifications, grading, and so forth.

In addition to this we discussed at our last math co-teaching roll through about the use of math manipulatives. We worked with algetiles. This work is useful not only for special education students, but for general education students as well. It is a great tool. We practiced multipying and dividing using the the distributive method. We used base ten blocks to evaluate exponents. We also multiplied binomials and factored polynomials using algebra tiles.

Some great websites for practice with base ten blocks is
http://www.learningbox.com/Base10/BaseTen.html
http://www.learningbox.com/base10/
http://www.math-drills.com/baseten.shtml

Flashcard Machine Website

We discovered a great and absolutely free website to use with our students. The website helps students study indpendently. Teachers can create flashcards on any topic but putting in the word and its definition. This a great tool that we plan on using to help our students study. We find that students will be more likely to study by the use of the computer. This is also a great way to incorporate technology into the content areas.

The website is www.flashcardmachine.com

Check it out!

Action Plan

As a study group we would like to explore co-teaching more in depth and specifically focus on math. We would like to explore the issue of grading students with disabilities. By the end of our study group this year, we would like to explore what co-teaching approaches work well in the math classroom. We would like to develop a grading policy for students with disabilities in the math classroom.

Impact

1. Add to our strategies for differentiated instruction, along with experimenting to adjust and modify these strategies to fit the needs of our students
2. Improve the effectiveness of our co-teaching
Impact on student performance
1. The teacher will work with the individual student to identify and employ
the instructional method (differentiated and/or through co-teaching) which is most effective.
2. The teacher will have more instructional options to better fit the needs
of individual students.