Module 6: Slideshow Presentation Reflections

Reading Strategies: Reading in the Upper Grades

This particular presentation gave explanations of different kinds of reading strategies appropriate for students in the upper grades. It expressed the importance of having a word wall available and implementing activities so that students interact with the wall regularly to solidify understanding of vocabulary. This is a strategy that I use in the classroom with my Kindergartners; we have an illustrated word wall that features sight and past vocabulary words. Our current words are with our EQ on a concept map that stays at the front of the room until we move on to the next topic.  I have modeled KWL charts in my classroom but most of the other strategies such as QAR and 3-2-1, I have not used since I began working with the lower grades. I was impressed with an interactive online vocabulary web I saw during our last professional learning day; it could be modified by grade and difficulty level. I found the last couple of slides on the 80-15-5 Rule very interesting; I wonder how those numbers would be represented in my classroom of students being served by special education.

Differentiating Instruction with Multicultural Literacy

This presentation specified what differentiated instruction entails. It stressed the importance of properly diagnosing the needs and interests of the student as well how specifically you can differentiate instruction and assessments. This is something that I currently have to re-visit in my classroom. Instruction in my classroom is differentiated in many ways already because it is a small group classroom of four students. Most of my students are engaged in the whole group instruction that I implement because it is interactive, I rely on literature and songs, and prompt the students as necessary taking into account their individual goals and objectives. I have one student though that has an incredibly difficult time when he is not in direct control of the lesson and he has to share attention with other students. I have recently placed him at a desktop computer near the group so that he can follow along at his own pace and complete all of his work independently.  This has tremendously cut back on the frequency of negative behaviors that we have seen; this illustrates to me how important differentiation is.

Assessment of Cognitive, School, and Home Factors

This last presentation was related to cognitive functioning and the assessments that measure verbal comprehension, processing, perceptual reasoning, and working memory. I am familiar with some of these examples from working with school psychologists, speech language pathologists, and diagnosticians for the purpose of evaluating and providing students with special education eligibility. In my classroom we administer the Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills (ABLLS), that assesses more than 20 aspects of a student’s functioning including receptive and expressive language, visual perception, reasoning, literacy and math skills, and gross and fine motor skills. I think it is so important to have a clear overall picture of where your students are functioning in every domain; this will help to guide instruction and provide a framework to support their needs.