Ms. M's Tales of a Teacher: My Personal Teacher Blog

 This is the final post in my mini-series on modifications. Although it's a bit sad to think my thinking will pause on this topic, I know I'll approach it again, and I'm excited to return to writing on other topics. Many different ones have taken center stage lately so there's lots to talk about!  So far, the focus has been breaking down modifications and provide examples and strategies. For this post, I want to focus our energy on working with families and preparing them to implement the modifications their child needs.  Families are often reluctant to trying modifications because (rightfully so) they do not feel prepared and trained. After all, it is our responsibility that they are provided and the student's IEP or 504 is followed. With our new learning environments in place, this has all changed drastically, and so our preparation must adjust.  Consider hosting a general family session followed by individual sessions explaining what modifications are, which ones...

Hello everyone and welcome to my fourth blog in my mini-series about modifications! There is still so much more to cover on this topic! I'm excited to include a few more modifications today in the series, and I hope that my posts have offered guidance and clarity if you are working on implementing modifications this year in your classroom (whatever that may look like!)  In a conversation with a teacher friend the other day, I was asked what are a few things I've seen improve since the start of the school year, and what "must-dos" or "must-haves" will I not part with. After I reflected I realized that we have come a long way since September, when none of my students  My virtual classroom has benefited from consistency with routines and using activities frequently to have my students learn the technology to complete them. I remember at the start of the school year students had difficulty accessing Pear Deck slides during class. Some never made it to the pre...

Welcome again to my mini-series on modifications!  Every teacher, special education and general education implements them. They are the lay of the land in special ed., and for those of us that have been practicing in the field for a while, we think in modification mode frequently. (Yes you can laugh at that as I did, but we all know the elemental truth is we geek out on this stuff!)  In the different learning environments we are experiencing today, modifying work for students has become more of a challenge, rather than a natural part of differentiated instruction that teachers weave into their practice. I have had to think outside the box for ways to alter and implement modifications to help my students. Specific 504 and IEP plans are helpful in that I have a direct list of what the student needs, and the modification list for general ed. students allows me to "mix-and-match" as I go to apply what is necessary.  The modifications I've selected to discuss today have been r...

 I hope you enjoyed the first part of my blog post series on "new" modifications. As mentioned before, modifying the content, process, product, and environment is a natural occurrence for teachers in the classroom. Our new virtual and hybrid learning environments pose new obstacles to work around in order to provide students with what they need and require in order to learn successfully.  I've thought a lot about which two modifications to write about next, given there are so many I could choose from. In my previous blog I focused on extended time and repeat/re-reading of directions. The following choices are great follow-ups to those:  Shortening/chunking assignments: Whenever I preview work for my students, I'm always on the lookout for what I can do to make assignments more approachable for my students. Very often I use the modification of re-explaining and re-reading to help with this as well, however many assignments need more detailed work in addition to this. ...

 In my previous blog I opened the conversation about applying modifications to a virtual environment. It certainly looks different, feels different and that's because it is! I've spent a lot of time these first few weeks of school thinking about modifications and how to effectively implement them for my students. My co-teacher and I have looked over our students' IEPs, discussed how they would typically be implemented, and what is holding us back.  The reality is that not all the modifications are able to be applied in the same ways, and some have to be changed completely. Rather than having them fully adjusted in the IEP itself, we realized that how we implement the modifications students need is what will make it possible to meet their needs, goals, and requirements in their IEP.  Much like how differentiated instruction can vary based on the content, process, and product, implementing modifications in a virtual and/or hybrid environment can be differentiated (and in th...

Last week my co-teacher and I had a meaningful conversation about modifications- a popular and important topic for the students in our class. Our class is richly diverse with various cultures, abilities, languages, and learning styles that make it unique, yet offer challenges for us as teachers to meet the needs of our learners in this new learning environment we are experiencing this year.  One of our concerns before school even started was how to deliver instruction that was differentiated, and ensure modifications were in place for all of our students, especially those that require them with IEP and 504 reports. We realized that some modifications are going to be altered such as offering manipulatives. We use virtual manipulatives and allow the students to move them, or to direct us as teachers where/how/when to move them. Some modifications (such as extra time) don't require much of a change, however utilizing breakout rooms in Zoom has been helpful to provide a quiet space for...

Recently I read an article from ASCD Express that focused on meaningful grades. Shortly thereafter, I found others relevant to the same topic. The one that I personally focused on is titled: Quality Over Counting: Mindsets for Grading Reform by Tom Schimmer.  One key point that resonated was in section  number three; Standards Over Tasks. Typically teachers, including myself, organize our gradebooks by tasks such as quizzes, projects etc., however, we are grading on a "standards-based" report card. The truth is, the task-organization is not reflecting standards because of the type of evidence included. Schimmer explains how standards are organized by strands, categories or domains.  The challenge comes with how to exactly grade if using tasks were to be set aside, and even Schimmer agrees to this point. Here are some of my thoughts for how we can accomplish this, especially with our current learning environments being different than they have in the past. Which, by the wa...