I often find myself being squeezed so tight I used to think that the child wanted to squish the lead out of me. As time went on, though, I realized that the child was in fact concentrating so hard on making me move in just the right ways. It makes me wish I could help a little, just to provide a bit of relief from the stress that the child feels.

When the teacher responds with comforting words and help, the pressure often lessens some, but all too often the well-meaning words don’t provide the help necessary and my point cracks from the pressure.

Another common experience I have is the inevitable tapping from a bored student. Thankfully, the tapping is usually on my eraser side, so I don’t generally lose my point over it, but sometimes it is on my point and I find myself making tiny dots all over a paper, book or the desk. If only the lesson were more interesting…

Speaking of making dots, teachers, please check the pictures that some of the students are drawing! My goodness, some of the things I find myself making are amazing! The talent that these kids have, and inevitably the reward the kid gets is a chastisement for not paying attention. It’s too bad you can’t find a way to use that drawing talent to enhance the lessons somehow.

While I am thinking about it, I wanted to say a quick thanks to those teachers who monitor the pencil sharpener – I hate it when I am wasted by being sharpened down to a tiny nub, and the poor fingers that try to hold me as a tiny nub, oh my.

Well, thank you for taking the time to read this, I will see you soon!

-The Pencil

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In fact, ALL children should have opportunity to participate in sensory integration activities according to Sensory Processing Disorders website.

Here are some activities you can use in your classroom. Upper elementary teachers, try to find creative ways to incorporate these ideas into the more advanced lessons for some added fun for your students!

1. Goopy, messy type sensory activities that include things like playdough. Find some recipes for these here.
2. Gross and fine motor skill activities including jumping, moving about the classroom, carrying things, painting, dot-to-dot and more. Here is a great resource for tons of activity ideas.
3. Sand and water table exploration activities.
4. Auditory integration – utilize nature sounds or classical music to help focus, calm or provide white noise for students.

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Monday: Introduce modified spelling list, Guided reading groups, Small group instruction for math – modified lessons…

Tuesday: Spelling list practice, Running records to monitor reading levels in groups (record data for IEPs), Assist students in large group math class…

Wednesday: Vocabulary quiz for IEP data, Dibbles testing, Reteaching in small group for math,

Thursday: Pretest in spelling, Guided reading groups, quiz in math

Friday: Spelling test, data collection in guided reading groups, preteach math lesson for next week

So let’s recap:

Spelling had 3 days of instruction.

Reading had 2 days of instruction.

Math had basically 3 days of instruction.

Now throw in county testing, state testing, field trips, grade level assemblies, IEP meetings (where a sub will take over, but never have a sub introduce or test material, only review), furlough days where kids are home because the county “can’t” pay the teachers, and holidays.

Anyone have a question about why special education students are not meeting standardized testing goals? The fact that they have a legal learning disability that impacts their ability learn, all the perimeter in place to “prove” that they are learning are in fact preventing them from having the opportunity to learn.

How to Improve Instruction for Special Education

Since a revamp of the entire education system is not likely to happen anytime soon, special education teachers need to make the most of the time they do have available with students. Here are a few things that can help maximize learning time.

1. Organize! Have lesson plans prepared well in advance, keep essential portions of student IEPs summarized and easy to reference, etc.
2. Streamline data collection practices so that more data can be collected during instructional time (try using a clipboard with student names, use tally marks and create a shorthand that helps speed recording process. )
3. Find time to do quick reviews or instruction with students to maximize time during the day. Eat lunch with kids, allow opportunity for extra help during recess, send home detailed instruction/review for parents to assist.

In the end, it’s important to give your students a chance to learn, so try to not get caught up in the disruptions to the schedule and make the most of the time available to you.

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When planning any lesson, it is important to first ask: what is the ultimate goal behind this lesson?

Example One: Differentiated Instruction of Perimeter and Area

So for example – Students will learn how to measure the perimeter and area of a shape. The ultimate goal is NOT that students will simply be able to improve upon prior knowledge. (I am sure everyone will agree there, but surprisingly, differentiated instruction seems to lose this idea). Additionally it is NOT that students will be able to pass a unit test. You might say that the ultimate goal is to pass the state tests, and in one sense that is an ultimate goal. The final ultimate goal is for students to be able to grow up, measure their living room and purchase the correct amount of carpet.

Looking at differentiating instruction for this concept has come a long way from even just a few years ago. It used to be that teachers were told to provide several examples and then allow time to work in small groups so that students who struggled with the concept could have personal time with the teacher to learn a difficult concept.

A New Look at Differentiated Instruction

Now teachers are being prompted to provide a variety of complexities in the problems given. Now for this example, the complexity does not compromise the concept: finding the area of a room that is 5×5 square uses the same formula as finding the area of a room that is 10×32. When it is time to add other shapes to the room, the problem becomes more sticky.

One article I recently read stated that students should be given a list of several questions of varying difficulty and allowed to choose a couple of those to answer, allowing the advanced students the chance at harder questions and slower students the chance at easier questions. The problem is, if the easy problems: a room that is only 5×5, are the only ones answered, then those students who are struggling will never have practice with more difficult problems: a room that has to be divided into three sections in order to figure out the area, for example.

Example Two: Differentiated Instruction for Multiplication

One example given in the article was multiplication. Given a selection of multiplication problems, students who have not grasped double digit multiplication can answer only single digit questions while students who are more advanced can answer more difficult double digit multiplication.

My question – when does the slower student learn double digit multiplication? And if your ultimate goal is that state test, how does that slower student have a chance at passing when they are always given the option of a simpler problem? Lose the problem sets and bring back individualized attention, please!

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Teachers will often deal with students who are telling lies for one reason or another – getting out of homework, not admitting what really goes on at home, not wanting to get into trouble, and sometimes simply not remembering. Understanding why a child is lying is important as this helps the teacher understand the best consequence for the lie.

If a child is trying to hide the truth about something, there could be good reason for the teacher to know what that truth is. Here are some common reasons why a child might lie: about homework:

Lies about homework -

• The child may not have understood the homework
• The child may be struggling with the concept being taught
• The child may not have help at home (or the materials to complete an assignment)
• The child may have forgotten to do the homework
• The child may simply be trying to get out of extra work

Depending on the reason, the teacher should handle the resulting consequences differently. A child trying to get out of the work, for example, may be rewarded with extra work. A child without help at home or who is struggling to understand the work may need extra time with the teacher and modified homework for a time.

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Instructional Support:

• Reinforce skills already taught by the teacher
• Read to students and listen to students read
• Supervise student work
• Modify materials as needed and as directed by teacher
• Assist students
• Accompany students to library and assist book choice

Diagnostic Support

• Correct and grade assignments
• observe and record academic and social behaviors
• Administer informal assessments such as unit tests

Behavior Management Support

• Provide positive feedback to students
• Provide earned reinforcements and monitor progress on behavior plans
• Supervise time out and assist student who are stressed

Classroom Organization Support

• Make instructional games and learning centers as directed by teacher
• Monitor students at learning centers
• Create and put together bulletin board displays
• Locate any necessary instructional materials

Paperwork Support

• Duplicate any necessary materials
• Take attendance
• Record grades as directed

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A child with ADHD has trouble focusing. When told to go pack his backpack at the end of the day, he may get lost and find himself over by the pencil sharpener, not sure what he was supposed to do or where he was supposed to be going. This same child may have trouble writing down assignments, completing a simple task or following a class lesson while the girl behind him keeps tapping her pencil on her desk.

Ironically, this same child with ADHD probably does not have trouble focusing in some areas of life. Video games may hold his attention for hours on end without taking a break. This does not lessen the validity of his disability, though, as this is what Dr. Phelan calls a high interest activity.

To jump into the mind of the child with ADHD a teacher has to attend to every sound around her at the same time. She has to also plan dinner, think about what she will do after dinner and day-dream about going for a walk in the woods at the same time. There is so much going on in the head of the child with ADHD and the ability to shut out some thoughts is simply not there.

Remembering this when working with a student who struggles with ADHD may help the teacher have a little more patience. Read some tips for working with students who have Adhd.

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Teachers and parents who work with children who have special needs must be proactive and teach children the proper social cues and responses. Here is one unique way to do that.

Use the current hurricane season to introduce students to what a hurricane is. Show pictures, video clips and read about how a hurricane forms and how it can be so devastating to an area that it hits. Then have students brainstorm emotions and character traits that would accurately describe a hurricane.

Have each hurricane name printed on an index card and pass them out to the students. Here is the list of the 2009 hurricane names:

• Ana
• Bill
• Claudette
• Danny
• Erika
• Fred
• Grace
• Henri
• Ida
• Joaquin
• Kate
• Larry
• Mindy
• Nicholas
• Odette
• Peter
• Rose
• Sam
• Teresa
• Victor
• Wanda

Have each child become a hurricane in turn, acting out the emotions and character traits listed on the board. After the child/hurricane does something, the teacher should call out “freeze!” and everyone has to stop and discuss an appropriate way to handle the situation.

A good way to conclude the lesson is to have a class discussion on how the child who was being the hurricane should have acted/reacted to situations that would have been more appropriate.

This is a great lesson to tie into science class as they learn about hurricanes. They can also work on their writing skills as an excellent follow up assignment could be a journal entry about a situation in which they reacted poorly and how they should have reacted differently.

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Some teachers still believe that ADHD is a made-up disorder; an excuse for parents and teachers to use medication to manage discipline problems in the classroom. In fact, ADHD is a very real, very frustrating disorder that effects more students than we probably realize at this time.

This great book: All About Attention Deficit Disorder provides straight-forward honest answers regarding this disorder, the diagnosis and the treatments. Even if you think you understand ADHD, check out this book. You may be surprised at what you learn!

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The number one important thing to keep in mind is to remain flexible. Working with children who have disabilities will provide an extra challenge and there will always be something new and different to face each day and each lesson. Remaining flexible will help the new teacher sift through each issue as it comes up and adapt to the necessary changes.

Read more tips on teaching in an inclusion classroom.

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