Focus Learner

In any instructional program, there is usually a wide variety of abilities among the learners. Some will have extensive experience, while others are somewhat limited. The educational background may extend from high school dropout to college graduate. Many other variables will affect the progression and productivity of the learners. Provisions must be made to compensate for these differences. In a self-paced course, extra modules can help the learners that are having difficulties. In a lock-step course, additional instruction, reading assignments, or study halls may be required to keep the slower learners on pace with the other

Creating lessons that students actually want to participate in is always considered at planning. While there are standards that must be taught and best practices for teaching these standards, engagement must also be addressed to complete the learning package. Silver and Perini believe that “if we do not design lessons and units that will strengthen students commitment to learn, then we cannot expect them to take an active or in-depth approach to learning” (2010). With this in mind, differentiating lessons according to students’ interest helps ensure that students are motivated and are able to gain deeper level understanding. When students are interested in what they are learning, they are able to bring passion to their work.

In the beginning of each lesson several planned supports are introduced to ensure that the focus learner understand the lesson objective and subsequent lesson goal. The two to three planned supports in lesson one compliments the focus learner preference in learning and align with the IEP goal. The planned supports are mainly visual and kinesthetic in nature and they include various Manipulatives, wall charts, YouTube videos, guided notes, and lesson worksheets assessments that are intended to assist the student in achieving the lesson objectives. They are also intended to help the student remain engaged during explicit, guided, and cooperative instructions. The Smart board will be used by the teacher to support differentiation of instruction and by the student to express in writing learning of the lesson objectives. Worksheets will be used for independent and extended practice on concepts taught and the results used to help guide instruction in satisfying the learning goal and the IEP goal. As the focus learner becomes confident the amount of supports are reduced to reflect the IEP

[The learning goal that I choose aligns with the IEP because it is supporting and providing a strategy to aid my focus learner in solving word problems. In order for the focus learner to solve word problems, she needs to know what the question is asking and find a concrete way to represent that. Her IEP goal states that she will “…underline and circle key numbers, then write an equation and solve each problem…” The learning goal aligns with this IEP goal because it has her master a strategy that has her do exactly what the IEP goal is asking. The STAR strategy has the student circle or underline what they know and what they need to figure out, then translate the word problem equation into a picture. By having the student draw a picture, this

Why was it necessary to address the chosen target for the focus learner? Cite evidence and specifically reference your IEP-at-a-Glance and your RIOT/ICEL Assessment to support your decision.

While looking at the new strategies to implement with the focus learner, I concluded that Benjamin would benefit from academic support in literacy. The student had difficulties with long vowels and I found out about new literacy resources to use for teaching him. I also used Benjamin as the focus learner for my edTPA project. To provide the student with extra support, I designed three educational segments about long vowels. In my learning segments, I offered the student many opportunities to practice. It was a pull out for one-on-one supplementary instruction in ELA/Scaffolding and support in language and communication development.

This learning goal will be assessed through the highlighted word worksheet. Projects and worksheets will be done along with the discussions as a class.

The focus learner has difficulty when being told he cannot do something or not being able to do what he wants. He will have a moment of outburst when he gets upset and must use his coping skill of taking a 5-minute break. He does not take responsibility for his actions and will blame things on other people to get out of trouble. When confronted or asked to work hard he will try and get the teacher or teacher’s aide to feel sorry for him, by stating that he does not feel good or that he had a rough night at home. When you try and encourage him or tell him he did a good job, he will say, “I’m not smart, I’m dumb”, and other stuff to that tone. He is well liked by his peers and gets along with them very well. He doesn’t seem to have any

For example, if we are studying geometry my guiding questions to plan would be, what would be the learner outcomes? What do I want the students to learn by the end of the unit? From here I would develop my instruction to directly target the skills that I want each learner to understand. Guskey, T. R. (2005) supports, “The second essential question is, What must students he able to do with what they learn? In answering this question, teachers must determine what particular skills, abilities, or capacities must pair up with the new concepts and material.”

Since humanity began, learning has been deemed as one of the most important abilities of humans. Some (Piaget, 1971) argue that to a certain extent, learning is innate and that the ability of humans to learn is beyond understanding and is what, differentiates humans from other animals. However, complex learning has always proved a challenge in academia as new methods are continuously developed in search of the most effective. Today, many learning techniques such as highlighting and rereading are used throughout the educational system. This essay will illustrate the benefits of active note taking as a learning technique and support the fact that it is most effective.

As I am now of the ranks of a Middle School educator, the topic of scaffolding has been rekindled as an interest of mine. Specifically, the scaffolding of informative texts and writing tasks. I have experimented with a great variety of form factors and tools. Of course, my inner nerd is front and center and

I assess prior knowledge throughout my lesson sequence using a variety of ways. Before beginning the learning segment, I will look at students prior work on comparing and contrasting to see where each student is at in regards to their level of understanding. I found that while some students had a good understanding of the strategy, there were still many students that could use a thorough introduction to the concept. This allowed for me to begin planning ways to differentiate my instruction to include the higher students and the lower students. I crafted the Central Focus students practice compare and contrast by using Venn Diagrams and composing a paragraph that includes an introductory sentence, two-three details about how the two things are alike and different, and a concluding sentence, to encompass requisite skills for my learning segment. The learning targets for lesson 1,2, and 3, also address questions related to knowledge and skills aligned with the Central Focus that support student learning. To reach the learning objective for lesson one, students practice with me and with a pre assigned partner before doing anything by themselves. To provide additional support to students with literacy needs and IEP/504 plans, I monitor their progress, offer guidance with questions and different examples if needed, and give verbal cues during each lesson.

With the integration of technology, students get direct, individualized instruction from the computer. This form of supplemental teaching allows them to engage with the information at times that are most convenient for them and helps them become more self-directed in the learning process. It also gives the teacher more time to accomplish classroom objectives, while freeing them up to help the students who might be struggling with certain lessons.

To orient and focused the students to the unit’s topics I began the lesson by reading the learning targets with the students. The learning targets referred to becoming familiar with the concept of a textbook, considering what students already know about the sun, moon and stars and learning to think like a scientist. Then,

The learning goal for Focus Student 2 will not need to change. This student has been identified as gifted, so I will be providing enriching activities to help her reach the learning goal, while challenging her to meet her needs. I could ask her