Week 16 - Special Educator Interview Blog Posting due Sat May 7th

Dear Class:

Please copy/paste [YOU MAY HAVE TO POST SEVERAL TIMES TO GET THIS DONE, BUT IT'S OK TO DO THAT] your Special Educator Interview for this posting. Feel free to offer comments to your peers if you so wish. I look forward to reading about your experiences with interviewing an educator who is out in the trenches 'doing this stuff ' everyday, regardless of what we have to say about it.   Don't forget to email a copy to jherr3@uis.edu as well.

For those of you that need to, please click on the following link to see the interviewiing instructions emailed to you earlier in the semester:  http://specialeducatorinterviewblog.blogspot.com/ .

We can talk/read/post/write about how to teach all day long, but there is nothing to suffice for being the one in the trenches: always remember and respect that: respect that of any teacher and that respect will come back to you when you're the one in the classroom.

I have enjoyed reading your postings on fleshing through the ins and outs of special education. Hopefully, you will walk away with the knowledge that we are all human beings with feelings, emotions and mental faculties; that students are human beings that will be entrusted to your classrooms, and when the Almighty Door is shut to your classroom, what will you really do? Will you afford all students that chance at humanity regardless of what you think, what you believe and what you've been told? I hope and pray so. Good luck to you.

Sincerely,
Dr. Herring

Week 13 Response to Intervention

Dear Class:
NOTE: This is your final chapter blog and final chapter posting. Weeks 14 and 15 --- there will be no blog postings – For Week 16, the Week 16 Teacher Interview Blog will be posted for you to post/share your teacher interview with the class.
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In this chapter, you will be exposed to the concept and practice of RTI, Response to Intervention. You are exposed to solutions or an intervention model as a way to meet some of the challenges of having different learning levels in one classroom. While the model is not an end-all, be-all, it does provide components of teaching and learning that equip teachers with how to support and give attention to students who need ongoing reading and math instruction assistance.

After reading the chapter, follow the videos below:
1. Three Tiers of RTI
2. Response to Intervention: Helping all students succeed
3. RTI [Lehigh University]
4. Another RTI video
5. Teacher Breaks Down [this is not RTI, folks!]
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Week 13 Optional Blog Posting:
Some teachers are confused about different aspects of RTI and uncertain how to deal with some of the challenges they are facing. For example, according to progress monitoring data, more than half of the students in some classes are not reaching benchmarks. What should they do? [students and teachers] (Vaughn, et al, 2011)
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Week 12 Differentiating Instruction and Assessment for Middle and High School Students [continued]

Welcome to continuation on Differentiating instruction and assessment for middle and high school students. Last week’s post continues to Week 12. If you have read the chapter and viewed the previous videos on what differentiated instruction in the classroom looks like, then spend the rest of this week blogging your reactions [blog posting due date extended to Sunday, April 10, 2011].

Blog Posting 6 [Required]:Respond to the following questions in your posting, answering according to the videos and chapter readings, 200-300 words:
= How often should differentiation occur in the middle/high school classroom?
= What is the difference between differentiation, extra credit and remedial assignments?
= If some students do lower level tasks, how are they going to be able to meet standards?
= What are some ways to have all students do high level tasks and differentiate?
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