Monthly Archives: March 2011

Why should parents be a member of a student support team?

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Why should parents be on the Student Support Team?

I was recently not invited to my son’s SST meeting and I’m very unhappy about it. Prior to me changing my career to entrepreneur, I was a teacher. I was a SPED teacher. At one time I was the SST Coordinator for the grade I taught and of course I have had to go to SST meetings for every student I taught that had one over the past 10 years. I can safely say that I have experience with the SST process. I have a lot of experience with providing the correct intervention accommodations for students. One of the reasons why I switched careers was because we adopted a special needs son who needed more than I could give him when I was teaching. I wanted to be able to help and focus on him and be there as a supportive parent, something that he hadn’t had before. I feel robbed of that opportunity because I was denied the right to be an advocate for my son and his education. Education is something I feel is one of the most precious gifts a parent and society can give to a child.

So what do I think I could have added to that SST meeting that the other members couldn’t? How about that the doctor picked up on the fact that my son has a speech delay in a matter of minutes. She asked if he was being served in speech and then why not? She was upset that the school wasn’t giving him the accommodations that he needed and that it wasn’t related to the ADHD, which is what the teacher is convinced of. She is the only person with daily contact with my son so her word was taken. If I were invited, I could have countered that statement.

Any time there is an SST meeting, the parents should be invited. When I was the coordinator, it was standard practice to contact the parents three times to try to get them to the SST meeting. They are valuable resources. After all, they do know their children the best. Parents should help teachers decide what the best intervention accommodations are for their children. Parents and teachers need to work together to get the best results for the student and child. The SST or RTI meeting is a great starting point.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Leveled-Expository-Writing-System-867302 has a leveled writing system that can be used as intervention accommodations during the SST process because it tracks improvement. Check it out!

Written by,

Kasha Mastrodomenico

http://www.socialstudiesdifferentiatedinstruction.com

kasha@socialstudiesdifferentiatedinstruction.com

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Kasha-Mastrodomenico

Accommodations for Gifted Learners?

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Do you think accommodations should be given for gifted learners? If a teacher differentiates instruction correctly by leveling the content and then using learning styles to help students learn, they are. With special education, the IEP contains accommodations a teacher MUST do to help students learn. Should that be extended to gifted students too? Should there be an IEP for gifted students? I often complain that there are not programs for my gifted daughter but that there are for kids at the opposite side of the spectrum. What do you think?

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Kasha-Mastrodomenico offers social studies differentiated instruction lesson plans that challenge ALL students. Check it out!

Written by,

Kasha Mastrodomenico

http://www.socialstudiesdifferentiatedinstruction.com

kasha@socialstudiesdifferentiatedinstruction.com

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Kasha-Mastrodomenico

What is an example of differentiated instruction for Lincoln’s 10% Plan?

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Example of Differentiated Instruction

Before President Lincoln was assassinated he came up with the plan that later became known as Lincoln’s 10% Plan. It pardoned all citizens, except high-ranking Confederate political and military officers, as long as they took an oath to support the Constitution and the emancipation (freeing) of slaves. When 10% of voters in a state took the oath, they could make a new state government and were recognized by the President and the US. The Radical Republicans in Congress didn’t like Lincoln’s 10% Plan.

Lincoln’s 10% Plan is in most high school and middle school American History curriculum’s. If teachers want to have their students remember Lincoln’s 10% Plan they should try to differentiate instruction. One idea to differentiate instruction for Lincoln’s 10%  Plan is to bring in multiple intelligence learning styles.

Here is an example of differentiated instruction. Count the number of students in the class and have the students tell you what 10% of it is. This brings in the logical multiple intelligence learning style. Have 10% of them stand and repeat after you while you are wearing a President Lincoln Mask: “I, insert name, do solemnly swear, in presence of Almighty God, that I will henceforth faithfully support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Union of the State thereunder, and that I will, in like manner, abide by and faithfully support all Laws and Proclamations which have been made during the existing Rebellion with reference to the Emancipation of Slaves – So help me God.” Note that this particular oath was taken after the death of Lincoln but it would have been very similar if Lincoln’s 10% Plan were to have been accepted. Because students are standing and speaking they are using both the linguistic multiple intelligence learning style and the kinesthetic multiple intelligence learning style. The mask can be made by cutting out the picture provided and taping it to a ruler which brings in the spatial multiple intelligence learning style. The students with the spatial multiple intelligence learning style will also learn just by watching the activity take place in front of them. By differentiating instruction based on the multiple intelligence learning styles students will most likely be more interested in Lincoln’s 10% Plan.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Kasha-Mastrodomenico offers many differentiated instruction lesson plans based on multiple intelligence learning styles.

Written by,

Kasha Mastrodomenico

http://www.socialstudiesdifferentiatedinstruction.com

kasha@socialstudiesdifferentiatedinstruction.com

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Kasha-Mastrodomenico

How can you cater to the musical learning style?

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Musical Learning Style

Thomas Armstrong, in his book “Multiple Intelligences: In the Classroom” had a really neat idea to engage those students with the musical learning style. He suggests teachers create “discographies”. Teachers can create play lists of songs for background music to play during work sessions. Of course social studies will have a much easier time coming up with play lists for their content, but even math can find music that includes their content if they want to interest their students with the musical learning style. Students with the musical learning style might even find relevance to the content where they have never made a connection before. Math teachers who want to interest their students with the musical learning style should check out a band called “The Mathematicians“. Their music, especially their early work, might work for them.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Kasha-Mastrodomenico offers many differentiated instruction activities to interest the many multiple intelligences. Check it out!

Written by,

Kasha Mastrodomenico

http://www.socialstudiesdifferentiatedinstruction.com

kasha@socialstudiesdifferentiatedinstruction.com

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Kasha-Mastrodomenico

What is an example of differentiated instruction using the musical learning style?

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Examples of Differentiated Instruction

Bringing in the musical multiple intelligence learning style to differentiate instruction can really add some fun to your lessons as well as help students learn. When I was teaching my 3 year old daughter the days of the week, I used the musical multiple intelligence learning style in the forms of rhythm and chant to help her learn. I started with Sunday and went through the days and added a clap for each one until we got to Saturday which we gave three claps. My daughter had it down in about 5 minutes. I use the musical multiple intelligence learning style so often she might think life resembles a musical.

The use of the musical multiple intelligence learning style to differentiate instruction can also be used in higher grade levels to help students remember important facts. For instance here’s an oldie but goody. Have them keep the beat to “In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” This is also part of a poem so it will interest the linguistic multiple intelligence learning style student.

Don’t be afraid to make up your own rhyme and keep the beat to it to add the musical multiple intelligence learning style to your lessons. You can try clapping or adding a drum. If you don’t have a drum have the students stomp their feet to the beat or bang on their desks. Here’s one that I made up to teach about the Louisiana Purchase.

In 1803,

from across the sea,

Napoleon sold

the land we now hold.

Another way teachers can use the musical multiple intelligence learning style to differentiate instruction is to allow students to create songs by changing the lyrics to songs they know. For some reason one of the most popular songs to change the lyrics to in my classes is the song “Baby got back”. I guess my students like big butts! They cannot lie. I actually don’t recommend using top 40 type songs because the tune can get confusing. Nursery rhyme and Christmas songs seem to work really well. Last week I made up a song using the tune from ”Oh, Suzanna!” about President Andrew Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan in order to differentiate instruction and bring in the musical multiple intelligence learning style. It went like this “Oh, Johnson’s plan, oh won’t you let me be, accepted to the Union if I let the slaves go free.”

Using the musical multiple intelligence learning style by creating rhythm and chants or changing lyrics to simple tunes can help your students remember important content. It is a great way to differentiate instruction.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Kasha-Mastrodomenico offers many activity templates for differentiated instruction using the multiple intelligence learning styles. Check it out!

Written by,

Kasha Mastrodomenico

http://www.socialstudiesdifferentiatedinstruction.com

kasha@socialstudiesdifferentiatedinstruction.com

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Kasha-Mastrodomenico

Example of Differentiated Instruction

What is an example of differentiated instruction when teaching about culture?

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Example of Differentiated Instruction

If you need an example of differentiated instruction for teaching about culture, I have one for you here. Part of the culture standard I had to teach was about creation stories. The main idea behind it was that every culture has a creation story. I decided to differentiate instruction by using the multiple intelligence learning styles. Since it wasn’t stated in the standards that a specific creation story be learned, I used several from around the world. I divided the students into cooperative learning groups to bring in the interpersonal learning style. I handed each cooperative group a different creation story. To bring in the linguistic learning style I had the groups put the story in their own words to simplify it. I brought in the kinesthetic learning style by making the students make up movements to go along with the story. The next day when the students came in the classroom, I had all of the desks on the outside of the room and in the middle I had created a fake fire with sticks and yellow, orange, and red construction and tissue paper. Each group told their story with their movements. The linguistic learning style and kinesthetic learning styles were used again during the presentation. It also included the spatial learning style because the students were watching the stories due to the movement and the “fire” focal point. The next time I use this differentiated instruction lesson plan using multiple intelligence learning styles, I will allow the students to use musical instruments from their culture, borrowed from the music room, to bring in the musical multiple intelligence learning style. To conclude the lesson, I used the logical multiple intelligence learning style by having the students find similarities between all of the creation stories.

In this lesson I accomplished differentiated instruction by bringing in the following multiple intelligence learning styles:

  • kinesthetic learning style
  • linguistic learning style
  • spatial learning style
  • musical learning style
  • logical learning style

By using all of these multiple intelligence learning styles to differentiate instruction, more students were interested in the lesson. http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Kasha-Mastrodomenico has many examples of differentiated instruction using the multiple intelligence learning styles in the form of full lesson plans.

Written by,

Kasha Mastrodomenico

http://www.socialstudiesdifferentiatedinstruction.com

kasha@socialstudiesdifferentiatedinstruction.com

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Kasha-Mastrodomenico

How can teachers differentiate instruction by including learning styles?

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Multiple Intelligence learning styles can be used to differentiate instruction. One of my favorite differentiated instruction lesson plans focused on the multiple intelligence learning styles. I taught about the Iroquois and later the tribes in GA through the use of artifacts. They weren’t real artifacts, I made them and then stuck them in an ammunition box filled with dirt to resemble an archaeological dig. I had the students try to reconstruct what they thought life was life for the Iroquois. It brought in the kinesthetic multiple intelligence learning style because they could touch and feel the “artifacts”. The logical multiple intelligence learning style was also used because they had to use their reasoning skills to conclude what they artifact might have been and what it was used for. I gave students a list of possible items and the translation for them into the Onondaga language. The necessity to translate included the linguistic multiple intelligence learning style. The students also had to draw a picture of what they thought the artifact looked like originally in order to include the Spatial multiple intelligence learning style. Playing in the background was Iroquois music for students with the musical multiple intelligence learning style. Since the students were working in groups to complete the assignment the interpersonal multiple intelligence learning style was also used. For the intrapersonal multiple intelligence learning style, I had them connect the Iroquois culture to their own by writing a paragraph about how they were similar. Of course that also brought in the linguistic multiple intelligence learning style again.

Students enjoyed this multiple intelligence learning style differentiated instruction lesson plan because students were able to pretend they were archaeologists. This brought in a connection to the real world and exposed them to a possible career. It used all of the original multiple intelligence learning styles to make the students interested.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Kasha-Mastrodomenico offers many social studies differentiated instruction lesson plans based on the multiple intelligence learning styles.

Written by,

Kasha Mastrodomenico

http://www.socialstudiesdifferentiatedinstruction.com

kasha@socialstudiesdifferentiatedinstruction.com

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Kasha-Mastrodomenico