MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITYCOLLEGE OF EDUCATION

SPECIAL EDUCATION PROGRAM

Program StandardsBenchmarks for Success

Purposes of Standards and Benchmarks:-Assessment tool-Guidelines for growth-Review regularly

Standard 1 Acts as an Educated Person

Communicate effectively.

-listening, speaking, writing, reading

Model respect

-for individuals, community

Promote individual responsibility and rights.

Message: You are the Leader of Your Classroom---You are Communicating Through Every Action You Exhibit---You cannot “not” communicate----so you are a model always—the message is the massage. Over time, your actions create the norms for the classroom community---equity, voice, identity, privilege, social justice

Standard#2 Teaches Subject Matters Present the

district’s curriculum

Engage students in activities that connect the subject matter

-Demonstrate a purpose-Help make connections to the outside world

Remember that content is just inert knowledge unless we can help show our students why it is important—how it connects to their lives or how it changed your life. Students see if you are passionate about your subject---and this can be highly motivating. Show them that YOU are a learner who is learning every day!

Standard #3 Works with Students as Individuals

Respect, care for, communicate with all students.-Build on their strengths.-Motivate and engage them.

Adapt the curriculum.Set measurable goals

Use multiple strategies in your teaching.

-academic & social-emotional Assess and adjust

instruction

-Make accommodations

-Respond to students’ interests and needs

Find strengths and gifts in each child…notjust deficits and problems. Adjust instruction.Structure-Up…Plan your lessons knowing that you have students with language processing challenges, cognitive difficulties, attentional challenges, and social skill challenges. Explicit,direct, intense, and strategic instruction.

Standard #4 Organizes, manages a class as a learning environment

Set rules and routines

Use a variety of participation structures

Respond consistently and thoughtfully

Assess and adjust to promote learning

We create the weather in our classroom---so we need to think very carefully about imagining the rules and norms and values and behaviors that we want to see in something called an “Inclusive LearningCommunity”.

Standard #5 Uses an Equipped School Room Design the classroom-

a safe, functional, motivating physical environment

Use multiple materials and media

Teach students to use information technology-wisely & ethically

Assess activities, adapt room & resources to promote learning

Motivation is partly connected to surprise, novelty, imagining, mystery, wonderment…and our roomscan be a place that stimulates us. Keep it new. Keep it fresh…by just making small changes in the media: Make it bigger; Make it larger than life; Make itStand out; Make it louder; Make It quieter; Make it two people instead of one person; Make it read aloud.Authentic Audience and Purpose.Technology is a “New Literacy”—important as reading and writing. A Fishing Dream

Standard #6 Joins a Faculty and School Attend to

school policies-Communicate with students, families-Work with colleagues to assess, improve curriculum-Participate in assessment and grading processes-Participate in professional development

Standard #7: Engages Guardians and Community

Communicate regarding student activities, behavior, learning, progress.

Recognize, responds to family diversity.

Advocate for students.-Guard their welfare.

Standard #8Teaches Deliberately & Learns from Experience

Exhibit a teachers’ manner-honesty, respect, fairness

Exercise good judgment to attain goals

Use assessment and feedback to improve performance

**Remember! Meeting these standards is a process. They are ongoing goals you will have throughout your teaching career.

Teaching and Behavior Management Idea: About 80% of what we call

“behavior” management problems are really problems of poor instruction---so, the more planned we are for instruction, the fewer behavior management challenges we will face as teachers

Here is 7 Features of Instruction that often cause (and can prevent) behavior challenges…

#1: Preparing the Learner Agenda posted and discussed Timeline of activities Visual examples of sequence of activitie

s Allaying fears of new information or

experiences Alerting students to changes in the day

#2: Task Clarity

Directions are given in several modalities: oral, written on board, on agenda, on assignment, on website

Students are asked to repeat directions and expectations

Teacher has modeled more than one example; how work should be presented; posted examples of completed work (e.g., rubrics and completed project examples)

#3: Task Difficulty Understand independent, instructional, and

frustration levels for reading, math Get a sense of a child’s resilience,

perseverance, motivation Tasks can be difficult at several levels:

Cognitively, Socially, Behaviorally Rule: Do not give seat work that cannot be

completed at 80% or above Rule: Materials do not teach…teachers’ teach Create “more” teachers than yourself---allow

students to ask more able students for help

#4: Scaffold and Supports Rubrics, Examples and Non-Examples,

Cue-cards, Graphic Organizers, Mnemonics

Size, color, categories/folders/files Pictures, flow charts, think-sheets Key Idea: Scaffolds and Supports can

“make visible the invisible”---raise to consciousness for students something that they may not pick up on their own…..

Helping Over Hurdles

#5: Positive Reinforcement Effective praise—labeling the behavior

you like and why…not just blanket praise (“Good”, “Super”, “Cool”, “Awesome”)

Whenever students are not doing something wrong, they are doing something right!!! And this is about 99% of the time…..yet, we only interact with kids when they do something wrong

#6: Opportunities to Engage and Respond Multiple “publication” points—students are asked to

share their thinking throughout process…activating background knowledge, discussion, reflection (Before, During, After)

Think: Oral facility is one of the greatest social skills----starting, maintaining, and concluding a conversation

Skills Instruction: Quick checks; dry erase boards; clickers

Think, pair, share….”reporting out” to larger community shares and spreads thinking

Student “think alouds” to help others to see and hear thinking (dynamic assessment)

#7: Managing Transitions 5 minute, 3 minute, 1 minute warnings Agenda written; Agenda in pictures Self-evaluation and self-monitoring

checklists of day’s events Explicit teaching of procedures and rules

to transitions (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports—PBIS)—walking in halls; bus; lunch; recess