I feel as thought it's been so long since I've blogged, and it's really only been a week. I'm glad to have taken the break, and have enjoyed the time off from school. It's really time to get back to work and finish this year on a high note!
I wanted to take a moment to update some progress I've made on the research project the kids are working on. Just before break I made some discoveries that have changed the project slightly. I had been discussing my project with a 1st grade teacher, who had recently done a similar project with her students, and I realized I didn't know what the standards were for 1st and 2nd grade. In talking with this teacher I discovered that I may have become a little ambitious in the amount of work I wanted my students to complete. This was an important realization for myself, one I realized how disconnected I am from "General Education" as a whole. Even though I trained in both Special Education and General Education, I have never worked in a Gen Ed classroom, which leads me to my second realization - you always need a Gen Ed partner!!!! I realized that the majority of First grade students are required to write 4 sentences, 4 facts, in a research project. I had planned on my students learning several more than that, as evidenced by the Desert Animals Fact Worksheet I posted on Adapted Learning. This really made me sit back and take a look at my project, and reassess what I was asking students to learn, and make sure it was appropriate for their age level.
As I said this is a learning process for me, so the plan is to scale back a little. I will have the students fill out the worksheet, but then will use that worksheet to have them find the answer to 4 questions:
1. What does their animal look like?
2. Where do they live?
3. What do they eat?
4. Can you give 1 interesting fact?
This will form the base for our presentations that we will be sharing in the near future. I will keep you updated as the process continues. I hope those of you who had a recent break have a good week back, and for those of you getting ready for break enjoy your time off!
Patrick
Photo courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons: CJ Sorg
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