a discrepancy in the student’s academic, social/emotional, behavioral, and/or physical ability and his or her age

identify, develop, and implement alternative education strategies for students who have recognized problems in the classroom before the student is referred to special education.

utilizing high-quality general education instruction in the core curriculum with all students.

largeted group instruction or some form of group remediation to improve performance.

third level which consists of intensive, individualized interventions.

School personnel (including general education teachers, special education teachers, counselors, administrators, etc.);

The official referral begins the formal process of determining eligibility for special education services

Educational Diagnostician (also called Psychometrist) or School Psychologist: These professionals are qualified to conduct all types of educational assessments including intelligence (IQ), achievement, behavior, etc.

Special Educators: These individuals are qualified to conduct some types of achievement and behavior evaluations as well as informal observations.

General Educators: These individuals provide documentation of the problems of the specific student.

Parent(s) or Legal Guardian(s): The parents or legal guardians provide valuable insight into the student’s behavior and personality in other environments.*

Related Service Providers (Physical Therapist, Occupational Therapist, Audiologist, Orientation and Mobility Specialist, etc.): These specialists provide information pertaining to specific areas of concern that have been assessed.

Medical Doctors (including psychiatrists, ophthalmologists, and optometrists): Depending on the disability of the student, medical records can also be used in the determination of eligibility for special education services.

A student profile that provides background information about the student. The profile will include strengths and weaknesses of the student, information regarding performance in the classroom and on formal assessments, and the reason he or she is receiving special education services.

IEP initiation and duration dates These IEP goals are reviewed, monitored and updated based on student progress. For most students, IEP goals are in place for one academic year.

A statement of “special instructional factors” such as the need for assistive technology.

A statement of opportunities to participate in nonacademic and extracurricular activities with their non-disabled peers

A statement of the frequency and method of reports of goal attainment for parents or guardians.

Specific areas that need special education services (such as reading, math, PE, etc.). The benchmark pages include:

Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance (PLAAFP) statements,

Special education and related services needed to achieve the annual goal (includes frequency of services, amount of time, location, and responsible agencies).

A Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) if the student’s behavior is a concern and a functional behavioral assessment has been done or needs to be conducted,

For students 16 years and older; the plans and activities for the student’s transition from high school will be addressed

The IEP team may meet as frequently as needed to discuss the implementation of the IEP. School personnel are required to provide documentation of the mastery of benchmarks and annual goals. The IEP document is a “living” document and can be altered during the school term if needed.

Content

Use pre-assessment to gather information about your learners, using this information to develop relevant and engaging learning opportunities

Use Individual Goal Setting, collaborate with students to create learning goals for them to achieve

Process

Offer multiple ways for the students to interact with the content – e.g., digital texts, books on CD, PowerPoint presentations, films, individual work, small group work

Allow students to work on more open-ended tasks. These tasks have different entry and exit points, allowing for all students to feel they can achieve the task

Place students in flexible grouping, that allows them to move around based on ability

Product

Give students a menu of options for demonstrating their learning, some of which may be required while others may be student-choice.

Provide authentic feedback for students on their products from subject area experts when appropriate and able.

Learning Environment

Making sure that the physical environment is flexible with varied types of furniture and arrangements, and areas for quiet individual work, group work and collaboration.

Is it just my subject or does the student have problems in their other subjects?

Are the learning problems the same, or are they behavior, social or task based?

What is the learning problem? What aspects of the subject is the student finding difficult?

Who are possible candidates that would be able to work together if needed? When discussion/peer work comes up who is the best to put together?

What extra resources do I need on hand during the lesson to immediately differentiate the lesson?

Not ready to start the class - books missing, homework not at the ready, sleepy

Opinions - does the student have opinions about the topic?

Fidgeting, day dreaming, generally unfocused

Quiet, doesnt engage in class, struggle to follow along in the book

Disruptive, chatty, busy with another subject's work

Simply ask the students if they actually do this/ think they will use it/ why?/ where?/ when?

Different types of media - videos, audio, reading aloud from peers, articles, advertisements, movie snippets,

Make topics as relevant as possible, or use the topic provided, but ask the students what they think and go broader/ expand on the given topic

Has a clear established order of what to do so that they don't get confused, or when there is group work that all the members know when their pieces needs to be finished so they can hand in the assignment on time.

I try to give them atleast 2 - 4 topics or extenede versions so they can find something to relate or qurious about

Informal setting of conversation to see how they feel about something by using an incident that happend to me and see if they can relate

I prefer to check on each student individually by walking through the class and choosing random answers to read and see if they are on the right track.

This also places me in-between the students for easy monitoring and facilitating the task. I can also establish a gist of how much they know about the topic and see if they require help if they are stuck, need differentiation of the task level or just an explanation of something that they are struggling with.

This also helps me see if the students are truly interested or just doing the task because it has been given to them

I feel like I am more approachable as a teacher to the students being in between them so that they know I am there if they need me, establishing a supportive relationship with them

Point to common mistakes/misunderstandings the students as a class made and tell them to look out for it.

Do they have any questions about something that is unclear

Remind them about important factors and have them repeat it back to me

Research the things they don't know!!!! I try to really drive this home, as well are mentioning where they found it - university preparation against plagiarism

An open environment where the students feel confident, ask questions, and can be themselves. Where they have trust in me as a teacher to listen to what they have to say and consider their opinions, non judgemental. Establish an equal, respectful platform where they are all equal and safe, where they can explore and discover topics, that is relevant and that they see value in, not only for the classroom but also outside in the real world. They need to know that I want them to succeed and that no one is more important than the other.

I try to teach them that we can have fun, joke and chat but also get the work done. In my classroom it doesn't matter if you are introverted or extroverted, popular or nerdy, hard work gets rewarded and effort and determination are key to success. I try to teach my students that no matter where they come from that they can reach success if they really want it. These ideas/ideals of mine might be ridiculous and some might say its unattainable, but I really try to reach them in some way. I don't always succeed, but I try to.

If I have time I like to mark the tasks with each student and aim to establish an error correction by asking them what is wrong/ how can you say this differently, what is a better word for this? This counts for individual as well as group/peer tasks

Comparing tasks - showing them the mistakes they keep on making, or how they have improved, or how they have digressed and trying to figure out why they did better in on than the other

How they worked with their fellow students - are there personal/emotional issues that could have played a part in the delivery of the task.

What do they think could work better for them in the future?

I base the following flow chart on my G11 English writing class. I have a small amount of students ranging between 25 -30 students, which gives me the opportunity to get to know them quite well. At this stage I would have taught them for a year already in G10 drama, so we have established a relationship and we know each other well.

I believe each student struggles with English writing on some level and each student is different, as well as the fact that they are teenagers and that in itself is a roller-coaster.

I try to differentiate my class to support each student, that being said I know that this goal isn't possible to fulfill 100%, but I try to be the best teacher I am able to be, and support them as much as possible.

None of my students have clinically diagnosed problems/struggles, they are all 'normal' teenagers going through the process of discovering themselves and their place in the world they occupy, what they find interesting and what they like and dislike.

This being said, I try to make English writing as fun and engaging as possible while navigating them through grammar rules and essay writing procedures and steps.

The biggest differentiation is content based - I need to focus on multi-level content/tasks, that are engaging and relevant to the students. The use of different media so students have exposure to real-life content.