I am a new special education resource teacher (1-5). I have a caseload of about 40 students =/ I’m really having a difficult time coming up with lesson plans for my students. I understand that we plan lessons according to their IEPs, but with the high number of students I find it very difficult to individualize lessons for each student. I need help!! Please give me ideas on this matter.
Re: Needs ideas for lesson plans
Well, you can avoid reinventing the wheel. Figure out where the students really are — which may or may not be reflected by their test scores, depending on how the testing was done.
Collect good programs in phonics, reading, arithmetic, ESL, writing, etc. etc. These programs can be inexpensive time-tested workbooks, or old textbooks — you can legally make one set of photocopies for classroom use only, or new programs like Phonographix or AVKO, or computer programs if you can find good ones affordably, or whatever fits the bill. Also good paperback novels, and I have heard of websites that have questionnaires to use with some popular books. The things I collect are all relatively low-cost.
Then match each student to an *appropriate* program at a *doable* level (I usually start at a level the student finds fairly easy, and then work quickly through this review level to build knowledge and confidence; when they hit new material after a few weeks, they are ready for it.)
It is important to be selective and go for high-quality programs. Once you have a well-designed book, which took hundreds of hours for a good teacher or teachers to plan and organize and prepare, then you just work through it with the student or a small group of students. It is vitally important to remember that *you* do the teaching; teaching is far more than assigning pages and collecting and handing around papers, so please avoid that trap. But a good book or program can tell you what many experienced teachers have followed as a successful pattern. Instead of trying to reinvent a whole phonics program for example, you get a good book and follow the units in it as your lesson plans. These units should match well to the student’s IEP, if the IEP is based on reality.
You can subgroup your students to a certain extent by objective criteria (again, test scores are not always the guide, though these things *should* be on the IEP.). For example, those that aren’t consistent with consonant sounds and short vowels — review phonics bok 1; those who don’t know vowel combinations — review phonics book 2; those who are OK on shorter words but can’t manage multisyllables — review phonics book 3. Similarly in math, a group for basic addition and number sense, a group for addition/subtraction, a group for multiplication/division, maybe a more advanced group for fractions/decimals/percents.
Once you have everyone assigned materials that really match their needs and you have a manageable set of subgroups, then you can work on teaching as actively as possible and not just assigning busywork.
Re: Needs ideas for lesson plans
Well, you can avoid reinventing the wheel. Figure out where the students really are — which may or may not be reflected by their test scores, depending on how the testing was done.
Collect good programs in phonics, reading, arithmetic, ESL, writing, etc. etc. These programs can be inexpensive time-tested workbooks, or old textbooks — you can legally make one set of photocopies for classroom use only, or new programs like Phonographix or AVKO, or computer programs if you can find good ones affordably, or whatever fits the bill. Also good paperback novels, and I have heard of websites that have questionnaires to use with some popular books. The things I collect are all relatively low-cost.
Then match each student to an *appropriate* program at a *doable* level (I usually start at a level the student finds fairly easy, and then work quickly through this review level to build knowledge and confidence; when they hit new material after a few weeks, they are ready for it.)
It is important to be selective and go for high-quality programs. Once you have a well-designed book, which took hundreds of hours for a good teacher or teachers to plan and organize and prepare, then you just work through it with the student or a small group of students. It is vitally important to remember that *you* do the teaching; teaching is far more than assigning pages and collecting and handing around papers, so please avoid that trap. But a good book or program can tell you what many experienced teachers have followed as a successful pattern. Instead of trying to reinvent a whole phonics program for example, you get a good book and follow the units in it as your lesson plans. These units should match well to the student’s IEP, if the IEP is based on reality.
You can subgroup your students to a certain extent by objective criteria (again, test scores are not always the guide, though these things *should* be on the IEP.). For example, those that aren’t consistent with consonant sounds and short vowels — review phonics bok 1; those who don’t know vowel combinations — review phonics book 2; those who are OK on shorter words but can’t manage multisyllables — review phonics book 3. Similarly in math, a group for basic addition and number sense, a group for addition/subtraction, a group for multiplication/division, maybe a more advanced group for fractions/decimals/percents.
Once you have everyone assigned materials that really match their needs and you have a manageable set of subgroups, then you can work on teaching as actively as possible and not just assigning busywork.
What is in their IEPs?
There are some things for resource on my website (linked below) tho’ they are mainly for older kids. It *is* possible to create things that nonreaders can do independently, and have them on hand. They don’t have to be personalized; let’s face it, some goals really are universal like knowing basic math & reading.