Until We Meet Again

Randy and Judith and Penny and I would like to thank all of you for your commitment and contributions to this course over the past three weeks. We have often commented how lucky we have felt to work with such a wonderful group of educators. We know you will continue to show your passion and dedication for the benefit of all the students you work with. Simply put, it has been an absolute pleasure to work with all of you.

We hope that you will keep in touch and use each other (and us) for support and resources. Feel free to send Naryn any articles or websites or ideas and she will link them to this class site. The "Different Lens" project will also be in its second year in SD 67 and we hope you will use the website for ideas. We would also love to have some "guest bloggers" next year, so if you had a successful lesson or an experience with a student who is at-risk then please let us know! We would love to include your story and strategies on the blog (it's all about sharing great ideas!!)

For now we will leave you with some thought provoking articles that are linked below. Good luck to all of you in September, and once again, thank you from all of us.

Randy, Judith, Penny and Naryn


Online Blogs/Articles/Videos 
(note: there are lots more under "resources")

Letting Go Of The Past
The Wejr Family Awards  (note: this is an IRONIC post!)
Building Community
Creating Motivation
10 Things I Can Learn From Primary Grade Teachers
Gone Fishing: Appreciating Student Strengths
The Importance of Idea Exchange
Ken Robinson #1 (Video)
Ken Robinson #2  (Video)
Ken Robinson #3  (Video)

Adaptations and Modifications with a Classroom Base

Today was spent completing numerous challenges to adapt actual classroom assignments and texts. The class finished with the task of filling in a Critical Activities Matrix to meet the needs of a specific student. Thanks to Shelley we had new whiteboards to use today :-)

Final Day Summary Power Point

We are definitely looking forward to everyone's Learning Journeys tomorrow!

Class Reviews

Today we covered the process of Full Class Reviews with collaboration between the classroom teacher and the Resource Teacher. Activities after the break included "Sort. Title. Defend" and "People Search".

Please read Chpt. 8 for tomorrow.

Co-Planning with an Inclusion Focus

Thanks to Jeff for coming in today. It was a great planning session with Karen and Erin and lots of input from the class. Don't forget to have chapters 9 & 10 read for tomorrow.

The Next Step

Today began with information about assessment strategies for more complex assignments and projects. We used sidewalk chalk to review key points and then began focusing on the "next step" for everyone in their learning journey. Next step plans will be mailed to each student on the date they request in the fall.

Please remember to read Chapters 9 & 10 by Wed.

Complex Assessment PPT

Using our Resources

Thanks again to Lindsay Anderson and Jindalee Webb for coming and speaking to the class today. I will link Lindsay's video or at least the freeze frames of the key points that included community building activities. If you would like to contact them, here are their email addresses:

landerson@summer.com
jwebb@summer.com

After Lindsay and Jindalee were finished we had a short discussion on comic life and the second half of the class focused on considering all the different types of resources that are available to help us meet the needs of a diverse population of learners.

The reading for the weekend is Chapter 4.  Some links to relevant blog posts are listed below (which are not required reading but worth considering at some point in the future). There will also be some more photos on soon to keep Austin happy :-)

Playing the "I Sit" Game

Some Blog Links:


The Wejr Family Awards (a great post that puts the learning journey into perspective-note: this is an ironic post)

Building Community 

Creating Motivation
10 Things I Can Learn From Primary Grade Teachers
Appreciating Student Strengths

Choice, Perspective and Student Strengths

Thanks to Ashleigh for coming and speaking to our class today. Other topics discussed were the importance of perspectives and finding ways to focus on student strengths and then to find a way to highlight those strengths and help the student use them to his or her advantage in school.

Teaching Beyond the Book (Teaching To Student Strengths)

Reading for Tonight: Please read chapter 5