Starting a new term

First week back and boy what a roller coaster!

As part of my PRT criteria it's very important to be able to differentiate the learning for my students to ensure I'm meeting each of their individual needs. I feel like my Level 2 and 3 students especially, are in motion and understand what is expected of them. We have two Level 3 groups who operate using the same must do, can do's, and we then have a Level 2 group who have their own list of must do's as well.

I'm now at a point where I'm able to change the learning while keeping each student feeling part of the class. For example, I have three students who have very high needs in literacy. I've created a new group for them, so there are 4 groups in total. They have their own set of must do's and can do's just like each other group. Because they struggle with literacy, I've added visual aspects to their must do's and sat down to explicitly teach them how to use it. I also printed a copy for each of them to paste into their new literacy books, in case they don't have access to a device. As part of their must do's, they will also practice other skills including cutting, gluing, using a device to select an image, writing, drawing and reading.

I implemented this program for my students working at Level 1 on Thursday last week and what a success! Who knew it was so easy to get reluctant boys writing! I had three boys choose a different picture each that ranged from war & tornadoes to eels. What a success! I'm feeling very good about the changes and progress within my classroom this year!