I downloaded a special education guide which was created by the Center on Instruction. This 60 page guide breaks down different ways of modifying the classroom to help students with disabilities gain the most in the classroom. The guide says that certain interventions can be done in the classroom to help meet every students needs. They are broken down to supporting the cognitive process, intensifying instructional delivery, increasing learning time, and reducing group size. These interventions are meant to improve students ability in the classroom. The guide recommends that the teachers use these strategies in direct conjunction with constant data collection. The guide argues that through constant formative assessments the teachers can understand what students are learning and what interventions are working for each individual child. Although my school is at the transitional level and no longer has to follow common core standards our class sizes are also larger. It often becomes difficult to identify what interventions each adult needs and to find time during the academic day to give each student the academic, vocational, and social emotional interventions they need. Often in our PLC's we spend most of the time discussing student's after they leave us and what we can do to help prepare them. But modifying what we are doing and putting individual interventions, besides behavioral is rarely a topic. I plan on bringing this tool to our next meeting so we can talk about how we can implement these strategies as a program next year.
