A Visit to Northside Elementary

Happy St. Patrick's Day! This week I was able to visit two special education classrooms at Northside Elementary. In the first classroom an urgency for learning was present as all students were on task working independently or with an aide. The teacher worked with two students simultaneously addressing each one's unique needs. She provided just enough scaffolding to lead her students to the correct answers and instructed with patience and a genuine concern for each students' learning. Effective teaching practices observed included relating learning to real-world experiences, visuals, and manipulatives. Some students experienced technology throughout the lesson. In the second classroom the teacher reviewed good body-listening skills before beginning a lesson with a group of students. She managed to target several learning objectives (e.g., auditory comprehension, counting, shapes, turn-taking, and answering "wh" questions) while engaging the students in a fun game activity. Pragmatic language skills were addressed as the students used laminated photographs of themselves cut into paper dolls to practice communication. The preschoolers loved this activity. The atmosphere in both classrooms was very positive and it was evident both teachers had spent time planning activities to meet each students' individual needs.