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Name: Callie Snyder Assignment C Instructional Strategy and Accommodations

Requirements
1. What do you need to remember about this disability to provide appropriate accommodations for these students? What are the key areas you should focus on for each of these students to assure their success in your classroom? Describe each student separately. 2. Select a lesson or unit plan from your classroom instruction or from a previous course. Include it with your paper. Complete the What I need to know chart on the lesson (see attached). 3. What adaptations and accommodations do you recommend for managing behavior and for providing instruction for each student? Provide a clear rationale for each adaptation or accommodation described. Describe each student separately. 4. How will you assess each students performance on the unit and their overall success in the classroom to determine whether your adaptations (behavioral and academic) are successful? Describe each student separately.

Possible Points
21

Points Earned

33

12

Snyder 2 Identify Learning Disabilities Case 1: Micha It appears that Micha is displaying behavioral and emotional responses in school that are different from appropriate age, ethnic, or cultural norms and that are adversely affecting his educational performance. He is displaying both internalizing and externalizing behavior problems, where he is verbally agressive with his peers, repeatedly breaks laws, misses a significant amount of school, withdrawn from his peers, and displays some problems associated with self-harm and cutting. I must take all of these behavior problems into account when making accommodations for Micha in my classroom. Each one of these issues play a part in his behavior, and there must be a guide in place that can address every behavior and alter the environment to help Micha in the classroom. In order to ensure Michas success in my classroom, I would want to make sure that he has the support of another professional that would help him work through some of the emotional turmoil he has been experiencing since his grandmothers death. I would make sure to refer him to the school guidance counselor or school psychologist, so he could have the support of a mental health professional when attempting to understand his problems with self-harm or cutting. Michas constant absences from school could potentially have a negative influence on his schoolwork, since he does not complete the prerequisite work to complete assignment or his misses class so he does not get the information presented in that lecture. I could potentially address this by using my good relationship as a way to sit down with Micha and talk to him about my concerns. I would ask him why his is absent so much and then ask him what I could do to help him do well on his assignments; whether that be going over information before or

Snyder 3 after school or being available online at set times so I could email him his missing assignments or answer any questions he has about the class. Also, during this meeting, I would talk with Micha about goals he wishes to accomplish in my class and talk about how good attendance will play a part in accomplishing those goals. Also, in order to make sure that Micha is successful in my classroom, I would want to assist him in improving his relationships with his classmates. Socialization is an important part of school and it is a skill he will need the rest of his life. I believe that some problems that Micha is having may stem from his isolation from his peers, and keeping that in mind while I plan my lessons may help me plan lessons that would allow Micha the opportunity to repair those relationships.

Case 2: Lizzy From the description in the case study, Lizzys severe reading disability appears to be dsylexia which a learning disability that interferes with the students ability to process and understand language. Several of the difculties that Lizzy has in her classes are difculties that are commonly associated with dsylexia; difcultly with print text comprehension, appropriate grade level listening comprehension, difculties remembering materials after reading them, etc. The one thing that a teacher must remember when making appropriate accomodations for a student with dyslexia so that they can be successful in their classroom is that dyslexia is a processing issue, not an intelligence or motivational issue. As demonstrated by her appropriate grade level listening comprehension, Lizzy is an intelligence student that simply has issues processing and remembering information that is presented in print form. In order to ensure that Lizzy has the same opportunity to succeed in my class as the other students, I would alter my lecturing methods and the medium in which Lizzy accesses the

Snyder 4 information from readings. It takes more time for a student with dyslexia to process a question and form an answer, so as Lizzys teacher I would have to account for that in the classroom. Lizzys sudden stop in classroom discussion may be her way to demonstrating frustration at not being given enough time to process and form a response to discussion questions. By pausing for fifteen more seconds after asking a questions during a lecture, Lizzy would have the opportunity to form a response which may increase her participation in class. Also, since Lizzy has difficulties with reading printed text, I would provide different scaffolding tools to assist her in accessing and remembering the information from the readings. Since Lizzys listening comprehension is at the appropriate level for her grade, I would provide audio versions of novels and readings that she could listen to the information while following allow with the printed text. This may allow Lizzy to better access and remember the information from the text while still practicing her reading skills.

Case 3: Susan
Susan has a visual impairment that categorizes her as legally blind, which means that as

her teacher I need to be aware of certain assumptions that exist in my lessons that potentially prevent her for accessing the content. Since she has a visual impairment, Susan will miss out visual demonstrations and cannot fully understand certain metaphors that rely on visual experiences. Susan has the same intellegence as any other of her classmates. However, her experiences with life has created a different fund of knowledge that differs from her peers because it does not have the same amount of reliance on visual information. As her teacher, I need to be aware of these assumptions that could potentially exist in my lessons or explainations of content and attempt to activate her prior knowledge in my lessons so she can understand the

Snyder 5 content like her peers. As her teacher, I would attempt to incorporate tactile exploration into my lessons whenever possible or have verbal descriptions of visual information, so she can create her own visual representation of the information.
In order to ensure Susans sucess in my classroom, I would attempt to include different

options for group activites that relate to her future career goals and do not rely largely on visual representations of information. Susan is involved in the school newspaper and wishes to become a journalist in the future. In order to assist Susan in connecting with the content of the class in an interesting an meaningful way, I would give her and the rest of the class the opportunity to do different assignments and group projects that relate to journalism. Students who are blind or visually impaired tend to have lower levels of self-determination. I would attempt to foster strong self determination in Susan by having high expectations for her work and by giving realistic feedback for improvement in addition to supporting her passion for journalism through classroom activities. I want Susan to become a self-advocate, which I would attempt to do by having weekly meetings with her to discuss her needs in my classroom. During these meetings, I would tell her what we would be doing in this class, and ask her how I can help her access the information and what ways of learning work best for her so I can accommodate her needs. Also, I would try to set goals with Susan during this meeting so she knows what she is working for in my classrooom. Having these one-on-one conferences with Susan can help her feel as if she has more of a say in her education and begin to give her the communication skills to be able to explain her needs in a classroom to her future teachers and professors.

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LESSON PLAN Topic: Character Profiles for Novel Subject: English Check box if part of a larger unit: X Where does the lesson fit in: Begin __ Middle __ End X Duration of Lesson: 60 mins Grade: 9th Lesson Objective/s: The student will analyze aspects of characters personality in Looking for Alaska that influence their answer to the question What is the most important question that human beings must answer?. Students will demonstrate this understanding through visual expression by creating a collage in a group and individually choosing their favorite image and reflecting on why that this their favorite image. Illinois State Standard/s:CC.9-10.R.L.3 Key Ideas and Details: Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme. Formative Assessment/s: Students will be assessed through observation; taking note of participation, image contribution, engaged or passive, and ability to work with the group. Summative Assessment/s: To provide multiple means of expression, Students will be given a variety of assessments to be completed both in and outside of class. In class, they will analyze their groups character and create a visual collage representing their characters response to the most important human question. Also for homework, the students will individually write a paragraph explaining their favorite picture from the collage and identifying why they believe that it is their favorite pictures. The students will present their collages to the class the next day.

LESSON PROCEDURES
Lesson Elements Students will be assessed through observation; Time What are the Check for Material taking note of participation, image contribution, students Understanding engaged or passive, and ability to work with the doing? group Listening and Ask students if following along they understand with the the work that is Activity worksheet that to be done; Worksheets has the same clarify anything instructions as that needs the teacher. clarification. If Students may needed show ask questions students an for example of a clarification. completed collage.

Lesson Intro (In Library or Computer Lab) 5 min (connect & -Students will work in small groups of four (4), build in order to create a character profile of either background Pudge, the Colonel, or Takumi. (There will be knowledge) two groups for each character already assigned by Teacher) -Using images from the internet, magazines, etc., students will create a collage that depicts how each character would answer the question: What is the most important question human beings must answer? -Collage must have more pictures than white space on poster. -Student groups should be ready to present their findings to the class as a whole defending their choices. -Additionally, students should write a half-page reflection to turn in about the image that was their favorite contribution. Lesson Body

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Direct Instruction -Begin by framing the question, What is the 10 min Contributing, Ask for common most important question human beings must responding, and themes. As White answer? to the class. *Have question written on actively students talk, board, dry whiteboard while stating to the class aloud* listening to record their ideas erase -Have an in-class discussion about how we class on the board. marker come to decide these things. discussion. -Discuss how family, culture, economic status, individual experiences, etc. impact the answer to these questions. -Possible Discussion Prompting Question: If you were to change one aspect of your current life, how do you think that would change your answer to this question? Guided -Students will work together in their pre30 min Group work on Walk around and Computers, Practice selected groups to create the collage. *Groups the collage check that scissors, will be decided by teacher before class begins* students are glue, -Based on the previous class discussion students remaining on internet, in their pre-selected groups will decide how task and magazines, their groups assigned character would respond selecting newspapers to this question. appropriate and -Once their group decided this response, meaningful students will create a collage depicting that images that they response using different images from the can defend to the internet, magazines, and/or newspapers. class. -Teacher will again remind students that the poster for the collage should have more pictures than white space. Show example. -Teacher will walk around, supervise, ask questions that will force students to think about the different choices they make during the collage making process for their groups character. Independent -Students will turn in a handwritten half-page At Reflection This will be N/A Practice reflection to turn in about the favorite image home regarding their collected and they contributed to the collage. favorite image. returned -This will be turned in with group collage. Extended As groups present, students should take notes on 30 Taking notes Between Students Practice common themes, image types, and similarities/ min* transitions ask a notebooks differences between characters. student to share and something they Student wrote or explain Collages their reasoning behind a certain image.

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Lesson Closing -Remind students that they will present their collages in class the next day. 5 mins Listening to Clarify to N/A teachers final students that they instruction will be presenting their collages the next day in class and should fulfill the project requirements in assignment sheet

Questions to guide Section 2 of Assignment C Question 1. Why am I learning this? Response in relation to your unit/lesson Students need understand that there are motivations in their lives and in characters lives that inuence what they believe and how they react to certain situtaions. Students need to learn the complexity of human nature, where a person that appear to be acting in a bad way may have motivations that complicate the idea of good and evil. Students are supposed to learn how to analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme. Students have already read the novel and are familiar with the big question from the novel. They know some reasons why some of the characters act the way that they do (the Colonel's hatred of the rich kids because we discovered that he himself is very poor, etc.). Also, every students has personal experiences where they had to make decisions or hold certain beliefs. The class discussion before the work will make that knowledge more apparent to students. An important idea that students should understand after this lesson is that in literature, certain aspects and expriences of a character inuence their actions and reactions. As readers, students must try to indentify and understand those motivations and their inuence on character development.

2. What am I supposed to learn?

3. What do I already know about it?

4. What ideas are important?

Snyder 9 5. How is the information organized? The lesson is created in a way that scaffolds the knowledge that the students need to complete the nal artifact at the end of the lesson. It begins with a lowstakes large classroom brainstorm so all students could have starting point for their group work. The smaller groups allow for a more indepth, student-center discussion and representation of the information. Finally students can demonstrate the information they learned from the large classroom brainstorm and group work to demonstrate their individual understanding of the information. 6. How am I going to use it? This lesson could be used as a review for students for understanding character development before the unit exam. Also, the skill of understand motivations behind actions and beliefs is something that can be used to discuss other political issues and historical actions such as war. 7. How am I going to remember it? The nal products of the lesson (the group collages) will be presented in to the class and will be placed around the classroom. This way students will have the visual reminders of the character developement and the converstaions the class had about the subject. 8. Where am I going to use it? Understanding motivations behind peoples actions is a skill that student can use during reading and understanding literature. However, it also is a skill that can be used in the real world and understanding the motivations behind a persons belief or actions. 9. When am I going to use it? The skills taught in this lesson can be used in later literature courses and other classes, where people also attempt to understand others motivations in history and politics. Also, students could use this in their lives and understanding why certain people act the ways that they do. 10. How do I apply it? At the end of the unit, I plan on incorporation this enduring question into the nal project, where students will have to reect on their own lives and understand how their motivations inuence their beliefs and actions.

Snyder 10 Accommodations Case 1: Micha For this unit, I plan on making drastic changes to my teaching style for the entire class to accommodate Michas needs. Using my good relationship with Micha and my other students, I would have a serious conversation about an incentive to come to class and to complete all work in class. I would tell the students that I will not assign them any homework, readings, or project work for outside of class time as long as students completed the work during class. The only time they would have homework or assignments would be if they missed class or if they did not stay on task during class time. I believe that this may be a good accommodation for Micha, because it would be an incentive for him to come to class and attempt to stay engaged with the lessons. This would also may address the problem of Micha not completing prerequisite work for assignments, because all readings, assignments, and projects would be completed during class time under my guidance and supervision. However, if Micha still did not attend classes, I would offer to meet him before or after classes to discuss work or have a scheduled time to go online and help Micha with assignments over the internet. I may also suggest that Micha be partnered with a peer that is doing well in the class that will tutor and assist him with his classwork. For this particular lesson, I would want to use the class discussion and group work as an opportunity facilitate positive interactions between Micha and his fellow classmates. I would accommodate a positive discussion environment by enforcing a two cents participation policy. Every student would get two pennies, which represents the number of times that they must participate in the classroom discussion, and a student must turn in one of their pennies each time

Snyder 11 they speak. However every student must speak once and turn in that penny before any student can participate for a second time. I believe that a strict enforcement of this policy during the large classroom discussion would accommodate positive discussion behavior from Micha because there are simple rules during the discussion that every student is expected to follow. Micha may not feel the need to become frustrated during the discussion and talk over his classmates because every student is expected to wait to speak for a second time. I would also attempt to facilitate positive interaction between Micha and his peers by creating specific roles within the group with their own expectations of work. I would make sure that each student had a role in the group such as group leader, scribe, or presenter so each student understood their role in the group and what they need to do. I believe that this accommodation would help Micha positively interact in the small group, because it plainly states what is expected for him to do in the group which would help avoid potential arguments with peers over their role within the group.

Case 2: Lizzy
For this unit, I would adjust my lessons so that Lizzy would be able to access the written

text. This lesson depends entirely on Lizzy being able to access the novel, so I would have different accommodations throughout the unit that would facilitate this. One example would be allowing Lizzy to have an audio version of the novel to listen to while she follows along with the printed text. Lizzys listening comprehension skills are at grade level, which means that she does understand when she hears verbal information. By giving her an audio version of the text in addition to the printed text, Lizzy will verbally recieve all of the information while still practicing her aquisition of printed text.

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For this particular lesson, some accommodations for Lizzy are already integrated into the

lesson; small group work and visual collage that explains character development. Recently, Lizzy has not been feeling comfortable enough in class to particpate in large class discussions. In order to ensure that Lizzy is still engaged during the discussion portion of the lesson, I could make her the class scribe for the discussion. Lizzy would be responsible for listening to what people say in the discussion and then write them on the board for the rest of the class. By making her the class scribe during the in-class discussion, Lizzy can particpate and be engaged without feeling high amounts of pressure. Lizzy being the classroom scribe for the discussion may also be a great way to review information from the novel, since she has been having issues remembering information after she reads it. Also, the combination of a large classroom brainstorm before breaking into smaller groups will allow Lizzy enough time to activate her prior knowledge about the novel and then participate in a smaller setting that is not as stressful as participating in front of the entire class. Particpating in smaller groups may cause Lizzys condence rise, because she is able to demonstrate her knowledge and share with peers, which could lead to her wanting to particpate in larger classroom dicussions. Also, another accommodation for Lizzy is requiring the students to nd images that represent how their character rather than nding quotes. This project will remove any stress that Lizzy may have about needing to nd printed quotes to represent her ideas about the novel, where she can rely on her memory of the listening and reading the novel and listening to the large class discussion to decide which images would work best for their collage.

Snyder 13 Case 3: Susan Similar to Lizzy, I would adjust my lessons for Susan in this unit so that Susan can also have access to the information from the written text. This lesson relies on the students being able to access the novel, so I would have different accommodations throughout the unit that would facilitate this for Susan. One example would be allowing Susan to have an audio version of the novel to listen to while she follows along with her Braile version of the novel. Since Susan receives special education support in the area of assistive technology, she would have access to the Braile version of the text. However, by giving her an audio version of the text, Susan will have another way to access the information of the text in case that the Braile version of the text was not available. The group project in this lesson will definitely have to be accommodated for Susan, because creating a collage of pictures would not have the same meaning for her as it would for other students. I would make different options available to the entire class that varies the final product, where groups could have the option to create an iPod playlist of music that they believe answers their characters response to the enduring question of the novel, What is the most important question that human beings must answer?. Allowing groups to have the option of creating a music playlist allows for Susan to actively engage with her group members and the medium more so than images. Also, another option that could accommodate Susans needs would be allowing the students to create a skit as if they were journalists interviewing their groups character about the enduring question of the unit. This option allows for Susan to participate in that same way that the iPod playlist would in addition to incorporating Susans interest in becoming a journalist in the future. Allowing all of the class groups to have theses

Snyder 14 options for the project does not single Susan out while still allowing for her to access the lesson and the skills that I want to teach with this lesson.

Snyder 15 Assessment Case 1: Micha To assess the accommodation where students were not required to complete any work outside classroom time was successful in increasing Michas attendance and the completion of his assignments, I would look at his attendance record at the end of the unit and see what days he missed during this unit. I would compare this information to my lesson plans and see what work and prerequisite assignments he missed or did not complete. I also would do a summative assessment of his work throughout the unit and see the completion and quality of work had improved from the previous unit. If Micha attended more classes, completed more assignments and readings, and produced higher quality work this unit, I would consider this accommodation to be successful. An assessment of Michas performance in this particular lesson relies on informal observations throughout the discussion and the small group work. Micha typically has trouble interacting with other students, especially during discussions where he occasionally loses his temper with other students. By implementing the two cents policy during discussion, where all students must speak once and turn in their penny before another student can speak for a second time, I would informally assess if the policy assisted Micha in participating in the discussion without losing his temper. I would also use the same informal assessment of observation to see if the creation of specic jobs during small group work allowed Micha to interact with his classmates in a positive manner. If Micha was able to interact with his peers in a positive manner and complete the activities for the lesson, I would consider the accommodations to be successful.

Snyder 16 Case 2: Lizzy

The assessment of Lizzys performance in this lesson depends on informal assessments

during the lesson and the individually written explaination at the end of the lesson rather the participation in the large group discussions. Since Lizzy has begun to feel poorly about herself in the classroom, causing her not to participate as much in large group discussions, I would not want to base my assessment of my accommodations solely on her participation on the group discussion at the begining of class or her participation in the presentation portion of her groups project. I would informally assess Lizzys participation in the smaller group work while I moved around the room to see if she felt more comfortable speaking in that low stakes environment. If I noticed that she participated more in that environment, I would consider my adaptation to add small group work a success. Also, I would use the individually written explaination of her favorite image as the base of my informal assessment of Lizzys understanding of the lessons objectives than the group presentation to the class. If she was able to clearly explain her favorite portion of the project and why it was important to the character, then I would consider the different accommodations made for her throughout the unit to be a success.

Case 3: Susan
The assessment of Susans performance on this unit will not different much from that of

the other students of the classroom. Since the accommodations for Susan in this lesson allow her to access the meduim of the project with serveral options to choose from, Susan and her group should be able to complete the assignment without any issues. I would assess Susan in the same way as the other students, where I would use their group presentations of their collage, iPod playlist, or skit as a way of telling if the students understood as a group the skill of understanding

Snyder 17 motivations behind characters beliefs and actions. Also, I would use the individual students half-page explainations of their favoritve image, song, or scene as an assessment of indidividual understanding. If Susan is able to participate with her group in the creation of the project and then individually explain the rationale behind her favorite portion of the assignment, then I will know that my accommodations and adaptations to my lesson were successful for her. However, I would also want to assess if the one-on-one conferences I have been having with Susan weekly are helping her feel more comfortable about taking a larger role in her education. Particularly in this lesson, when I was making rounds around the room during the lesson, I would see if Susan felt comfortable enough to take a leadership role in her small group. I could also informally assess this by asking students to choose only one student present their project to the class, and see if Susan decided to take the position.