Professora Prestes Rocky Mountain Elementary First Grade Portuguese Immersion	Thu, Apr 2, 5:12 PM (3 days ago)

· Instructional challenges and curricular demands of one core content area or grade level.

Because I’m a Portuguese teacher my challenges are basically finding resources and have to create or translate every material I need to teach.

 

· Methods for planning lessons, and the lesson planning tools they use.

I don’t do lesson plans, I don’t write lesson plans. What I have is a curricular map week by week with the content I have to teach. I prepare slides, activities, questions, but I don’t write lesson plans, luckily, because it would be extra time working and I don’t feel the need to write it.

 

· Strategies for differentiating instruction for all students.

I have prepared extra challenging activities for my gifted student and he has a routine about what to do if the finish his work early (and he always do). My low students work in my table or, I’ll work with them in small groups centers during track time. They also work individually with my aide.

 

· Strategies for utilizing technology to support diverse students.

They are just first graders, but I utilize weekly, almost daily, apps like Zearn, Xtra Math and a Portuguese version of Lexia. I also try to implement gamification twice a week if nearpod lessons so they will learn while playing.

 

· The ways in which the curriculum and instruction is related to the school’s vision and mission and Continuous Improvement Plan.

We collaborate as a team twice a week and meet as faculty weekly so we discuss how to adapt curriculum core and adapt our instruction to the District vision os learning.

 

· The support and guidance they receive from their administrators and any additional assistance they would like (if applicable).

We have an innovation coach, to help leverage technologically, we have an instructional coach, we have an intervention team, team leaders and I believe lots of support from the principal.

Hi Jolene,

Please make any changes to this as you need!  And let me know if I can add or send you anything else that you might need.

 

Challenges in education are different year to year depending on the students I have.  Speaking for this year, I have a lot of students with mental health challenges (depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts) and it makes teaching challenging.

 

With that said, this year I have taught a lot of math using real world applications instead of things that students wouldn’t be interested in. I taught a 7th and 8th grade SPED math class and we use the Utah state core curriculum, and their IEP goals to map out the year and what they need to teach.  We broke down what they needed to know and made real work applications and projects. I teach at a very project based school so it fit into our model really well.

 

Planning lessons are very individual based.  I am lucky to have a paraprofessional with me, so I can teach mini lessons and the other students can be working on a project or on Khan Academy.  I use mini white boards, physical objects, and anything the students can physically touch to teach math.

 

I group my students based on their IEP goals and teach mini lessons to differentiate the curriculum.  Then as a whole class we make our way through the core with a lot of breaks, accommodations, and support.  And if there is a particular topic that all the students are struggling with we do whole group instruction and then break into mini work groups.

 

My school is a liberal arts project based Charter school.  We use the Montessori model in K-5 classrooms, and continue with project based hands-on learning 6-12.  The students don’t have textbooks and we are encouraged not to use worksheets that have problem after problem. This model works really well for our IEP students because they need a variety of ways to learn, especially for math.  We have a 1-to-1 ratio of Chrome books for each student, and we use that for Khan academy and google classroom in math. I also use videos to show real work applications as much as possible. We did a whole lesson based around Shark Tank, the TV show!

I am lucky to have a wonderful administration.  They are very supportive of the students with disabilities, and encourage me to ask for support when needed.  They promote community and teaching to the whole child rather than only focusing on academics. It makes the learning environment at Walden exciting, interesting, and challenging.

 

 

This is PERFECT & AWESOME, thank you so much!

 

Please tell me your thoughts: I am graduating in August 2020 with my Leadership & Administration Master’s Degree and then in August 2021 with my Doctoral Education Specialist degree.

 

After owning Bright Kids Academy for 20 years, while being Director and Teacher, I wrote all Curriculum Development for my preschool program. I wondered if your school would allow me to WRITE & DONATE (for free) a preschool curriculum that could be distributed to parents & families wherein they could homeschool their 3 & 4-year-olds how to read, write, and perform Pre-K math to prepare their kiddos better to enter your Kindergarten? My lessons were age-appropriate activities where my students could use hands-on learning strategies to guide an individualized learning process. In my opinion, children learn best through collaborative play instruction. I used lessons to teach the whole child. For example, when I taught: Reading: The sound of the letter “a” a… a…” ant,” we used bread dough to form circles & straight lines and then used food color paint to make the letter “a.” Writing: We first practiced making big circles and straight-lines, in the air, with their arms before using Scented Washable Markers to write an “a.” Art: We made sandpaper “a” art projects made with glue and colored sand, to incorporate the 5-senses. Math: We counted body parts of ants; 1,2,3…then compared to sandpaper dot numbers, which allow them to use touch to correlate. Science: I ordered an “ant farm” so we could study ant colonies. PE: We went for walks to find ant colonies. Social Studies: We talked about their home and why they loved living with their families versus ants who live in colonies. Music: We marched around the room and sang: “The ants go marching one by one, Hoorah, Hoorah!” My greatest desire is that children develop first a life-long love of learning. When education is FUN & EXCITING, children will blossom and progress with individualized learning. Parents are smart and know how to create an atmosphere of love, but could use additional teaching curriculum to inspire and challenge their toddler. I know many schools charge for homeschool Preschool programs, in which the additional income could benefit Walden. Feel free to send this email on to your Board of Trustees and Executive Administrators.  I need to donate 30 hrs/week this summer for my final 2 Intern Experiences. Let me know if there is any way I could be of benefit to Walden this summer! Thanks so much!!

 

Jolene Williams

801.851.0357