November 24

Diagnosing Misconceptions and Closing Gaps

This blog entry was written by our Special Education Department Chair, Keri Camp.  She paved the way, along with Lead Teachers Jessica Mathis and Paige Brown, in guiding teachers to diagnose student misconceptions in order to close gaps in learning!

 

The focus of the Teacher Academy conducted on November 21, 2014, was RtI/Special Education and the students who receive those services.  Teachers were given a prerequisite assignment.  They were asked to go through their student rosters and focus on students receiving these services.  Then, each teacher was to think of their students in an individual capacity and diagnose the misconceptions that are holding the student back.  They were to determine these misconceptions based on their anecdotal notes from small group as well as their observations of the students in their classrooms.

 

To start off the meeting, teachers were given names of the students they teach receiving special education services.  An importance was placed on addressing a common misconception.  Just because a student receives special education services does not mean that he/she would be placed in the highest and most intensive tier when thinking of services from an RtI standpoint.  The teachers were asked to place these students in a tier without taking into account their special education placement and then to explain the selected tier. This brought about some great discussions on actual ability levels versus perceived ability levels of students receiving special education services.

After this opening activity was completed, the focus was placed on student misconceptions and how to address them in the classroom.  Students were brought up individually and their teachers were able to discuss where they felt each student has a misconception.  Some of the most common misconceptions recognized included reading and listening comprehension, attendance/truancy issues, lack of confidence, disruptive classroom behaviors, and below grade level reading skills.  As a group, the participants shared what was or had been helpful when trying to reach the student.  This data was collected, compiled, and shared with teachers through Google Docs as well as through email.  By sharing the information, our faculty can work together to help our students fix their misconceptions and close the gaps in learning.


Posted November 24, 2014 by Emily Harris in category Data, Small Group Instruction

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