Management+of+Learning+Progress


 * // “With regards to managing student progress, Michelle constantly and consistently checked for understanding before moving forward with the next lesson. In addition, she would review in short segments as well as when the lesson was complete.” //
 * -Dennis Stanek, Northern Michigan University Supervisor ** ||

Throughout my college experience I have taken the following undergrad courses: Applied Behavior Analysis, Teaching Life Skills—ASL, Transitions for Students with Disabilities, Intro to Cognitive Impairment, Diagnosis and Assessment, and Curriculum and Methods for Teaching Cognitive Impairment. Taking these courses provided me with information and practice on selecting, adapting, and using the most effective instructional strategies for students with cognitive impairments. By assessing and progress monitoring, I can diagnosis strengths and weaknesses of students with cognitive impairments and then make recommendations for classroom instruction. I have also had practice in identifying one’s strengths and weaknesses to create an individualized education plan (IEP). Within the IEP planning stage, much consideration is put into what the most effective instructional strategies are for the individual student.

In our classroom when a knew skill/topic is being taught, the first assignment is not graded. I use the assignment as a way to monitor if students fully understand the content. Most of the time, they do not get the assignment completely right and have difficulty with some aspect of it the first time they try. I use that first assignment as a pre-assessment and it helps me plan for the next day. The next day I focus on what each student was having difficuly with and then give another assignment (or activitiy, etc.) as an assessment, and that is what I grade. We do not move on until everybody is confident with the content, which allows a good opportunity for those that have mastered the content to teach it to those students who still need help. Most of the time there is a great improvement from the first assessment to the last, and students are getting passing grades (Remind you, I am in a special education setting.). I keep a hard copy of their grades in a grade book and also in a grade book on PowerSchool.