Cassadie Ross

I really appreciated the sample lesson where the teacher flowed between synchronous and asynchronous activities in remote instruction. It's helpful to think about those two categories of engagement when planning a Zoom lesson, however in my experience with distance learning too few students actually came to the Zoom classes to make them relevant. All learning experiences had to be accessible in the LMS because so many students did not attend the synchronous classes. (I'm in Oregon where students were learning from home for over a year, hopefully in other states students had a shorter and more manageable experience with remote… >>>

Students need the opportunity to apply their learning in a real world situation. This is where it's great to be a CTE teacher; providing students with a learning experience that can be reinforced with a hands-on or project-based application is the formula for success in CTE. 

I liked the sentence frames instructors can use in class discussions- it can be really difficult to redirect a conversation and it can be even harder to correct misinformation that comes from adult learners in a way that doesn't feel like you're telling them they are wrong. That's where it can be helpful to have some frames at the ready such as:

"That's an interesting idea. Tell me why you say that."

"That's not my understanding of ____________, but I'd love to hear why you think ____________________."

This can disrupt the binary of right and wrong in the classroom (there… >>>

Greeting students at the door each day and creating a warm welcoming routine for the start of class buildings a positive classroom environment for students of all ages. I appreciated the suggestion to bring in industry experts to reinforce your expectations and the outcomes for your course- this is a great way to bring relevance and real world application into your classroom in an authentic way.

The suggestion to enter the learning space as a student to see what they see is powerful. Empathy is a huge part of the relationship building that should happen between instructors and students, and recognizing the many barriers and obstacles that students overcome in order to even arrive in your classroom is helpful framing for instructors.

The suggestion to provided guided notes for ALL students is a great reminder that differentiated instruction benefits all students, not just those impacted by a learning disability. It is important for these scaffolds to be built seamlessly into the class so that students do not feel singled out. Providing choices as much as possible allows students to self-select in ways to best meet their own learning needs.

One thought I'm having is that a common accommodation I see in IEPs is extended time for assignments, which allows students to turn work in late without penalty. I think this is an appropriate accommodation and I have seen many students succeed in a class because of that added flexibility. My wondering is, in preparing students for the expectations of post-secondary or entering the workforce, how can instructors work to gradually diminish the accommodations in preparation for the student to stay organized and manage time without them. 

The challenge with undiagnosed learning disabilities is that they can present and defiant behaviors, so if a students makes it through elementary and middle school without receiving a learning disability diagnosis and struggles at the high school or post-secondary level, the symptoms will be treated as behaviors and will likely lead to putative actions rather than supports. Even when students have been diagnosed and an IEP is in place, some instructors continue to address the presentations of the disability as disruptive and disrespectful behavior, rather than providing the appropriate accommodations. Therefore students with learning disabilities are often pushed out of… >>>

I am working to understand my own cultural lens and how my identity and experiences align to and stand in contrast with the students I serve. As a member of the dominant culture, I have many blind spots and limited perspectives. I must seek ways to better understand the lived experiences of my students and the ways in which their various identities impact the experience they have in my classroom.

Looking at the handout on different learning styles reminded me of the power of choice in instructional design. To the degree possible, students should be given the autonomy to access materials in their preferred ways and to demonstrate their learning in the way they see fit. It's easy to get overwhelmed looking at the many different ways learning experiences can be constructed to honor learning preferences, but when choice is embedded into the course design, it is less of a heavy lift for the instructor.