Accommodations, Modifications, & Interventions

Many times you will hear educators discussing accommodations, modifications, and interventions.  Often those terms will seem interchangeable.  But there is a difference between the terms.

Accommodations are changes made to instruction.  These changes are made to help students fully participate in the general education curriculum without changing the instructional content.  They do not change the learning expectations in regards to the goal being addressed.  Typically the student product produced using accommodations is equal to the student product produced without accommodations.  Some examples of accommodations would be providing more time to complete work, allowing oral responses instead of written responses, or providing a study guide before a test.

Modifications are changes made to instruction that changes or reduces learning expectations.  This can include rewording test questions, shortening an assignment (odd or even numbers only), or using a different grading scale.

Interventions are strategies that are used to teach a skill in a new situation.  They should include an assessment, planning, and data collection from activities of student achievement.  The interventions are to be scientifically research based.  Regular progress monitoring (example: once a week) should occur to determine skill growth and help shape instructional planning.  Examples of scientifically research based interventions would be S.P.I.R.E or Florida Center of Reading Research activities.

Education World: Reading Coach: Glimpses Into Read-Aloud Classrooms/

Education World: Reading Coach: Glimpses Into Read-Aloud Classrooms/

Take a moment to read this article in what doing a read aloud in a classroom can look like. This article has great ideas! Click on the title above to go to the article at Education World.

Fluency information

Facilitating Writing Fluency

The ability to write automatically is commonly called writing fluency. This online excerpt from Writing Instruction and Assessment for ELLs explains the reasons why teachers need to focus on writing fluency, the challenges ELLs face when learning to write, and instructional strategies for facilitating writing fluency. Educators may be particularly interested in descriptions of alphabetic features for a number of languages.  Please click on the blue link of "Facilitating Writing Fluency" and take a look at the information.

Education World ® Administrators Center: Principals Offer 30 Ways to Fight Stress

Education World ® Administrators Center: Principals Offer 30 Ways to Fight Stress

The end of the year can be a stressful time for teachers. Take a look at this article and see if it has any tips to help you reduce your stress.

Finding out book levels

Yesterday I asked my fifth/sixth grade students for book recommendations.  If they finish their work during reading group in an orderly manner and WITH manners then I read to them the last five minutes.  Surprisingly they love being read to even at their age!  One suggested A Case of the Stripes, another suggested Harry Potter, while another student suggested The Edge Chronicles.  I hadn't heard of the last series and the requirement is the book must be on a fifth grade level.  So I used my book leveler from Scholastic to find out the grade level of The Edge Chronicles.  Unfortunately for them that series is a 4.3 level.  So we will have to brainstorm some more.  If you would like to check out the Scholastic Book Leveler, just take a look at the bottom of this blog.  I keep the widget at the bottom of this blog.  Have fun!

Fun free printable activities with Post-it!

I found a fun site in one of my teaching magazines run by the Post-it company.  It is a great place to find free printables for parents and teachers.  Just head on over to http://www.post-it.com/teachers.  Have some fun!

Section 504 in 2009: Broader Eligibility, More Accommodations

Section 504 in 2009: Broader Eligibility, More Accommodations

Check out the latest on Section 504 accommodations.