Learning+log+6

Today we talked about CPM. I think that CPM is a really useful tool for both general and special educators. Each student is unique in their abilities, needs, and difficulties, and the CPM truly allows for organization of each of those needs. When we talked about the CPM in class, it was mentioned that making a large chart of all the needs would be really beneficial, so that the teacher would clearly see what each student needs during direct instruction, independent work, break time, etc. Also, this chart would be very beneficial to someone who is not as familiar with the students, such as a substitute. I currently have 8 students in my self-contained classroom. Over the years, I have learned each student's strengths and weaknesses. And although I have most of their accommodations and modifications down pat, it still helps to have a "cheat sheet". On my CPM, or "cheat sheet", as I call it, I also keep each student's BIP (behavior intervention plan). This helps me because almost all of my students have these and it can be very difficult to remember which student earns what, especially when some of them are so similiar and very specific.

I really enjoyed exploring the math website put out by the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives. It has a great variety of activities for students of all ages and skill abilitities. For me, math work tends to become boring and repetitive and I am assuming that this is the case for many students. I think that when "we", as teachers, don't appreciate math or put as much effort into making it fun for the kids, it only exacerbates that feeling of frustration or dislike and transfers it onto our students. It was definitley nice to be able to download a desktop version, it took virtually no time at all, but after invesitigating, the price for the cd-rom is pretty inexpensive as well.

I never realized, until taking this class, how many adaptive tools there really are! I do not work with students who have visual impariments, so it was interesting to learn about what is out there for those students. In fact, the talking calculators would also be helpful for students with math disbalities, or perhaps someone who is a verbal learner. The student generated graphics and manipulatives are just another way to ensure that students are grasping mathematical concepts. Having that concrete visual that they are able to manipulate and discover, may make all the difference for him or her. Not only would 3-D manipulatives be helpful for students with visiion impairments, it would also be beneficial for students with spatial difficulties as well. In other words, visualizing 3-D shapes on paper is a lot more difficult that playing with the actual 3-D object.