Mr. Johnson is a Special Education teacher who works with his caseload of students on supporting their progress toward the goals they set each year in their Individualized Education Plans. He pushes into classrooms during periods that his students need extra classroom support and pulls groups out for more focused work.
Push-In Model:
Mr. Johnson pushes into several math classes in which he knows he has students who are struggling.
After students receive the direct instruction from their general education classroom teacher, Mr. Johnson follows up with students allowing them time to utilize the videos and widgets in the textbook on Mathspace for the lesson their class is working on.
Mr. Johnson has discovered that the hands-on application students can utilize with the widgets and videos is a great follow up for students after they have received instruction from their math teacher.
Mr. Johnson circulates and points out to students different ways that their work with the widgets connects to parts of the lesson they just listened to.
When it is time for independent practice, Mr. Johnson has worked out an arrangement with the student’s teacher to allow them to use Mathspace instead of the traditional paper-pencil worksheets she normally provides. Mr. Johnson has found that Mathspace is a great adaptation for students who have learning differences.
Because the general education teacher shares her lesson plans with Mr. Johnson at the beginning of each week, he has already created adaptive tasks for the students for the topic they are learning today.
Mr. Johnson sits separately with the students and observes their progress on the adaptive tasks on his screen. He is able to see step-by-step where students are struggling and is able to pull them together periodically to discuss misconceptions.
Students receive the same exit ticket as their peers, and many of them are able to demonstrate significant growth as a result of their adapted lesson in Mathspace.
Pull-Out Model:
Mr. Johnson pulls small groups of students from his caseload to get more targeted and individualized practice on skills that require intervention.
Mr. Johnson’s students are behind in several pre-requisite skills and it is difficult for them to access the new material they are supposed to be learning in class.
Mr. Johnson has created custom tasks that address these skills and assigned them to the specific students according to their needs.
During the period that Mr. Johnson pulls his students out, they log into Mathspace and work on the custom tasks he has assigned them on their dashboard to help support their learning and mastery in their general education classes.