As adults, we rely on visual supports to navigate our daily lives. We often look to our Google calendars to see what’s next on our schedule. We create lists for the grocery store, and consult our never-ending to-do lists to complete tasks. Checking items off our lists and reviewing our calendar for what's next gives us a sense of accomplishment and reduces anxiety by providing clarity about our upcoming activities. Now, imagine being a 3, 4, or 5-year-old and getting placed inside a classroom with strangers, likely the first time away from parents for an extended period, with no idea about what will happen next. In these instances, implementation of visual supports can help ease the anxieties of our youngest learners, and especially for our students with disabilities.
We are pleased to announce the release of brand new bulk data management features, accessible to TeachTown administrators on the Manage Students page. These bulk edit features will help you get your lists set faster so you can spend more time supporting teachers and students. The Manage Students page has a new look and feel, including the ability to take bulk action to manage student profiles by adjusting: grade levels, student licenses, teacher-student associations, transferring students, and more!
Imagine that peak moment when something sour, like lemon or lime juice, hits your tongue. You experience a rush of sensations, from the tingling on your taste buds to the involuntary wince and twitch of your facial muscles. Now, think about those times when you have an irritating itch on your body that you just can't seem to soothe, no matter how hard you try. These sensations might seem like minor inconveniences to some, but for individuals with sensory processing challenges, they can be a daily struggle.
The beginning of the school year will be here before we know it! To make your lives simpler during the busy back to school sprint, we are releasing several new data management features over the next few weeks. You will save time and increase efficiency with auto-licensing and rostering synchronization. These features will help you get your lists set so you can spend more time supporting teachers and students. Check out the NEW advanced administration tools you’ll see within the platform regarding auto-licensing and rostering synchronization.
Imagine a young student named Daniel, eyes wide with excitement as he picks up his brand new book, Chicken Little, to follow along as his teacher reads it aloud to his class. He thinks to himself, “This book has farm animals! I like to watch the chickens when we go to my grandmother’s house.” At his last school, Daniel never had his own copy of the books, let alone a brand new copy! Some of the letters on the pages of the book seem like a mystery to him, but with each new lesson activity in phonics and phonemic awareness, those letters begin to make more sense. They transform into sounds, words, and eventually, as he progresses through the year, stories.
TeachTown is committed to ensuring enCORE users have access to the very best adapted core curriculum for students with significant disabilities. Check out everything that’s NEW in enCORE this spring!
As we approach the end of the school year, we recognize that teachers/administrators need guidance to support a smooth conclusion. This checklist will serve as a tool to assist teachers/administrators in documenting students’ current levels of performance for the year, streamlining the process of managing license access and a seamless transition into the next school year.
An inclusive classroom is defined as a classroom in which a general education teacher and a special education teacher work and instruct together to support all students in their classroom. Data from inclusive classrooms point to benefits across academic and social domains for students with and without disabilities: One 2015 study found that students with disabilities in inclusive settings are nearly five times more likely to graduate on time than peers that are not. Typically developing students in inclusion-based settings experienced social-emotional gains that their peers in non-inclusive settings did not. With 64.8% of students receiving special education services in inclusive classrooms, it is critical that these spaces function optimally to support all students, and that all stakeholders, from administrators to teachers to related service providers, are on the same page.
TeachTown is pleased to announce that its K-12 standards-based, adapted core curriculum, enCORE, has been named a finalist in 2 categories of the EdTech Cool Tool Awards 2024: Curriculum and Instruction Solution and Personalized Learning Solution. Additionally, TeachTown’s Vice President of Curriculum & Research, Caitie Marks, M.Ed., BCBA, has been recognized as a finalist in the EdTech Author/Speaker or Podcaster category of the EdTech Leadership Awards 2024.
In every classroom, a teacher must determine the ways in which students will engage in learning from a list of instructional methodologies. The phrases instructional methodology, teaching method, instructional method all describe how a teacher is delivering instruction to help students meet the lesson objective. There are a variety of evidence-based methods from which to choose, and expert teachers often use a combination to best support the wide range of student needs and strengths in their classroom. Read on to learn about three of them!