Exit Tickets and Push In Support

It is my 3rd week of pushing into a class of 20 students to provide SDI to my students as part of the Math Core. Everyday, I preview the math lesson that is being taught as part of the core curriculum. Right now the class is working on building arrays to solve multi-digit multiplication. It has been incredibly exciting to see that my students are very successful at this!! They are using a multiplication charts for some of the single-digit equations, but they appear to truly understand the concept. One of them even finishes first and asks for MORE WORK to do!

Yesterday the general education teacher put a problem on the board and had students solve it as an exit ticket. I was able to quickly sort them by who understood and who needed more review. Today I was out of the building for SIOP training. But tomorrow, I will be able to pull students who need more practice to the kidney table at the back and re-teach the concept. I am a big fan of exit tickets and find them incredibly helpful for modifying my instruction.

I've used post-its as exit tickets, asking students to write the answer to math problem or to answer a vocabulary question. I also have kids use "secret thumbs," to show me their level of understanding. I have them give me a thumbs up, thumbs down or in between. I use that feedback in the middle of the lesson to see if we need to cover an idea again with additional practice.

I really want my kids to advocate for their own understanding and to feel comfortable asking questions. I have had students that were too intimidated or embarrassed in a group of 5 kids to admit that they didn't understand. I've had WHOLE GROUPS that were afraid to admit they didn't understand. It takes time and it takes trust. But if I don't teach students how to self-advocate, how will they learn to do that? How will they learn that it's okay to need help? That you learn more by admitting you don't know? I want my kids to know that when you PERSEVERE you learn about yourself, about school and you feel good know that you can do hard things! 

Pushing In to Provide Math Services

This year, when I was making my schedule I had two options for 5th grade math: 1. Pull kids from Social Studies and Story Line or 2. Push in to the general education classroom.
Last year, I had to pull from Social Studies to provide 5th grade math services. It was very difficult because both teachers and students were unhappy about it.
I have mixed feelings about pushing in. I REALLY want to make sure it is an effective use of time for teachers and students. I also have to make sure that it is Specially Designed Instruction and meets IEP goals.
There will be 4 classrooms for 5th grade math. There are 3 full-time teachers and 1 part-time teacher who teaches Math and Writing core. Since each of the 3 full-time teachers send students to the part-time classroom, I was able to ask that some of my students go to the half-time teacher's Core. Some of them will still be in another mainstream classroom. That way one class does not look and feel like a "Special Education class," to the rest of the group.
I am really interested in Co-teaching. I have never done it before. But it seems like the most effective use of time and like it will be the best way to meet student needs. So I will be pushing into the half-time class. So far that teacher seems okay with Co-teaching. I think it will take a lot of coordinating lessons and planning, but I am very optimistic. We use the Bridges curriculum and I already have all the supplemental sets and intervention materials that I can pull as needed.
My Educational Assistant will push into the other classroom. The students in that room are my highest math students. So by pushing in to support them, my hope is that they may actually graduate from math services this year.

If all ends up going well, this could be an incredible way for me to get more experience in an inclusive Special Education model. Most of the time I provide academic services using the pullout model; with the exceptions of writing and behavior. I am really excited to see how it goes!