How can I modify lessons to meet the needs of my students who struggle with grade level content?

By Featured Contributor, Lynn Liran As KIPP educators, we make promises to teach all of our students, including those with special learning and social needs, to the best of our abilities, with the end goal that all of our students will graduate and be successful in their lives. Whether you teach math, science, history, reading or writing, there is always a group of students who need extra support to grasp the material and whether you teach any of these content areas, we are all reading teachers! Currently, many of us are trying to wrap our heads around the new Common Core State Standards as we write new lessons for our students. As a teacher who has written and re-written new ELA lesson plans nearly every year for the last ten years due to the constantly changing needs of our students, demands of the state and curriculum at hand, I know that even though the lessons and materials will change, there are many modifications which we can consistently make to ensure that our students with special needs juice1 the lessons as much as their fellow classmates. This year, I have the pleasure of working with Featured Teacher, Sayuri Stabrowskis ELA Curriculum for the 8th grade and modifying each lesson for students who need extra support. While I am still holding the bar high for my class, there are steps I take to help my students access the knowledge they need. In this How Do I, I will share some tips on making some easy modifications to lessons to ensure that all of your students are getting the most out of the materials at hand. 1. STEP ONE: Examine each lesson through the lens of a struggling student. The first thing I do as I look over one of Sayuris 8th grade ELA lessons is I read the aims and standards the lesson is trying to meet. I then put myself in one of my students shoes and jump right to the classwork section asking myself: Is the language simple, clear and understandable or do I need to make changes? Are there enough questions to guide my understanding of the aim or do I need to add in some more? Is there too much content that could potentially be cut so as to not overwhelm the struggling learner and still meet the aim at hand? Are there enough visuals to supplement the written language? Are there places to stop and have students summarize the material at hand? 2. STEP TWO: Make modifications to the lesson Once I have looked over the do now, classwork, homework and exit slip with the
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Sayuri Stabrowskis term meaning squeezing the most information as possible out of the text.

questions above in mind, I begin to modify the materials to accommodate the needs of my struggling learners. I track the changes in the MODS section of the lesson plan. Here are some handy modifications which you can use as you modify your materials: 1. Simplify the language of questions being asked, to meet the students just right reading level 2. Provide definitions for challenging words2 as students read. Research has proven that it is not in the best interest of the students to guess the meaning of wordsjust provide it. Assistive technology solutions can also be helpful here (e.g., dictionary feature on an iPad or Kindle reader)

3. Add in guiding questions for students as they read rather than have them write their own annotations. Original Classwork: Modified classwork:

4. Have students orally state or write the gist3 of every paragraph/page they read to check for understanding and to help with retaining the information. Research shows that students who are able to stop and retell or summarize what they have learned retain the information longer
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Isabel Beck's "Bringing Words to Life." Jon Saphiers Skillful Teacher

than others. That is why it is important to add in exit slips and summarizers at the end of each lesson for every ALL content areas. Here is a video of my students I use this very basic graphic stating the gist. organizer over and over for 5. Create a graphic organizer(s) that works and stick to it. Nothing can be more confusing to a student with a learning disability than introducing new graphic organizers and strategies often. Come up with a simple, graphic organizer that works and stick to it. Repetition is good and important for our students with special needs. For example, paraphrasing is super important in reading and in all subjects. Remember, the more independent a student can be with a needed or support, the better!
paraphrasing. Students know what to do every time they see it.

6. Create bookmarks with guiding questions for assigned grade-level reading assignments. This will encourage the students to truly digest the material they are reading. Front of Bookmark: Back of Bookmark:

7. Use materials and programs that will aid in student comprehension. Audiobooks are excellent for students to use when an adult is not present and the text is too challenging. Toobaloos are good for students who like to read aloud without interrupting those around them. E.Z.C. Reader Strips are great for students who need help with visual tracking and need words to POP out! STEP THREE: Make sure 100% of your students participate on a daily basis. Participation is essential to tracking student progress and holding kids accountable to the daily lesson. Control the Game4 is an excellent way to hold your kids accountable to reading along in group texts. Here is how the strategy works: 1. Keep Durations Unpredictable-Once you identify a reader, do not specify how long you want the reader to read. This will keep the readers and the class on their toes in case they are next to being called. 2. Keep the Identity of the Next Reader Unpredictable-To prevent students from tuning out before their turn is near, keep the identity of the next reader a mystery so that all students are following along and awaiting their turn to read. 3. Keep Durations Short-This allows the pacing to feel lively. 4. Reduce Transaction Costs-It is important to transition from one reader to another with minimum interruptions to allow for fluent reading. Stating, Francisco, continue, is better than Thank you Brianna. Good job. Francisco, can you please pick up from where Brianna left off? 5. Use Bridging to Maintain Continuity-It is highly effective for a teacher to read short segments of the text, as a bridge, between student readers. This not only keeps the story moving along quickly, but allows the teacher to use expressive reading which aids in the students comprehension of the material at hand. The more difficult the text is, the more a teacher should use bridging. Here is a video of Control the Game in action STEP FOUR: Make student goals visible. Create a data board with individualized goals. The more your students see the goals they need to work on, the more accountable you and the students are to
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Doug Lemovs Teach Like a Champion

reaching those goals. Plus, you maximize their growth by ensuring students are improving upon individualized needs. STEP FIVE: Self-Assess how your modifications are working. If your students are grasping the materials using your modifications, well done! If not, have no fear. There are further modifications you can make including: re-teaching, cutting down on the content you teach and focusing in on smaller pieces of texts, simplifying questions further, incorporating more partner work, adding in purposeful hooks in the beginning of lessons to activate student thinking and more

Some Shout Outs:

I am incredibly fortunate to work with very talented educators at KIPP Infinity Charter School who constantly research and share the latest and greatest strategies to use with our students. I want to acknowledge Sayuri Stabrowski for the immense amount of time and effort she has put into planning the 8th grade reading platform for KIPP NYC and for allowing me to go ahead and modify her lesson plans for my students. I also want to thank Joe Negron, Allison Holley and Michael Vea for the various teaching strategies and materials they have shared with me and fellow classroom teachers on vocabulary, classroom engagement and more. I want to shout-out Annica Lowek who is not only incredibly loving and empathetic, but is an incredible special education teacher and leader. Finally, I want to shout-out the KIPP Community for the immeasurable amount of love and dedication we provide to our students on a daily basis. WE are a team and a family.

Additional Questions and Follow-up

Feel free to ask me questions by e-mail at lliran@kippinfinity.org or through Better Lesson at Lynn Liran.