Stacy LaBree

Johanna Lake and I co-teach 9th grade algebra for 2 blocks (80 minute classes).  Special education students participate in these classes alongside their peers.  We are constantly working together to examine the effectiveness of our instructional approach.  I believe the key component to the success of our co-teaching is that we provide each student access to relevant and meaningful experiences every day (Indicator #2).  Every student in our class has access to lessons that vary learning styles, that have engaging and meaningful activities that model best practices, that are rigorous and challenging, as well as meet grade level curriculum standards.  We have spent countless hours over the past year researching, developing, revising, and collaborating to create meaningful and rich learning opportunities for all our students.  However, we still have 6 students that are on our team in a resource room algebra class.  Although I feel that I teach that class with rigor and high expectations, model much of the same instructional approaches and practices, Johanna and I are exploring the interventions and supports we need to employ so that those 6 students can be afforded the same learning opportunities as their peers.  We are beginning to “focus our energy on making the vision of equity a reality and begin to eliminate the access barrier.” (p.16)  We feel that we need to access professional development in order to learn the skills necessary to maximize these students’ learning. Collaborating with other professionals in learning community would be extremely beneficial in order to initiate “discourse regarding methods for obtaining greater access, opportunity, and successful interventions for students across all populations.” (p. 17) We feel we need to look at differentiation practices more closely and created a targeted and intervention plan that we can tailor to the unique needs of each individual student.