Gain Confidence and Accountability Through Portfolios!
My students need some school supplies such as folders, headphones, tape, erasers, binders, and pencils to help make the year more organized and productive. They will help them to maintain a portfolio system to track their own progress/IEP goals, and take assessments on the computer.
We are a special-needs middle and high school in Westchester County, just north of New York City. Our students come from all over the area, from NYC itself to Suffolk and Rockland counties. While all of our students have a unique story that brought them here, we provide a unified therapeutic environment that enables each of them to get both their diplomas and real-world vocational experiences. We use a Positive Behavior Support (PBIS) system based on our name which corresponds to Respect, Effort, Acting Safely, Community, and Healthy Living.
Moreover, while we may be a special-needs school, the students that I work with are expected to take and pass the New York state Regents exam.
I am extremely proud of the hard work and dedication my students display on a daily basis as they work to attain that goal. It is my job then to provide them with the best instruction possible, and give them what they need for success.
My Project
The majority of the students that I work with have autism, paired with at least one other diagnosis, such as an intellectual disability. One of the biggest struggles that teenagers/adults with autism face is their ability to interact with others, especially people who they view as figures of authority (such as bosses or teachers). As such, I work everyday to teach my kids not just ELA content, but also how to appropriately interact with their peers and adults.
One way that I do this is through a portfolio system.
While my students may be used to being brushed aside or written off in their previous schools, here I want them to realize their full potential through active engagement with the curriculum, their learning goals, and with the adults who help them. The binders, folders, pencils, erasers, and tape will be used to help the students identify and keep track of their learning goals throughout the school year. It will teach them responsibility by having to organize and maintain their work. Moreover, through our quarterly meetings to discuss their work/progress, I hope to also encourage their level of accountability, self-advocacy skills, and comfort with discussing their work with an authority figure, like they will soon have to do on a regular basis once they graduate and need to get jobs.
Finally, the headphones will be used to help the students monitor the progress of their goals by allowing them to use software on our computers to take assessments and receive targeted mini lessons that I can assign them.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mr. M. and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
