Just a little background into my students and what my Geometry class looks like...Every year my students come into my Geometry class with no knowledge of Geometry, I mean NOTHING! They know shapes like squares, circles, rectangles, and triangles but anything beyond that they don't know. When I ask them what makes a square a square I usually get the deer in the headlights look from them. So when I teach Geometry it has to go down all the way to the very basics. Many ask me if I'm doing Common Core with them? My answer is always YES and NO. Yes, we do as much Common Core as we can and I always push my students to what they refer to ask their "exploding point", but when your students come in with no Geometry knowledge or skills it's hard to say we are 100% doing High School Common Core Geometry all the time. When it comes to Special Education students you have to teach them where they are at, not necessarily what grade it says they are in.
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| This was a common saying in my math classes this past year and I'm sure it will be again this year. It killed me every time one of them would say it. |
This past school year I was informed I would be teaching Geometry again this upcoming school year, and since the group I will be having I've had in the past, I knew my class needed to be organized in a different way. So our school's Math Specialist (she's amazing) and I sat down and looked at the Common Core HS standards and the level of my students, we came up with this curriculum outline.
So this is what I plan on following this year. Each unit covers the same/similar skills but breaks it down by the different shapes. So in each unit the students will know what to expect, but they will have to apply it to the each new shape that is introduced to them. I'm hoping they will start to see patterns and make connections they might not have otherwise made. We know this does not cover ALL of the standards but it is what I feel we can get through in a school year and what they will be able to learn and retain. Obviously I will add to it if need be, and this is just a list of topics (it does not indicate the difficulty level of the questions they will be given).
How do you organize your Geometry content? What resources do you use to outline your course?
How do you organize your Geometry content? What resources do you use to outline your course?
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU FOR AFFIRMING THAT I AM DOING THE RIGHT THING!! I am also teaching Geometry to Special Education students and find that they are not able to grasp everything but I can at least give them the "high Points"
ReplyDeleteI think as Special Education teachers we aren't always given a clear direction of what we need to do with our students. I'm just doing what I feel is right by my students and it sounds like you are too! Let me know if there is anything I can help you with, maybe we can collaborate together on this class.
DeleteI love this!! We are being asked to create a pacing guide for our middle school special education math students. This is simple and clear and could easily be done with other areas.
ReplyDeleteThis is so helpful! Thank you for sharing! If I may ask...is there a textbook that you use for this?
ReplyDeleteThere is no textbook which is why I had to do my own pacing guide. I tried to pull out what were the most important topics from the general education course and supplement with lower grade level topics because my students have no understanding when they come into HS Geometry.
DeleteWow! This is so amazing..... I am going to be teaching basic geometry special education students next year and I will be using this outline this upcoming year.... I already teach special education students by we have to follow our curriculum guideline wirh that. With basic geometry, I have more free reigns!
ReplyDeleteThank you for this resource! I have a question, does your Special Ed. Geometry class count toward earning a high school diploma or are your students earning certificates of completion?
ReplyDeleteI ask because I work at a secondary school that does full inclusion, so all my kids are in the GE setting and I help to scaffold and support. I can't deviate from CCSS this much for diploma track kiddos. However, I'm looking for resources for my kids on a certificate track, and this looks PERFECT!
My students are in a Special Ed. Geometry class but they get the High School credit for Geometry. They do get a diploma. This is just an outline of what order I do things in, it is not a complete curriculum map of what I teach. After using it this year I have to change A LOT! I unfortunately have to go backwards because my students coming in have no Geometry experience when they walk in the door to my class so I have to start all the way at the beginning. So each unit I have to cover the pre-skills like they are brand new and then work up from there. I try to stick with the GE class as much as possible but it's hard when mine are so far behind.
DeleteWe just got new textbooks for this upcoming year so now I'm going to have to start all over again since we have to follow the books flow.
Anya, It is so nice to find another small group teacher talking about math!! :)
ReplyDeleteDo you teach Advanced Algebra (Algebra II)? If so do you have a list of resources you could share? I'm in the exact same boat where I try to follow the gen ed class but struggle... Thanks for any input!!
I did teach Algebra 2 for one school year about 3-4 years ago but haven't taught it since. My resources would be very limited if I have any at all. Sorry, I'm not much help in that department!
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