https://edufolios.org/kzagotsis/reward-systems/
This will be my 8th year of teaching and within that time, I have never used a reward system. The site I’m at however, has been implementing Positive Behaviour Intervention Support for about a year and a half. This approach uses both incidental and explicit teaching of expected behaviour, which ideally, decreases the negative behaviour […]
Emergent Literacyhttps://edufolios.org/kzagotsis/emergent-literacy/
In this post, Emergent Literacy-Thinking about Writing Instruction, I was considering whether I was using best practice after observing the behaviour of one of my students, undertaking some online professional development on emergent writing and completing some assessment. Interestingly, the training I completed suggested that students did NOT have to know each letter of the […]
Formative Assessment in a Special Education Setting: What does that look like?https://edufolios.org/kzagotsis/formative-assessment-in-a-special-education-setting-what-does-that-look-like/
I’ve been involved in the STEM 500 project since 2018, updating my knowledge and practice in the area of STEM each year. One of our requirements in 2019 is to ask a peer to observe us using formative assessment, with the intention of being able to learn from each other and apply constructive feedback given. […]
Modbury STEM PLC ~Thinking Technologically~May 23rdhttps://edufolios.org/kzagotsis/modbury-stem-plc-thinking-technologicallymay-23rd/
Overview As part of the STEM 500 project I spent Wednesday at Tea Tree Gully library with three lovely ladies from the Modbury partnership; Deanne from my site and Liz and Val from Ardtornish Primary School. Deanne and I both teach at Modbury Special School. Our students have an intellectual disability, the majority are on […]
Prompt Levels, Wait Times and Assessmenthttps://edufolios.org/kzagotsis/prompt-levels-wait-times-and-assessment/
This post was partly inspired by a new relief teacher who shadowed me for the day a few weeks ago and partly by a conversation I had with some colleagues, including Giulia, who is working alongside me for part of this year as a 4th year Pre-Service Teacher. Both observed me working with the students […]
The First Week of 2018https://edufolios.org/kzagotsis/the-first-week-of-2018/
It’s the end of Week 1 with my new class, 5 of whom are new Receptions. My focus has been on establishing relationships with children and their families. I’ve written a letter introducing myself and my team, explained processes, answered questions and sent SeeSaw invitations home. I mentioned my availability and also gave parents my […]
Digital Technologies in Special Educationhttps://edufolios.org/kzagotsis/digital-technologies-in-special-education/
Planning and Co-Creating One of the targets I’d set myself after coming back from Educhange in September was to create a Digital Technologies differentiated unit plan for Term 4. I’d expanded on my limited knowledge of coding, robotics etc and the question I had-if it was possible to teach these skills to students with intellectual disabilities-had […]
Last Day of Term 4, 2017https://edufolios.org/kzagotsis/last-day-of-term-4-2017/
Last Friday, the last day of school, I stood in the doorway of what had been my classroom for the past two years and just paused for a moment. This space, a double classroom born of necessity of the nature of the students I had, was where I feel I came into my own as […]
Report Writing 2017https://edufolios.org/kzagotsis/report-writing/
Last week I finished my reports for this year. These are written by the class teacher, based on aspects of the Australian Curriculum and baring in mind the priorities discussed with parents/caregivers at the Negotiated Education Plan (NEP) meeting in Term 1, Week 3. I’ve emphasised aspects of as I work at a special school and we’ve […]
Creating a Tactile Schedulehttps://edufolios.org/kzagotsis/creating-a-tactile-schedule/
Visual Comprehension Assessment T. is a student who finds it difficult to engage with the curriculum. At the beginning of this year, even getting him from a seated position on the floor, to standing, to walking to the desk and sitting on a chair correctly was challenging. Once I’d gotten him there, he would often […]
