In special education, and education in general, we are constantly told what to teach. We have state standards we must adhere to, goals outlined in various curricula, and of course the skills and milestones we must measure during our formal assessments. All of these guidelines are valuable for us as teachers. They provide us with a framework for teaching, assist us in developing goals and objectives, allow us to assess strengths and needs, and help us to measure progress. But there is so much more to teaching than that! There is an element of clinical judgment involved in education that cannot be found in any manual. We should not teach something because it is part of a curriculum or because it is measured in an assessment--we should teach something because it will improve our students' quality of life. In the field of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), we focus on modifying socially-significant behaviors. In other words, behavior that impacts an individual's daily life and functioning in the world. Put simply, we must remember to teach what actually matters.
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Teach What Matters!
Posted by Ashley, Special Educator
In special education, and education in general, we are constantly told what to teach. We have state standards we must adhere to, goals outlined in various curricula, and of course the skills and milestones we must measure during our formal assessments. All of these guidelines are valuable for us as teachers. They provide us with a framework for teaching, assist us in developing goals and objectives, allow us to assess strengths and needs, and help us to measure progress. But there is so much more to teaching than that! There is an element of clinical judgment involved in education that cannot be found in any manual. We should not teach something because it is part of a curriculum or because it is measured in an assessment--we should teach something because it will improve our students' quality of life. In the field of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), we focus on modifying socially-significant behaviors. In other words, behavior that impacts an individual's daily life and functioning in the world. Put simply, we must remember to teach what actually matters.
In special education, and education in general, we are constantly told what to teach. We have state standards we must adhere to, goals outlined in various curricula, and of course the skills and milestones we must measure during our formal assessments. All of these guidelines are valuable for us as teachers. They provide us with a framework for teaching, assist us in developing goals and objectives, allow us to assess strengths and needs, and help us to measure progress. But there is so much more to teaching than that! There is an element of clinical judgment involved in education that cannot be found in any manual. We should not teach something because it is part of a curriculum or because it is measured in an assessment--we should teach something because it will improve our students' quality of life. In the field of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), we focus on modifying socially-significant behaviors. In other words, behavior that impacts an individual's daily life and functioning in the world. Put simply, we must remember to teach what actually matters.
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