Educating Students with Mild Guided Notes

Disabilities
▪ Simple, yet powerful tool
Special education is a very broad and
diverse field that encompasses teaching for ▪ Applicable to all age
a wide array of disabilities, ranging from
physical impairments to neurological ▪ Provide students with the most
disorders. A more positive attitude has important information
developed towards special education, as
▪ Quality over quantity
many schools now integrate special
education students into their general ▪ Help to prevent students from
education classrooms (otherwise known as being overwhelmed with
inclusion). The term special education information
includes hundreds of disorders and
disabilities.

Guided Notes
Guided notes work so well in traditional,
inclusive classrooms because no student
feels singled out, primarily special
education students. If special education
students are separated from their general
education peers, they can feel discouraged
or underappreciated.When paired with
lectures, guided notes provide students
with the most important information, while
also retaining their attention.

Strategy for Comprehension

To maintain classroom balance and include
all students, guided notes help bring
everyone to the same level by providing
Strategies for
uniform information. Guided notes leave
blank spaces for students to fill in during
Educating
the lesson’s progression, prompting active
student listening/participation.
Students with
Mild Disabilities
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Know Your Students
Educators are responsible for knowing
students’ strengths, weaknesses, and any
______________ needed. Upon determining
the need for guided notes, ________ should
choose the most important information
from the lesson/text, in order to: prevent
overloading ________ with information,
retain students’ attention span (including
students with ADD/ADHD), and also
choose ___________ that can connect to
other topics of the course, either in review
or the foreshadowing future_______.
Students learn best when they feel
_________ to the presented material and
see a correlation with the final __________
required at the lesson’s conclusion.
Word Bank
accommodations teachers students
information lessons connected
assessment
Who Benefits?
Guided notes are versatile, meaning they
are efficient study tools for all types of
students, both disability and non-
disability, across all grade levels
(elementary, middle, and high).
Particularly, guided notes work well with
students who have a writing impairment
or difficulty focusing their attention
during a lecture; however, guided notes
can also aid those with a visual and/or
hearing impairment. Those with an
intellectual disability are particularly
receptive to guided notes because these
supports help with metacognition and
organization.
Guided notes are so successful because
they are easy to implement and lead to
other assignments such as quizzes to
verify student comprehension.
“Play is the work
of children”
~Jean Piaget~
The Effectiveness of Guided Notes in an Inclusive
Classroom. (n.d.). Retrieved June 25, 2018, from
https://ctlsites.uga.edu/humanities-education/the-
effectiveness-of-guided-notes-in-an-inclusive-classroom/
Guided Notes & Assessment
At the lesson’s conclusion, the teacher can
check for students’ completion and accuracy
of the handout with an assessment. The
most effective assessment is students’
independent practice, which typically occurs
as a quiz. Quizzes can come in a written
version, oral examination, or as a ticket-out-
the-door assignment in which students jot
down salient information from the lesson
after reading through the guided notes
handout and listening during the teacher’s
instruction.
Feedback
Teachers should allow the opportunity for
students to provide feedback for future
improvement with a post-assessment.
When students feel their input is valued,
they are more receptive to their teacher
and the presented material.