Take your time, go deep, and turn over that pacing guide.

Pacing guides (which tell you which page and which chapter you should cover this week) are too restricting when you have ESE students. As a teacher, you need to deliver specialized instruction for the functional level of the student that includes exposure to grade level content.  (This does not mean that you flood the ESE student with an acre of material that is one inch deep).  Because ESE has modifications and accommodations to the curriculum, the question isn't "are you following the pacing guide?"; rather the questionis, "am I getting closer to the pacing guide/narrowing the gap between functional level of the student and grade level material?"

Matthew Blazek
Teacher
Mentor to hundreds of teachers


This was Matt's answer to my question: "How should I use a pacing guide with ESE students?"