Teaching in the Special Education Classroom

Mr. Jahnke teaches self-contained special education courses. These courses provide individualized instruction, modified curriculum and smaller student to teacher ratio. Mr. Jahnke has experience teaching students with Specific Learning Disabilities, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Other Health Impairments, and Cognitive Disabilities. Mr. Jahnke integrates the use of technology daily within the classroom in order to promote learning through current technology that can be generalized throughout a variety of settings.

Current Special Education Courses

Algebra B (Year Long) - Developed 2015-2016 - Implemented

Algebra B is the development of the following skills typically learned in semester two of Algebra 1; solving and graphing quadratic equations and inequalities, simplifying rational and radical expressions, and applying the properties of exponents.

Biology 1 (Year Long) - Developed 2016 - 2017 - Implemented

Biology is a science course that covers the study of living things. Biology focuses on the study of life by examining the five fundamental concepts of cellular biology, genetics, ecology, evolution and physiology. It also focuses on science skills that scientists use. These skills include: asking questions, making predictions, designing experiments or procedures, collecting and organizing information, calculating data, making decisions, drawing conclusions, and exploring more options. Students may learn scientific writing skills and also examine current events and global developments relating to biological sciences..

Department Developments

Mr. Jahnke has helped restructure and develop the scope and sequence of our special education strategies courses during the 2015-2016 school year with the help of the special education department. Each class focuses on different aspects of helping our students succeed academically during high school and post secondary school, as well as help students acquire essential vocational and independent living skills .

• Instructional Strategies
• Informational Strategies
• Fundamental Strategies

After Mr. Jahnke's first year teaching, he proposed a course sequence for special education math that would extend the Sped Algebra 1 year long course into course into two separate year long courses. Students with Learning disabilities in math did not have the skill set needed to learn the algebraic content in one year, this was particularly observed through student abilities in courses after Algebra. After consultation with the math department, guidance, and administration, it was deemed that extending the length of the course would ultimately lead to students learning the content, and engaging in more meaningful activities and instruction designed to fit their needs.