One Para, Five Students, Twenty Minutes
You run a 20-minute multiplication station with five fourth graders. The task is a set of eight word problems, most requiring two steps. Lila has an IEP that provides read-aloud of directions and extended time. Sam finished the first three problems in four minutes and is now drumming on the table. The other three are still on problem one, and one of them, Rayshawn, is stuck because he doesn't know the word 'each.' Your supervising teacher is out of the room for the whole 20 minutes, and the plan says the station goal is “choose the correct operation and justify it,” not speed.
1. Lila's IEP allows read-aloud. Does reading the word problems to her undermine the math goal, and what do you actually do?
Read the worked answer
Separate the accommodation from the goal. The station target is choosing and justifying an operation. That is a reasoning target, not a decoding target. If Lila can't decode the problem, the station measures her reading, not her math, and the data is useless to the teacher.
What I do:
- Read the problem stems aloud quietly at her desk, as the IEP allows. I read the stems as well as the directions because the stem is what carries the operation cue - and I flag that interpretation to the teacher rather than treating it as settled.
- Read once, neutrally, without stressing the numbers that would give away the operation.
- Do not read to the whole group. Independent reading of the stem is part of the task for the other four; adding a support for everyone changes the assignment.
The trap I avoid: assuming a read-aloud “makes it too easy” and quietly withholding a service. The accommodation exists precisely because decoding is not what's being graded.
2. Rayshawn is stuck on the word 'each.' What is your move, and what are you watching for?
Read the worked answer
Give the word briefly, with a concrete referent. “'Each' means every one separately - if each box has 6 pencils and there are 4 boxes, how many in all?” Then hand the problem back: “Where does 'each' show up in yours?”
Why not just define it: a definition with no referent doesn't transfer. He needs to see that 'each' signals equal groups, which is exactly the operation choice the station is targeting.
Why not work the problem with him: the goal is that he chooses and justifies. If I set up the multiplication, I've done the target skill for him.
What I'm watching for: whether vocabulary is the only barrier. If he can choose the operation once 'each' is clear, that is a language issue to report to the teacher. If he still can't choose, the operation choice is the real gap and it needs the teacher, not a longer explanation from me.
3. How do you handle Sam and the rest of the 20 minutes, and what do you report?
Read the worked answer
Sam: he isn't off-task because he is fast; he's off-task because the task ran out at his speed. Give an extension inside the goal - “Write a two-step problem of your own whose answer is 36, then write the sentence that proves which operation you used.” Same target, not filler. Pairing him as a checker for another student is riskier: it slides into him giving answers and makes the slower students feel monitored.
The other 20 minutes: I can't tutor three stuck students individually, support Lila, and extend Sam. So I triage. Two minutes whole-group on “what operation is this problem asking for?” using problem one, then circulate - the two-step structure is the likely sticking point for everyone.
Report: who chose the correct operation independently, who chose correctly only after a prompt, the read-aloud support Lila received, and that the common blocker was identifying the operation rather than computing. Not “they worked quietly” - that tells the teacher nothing she can plan from.