Monday, April 30, 2007

Feeling Nostalgic (Translation: Feeling Old-er)


Okay, I realize that Ed Grimley does not have anything to do with learning disabilities, but I was feeling nostalgic and he makes me laugh, so I added some random links to my side panel (I'm sure it has a more technical name than that, but I don't know what it is).

Actually, laughing is what made me miss poor Ed. I have a few students right now that are just hilarious and I usually share their taste in humor and movies, etc... It's been great to know that I have been able to tie most of my math, history and some English work into Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and/or Monty Python. So, when the one pulled his pants up above his belly button the other day and started walking around saying he was cool (as a joke I should add), I started cracking up because it totally reminded me of Ed Grimley. And, of course, when I mentioned that, they had absolutely no idea who I was talking about... I forget just how young these middle school kids really are!

Our school is quite small; we have a staff of 8 and when I asked the other staff I was realizing my age when only one other person recognized who I was talking about and that was only after she confused it with Walter Grimley, the Quaker Oats guy!

So, in recognition that I am "old" I am revisiting Ed Grimley and laughing it up - and now, as a teacher of students with learning disabilities and some of the "quirky' behaviors that includes I have to admit that I find Ed even funnier than I used to :). Enjoy!

Sunday, April 29, 2007

The Number Devil




Right now, my math class is studying some number theory using The Number Devil by Hans Magnus Enzensberger. What fun! We’ve talked about exponents and place value while reading about “hopping” and discussed the importance of the number 1 and 0 without any moaning and groaning about doing math! Someof it has been a bit challenging as I try to take it out of the book and have them apply - but I think that’s more my learning curve than there’s sometimes. Tomorrow we’ll look at “Prima Donna” numbers which will review the prime number work we did before break, so I’m curious to see if the connections are made. It has been great fun though watching the connections that have been made, especially since my students are all different ages (5th-8th) and very different levels and needs. Some are self-proclaimed math-haters, but are growing into confident problem solvers - but that’s another discussion….
The Buzz about Learning Disabilities

Why learning disabilities?
From the Learning Disabilities Association of America:

“A learning disability is a neurological disorder that affects one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using spoken or written language. The disability may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell or to do mathematical calculations (for more visit
http://www.ldanatl.org/).

Common learning disabilities include dyslexia, dyscalculia and dysgraphia, and some people include ADD/ADHD in the bunch. Diagnosis and educational planning often focus on the weaknesses of people involved and don’t necessarily highlight their strengths. It is common for an individual with learning disabilities to feel for a long time like he or she doesn’t have any strengths. I don’t believe this is true. Many people with these types of learning struggles have many gifts, just not always those valued and/or highlighted in traditional education. I got involved, and have stayed involved, with students with learning disabilities because I love working them. Each student I have and have ever worked with has his or her own unique way at looking at the world and I believe they should be acknowledged for those gifts. They can all learn and should never be made to feel that they can’t - in fact, many of them make the world a much more interesting place!

Other Resources:
LD Basics from
LDOnline

Cool Things Going on in the World
Paul Sanchez, an adult in California, is trying to raise awareness (and $$) for kids with learning disabilities. I met Paul at the LDA of America (Learning Disabilities Association of America) conference in Reno a few years ago before his trip. Our state chapter (MI) has been communicating with him since his journey and I am excited to have a place where I can share with more people (or at least feel like I’m communicating with more people :)). Paul videotaped his journey and posted it on YouTube to raise money for kids with dylexia and other learning disabilities. His website is
www.8wishes.com. Thanks Paul for all you do!!!!

Learning to Blog

I'm new to blogging and trying this out. I orginally created a Barto's World at Edublogs and am figuring out how to best use blogs for me and for my students. I am not very "blog savvy" and found that I really struggled some with the first one, so we'll see how this one goes. So far, this one has been easy to use and not quite as slow as when I tried posting and creating on the other. Anyone else have any recommendations for easy to use blogs, that are still somewhat "protected"?

Scaffolding and Making Meaning in Education

I completed a practicum this semester to finally earn the state endorsement on my certificate for learning disabilities and one of the hottest topics out there is scaffolding - providing those supports students need to access curriculum/expectations and/or acquire certain skills. This week I needed to write about scaffolding and had some thoughts:

One of the biggest challenges in providing appropriate scaffolds in a classroom of diverse learner is when they all need different scaffolds. What is a scaffold for one might be a hindrance for another… this is one of the concepts that I am most asked about when discussions revolve around student-centered instruction, accommodations, remediation, IEPs and or behavior management. It’s also a common theme among discussions I have with students.

Many students with learning disabilities have some difficulty thinking outside of themselves. By this I mean that most students I have worked with may know that all students learn differently - especially if they are at LMA because they must have learned differently for their parents to look for something different – and often they can explain why people learn differently, but many of these same students are the first to notice when students are treated differently. They look for order and often order means the same. . . . especially if someone else is getting something “good”.

I find that scaffolding for this understanding of how to be different and when and why that is okay is one of the hardest concepts to scaffold, for both students and adults. What is fair? Rick Lavoie says that “fair does not mean equal”. This is true; so how do we balance using a scaffold so our students can perform or learn along a continuum that will compare them against others at some point and scaffolding understanding of individual differences? I do believe that giving notes from a lecture to a student with auditory processing issues or output (writing) issues is important and an appropriate scaffold, but then how do they learn the skill of taking in information independently? How do they learn what to do with those notes? Scaffolds only assist students in making meaning when they are able to use them; when the result is something the student can use – not just a band-aid. Yes, giving a student notes can be like a band-aid. The teacher has provided supports. The teacher has followed the IEP. The IEP included good supports. The student is using an accommodation that is appropriate to his/her needs and may be making his/her best effort to do so; and still this child can look lazy, unappreciative and may not achieve the intended goal.

I do not think this is the case all the time, but with curricula getting more and more packed with content objectives – again I seem to cycle back to the MMC and state guidelines – when is there time in a school day to scaffold a student into being able to independently use an appropriate scaffold so that he can in turn grow to a point where he does not need that scaffold to be independent anymore (whew!)? Guidelines and standards are important to measure that education is providing appropriate skills and content knowledge to support the development and support of growing societies, but how is a society that was established on the principles of personal freedoms and rights of individuals so dependent on an education system that seems to forget the individual? How do we make meaning of that?….. Who scaffolds the system?

One of my Best "Teaching Moment" Stories

Yesterday was one of my best teaching story moments. Monday, our students were getting ready to take a walk for PE and appparently were looking for flashlights. One of my students came in to my room looking for a flashlight or a “blinky thing”, which of course I don’t have. He was joking with me about how could I be a good teacher without a blinky thing and what kind of teacher was I, etc.. I truthfully was laughing, working and somewhat ignoring him at the same time. The next morning, he came in to class a little tardy and as he quietly handed me his tardy pass, he handed me a small, green oval plastic toy-like thing. He told me very quietly (with this little glint in his eye) that now I was a teacher, I have my own blinky thing! We shared a laugh and I have to admit that that was one of my favorite teaching moments. He doesn’t always remember to bring in his homework and might lose a paper within the classroom now and then, he can be impulsive and I tend to push him quite a bit in the classroom, but I know that as a teacher, I have connected with that person! A conversation that I didn’t think much about, has become one of my favorite moments in my 10 years of teaching!

What to do?

I face a challenge with my blog I think. I work at a school for students with learning differences (dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, ADD/ADHD and combinations of these). We have created a wikispace which for me serves a few purposes: opens communication between home and school, supports those with organizational issues, supports some of the written expression/reading needs and provides students and (ultimately) our school community some space to be connected.
My dilemma is walking the line of confidentiality and privacy. I love highlighting the awesome things my students do and are capable of and find that it is important to do so. Their self-identity is often built on negative experiences or focused on their challenges. So my dilemma is that I am excited about the concepts of edublogs, being able to express the awesome things (and challenges) that are happening with my students, etc... but I have to be careful about protecting their privacy. With only 23 students in our school, it is often clear even without names who is who.....so how do I best balance the obviously supportive environment the electronic world has to offer with showcasing their talents and giving credit for their hard work with protecting their privacy within their special education labels?