I have posted the course guide and revised assignments to the wiki for your convenience. The course officially began Monday. If anything is pressing please call me 720-732-9880.
For Learning Topic One August 28-September 10
1) Please review the National Reading Panel "Put Reading First" Report. Please post your response to this document, from the first bullet in the course module to the wiki. Please read and respond to at least one of your peers work after you have reviewed their response.
2) The second bullet refers to the toolkit you will be building during this course. As you build your toolkit please post a bi-weekly (every other week) update to the wiki on the materials you have in your kit (if they are electronic you can post them if they are not you can describe them). Along with an update on your toolkit please post a brief reflection on your field work-how is it going? what have you been able to practice? what questions do you have? etc. This will be a recurring assignment updated to the wiki every two weeks!
3) The third bullet refers to the Shaywitz book. Please post your two column notes to the wiki. Again, please read and respond to one peer.
Thanks Starlit, I don't know why this is so hard to do but at least this works!
Sabrina, I also wondered whether most dyslexic students receive one hour of explicit instruction as well. One hour doesn't seem like a lot of time, until you start to think about how many students one special ed teacher has. One of the reading interventionists that I spoke with last semester said that they were supposed to meet with each student once a day, but when you have more students than hours in a day, it is rather impossible to meet this goal. Perhaps, this is something that should be considered when discussing school funding!
Hi Sabrina! I would like to comment on your question about "child find" and them possibly doing early intervention or detection for dyslexia. Having a child myself who was a suspected dyslexic, it's unfortunate to discover that the school is fairly unsupportive of early interventions, at least for now. I was repeatedly told that until my son was in third or fourth grade, no definitive or conclusive testing could begin. Child find has so many more resources and unbiased information available to families; way more than a school can provide, as you may or may not know. What makes it hard, is for the school to listen and act on child find's study results. Often times, the schools want to administer their own testing before they are willing to offer any services, but this is only after collecting months or even school years worth of their own data. As a parent, I went directly to my son's teachers with my concerns and a bullet point list of what they could do based on child finds results, to help my son. I guess what I'm getting at is that as teachers we need to be aware of the signs, listen to the parents concerns, and be able to look at the little things in student reading/writing that may be red flags for bigger issues later, documenting everything along the way. Dyslexia does mimic other disorders, so the diagnosis in young children (especially without hereditary traits) is especially dicey. Lisa Hi Lisa, I am sorry that you had such a difficult experience with Child Find and the school. They can be wonderful. The problem with diagnosing dyslexia (as you also discussed) is that many children seem to be dyslexic and then by mid-second grade it is all good. Developmentally, it is hard to tell the difference between the kiddos that will "out grow reversals" and those that are truly dyslexic. I am also dyslexic-I say am because it never goes away you just learn how to work with it. My dad was a teacher and I never received tutoring until mid second grade and my dad really did watch it and pushed for it but everyone said, "she will probably out grow it." All of that said it is very important that teachers and schools listen to Child Find and other agencies that are experts in diagnosis. They do have more resources than the schools and more experience with this type of work. Nancy
Lisa,
I am also sorry to hear about your experience with Child Find. You are absolutely right. "As teachers we need to be aware of the signs, listen to the parents concerns, and be able to look at the little things in student reading/writing that may be red flags for bigger issues later, documenting everything along the way." What a great thing to remember. If parents express concerns, teachers really need to take that into consideration. Like Nancy said, it is also important for the experts to be listened to as well. They are the experts! All good things to think and reflect on!
Sabrina
By reading and responding to at least one peer you will be exposed to a variety of ideas and thoughts. The responses take the place of conversations in the classroom. Please feel free to continue a conversation with your peer and if appropriate please copy the rest of us in on the discussion. This will be similar to a forum discussion in an online course. When there is only one student in a GIS course there is much more formal writing that is required but since there are 2 in this course we can have some discussions instead. I hope this format is agreeable to you but if it is not please let me know and we can come up with something that is!
To prepare for Learning Topic 2 Sept 11-Sept 24 Please review the module and assignments. Let me know what if any clarification and/or changes or adjustments you would like to make to Learning Topic 2 to make this the most productive use of your time.
Take care,
Nancy
I know the wiki can be challenging but it is better than email. Let me know if you have any other ideas! Nancy
I have posted the course guide and revised assignments to the wiki for your convenience. The course officially began Monday. If anything is pressing please call me 720-732-9880.
For Learning Topic One August 28-September 10
1) Please review the National Reading Panel "Put Reading First" Report. Please post your response to this document, from the first bullet in the course module to the wiki. Please read and respond to at least one of your peers work after you have reviewed their response.
2) The second bullet refers to the toolkit you will be building during this course. As you build your toolkit please post a bi-weekly (every other week) update to the wiki on the materials you have in your kit (if they are electronic you can post them if they are not you can describe them). Along with an update on your toolkit please post a brief reflection on your field work-how is it going? what have you been able to practice? what questions do you have? etc. This will be a recurring assignment updated to the wiki every two weeks!
3) The third bullet refers to the Shaywitz book. Please post your two column notes to the wiki. Again, please read and respond to one peer.
Thanks Starlit, I don't know why this is so hard to do but at least this works!
Sabrina, I also wondered whether most dyslexic students receive one hour of explicit instruction as well. One hour doesn't seem like a lot of time, until you start to think about how many students one special ed teacher has. One of the reading interventionists that I spoke with last semester said that they were supposed to meet with each student once a day, but when you have more students than hours in a day, it is rather impossible to meet this goal. Perhaps, this is something that should be considered when discussing school funding!
Hi Sabrina! I would like to comment on your question about "child find" and them possibly doing early intervention or detection for dyslexia. Having a child myself who was a suspected dyslexic, it's unfortunate to discover that the school is fairly unsupportive of early interventions, at least for now. I was repeatedly told that until my son was in third or fourth grade, no definitive or conclusive testing could begin. Child find has so many more resources and unbiased information available to families; way more than a school can provide, as you may or may not know. What makes it hard, is for the school to listen and act on child find's study results. Often times, the schools want to administer their own testing before they are willing to offer any services, but this is only after collecting months or even school years worth of their own data. As a parent, I went directly to my son's teachers with my concerns and a bullet point list of what they could do based on child finds results, to help my son. I guess what I'm getting at is that as teachers we need to be aware of the signs, listen to the parents concerns, and be able to look at the little things in student reading/writing that may be red flags for bigger issues later, documenting everything along the way. Dyslexia does mimic other disorders, so the diagnosis in young children (especially without hereditary traits) is especially dicey. Lisa
Hi Lisa,
I am sorry that you had such a difficult experience with Child Find and the school. They can be wonderful. The problem with diagnosing dyslexia (as you also discussed) is that many children seem to be dyslexic and then by mid-second grade it is all good. Developmentally, it is hard to tell the difference between the kiddos that will "out grow reversals" and those that are truly dyslexic. I am also dyslexic-I say am because it never goes away you just learn how to work with it. My dad was a teacher and I never received tutoring until mid second grade and my dad really did watch it and pushed for it but everyone said, "she will probably out grow it." All of that said it is very important that teachers and schools listen to Child Find and other agencies that are experts in diagnosis. They do have more resources than the schools and more experience with this type of work.
Nancy
Lisa,
I am also sorry to hear about your experience with Child Find. You are absolutely right. "As teachers we need to be aware of the signs, listen to the parents concerns, and be able to look at the little things in student reading/writing that may be red flags for bigger issues later, documenting everything along the way." What a great thing to remember. If parents express concerns, teachers really need to take that into consideration. Like Nancy said, it is also important for the experts to be listened to as well. They are the experts! All good things to think and reflect on!
Sabrina
By reading and responding to at least one peer you will be exposed to a variety of ideas and thoughts. The responses take the place of conversations in the classroom. Please feel free to continue a conversation with your peer and if appropriate please copy the rest of us in on the discussion. This will be similar to a forum discussion in an online course. When there is only one student in a GIS course there is much more formal writing that is required but since there are 2 in this course we can have some discussions instead. I hope this format is agreeable to you but if it is not please let me know and we can come up with something that is!
To prepare for Learning Topic 2 Sept 11-Sept 24 Please review the module and assignments. Let me know what if any clarification and/or changes or adjustments you would like to make to Learning Topic 2 to make this the most productive use of your time.
Take care,
Nancy
I know the wiki can be challenging but it is better than email. Let me know if you have any other ideas!
Nancy