Garnering Knowledge for Teaching

Sorry for the lack of posting lately.  The blog is on a brief haitus until summer so I can focus entirely on finishing my dissertation (examining administrator perspective on least restrictive environment.)

If something grabs me, I’ll always be up for a post.  Otherwise, have a fabulous spring!  See you soon.

I was reading the New York Times online this morning when an essay caught my eye.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/17/technology/17essay.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

The author describes the use of technology in the classroom as a functional and integral part of the learning process and ties this type of technology use to the success of project-based learning.  A technology, just like an instructional model such as PBL, can be easily introduced to a classroom or learning situation.  In some form, there will be benefit even if minimal scaffolding occurs on the part of the instructor.

However, for these technologies and models to truly have an effect on the learning potential of students, teachers must orchestrate a direct and meaningful engagement.  Teachers must understand not only the technology and how it might be utilized in the future (word processing, presentation software, internet searches), but visualize how that technology can enhance learning in the now (use as an integral part of the learning process and experience ).

As a teacher who only occupies my teaching space three hours a week, it is a challenge to utilize technology as part of my teaching.  We are encouraged to do so, using the whiteboard and the video cases.  However I crave a way to make the technology a natural part of the learning process.  Then, my students could transfer those experiences into their own pedagogy of technology.  One where technology is not simply a tool, but a vital part of the learning machinery.

This semester I will continue exploring how I can make that happen.

Students react to district

A much better exploration of both student and parent reactions 

More as they come along.

So much is going on that I thought I would post a few links to NCLB news coming out.  It seems the political upheaval is inspiring stories about the law and how districts and states are both coping and reinventing how they respond to it.

English Language Learners Left Behind 

Improving Texas’ Accountability system

What McCain might do for education

Hi All!

As Spring Break rolls around, I thought I would round out the month with a few intriguing stories from the world of education.

Lansing schools restructuring plan shocks teachers

 Are reading and math eating up too much class time under NCLB?

Will NO Child pass its next big exam?

Federal appeals court says NCLB trumps IDEA

Virginia considers leaving NCLB 

Creative Play may help students with behavioral control

Class size not enough to raise achievement gap

We’ve been talking over the last few weeks about the need to accommodate students in the classroom by differentiating lesson plans so that all students in the classroom have access to the concepts being taught.  Key words here are Differentiating and Access.  Both of these concepts require direct teacher attention and consideration to be successful, however they are often topics left to “infusion” in the teacher education classroom, which often means haphazard coverage at best, a few articles and a one hour conversation about “disabilities” at worst.

When I was a special educator in a general education building, I found many general ed teachers I worked with had a cursory understanding of what special education meant for students and for their classroom.  The outdated models of removing students with special education needs was being phased into a model of inclusion.  Inclusion meant that kids with mild disabilities such as Learning Disablility, mild Language Impairment, and Physical Impairment would have more access to a general education environment with support from a special educator.  Many teachers, however, have been placed in a position of including a student with special needs without additional support or assistance in figuring out what that means.  This  resulted in an unfair situation for both the student and the teacher with no one’s needs being met in the end.

I always believed that a certain amount of information and training in pre-service education could change that dichotomy by outfitting new teachers with options for action and strategies to include and accommodate the needs of most students.  When you really look at it,  a  teacher adept at accommodation  is one who  can  access a multitude of  instructional styles and  choose the one that suits a particular need  presented by a student in a particular situation.   This adeptness requires  not only a knowledge of  how  accommodations work in a classroom, but a knowledge of the student and his or her learning styles, motivations, successes, and challenges.  Taking all of these factors into consideration allows a teacher to choose a method of curricular access that best suits the needs of  a particular student.

Now, just because I say something is so, doesn’t make it the truth.  I propose the above as a template for  “best practice” in creating an accessible, perhaps a  “universal” classroom.  Consider though, the amount of planning  that might go into a lesson that  included accommodation for 28 1st graders.  Those in 1st grade know that your readers run from a pre-alphabetic stage to those reading chapter books at the 3rd grade level or higher.  How can you possibly accommodate all of those learner’s needs?  Do you have to write 28 lesson plans?

Well, of course not, although…if there were a Super Teacher whose only purpose in life were to teach , grade, and plan…perhaps  she/he  could create 28 plans for each lesson in the day.  You  will not have time for such  lofty goals.  You need to make a plan that all 28 of your  learners can access with some level of success  but  still provides a learning challenge.  Sure…no problem!  whew!

We’ve all had the conversations in class about how we can accommodate,  but in reality the day goes quickly and sometimes it’s easy to let something slide like a kid already behind falling even further back.  As a teacher, your best bet is to make accommodation and universal planning as commonplace and routine as the lunch count.  When you conceive a lesson,  make  accessibility  part of that original brainstorming process.  How can everyone participate?  How can everyone have success?  What are the base concepts here and what are the more advanced ones?  How do I include that into the overall plan?
I’d like to  take this moment to bring in the other topic of discussion, technology.  15 years ago my job was to use technology to give kids with minimal language skills an opportunity to communicate.  The speaking communication systems were just beginning to take off and microcomputing systems  allowed us to  have smaller and smaller devices for little hands to hold and manipulate.  Technology, to me , was a way to provide a certain level of independence  to a kid who was otherwise  dependent on others.   Kids could answer questions , label,  query,  and make jokes when before they had to rely on  facial expressions,  eye pointing, and hoping someone brings up the right picture or word.   I think this early work helped me to see  how valuable  it would be for kids with special needs to access and master  technology.  A kid who can’t talk  finally has a way to bring out what’s been inside all along.

Consider how blogs could open up avenues for your students who have a hard time expressing themselves in school.  Software that writes what is spoken has been improving since the first ones came out in the  early 90s.  Some software provides word prediction (now seen in IM  and text features on phones) to help students with those common words.  Spellchecker provides an instant feedback to those who are unsure of spellings ,  and  the power of a word processor means the eraser is never far  when you want to edit.

Technology has been touted as the great equalizer between  special education and general education.

• There are fantastic programs out there for phonemic awareness that use children’s natural motivation towards technology to  practice and learn phonemic  rules and patterns  for better decoding  skills.  With a careful search, I imagine you can find spectacular programs for a multitude of language arts  skills and processes that  could help  students  who are  developmentally delayed in a certain skill set.
• Technology provides physical access  to curriculum through keyboards, smart boards,  touch screens,  bluetooth wireless access as well as infrared  devices .  These devices help students who have fine or gross motor difficulties and need help  expressing  themselves  in print  or verbally.    Some kids who have trouble with writing are really struggling with the fine motor movements of writing.  Using a keyboard (which takes time and training in its own right) can help alleviate those issues and provide an outlet for the child’s thoughts  as well as curricular access.

I would  argue  that the motivation digital access provides is not simply about the beeps and whistles and fanstasy worlds (although those are all appealing ).  I argue that a student is motivated to use technology when that technology  provides  real success in academics.  This is especially true when  that success has been difficult to achieve otherwise.  The access technology provides is just as rewarding as achieving the next level.

So, as a teacher, how can technology not only be something your students need to learn for their future, but also something that makes learning more motivating, more engaging, and more accessible?  Can technology be the great equalizer?

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