Universal Design for Learning (UDL) was inspired by work in architecture on the planning of
buildings with a view to accessibility for people with physical disabilities (Turnbull et al., 2002).
I read this quote in Education for All: The Report of the Expert Panel on Literacy and Numeracy Instruction for Students With Special Education Needs, Kindergarten to Grade 6.
It interests me because it talks about how improvements, assistance, or accommodations made for a specialized group of people actually benefited a larger group of people than originally anticipated. One of the examples given (p. 10) looks at how wheel chair ramps, designed for people with special needs, ended up helping parents with strollers, people with baggage trolleys, and a variety of others. This notion filtered down into education, because many teaching strategies used to help students with special needs succeed will help improve the achievement of EVERY student.
Wednesday, 18 January 2012
Tuesday, 17 January 2012
Writing Part 1: First thoughts and ideas...
My Writing Part 1 course started this week, and one of the first assignments links to the Ministry of Education Document called A Guide to Effective Instruction in Writing, Kindergarten to Grade 3. We had to read section 1.9, and I loved how the document had a list of sample anchor charts you can create with your students. These are similar to the reading mini-lessons that would jump-start a Daily 5 program. I don't think it's ever too late to add something into your writing program, but these would be especially great mini-lessons to begin the year with!
Here are the sample anchor charts:
What Do Good Writers Do?
• Like to write
• Write about things they know about or are interested in
• Draw and “talk out” their story (rehearsal)
• Decide whom they are writing for and what their writing will look like
• Share their writing with a partner, a conference group, or the teacher
• Read their first draft and ask, “Does it look right? Does it sound right? Does it make sense?”
What Do Good Editors Do?
• Use capital letters
• Check their punctuation
• Check their spelling
• Use complete sentences
• Write legibly
• Use interesting words
• Let somebody else read their story
What Do Good Spellers Do?
• Read a lot
• Write a lot
• Look for patterns
• Know many high-frequency words
• Know if a word looks right
• Listen for sounds they hear
• Know where to look to find a hard word (e.g., word wall, dictionaries)
• Take a risk
Here are the sample anchor charts:
What Do Good Writers Do?
• Like to write
• Write about things they know about or are interested in
• Draw and “talk out” their story (rehearsal)
• Decide whom they are writing for and what their writing will look like
• Share their writing with a partner, a conference group, or the teacher
• Read their first draft and ask, “Does it look right? Does it sound right? Does it make sense?”
What Do Good Editors Do?
• Use capital letters
• Check their punctuation
• Check their spelling
• Use complete sentences
• Write legibly
• Use interesting words
• Let somebody else read their story
What Do Good Spellers Do?
• Read a lot
• Write a lot
• Look for patterns
• Know many high-frequency words
• Know if a word looks right
• Listen for sounds they hear
• Know where to look to find a hard word (e.g., word wall, dictionaries)
• Take a risk
Monday, 16 January 2012
Learning Disabilities
If you were graded at singing, physical coordination, athletic ability, creativity, drawing ability, organization, spatial awareness, etc., how would you do on your report card?
Students who have learning disabilities often struggle with academic tasks. We need to build on their strengths so that they are successful at school.
When students are being tested for a learning disability, they are usually assessed based on the following 8 processing areas:
1. memory
2. processing speed
3. attention
4. executive functioning
5. phonological processing
6. language
7. visual-motor skills
8. visual-spatial/perceptual skills
If a child is having an issue with one (or more) of these processing skill areas, it may be a possible sign that the student has a learning disability.
Interesting facts:
- most students with learning disabilities have average or above average intelligence (many are also diagnosed as gifted)
- accommodations allow these students to be successful at the curriculum
- students with learning disabilities will be strong in some subjects and when completing some tasks, while having difficulty with others
Students who have learning disabilities often struggle with academic tasks. We need to build on their strengths so that they are successful at school.
When students are being tested for a learning disability, they are usually assessed based on the following 8 processing areas:
1. memory
2. processing speed
3. attention
4. executive functioning
5. phonological processing
6. language
7. visual-motor skills
8. visual-spatial/perceptual skills
If a child is having an issue with one (or more) of these processing skill areas, it may be a possible sign that the student has a learning disability.
Interesting facts:
- most students with learning disabilities have average or above average intelligence (many are also diagnosed as gifted)
- accommodations allow these students to be successful at the curriculum
- students with learning disabilities will be strong in some subjects and when completing some tasks, while having difficulty with others
Monday, 5 December 2011
Problem solving: Why are students so impatient?
After watching a video about students' abilities to problem solve (Dan Meyer – Math Class Needs a Makeover ), here are a few keys points of interest:
- problems worth solving are not simple. We often create an environment where students expect to solve problems quickly, making students impatient problem solvers.
- textbooks give students all of the information that they need. Students don't need to filter information or seek out new information - they only need to follow procedures.
- "What matters here?" - a very under-represented question in many math programs. Students are told what matters and do not often need to determine important information for themselves.
- Dan Meyer reduces the information given when introducing a problem to drive conversation, engagement, and perseverance in his students.
- problems worth solving are not simple. We often create an environment where students expect to solve problems quickly, making students impatient problem solvers.
- textbooks give students all of the information that they need. Students don't need to filter information or seek out new information - they only need to follow procedures.
- "What matters here?" - a very under-represented question in many math programs. Students are told what matters and do not often need to determine important information for themselves.
- Dan Meyer reduces the information given when introducing a problem to drive conversation, engagement, and perseverance in his students.
Friday, 14 October 2011
Right vs. wrong answers
In Classroom Discussions, the authors write about the importance of mathematical reasoning. It's important for students to have the ability to decide for themselves whether their answers are right or wrong. Instead of telling students whether the answer is or isn't correct, invite others to agree or disagree. Offer multiple answers (generated from your students' work, or even from teacher-created samples) and allow students to explain why they believe one of the answers is the correct one.
Problem-Solving Strategies
The authors of Classroom Discussions talk about how George Polya outlined a four-step problem solving method. It's interesting to me because our school was part of an Action Research project a few years ago that focused on problem-solving. Teachers within our school created a method called "RIDE" (Read It, Imagine and Plan, Do It, Explain). At the time, I didn't realize that it was based off of Polya's method.
The four-step problem-solving method:
1. understand the problem;
2. make a plan for solving the problem;
3. carry out the plan; and
4. look back and reflect on the answer in terms of the initial question.
The four-step problem-solving method:
1. understand the problem;
2. make a plan for solving the problem;
3. carry out the plan; and
4. look back and reflect on the answer in terms of the initial question.
What to talk about?
Chapter 4 in Classroom Discussions is all about what students should be talking about during Math Congress. Here are some interesting points:
- with young students, partner talk should be framed with a very specific question
- students can talk about how they found their answer, and then compare their strategies with others (e.g., What did you both do that was the same? You both used counting to find the answer? What was different? One of you used manipulatives and the other drew a picture?)
- summarizing what students have been talking about
- instead of having 1 person explain their whole answer, they can talk it through while the teacher records what they say (the student tells the teacher what/where to record their ideas)
- invite students to explain others' answers to encourage student engagement. Check back with the original student. Did they explain your ideas correctly? Do you have anything to add or to explain?
- not everyone understands by hearing the right answers. Choose students with incorrect answers (even after the correct answer has been shared) because students often learn more (and deepen their understanding) when they consider incorrect options and then reject them
- discuss everything! What does a + mean? Where do we write numbers when recording a multiplication question? Why?
- many students do not understand the meaning of symbols. For example, many students do not see the equal sign (=) as a statement of equivalence or balance. They see it as a signal to "write the answer" (p. 136).
- with young students, partner talk should be framed with a very specific question
- students can talk about how they found their answer, and then compare their strategies with others (e.g., What did you both do that was the same? You both used counting to find the answer? What was different? One of you used manipulatives and the other drew a picture?)
- summarizing what students have been talking about
- instead of having 1 person explain their whole answer, they can talk it through while the teacher records what they say (the student tells the teacher what/where to record their ideas)
- invite students to explain others' answers to encourage student engagement. Check back with the original student. Did they explain your ideas correctly? Do you have anything to add or to explain?
- not everyone understands by hearing the right answers. Choose students with incorrect answers (even after the correct answer has been shared) because students often learn more (and deepen their understanding) when they consider incorrect options and then reject them
- discuss everything! What does a + mean? Where do we write numbers when recording a multiplication question? Why?
- many students do not understand the meaning of symbols. For example, many students do not see the equal sign (=) as a statement of equivalence or balance. They see it as a signal to "write the answer" (p. 136).
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