Dog Island

Students have difficulty with math computation for many reasons.

misread signs

incorrectly carried number

incorrect columns

inability or slow recall of basic facts

More Info on Math Disabilities

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/misunderstoodminds/mathdiffs.html

Misunderstood Minds is the PBS project that delves into the lives of five students with learning disabilities.  The website provides scientific research into the causes, difficulties and responses to a variety of learning needs.

http://mathforum.org/t2t/message.taco?thread=19305&message=2

 Info on Error Pattern Analysis

http://www.specialconnections.ku.edu/~specconn/page/instruction/math/pdf/patternanalysis.pdf

http://math.about.com/library/weekly/aa011502a.htm

http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/35/d8/cc.pdf

Instructional Strategies For Teaching Computation

http://investigations.terc.edu/library/curric-gl/sample_g5_u1_db.pdf

http://kapalama.ksbe.edu/elementary/resource/mcomputationstrategies.html

http://www.madison.k12.il.us/handouts/joan/ibl/cmpstrat.doc

http://www.origoeducation.com/mental-computation-strategies-addition/

http://www.lwsd.org/SiteCollectionDocuments/For-Parents/Math/Computation-Strategies-Fifth-Grade.pdf

http://www.keyschool.org/documents/Strategies%20for%20Basic%20Number%20Facts.pdf

http://www.k8accesscenter.org/training_resources/mathprimaryproblemsolving.asp

Graphic organizers help students see math concepts and strategies  in a visual / pictorial manner. 

We cannot expect our students to use a tool just because we hand it to them and say Here, this will help you!

We need to teach kids to use the graphic orgnizers through modeling, direct teaching and making sure they practice with it on a daily basis.  They need to know when and how to use a specific graphic organizer.  Some kids need to have lots of choices about the kind of organizer to use and some kids may only be able to function with one tool at a time.

http://www.teachervision.fen.com/math/graphic-organizers/53511.html

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/graphicorganizers/math/

http://www.sw-georgia.resa.k12.ga.us/Math.html

http://teacher.depaul.edu/MathGraphicOrganizers.html

http://math.about.com/od/addingsubtracting/a/facts.htm -making fact families visual

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/graphicorganizers/math/waystomakex/ -more making fact families visual

http://www.inspiration.com/Parents/Visual-Thinking-and-Learning   -using Inspiration/Kidspriation to develop graphic organizers

http://www.k8accesscenter.org/training_resources/mathgraphicorganizers.asp -about types of graphic organizers for math

There is not one particular type of math disability; rather, there are a range of math disabilities that vary from person to person. Some people have difficulty sequencing numbers; others may have difficulty solving basic math problems or and others cannot remember basic math facts.

What is a learning disability in math?

language processing

visual discrimination

visual-spatial concepts

memory difficulties

emotional blocks

How is mathematics learning related to mathematics learning disabilities?

difficulty to generalize concepts such as conservation of numbers

difficulty to judge visual differences on a concrete level

difficulty remembering basic facts

difficulty visualizing concepts and/or converting them to language (academic or otherwise)

http://www.ldonline.org/article/5881

Over the past several decades important advances have been made in the understanding of the genetic, neural, and cognitive deficits that underlie math learning disabilities.

http://www.paulabliss.com/math.htm

This site references math research/ strategies/ learning materials/ resources / math links focusing on Math Learning Differences and related material.

Concrete-Representational-Abstract Instructional Approach

 Learning Strategies and Mathematics

 Dyscalculia: Signs, Symptoms & Corrective Strategies

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/387036/dyscalculia_signs_symptoms_corrective.html

 How do math disabilities affect learning?

Writing is a tough task for our LD kids.  Think of all the jobs your brain has to do when you write.  What AM I going to write about? Is this idea good enough?  What words do I need to know to write this? Can I spell them? Where can I find the ones I cannot spell? How do I make these letters? Where do I put upper and lower case letters? Spaces? Punctuations? Ok now what was that thing I was going to write about again?!?

You get the idea. 

Digital storytelling offers strategies and structures for all students to develop successful visual communication pieces without the heavy print componant.

Need more info (OF COURSE!)

http://www.thecreativeeducator.com/v06/stories/Advanced_Thinking

great article from Pics4learning

Advanced thinking in project work does not mean more technology. Creating superior digital stories lies more in meta-cognition than in manipulation. Most editing software comes equipped with a plethora of transitions, visual and audio effects, background music, and text styles. When turned loose with all these choices, students will often cram as many effects as possible into a three-minute story for no other reason than “I could” or “They look cool.”

-Jon Orech

http://www.digitales.us/

from the digital story guru to you!

http://www.storycenter.org/

Center for digital storytelling-great beginning resource-how to

http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/

educational uses of digital story telling

 

http://www.teachingteachers.com/

what does digital storytelling offer the Nintendo generation?

Welcome back to school.  I am really excited to begin a new year.  Everyone at BES has been working SO hard to get things together.  Sneak a Peak was so successful.  We even had most of our LAD kids come.  I think that is a first.  Actively making our special ed kids part of the community has made a huge difference in their desire to participate.  How will this reflect in their desire to participate, and succeed in the rest of the world?  The pressure to do right by these kids, by this whole generation, who in the past, have been hidden away from the mainstream, the pressure is immense.  But, looking at SAP today, seeing the majority of them being brought in by parents, the families actually saying “Thank you!  Thank you for welcoming my child and making her/him successful.”  By that response I know we did well last year.

But now…now it is in our hands to make this even better.

This is sort of a DUH moment.

We always talk about WHAT WE ARE GOING to talk about

BEFORE we talk about it.

ALWAYS…right?

Be sure we are being most proactive in scaffolding our LAD students..

1. Write your list of questions – a printed list gives the student a concrete “menu” to refer back to during learning.

2. highlight important vocabulary in the questions -  Highlight the question words as well as words that clue the student into how they are supposed to answer the question, such as using words from the text.

3. match pictures or symbols with key vocabulary for emerging readers and ELL students. - Simple visual cues can help them access the vocabulary they need to answer the questions.

Here are so websites that offer wording for interesting questions

Science Fiction Writers’ Association questions to help authors build believable worlds                                    http://www.sfwa.org/2009/08/fantasy-worldbuilding-questions-the-world/

StoryCorp Questions for getting a good conversation going http://www.storycorps.org/record-your-story/question-generator/list

This website offers comprehension questions for 2nd and 3rd grade literature                                                       http://gardenofpraise.com/lesson.htm

More information about developing comprehension questions

http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/rfl/april2005/day/day.pdf

http://www.sparknotes.com/testprep/books/sat/chapter6section7.rhtml

 http://radar.ngcsu.edu/~tcampbell/RGTR0198/typesofq.htm

http://www.benchmarkeducation.com/educational-leader/reading/comprehension-strategies.html

about teaching inferential reading http://web.wm.edu/ttac/packets/inferential.pdf

What is a cloze?

A reading comrehension activity in which key words are removed from a passage for a learner to fill in. The missing words may be provided in a word bank.
http://olc.spsd.sk.ca/DE/PD/Instr/strats/cloze/index.html

Developing a Close Assessment

#1 Four Roles/Resources of the Reader

http://www.myread.org/guide_cloze.htm

Based on the Four Roles/Resources of the Reader developed by Freebody and Luke (1990), the Critical Analysis Using Clever Cloze strategy involves students in the following repertoire of purposeful social practices:

#2 Using a Close Procedure

 http://www.sil.org/lingualinks/literacy/ImplementALiteracyProgram/UsingAClozeProcedure.htm

#3 Using Clicker 5

Clicker5 can be used to develop cloze activities on the computer for independant student use (like for center time).  This is a great tool for our LAD and ESOL kids because it has  a read aloud function as well as the ability to pair pictures/icons with the key words.

To learn more about how to use clicker:

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/hiat/tech_quick_guides/Clkr_QG.shtm

http://www.cricksoft.com/us/downloads/

#4 Using Dropdown Menu in MSWord

1.Open the new document .
 
2.Click view toolbars

3. Click Drop-down Form Field button.
 
4.Double-click the field to see the dialog box.
 
4.Type each choice for the drop-down list and click Add. Arrange them in the order you prefer.
 
5.Click OK.
The form displays the typical arrow next to the field. When you click it, the choices are displayed.

 Assessing your cloze

 assessment.

http://hercules.gcsu.edu/~cbader/5210SPED/cloze.htm

Models of Cloze Activities

http://www.eslprintables.com/printable.asp?id=205551

http://bogglesworldesl.com/cloze_activities.htm

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/cloze/

http://specialed.about.com/od/literacy/a/cloze.htm   -

high frequency words

http://www.lessonplanet.com/search?grade=all&keywords=cloze+activity&rating=3&search_type=narrow

Again, we touch on our most challenging readers, those who decode like the wind but comprehend like,  well, ok,  just don’t comprehend. 

Offering these guys a simple chapter summary gives them the opportunity to know what to look for before they begin reading.

OH, NO! ,

says you. 

I cannot just tell them what the story is about!  Then they would not even bother to read.

Then ask,

Oh Why Oh Why do we bother giving kids reading assignments anyway?

Our master decoder answers,

So I can read all those words as fast as possible. AAANNDD….maybe look at the pretty pictures too.

But then you respond,

Silly Rabbit,  we practice reading so that we can learn to understand what all those words put together mean. Not just to say them.  And maybe we can put words together to mean great things too!

So, the question is… How do I get them to read for meaning once they know what the chapter is about. 

For this piece of knowledge, I must thank Mrs. Walper, Tali’s 5th grade teacher.  Tal and I spent hours reading good young adult novels and finding meaning in the print.  Sooo.

Structure reading assignments so students must find specific information from the text.  This includes author’s craft, vocabulary, theme, charecter traits…

However, the focus is on summarizing chapters so here are a few websites to help with that task.

http://www.bookrags.com/

http://www.sparknotes.com/

 Created by Harvard students  Each guide contains thorough summaries and critical analysis, range of subjects including English literature, Shakespeare, History and Math and Science.  hundreds of study guides for free to read on the web, printable PDFs.  

http://www.pinkmonkey.com/

http://www.pinkmonkey.com/

  over 460 Study Guides / Book Notes / Chapter Summaries online

http://litsum.com/

literature study guides and enotes include full chapter summaries and analysis, topics for discussion, quotes, style, themes and character analysis

http://www.enotes.com/ 

literature study guides, lesson plans, literary criticism

http://edhelper.com/books/

fee for service!

The goal of this blog is to collect strategies for teaching to a heterogeneous group of learners.  OK more simply, we all learn in different ways.  How can we teach the same idea in different ways in the most time effective way?  How can we get ALL of our kids to own the information?

That is our daily struggle, but after being on vacation for a week what I really want to know is …What do we want our kids to come out of school with?

(please do not ask how my vacation makes this connection, just know that it does.)

This is not a multiple choice question.  There is, for sure, not a single answer, but I will share my thoughts.

Life is precious.  Don’t waste it.  Go out there and take risks.  Make mistakes, look silly, stupid, ridiculous.  Stand up for yourself and for other people.  Know when to keep your mouth shut.  Do something important for someone.  Be part of your community, even if it is a community of a few. 

This is a big job, teaching our kids to do this.  Some people are born with this capacity.  Some need to learn it.  Teachers,  it is our job to help our children know how to do this.  MSA’s can help, but there is a deeper skill that needs to be developed.

Identifying key vocabulary and main ideas in a text is a challenge for many of our struggling readers.

Struggling reader: “Oh look at all these words!  If I can just get through the sentence (paragraph…page)  I’ll be done.  What?!?! What do you mean answer the questions when I’m done reading?!?!  Isn’t just getting through all those words enough?

Meaning becomes unimportant when this child faces a page full of squiggles.

Highlighting is one strategy we can teach out students in order to break down the squiggles into meaningful communication.

For my daughter, this year, I ended up buying personal copies of the books they used in reading groups.  As we read , we highlighted, underlined and made notes in the book.  When we were done, we transcribed her (our) notes to the assigned colored sticky  notes (blue for character traits, pink for authors craft, yellow for vocabulary…)  The dual process of interacting directly with the text AND going back to transcribe the notes really helped her put meaning into what we were reading.  Now, we did take turns reading.  When I read, she was responsible for stopping when she heard something that needed to be noted.  When she read I did the same for her.  

Again, you cannot just give a kid a highlighter and tell him/her to get to work. Particularly with our LD kids, we need to teach and practice with them.  Give a lot of structure to the task.  Parameters, like find 5 new words or 1 example of a character trait 

Struggling reader: Oh look at all these words!  If I can just get through the sentence (paragraph…page)  I’ll be done.
What do you mean I have to UNDERSTAND what I am reading?!?!  Ok well as long as I only have to find 5 new words I can do this. Then I don’t really have to read the whole thing. just some of it. YEAH, I can do that! Lets get to work!

stay tuned for links to more highlighting ideas