High School

DIRECTIONS FOR ALL WIKI ENTRIES: Please type your name in bold before your contribution.

EDUC 401/ASSESSMENT/Unit 6: December 9 - 16

"Carousel Brainstorming", a cooperative learning strategy.

STEP 1: Think of a response to the posted topic starter AND read what was written by the previous person or people.

STEP 2: If you have something new or different to add please put a bullet and your name before your entry. NOTE: Can be on the same line as theirs, just bold your name. OR if you concur with a comment already posted put "DITTO and bold your name" AND add an example or situation to piggy back what the previous person wrote.

TOPIC STARTER: It's time to Celebrate all the you have learned! Please take some time to reflect upon your new knowledge in phonemic awareness, phonics, and RtI for Literacy and Behavior (FBAs and BSPs). Then share your Greatest Learnings and New Insights from the semester. Share one of your favorite "Student Success Stories" as we Celebrate together.

Bryan Smock
WOW! This semester has been crazy…teaching and learning so much about literacy from WSC has made for a very busy and sometimes stressful five months. It was great to increase my knowledge about literacy and go into detail about phonemic awareness and phonics (and knowing the difference between the two). Sandy O'Banion Yeah!!!!!!!!! Teaching the difference between PA and phonics was harder than I thought too… But, By George, I think that everyone got it… by the end - s I think the best part of learning about PA and phonics was incorporating it into my reading class, especially when being observed by my area reading specialist. Dropping key terms, like orthographic processor and phonological processor impressed her as I explained the difference to the students. Going to work with new knowledge and being able to explain it to my co-workers (as the new guy) was also a good feeling. I think the hardest part of this semester for me was the RtI, FBA and BSP assignments. When it was time to do those assignments, I had several IEPs to do and some major discipline problems to deal with at school. It was tough to do some of these assignments knowing that after a tough day at work all I wanted to do was go home and take a nap, however, if I did that I would never finish the assignments for WSC. I never realized how much time an FBA and BSP took to put together and implement, nor did I realize how many people need to be involved in those processes. One of my greatest learnings was with teaching reading. I taught Wilson last year, but this year a received a greater background in reading research, what works and what does not, and how to implement systematic and explicit reading strategies into my classroom while maintaining my own teaching style. Doing this really pushed me to become a better reading teacher by not having so much transition time and pushing the students to learn and participate more in class to demonstrate what they have learned. Another great learning was to know that there are a million resources for me to access if I am having difficulty with something or am tapped out of ideas for behavior management. Student success story: I have a student, whom at the beginning of the year, was extremely unconfident in her reading skills. I explained to her that she will have to learn to talk in class. Throughout the semester, as I taught, I kept giving her positive feedback as she struggled with new concepts. As the semester went on, I would call on her to read a row of words or a sentence and she would read it without hesitation or feeling picked on. She still struggles with some new concept words, but with each day she practices, she becomes better and more fluent. She is still shy and will only talk when I call on her, but she has the confidence with her reading to read aloud and not feel shame or embarrassment.

kezia Well. I agree with Bryan. This semester has been absolutely crazy and stressful; and that doesn't include WSC. I have enjoyed the work and learning in phonics instruction, and I feel that I now have a framework to categorize the mass amounts of information that I have accumulated in the past 5 years. I have found it extremely beneficial to learn the law and how and why the schools choose or don't choose particular programs. I also now feel confident in being able to provide quality and relevant instruction to a wide variety of students; and while I am not the master teacher that I want to be yet, I feel I am on my way to being really really good at what I do. I also enjoyed the work we did with behavior; mainly because that is most of what I do. With my students, academics come after addressing behavior. The unit on assessments that we just finished almost sent me over the edge, but I survived and now have better tools to document, graph and find appropriate interventions. A student success story is a boy in Kindergarten who at the beginning of the year could not be separated from his mom, follow the routine of the classroom, engage in for more than 5 minutes, hold a pencil or speak intelligible words (combination of English and Spanish.) Over the past few months, we have created a routine and behavior plan that allows this student to engage in 85 percent of all kindergarten activities. He is also speaking more clearly in both Spanish and English, and not only holding a pencil but roughly forming letters of the alphabet. The effort has been with the entire team; classroom teacher, para educators, mom, speech therapist and occupational therapist. While the assignments I chose to do for Western did not always address the needs of this particular student, in retrospect, I realize that everything I learned this semester helped me address this students needs. Most of the work I showed was with higher level students; however, learning more about the progression of development, behavior analysis, school law and structure, assessments and communication with parents gave me a better overall framework and allowed me to see this students needs more objectively; therefore, providing more quality instruction.
David Ashmore This semester has been so overwhelming! Teaching, learning, trying to have a life, and juggling all three, seven days a week, was so stressful. I need a couple weeks to lower my blood pressure before starting again. I have learned enough to know that I need to learn more. Our school is trying to start an RTI program. The amount of energy going in several directions at once is hard to watch. I am working with a small group to explain to the staff what RTI is. Many think it is a place they can send students that disrupt their classrooms. We are making slow headway. I have volunteered to teach a RTI reading program next semester as a pilot project. I am not sure where the school is with that. They may take too long to decide for it to be possible. I have been working with a junior at the high school that had hand writing skills that looked like the samples in our text of poor formed letters and phonetic writing of words. His whole demeanor has changed as a result of someone willing to work with him on his reading. His hand writing has changed completely. He takes pride in his work and takes the time to form each letter. His spelling has improved slightly. His reading has not improved at this point, but we have only been able to work when we both have free time. We are hoping that next semester it will be a scheduled class that will provide the time needed for proper instruction. We do not have a reading specialist at our school at this time. I may be heading toward that position. The future holds many possibilities.

Kelly Camp
I found the RtI, FBA, and BSP information to be the most helpful in what I do everyday. The BSPs that are currently in the IEPs at my school are not very informative or helpful. They seem to just repeat what is already in the IEP. It was very helpful to see and then make a more functional BSP. Also my school is looking at implementing RtI, but it is very slow moving. The information that I learned about RtI had been very helpful already in creating and implementing interventions that really help my students.
Here’s my success story: I actually started in my position as a special education teacher in my school last winter. I was considered a long-term sub, because I only had a sub license at that point. Every day of 2nd semester last year I supported some special education students in a general education algebra class. One of the students, A.M., had emotional and behavioral problems, and math really brought out his anger and misbehavior. He passed the class, but just barely. Almost everyday he threatened to quit school. He’d break pencils and throw things across the room at least three times a week.
This year I am supporting him in a general education geometry class. We have worked together one-on-one quite a bit this year, and we have gotten to know each other well. A few weeks ago, I was talking to a veteran teacher. She said something like, “You can’t reach every kid, but when there is one you can’t reach, you really hope that another teacher can. I couldn’t ever reach A.M., and I thought for sure he’d drop out, but somehow you reached him. He’s a different kid now.” I was so touched that I cried. Then, a few weeks later, A.M. approached me with a letter in his hand. It was his acceptance letter to college. He said that a year ago he never thought he’d even finish high school, but now he is planning on going to college. He is my first success story. I am so proud of him!Sandy O'Banion He's your first success story of MANY to come…. And I'm so proud of YOU! and that means EVERYONE in this class. - s

Sandy O'Banion Yes! It has been crazy and we have all learned a ton! You can now all be LEADERS in your schools using the more current methods and assessment practices for literacy and behavior. I know that it was stressful… It was stressful for us too… These were new classes for us, but you never progress if you never try anything new. We will be making accommodations and modifications in the classes, based on all of your feedback this semester. I can't tell you how proud I am of EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU! Even though you're adult learners, you are still my "students." I have always said… Sandy always said… That teaching is teaching… it’s all the same… Kindergarten through College (and I have taught them all)… Please remember to use ALL that we have learned and most importantly… remember to teach every child how to CARE FOR THEMSELVES, CARE FOR EACH OTHER AND CARE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT… Tell them each and every day how much you appreciate their EFFORTS to learn in your classrooms. Thanks again and again for all of your hard work and understanding. Please take good care have enjoy the Holidays. We’ll be back in touch in January  s

EDUC 401/ASSESSMENT/Unit 3: November 5 - 11

"Carousel Brainstorming", a cooperative learning strategy.

STEP 1: Think of a response to the posted topic starter AND read what was written by the previous person or people.

STEP 2: If you have something new or different to add please put a bullet and your name before your entry. NOTE: Can be on the same line as theirs, just bold your name. OR if you concur with a comment already posted put "DITTO and bold your name" AND add an example or situation to piggy back what the previous person wrote.

TOPIC STARTER: After "getting your feet wet" in the river of Assessment for Reading and Behavior (DIBELS, WJ III, and the FBA). Discuss your new insights, learnings, and ideas for implementation regarding this VAST watershed of… Assessment in the SPED World. In your writings, address how the Strength Model as outlined in Overcoming Dyslexia can be used to improve the instructional cycle of assessment and instruction.

Sandy O'Banion "In your writings, address how the Strength Model as outlined in Overcoming Dyslexia can be used to improve the instructional cycle of assessment and instruction." The Strength Model is a time tested concept in SPED. It is one of the first concepts that I learned over 30 years ago when I was learning how to be a SPED teacher. When assessing students, it's important to test, observe, and collect data/information on the student's STRENGTHS as well as needs. Then, when planning instruction, you can use the strengths of a student as a foundation or an avenue on which to address the needs. For example, if a student as a strength in the arts and needs in writing… Write about the art that they have produced… write a play…. research and write about art or artists…. Now we're talkin…. This is why SPED is so EXCITING…. :-) - s

Sandy O'Banion Do any of you have some great stories to share about how the STRENGTH MODEL worked for one of your students? If so, it would be great to hear your success story :-) This is what keeps us going…. and going… :-) s

Bryan Smock
The readings for DIBELS and the WJ-III (including the on-line class on how to score the assessment) were very interesting. Even though I have been trained on the WJ-III before and have administered the DIBELS (for practice), these readings were a great review which helped me remember all the different aspects of administering and scoring correctly. It seems like the WJ-III is not hard to administer, but rather the scoring which is the hard part. Remembering back to my initial training and practice administering the WJ-III, it is difficult to administer incorrectly because of how everything is written out for you. Only saying what is written in blue and reading the prompts make the WJ-III easy and standardized to administer. At first the basal and ceiling rules are difficult to grasp, but as testing progresses, it becomes easier to remember and natural in delivery. When looking at the Strength Model in Overcoming Dyslexia I think about a student that I have with dyslexia. His comprehension and general knowledge abilities are incredible. He can listen to a chapter from To Kill A Mockingbird and answer any questions I have about that chapter without having to reference the book. He is usually the first one to have the answer too. Those two skills are probably his strongest, it is too bad that he has difficulty with decoding and has to have many accommodations to access the same information that many of the students in that class have little difficulties with. Hopefully with practice, he will learn to strengthen the other categories to show how smart he really is. Sandy O'Banion Bryan, I was trained in Lindamood Bell/LIPS last spring in Florida. They showed many videos of HS students going through the program (in an accelerated track) and relearning how to decode using multisensory methods. It as amazing and it made me a believer that we CAN help older students learn to decode. You should see if you can do to a training… It is amazing :-) s

David Ashmore
I am finding the testing I am practicing is causing me some concerns about the validity of some of the tests. I tested my daughter with the writing fluency. She loves to write. She spent her limited time on the test writing sentences with a lot of descriptive words. Sandy O'Banion The CSAP writing scoring is high on descriptive words… Thus, it seems that we need to keep in mind that what is scored high on one assessment is not necessarily what is valued on another. This is why you need several sources of data and student work samples in order to get a clear picture of achievement, strengths and needs. - s The test is score by how many sentences are written using the assigned words. I was not able to explain the way to score high on the test is to write short quick sentences. Of course this discomfort may just be caused by my desire for her to do well. I am not using the WJIII at the school. We are changing to the WIAT. I am glad to finally work with the test everyone else uses. I can compare the tests and have a better understanding of what the other teacher are talking about.
Strength based instruction is great. I have a student that was failing most of his classes. The entire staff tried several interventions. He spent much of his time with his head on the desk refusing to answer any questions. We were able to learn he likes computer games. We enrolled him in our computer based instruction program at the high school and his grades soared. He is now in all but one computer based class and on line to graduate in the spring. His one regular class is speech, and he is struggling with that, but we are working with him to be successful even at speech.
Lindsay MolitorThus far, the river of assessment has been an experience not short of highs and lows. At the high school level, I was trained early this school year to administer the WCJIII for the large number of triennial reviews we had. The actual administration if this test can be exhausting and seemingly nerve racking for students. Although I was pleased to have concrete results to pore over my students strengths and weaknesses, I wish there was a more pleasant way to elicit such a broad review. I feel like my supervisor and I tried very hard to make the test taking experience light-hearted and relaxed as possible for our students. We were careful to prepare them for the process by giving them ample notice of when we would call them in. Regardless, students and their parents were not thrilled at the idea of another long examination. Most of my students pleasantly obliged to my request of their time, but by the end of a series of tests they were irritable and uncomfortable. Having read the material on the DIBELS in Module 8, I can see how brief interval testing has its rewards!
The Woodcock Johnson is a thorough analysis of skills, but administering large chunks of this test can be overwhelming. The emotional downside of this seems to only bolster the negative stigma many of my students and their families have of testing like this. Ultimately, the results __can_ have a very positive impact on students educations. Sandy O'Banion Your reflections illustrate exactly why SPED is moving to the RtI model with frequent progress monitoring and why the WJIII may not be used as much in the future. We are in a transtion phase right now where the WJIII is still used and will probably still be used, but not to the extent that it was in the past. - s
I agree very strongly with the importance of using the Strength Model as described in Overcoming Dyslexia. For example, the significant majority of students on my caseload demonstrated deficits in reading after taking the WCJ. However, one student showed very average scores in math reasoning. She enjoys and is successful in her regular ed Geometry class. Now, during reading class with me, we work on vocabulary and comprehension skills using math word and logic problems, which she loves. In an environment where students in special education struggle to perform with their peers in academic areas, every strategy we can use to show them that they have something unique to be good at and to offer the world will only enhance their self-esteem (we hope!).

Kelly Camp
At my school, the WJIII is administered by a BOCES employee, not the special education teachers. This training has been very useful to me, though, because I now understand the reports from the BOCES employee much better. This is very important, because if the BOCES employee cannot be at an IEP meeting, I have to explain the data. The first meeting in which I had to do this was very difficult, because I did not fully understand what I was supposed to explain. After receiving this training, I went back and looked at this student’s WJIII results again to see what I missed.
This student is in tenth grade, but he reads at a second grade level. However, he was tested in English, and Spanish is his first language. I looked at his testing from his last triennial in 2004. This was done in Spanish when the student was in seventh grade. This test also showed weak overall reading skills. However, the sub-score in phonics (in Spanish) was at the tenth grade level! I realized that this was a major strength for this student.
He struggles hugely with spelling, and most of the time he cannot read what he wrote. He even struggles when copying a word from one paper to another. I asked him to sound words out for me while he was spelling them. He was using English phonetics. I watched him try to match letter combinations to these sounds, and I realized that he was completely guessing, because he does not have his letters and sounds mapped correctly in English. I suggested that he sound the English words out using Spanish phonetics. The words sounded funny, but he could use the sound to recall the correct letter to write. Now his spelling has improved to the level where we can both read it most of the time. It has especially helped him in classes where they copy a lot of notes from the board or textbook. Because I better understand these test results, I can better help my students use their strengths to improve upon their weaknesses.

DIRECTIONS FOR ALL WIKI ENTRIES: Please type your name in bold before your contribution.

EDUC 401/ASSESSMENT/Unit 1: October 22-28

"Carousel Brainstorming", a cooperative learning strategy.

STEP 1: Think of a response to the posted topic starter AND read what was written by the previous person or people.

STEP 2: If you have something new or different to add please put a bullet and your name before your entry. NOTE: Can be on the same line as theirs, just bold your name. OR if you concur with a comment already posted put "DITTO and bold your name" AND add an example or situation to piggy back what the previous person wrote.

TOPIC STARTER: After reviewing the websites for CSAP, CSAP Accommodations, CSAPA, and CBLA, discuss the PROS and CONS of the state assessment programs for students in special education… remember to address BOTH the PROS and CONS equally :-)

Kezia Zuber
PROS

• aligns state standards with individual needs and allows for accommodations.
• provides feedback on how students in special education are meeting state standards.
• ensures that all students are being taught standards, and not being overlooked.
• provides multiple options for administration. Sandy O'Banion I'm glad that we can start to see the PROS as well as the CONS in these practices for our student in SPED. I see how including our students in CSAP has actually helped with Inclusion of our students in the general ed curriculum. - s

CONS

• does not appropriately address all students; while the CSAPA may be too easy for a particular student, the student's cognitive disability ensures regular CSAP to be too difficult.
• puts too much pressure on meeting standards, which may not be accurately taught.
• If accommodations are not documented for student, student will not be allowed to have them; therefore, not being given a fair chance to demonstrate their knowledge.
• does not give accurate assessment on students' abilities.

Bryan Smock
PROS of the state assessment programs for students in special education:
-annual student assessment to test knowledge of content standards according to CDE and required by law
-allows for accommodations for students with special needs
-provides accountability to districts/schools/teachers
-provides results to compare/contrast special education students to regular education students

CONS of the state assessment programs for students in special education:
-may not allow non-standard accommodation for students who require it
-even with access to general curriculum, student may still not understand the concept and be able to apply it to problems on CSAP
-writing portion of CSAP may not reflect knowledge or capabilities of students
-no test for students who are “in between” CSAP and CSAPA (CSAP may be too difficult and CSAP may be too easy)
David Ashmore
PROS:
CSAP does give assessment to students in special education and holds them to the same standards as other students.
The CSAP gives us information as to where the students are in reference to the standards.
This in turn shows the areas we need to focus on with instruction.
Accommodations are allowed for the test.
CONS:
Though the students are allowed accommodations the reality is they are still testing in a large room of students that make concentrating on the test difficult. We don't live in a perfect world where we can test individually with all necessary accommodations.
We are still faced with one test on one day to measure skills. One bad day can throw off the results.
We spend a lot of time testing with CSAP, NWEA ACT, PLAN and this all takes away from instruction time.
Multiple choice tests do not work for students with dyslexia.
Lindsay MolitorPROS of statewide assessments such as CSAP and CBLA are:
- schools and states can document the performance of all students in accordance with the content standards which the states have carefully designed.
- using data from test results states, districts, and schools can more accurately plan curriculum and educational programs to ensure that all students under their care are learning what is decided they need to learn.
- also using data from test results, school administration and teachers can determine students who need intervention for targeted skills such as reading or math. This, in turn, can help ensure that all students can perform the model content standards of the state.
CONS of statewide assessments such as CSAP and CBLA are:
- because of the varied learning styles of individual students, scores on such tests may be less than accurate due to their homogenized nature of delivery.
- for students with disabilities, accomodations may or may not truly "level the playing field" in a standardized test. Many students who experience difficulty or failure in the school envrionment will never be able to fully demonstrate their abilities on a test, least of all one that is standardized for mass amounts of test-takers.
- because students with disabilities, as well as those who are not disabled, may be subject to external influences that cause sensitive responses, test taking environments can never be fully controlled to give acurate demonstration of a student's abilities. This goes along with what David said: if a student is having a bad day and tests are prone to making him more stressed, chances are the test scores will be skewed from those of another day.

Kelly Camp
I think that the biggest pro of CSAP is that it is standards-based, and that it gives us an idea of how our students are progressing in attaining these standards. Because state standards are mandated, every student in Colorado should attain the same basic set of skills and knowledge. This means that the most important skills and knowledge should become more and more prevalent in our population as more CSAP-tested students graduate from school. Assessing these skills and this knowledge in a standardized manner provides data that is easily compared across the state. More importantly, though, assessing these skills and this knowledge provides teachers valuable information about what students know and what they still need to learn. This can be used to design curriculum and to drive instruction. There is a new basic skills math class at my school, and students are placed in it depending on last year’s CSAP scores. There is one student in my learning lab/study hall who is also in this math class. Since the beginning of school I have seen a major improvement on his basic math skills (multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, etc.), and I think that this will help his CSAP scores a lot. More importantly, it will help him succeed in his next math classes.
I think that the biggest con of CSAP is that the test its self is a major driving force in my school. I feel that my school “teaches to the test” quite a bit. They drill students with standardized test questions that have been released by Colorado and other states. We give our students another standardized test (NWEA) three other times a year, and we also give them a district writing test (six trait writing) twice a year. Students miss out on a lot of instructional time to take these tests, and they are often very stressed out by them. My students do not perform well on these tests, and they are very discouraged by their results. In March, my school spends the majority of the month preparing for CSAP. By the time the students take it, they are really over it.

Unit 8: October 15-21

"Carousel Brainstorming", a cooperative learning strategy.

STEP 1: Think of a response to the posted topic starter AND read what was written by the previous person or people.

STEP 2: If you have something new or different to add please put a bullet and your name before your entry. NOTE: Can be on the same line as theirs, just bold your name. OR if you concur with a comment already posted put "DITTO and bold your name" AND add an example or situation to piggy back what the previous person wrote.

TOPIC STARTER: After reviewing the exercise and Chapter 23 in Overcoming Dyslexia, include in your discussion at least 2 specific accommodations that would help your student/students with dyslexia when engaging in decoding/phonics tasks. Discuss your “hopes for the future” in our schools for students with dyslexia who are faced with the challenge of learning to read.

Sandy O'Banion THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR YOUR OUTSTANDING EFFORTS TO LEARN ABOUT DYSLEXIA IN THIS CLASS! One of the greatest gifts that we can give to a student with dyslexia is to truly understand the make-up of the disability…
Both the weaknesses and the STRENGTHS!!!!!
Dyslexia is a LANGUAGE-BASED READING LEARNING DISABILITY and about 80% of the students that are staffed as PCD/SLD will have a LANGUAGE-BASED READING LEARNING DISABILITY. According the International Dyslexia Association and from Shaywitz (pg 132), "Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction. Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede the growth of vocabulary and background knowledge."
Students with Dyslexia also commonly display a "SEA OF STRENGTHS" (Shaywitz, pg 57). These strengths include: reasoning, problem solving, comprehension, concept formation, critical thinking, general knowledge, and vocabulary. As SPED teachers, one of the greatest accommodations that we can make for students with Dyslexia is to highlight their strengths as we address their weaknesses.
I have the greatest respect for our students with Dyslexia as I realize how hard they really do have to work in order to succeed in our schools on a daily basis. I also realize how truly brilliant they are… In our next class, EDUC 401, you will have the opportunity to develop reading intervention plans for your students. As you do this, please keep this “SEA OF STRENGTHS” model in mind… my vision and hope for the future… - s

**John Thomas"" I too think that extended time is a great accommodation. It can take pressure off but you also need to check in to make sure that they are really on task. Some students take the extra time and stare at the paper. Sometimes if you ask them to respond to a specific question they can tell you orally what they could not put it in writing earlier. By getting them to respond orally they can then write it based on what they were able to express orally. Books on tape are another accommodation that I try to use but I often combine it with other things as well. First we go over any background information such as historical information or a timeline of when the story took place. Next we read along and break it down in class. Sometimes student will listen to sections and then act it out. I also will try to find a movie that goes with the text to show the sections after we have read them so that they see and hear it.

My hope for the future is that we do not need to do reading instruction at the high school level. If weaknesses are identified early in a child’s education, and are addressed then, we should not see problems at the high school level. I know that this will take time to achieve but should be a goal so that we can focus on other things as they enter high school.
David Ashmore I think that the most important accommodation is time. Students with Dyslexia need more time to decode the text. The student will have a difficult time trying to find the meaning of a word from context in a test question. This coupled with the added stress of a timed test will make success virtually impossible.
I personally hate the idea of doing away with multiple choice tests. I love these tests. I do very well on test with the answers there to choose from. I have heard arguments to stop using these tests as far back as I can remember. I know that this would benefit the dyslexic student. They should not be required to take multiple choice tests. The dyslexic student will do poorly on a multiple choice test because there is not enough information to use context to find meanings of words. The dyslexic student should be given essay tests or oral tests would be even better as long as we give enough time for the student to find the words to respond with. The teacher needs to allow for the misuse of similar words in answers and give cues for the student to restate what they know.
My biggest hope for the future is that schools can have text books on tape. This will allow students with dyslexia to keep up with the reading required for the class as well as to read along and improve their reading skills. Sandy O'Banion It seems that with technology, textbook companies could create digital-voice copies of their texts as they edit and print them. At the college level, our office of Disability Services staff have to try to get recorded copies of texts or they have to record the texts themselves. This is very time consuming… I hope that the textbook companies get onboard with providing recorded texts. ** They may never become as fluent as good readers, but they can improve enough with reading to be successful. I addition I hope teachers in primary grades can recognize students with reading difficulties and give these students the extra help they need at the earliest possible time. This will improve their chances of being successful in school and having a positive experience in school. I hope that the number of readers in our society graduating from high school increases in the future. I think this could do more for society as a whole. The better people read the more choices they have as adults.
Lindsay MolitorOf the array of choices presented by Shaywitz in Overcoming Dyslexia , a few that stood out as being both effective and easily accessible by the students I work with are using audio text reading materials and taking notes from lectures or textbooks using a keyboard or laptop computer. My students range from 7th graders to senior high school students and over the past few months I have observed a wide variety of reading difficulty among them. Only one in particular has an actual diagnosis of dyslexia and, though he has an IEP, he is in all regular education classes and is doing well by using his rights to extra testing time and a quiet environment when he wants it. Several other students, however, indicate symptoms of dyslexia and I believe they would benefit greatly from either audio books or computer practice for recording information in class. I could certainly not define these students as dyslexic on my own. However, the phonological weakness is there and dyslexia is a possible cause.
Using audio text is an option I have already explored with a small collection of recorded novels such as Hatchet and others. As of yet I haven’t created class time for individuals to listen to the tapes, and we don’t have headphones yet. However, it seems apparent that if a student can listen to a text while following along on the page I believe it would be very effective for a struggling reader. They can receive the materials in a multisensory manner in this way. In particular, for a student with dyslexia, hearing the word they see in front of them can make reading an accessible process that sight alone can make too difficult. As this book states, research shows that the comprehension of language is not absent in dyslexics. It is simply a challenge to connect what is seen on the page to the word that is represented.
Additionally, students at my school have full time access to Macintosh laptop computers. By having a keyboard in class and being able to type notes during a lecture or while reading a text, a student who struggles to get words and thoughts down clearly, or who has problems spelling, may find it easier to get down important pieces of information in an efficient manner. Furthermore, it has been shown that conceptualizing what is read into smaller chunks of information can greatly help dyslexics to grasp what they need to understand in a text. By being able to take notes very quickly on a computer, the information that is needed is easy to produce and also to later review. In previous chapters, Sally Shaywitz reported how dyslexics often find it much easier to type than handwrite. One individual reported that he felt he could speed type very well because he had to memorize the words as they looked, not using his phonological processor to spell it out in his head and then type it. And for many people, once they learn to type well, it becomes an automatic process of hand coordination, not involving the thought process of manually spelling out words on paper. Thus, involving computers in the classroom could be a key to success for a dyslexic student.

Kelly Camp
I think that extended time is the easiest, cheapest, and most effective accommodation that would help my student/students with dyslexia when engaging in decoding/phonics tasks. Allowing my students to have enough time to read and process what they are reading is crucial to their success in school. They can focus on what they are learning when the pressure of a time limit is removed. I also think that it is important to take into consideration how much time each student is spending on his/her homework. If they are spending several hours every night, this is too much. I think it is important to modify assignments so that the workload is not overwhelming and so that the student does not burn out. This is a fine line to walk, though, and I always check a student’s IEP before modifying.
Recorded books would help my students tremendously. I read a huge portion of their textbooks aloud to them, and if they were available on tape or CD, the students would not be dependant on me and my schedule. They could even listen to them at home or in the general education classrooms. If I did not have to read these textbooks aloud, I would have more time to help my students in other ways. This would be especially beneficial when I have several students in a learning lab all doing work for different classes.
In the future I hope that the study of learning to read and dyslexia continue to progress with even more enthusiasm, and that from these studies, teaching children to read becomes even more of an exact science. I hope that all students with dyslexia are provided with the accommodations that they need to succeed. Finally, I hope that the stigma around dyslexia disappears, and people with dyslexia can say that they have it without shame or fear.

Bryan Smock
The 2 accommodations I think will help my students the most are giving them more time to complete assignments/tests and allowing them to give prepared oral responses to test questions rather than having them answer multiple choice questions or give immediate oral responses. Based on the examples in Overcoming Dyslexia it seems like those two accommodations are the best and work with a great success rate. In the future it would be nice to see standardized tests not be the only qualification to get into post-secondary schooling. We all know that tests and interviews are not good predictors of success in school or a job, so why are we still using them. My opinion is that we need to allow people to try college or a job and see how they do in their performance rather than look at some bubbles on a sheet. Like the book said, ability to read is not a predictor of success. I had the opportunity to see Stephen Cannal at a book signing a few years ago and he talked about his dyslexia and how it affected his career. One thing that stuck out with me was that he would get scripts (as an actor) months in advance so he could read them and memorize the lines. His complaint was that there were times the script would change the day they were shooting a particular scene, which meant he no did not know the lines and had to somehow learn them really quick. As far as I know, I am not dyslexic, a slow reader yes, but I cannot imagine what dyslexics go through to read even a simple sentence. Another thing I would like to see in the future is school districts and colleges/universities and employers paying for all the software mentioned in the book. It sounds like there is a ton of software available to make the lives easier of people with dyslexia. I would think that would be a small price to pay for the potential brilliant minds of the dyslexic people.

Unit 7: October 8-14 (OPTIONAL WIKI)

"Carousel Brainstorming", a cooperative learning strategy.

STEP 1: Think of a response to the posted topic starter AND read what was written by the previous person or people.

STEP 2: If you have something new or different to add please put a bullet and your name before your entry. NOTE: Can be on the same line as theirs, just bold your name. OR if you concur with a comment already posted put "DITTO and bold your name" AND add an example or situation to piggy back what the previous person wrote.

TOPIC STARTER: Reflect upon your school and classroom instructional practices for reading and SHARE IDEAS with your peers…. Are there structures in place for providing students with systematic and sequential instruction in the foundational skills for reading?… Are scientifically-based reading programs (core, supplemental, and interventions) being used?…. Are scientifically-based instructional strategies being used with consistency?… What needs to be done to improve the SBRR practices in your school or classroom?… What is your ACTION PLAN to help improve the SBRR approaches in your school and classroom?

David Ashmore I just decided to try writing a little here to practice before attempting this week response. I see that I was not the only one not to do optional tasks in the course. I have been wondering about reading instruction at our school since I started here last year. We have a reading program that the school purchased and trained the SPED staff in before I arrived. I have the books in my classroom and by the looks of them they have never been used. I am working at the high school level and many of the students have poor reading skills, not just SPED students. I am not sure of how the SPED program was set up before I arrived. The students are now all in regular education classes with support. Before last year many of the SPED students had never seen a regular classroom. We are still working out the system. This year several of the students have been enrolled in the reading program at the high school. The school has a reading program for regular education students that are poor readers. I have been amazed at the changes in my SPED students. Students that last year avoided books as much as possible are carrying their current book to be read into other classes to read when not engaged on work in that class. I have even found students hiding their current novel behind their text book reading in secret. I am hoping that this will continue and that with training I can work to improve the reading skills of more students. I feel that I am well on my way with these courses.

Unit 4: September 17 - 23

"Carousel Brainstorming", a cooperative learning strategy.

STEP 1: Think of a response to the posted question AND read what was written by the previous person or people.

STEP 2: If you have something new or different to add please put a bullet and your name before your entry. NOTE: Can be on the same line as theirs, just bold your name. OR if you concur with a comment already posted put "DITTO and bold your name" AND add an example or situation to piggy back what the previous person wrote.

QUESTION: After reading Chapter 15 in Overcoming Dyslexia and reviewing the big ideas for teaching spelling in LETRS Module 3, include in your discussion how early instruction in ”breaking the code” leads to better reading and spelling. Brainstorm a list of ways that schools/teachers can help students with these early reading skills… students who have missed this instruction, who are experiencing difficulties, and/or students with learning disabilities

John Thomas After reading LETERS I find that I am the kind of person who reads well but does not spell well. I think I lack all of the basic rules that make a difference in the spelling. At this stage I will really need to study to catch up. I believe that my decoding skills are pretty well developed and I have a broad vocabulary that helps me read the words, but if you ask me to spell it, it would be difficult. Many times I can spell a word correctly but need to take my time and try to visualize it as I spell it. Brooke Hanks It is very interesting how learning all of this content causes us to think about ourselves (and our own children). I am similar to you with reading and spelling. I think that I have such issues with spelling because I am an "Army Brat", so I moved to a new school every 2-3 years, which resulted in me not having any consistent, sytematic and sequential instruction in spelling. I didn't start learning the "rules" or generalizations of spelling until just a few years ago.

I found the rhyming aspects very interesting. I realized that the books I read to my son have a deeper reason for rhymes than just fun. It is building a foundation for reading. Being 3 my son cannot read the words but he remembers them from having them read previously. When I read sentences with rhymes it is fun to hear him say the rhyming word at the end when I leave it open for him to say. I know that this is more memorization, but that fact that he can hear the rhyme sound is probably a good thing for his development.

Thane Berg-Ditto on the rhyming aspects of ch. 15. It is fascinating to finally learn what Dr. Seuss and others were trying to accomplish with the books they were writing. The progression of drawing children's attention to phonemes through noticing rhymes, comparing the sounds in different words though rhyme, then working with manipulating different words is fascinating but also a bit daunting to think that all this occurs in the earliest school years of preschool and kindergarten. I am teaching at the high school level so this seems so far removed from my world. I guess you just have to jump in and try it. At 15 minutes a day, these types of activities would be easy to fit into the schedule. I want to delve deeper into the Starfall.com program on the computer to find out how it uses specific activities to address the stages described by Shaywitz. I am more interested in doing some one-on-one teaching in this area so the computer will work well for that. I didn't find this week's reading in either book to be very helpful with specific activities, more the general concepts were covered. Our earlier readings on phonemic awareness had specific activities. I am going to try my school's speech pathologist as a resource for group activities to do with high school students.

Lindsay It is evident to me after reading all 3 of the LETRS books and the Teaching Reading Sourcebook that what the Dyslexia text refers to about "breaking the code" of reading is critical for children to access as early as possible. Not every child will achieve this as quickly as others. However, exposing kids to excercises in learning letters and learning to associate words with printed text can make a huge impact on their future reading ability. The early practice with simple rhyme games, letter-sound relationships and the like demonstrate to a child the beginning principles of reading. Printed words are the "code" for the spoken language - a point of view that is so clear and simple yet I had never heard it phrased in such a way (this is my first year!). What struck me as so important yet not always provided was the chapter's assumption of parental involvement. I can make a strong generalization that of the kids in my 7th grade reading class, the most advanced readers are from families who are involved in their children's education. However, some kids come from good families who just don't know about how reading can be influenced from such a young age. Therefore, at school, at the earliest point possible, it seems imperative that teachers include practice in such areas as phonemic awareness, word segmenting, phoneme blending, etc. Although I am now teaching at the high school level and preparing lessons in these areas for my kids who are well behind grade level in reading, I think kindergarten and elementary teachers would do well to make some of the games described in "Teaching Reading Sourcebook" a part of daily instruction. If kids are progressing in school but having trouble in reading, such as kids with learning disablities, perhaps teachers can team up to give differentiated instruction to groups according to where they are. A resource teacher could reteach beginning concepts in blending sounds, isolating phonemes, etc to students who do not seem to grasp it. I agree with the book that it would be hard on a kid to hold them back. However, within the grade level students can be given extra help in areas where they are lacking. Brooke Hanks Lindsay, I agree with you regarding the families and what primary (k-1) teachers can do for students. The good news is that in response to all of the new scientific findings regarding how a person learns to read, there are now numerous sources available to help both parents and teachers. The National Institute of Literacy has some great publications available for parents free of charge. The K-12 schools I have recently worked with ordered bunches of copies of these publications and make them available during Parent/Teacher Conferences and/or Parent Literacy Nights. The website for previewing and ordering these publications is: http://www.nifl.gov/ Also, the promising news is that most publishing companies have responded to the new scientific research. So, there are Comprehensive Core Literacy Programs that have been written that incorporate all of the findings within the programs. If a teacher is using a Core Literacy Program they will not have to pull lessons from sources such as the Teaching Reading Sourcebook. Instead there will be PA and Phonics lessons that are carefully selected based on systematic and sequential skills necessary at that particular grade level. The new programs are so neat! Also, the publishers are producing great Intervention programs for struggling readers, which are also very much based on scientific findings. You will be getting a chance in this course to look at some of the ones that have been reviewed by experts in the field.

David Ashmore After reading Teaching Reading and the LETRS books I am astounded how many of us learn to read. I never realized how difficult it was. I am having difficulty putting all this new information into my head. I can only imaging how difficult it can be for student with disabilities. I will need to go very slowly with the lessons. The students will need to learn that there is a code first. This information is new to me also. I was taught that English was simply hard and you needed to memorize how to spell. Learning the existence of a code helps me. I now believe teaching spelling will be improved. We have a system to build and this give a framework to teach with. This will help in reading as well as other subjects. School is based on reading and writing. Without these skills there is little chance for success. There is a large portion of students in the high school that I teach in that do not value reading. They come from working families and rural farming families that don't value reading. I hope to get some of the students to rise to a reading level that will allow them to read well enough to read to learn. This may lead some to read for enjoyment. They struggle so much with their reading, that there is no enjoyment in reading, no satisfaction, there is only struggle. Once the students get the basic Phonemes learned, we can move to the graphemes, then learn how to spell words. This will strengthen the processing skills to help with word recognition, and this will improve their reading skills. These skills are the snow we need so the student's learning can snowball. Brooke Hanks I love it! Especially living here in snow country! :)

Bryan Smock
The Big Ideas for reading instruction include: sound-symbol relationships, position of a phoneme or grapheme, letter patterns and conventions, meaning/part of speech, and language of origin. These ideas are the basis for what we need to know to teach children to read. Some phonemes/graphemes make different sounds depending on their position with the word. Figuring out orthography, for anyone learning to read, can be extremely difficult and confusing until sounds are associated with the letters. I found it amazing to read that to figure out where to start with individuals is to listen to them talk and see how they spell and make sentences. Teaching students to identify words that rhyme and how one phoneme change can completely change the meaning of the word is important for early readers. The LETRS module is great at explaining different concepts in the English language, but does not stress enough how long it may take a student to learn these concepts (i.e. going from single vowel letters to vowel teams to vowel-r combinations). Schools/teachers can help beginning readers by incorporating activities from last weeks reading in the Teach Reading Sourcebook (chapter 7) and by administering early and frequent assessments as reading instruction progresses. I learned to do this last year in my Wilson class and it was amazing to see the progress students were making. The charts we used also allowed students to see their progress. Another way the school can help is by incorporating different activities in all classes, even if only for a few minutes. This is something that could be done in secondary schools if the regular education teachers are willing and take the time to do so. Brooke Hanks Yes, the Wilson program is a great Intervention program that incorporates progress monitoring to guide instruction and intervention!

Kelly Camp
There are two main parts to “breaking the reading code,” spoken language and written language. Spoken language skills include identifying rhyming words, blending words, and segmenting words. A strong understanding of spoken language is fundamental to the development of written language comprehension. When a child develops their spoken language knowledge, he/she begins to understand that language is made of parts—sentences and words. Then he/she progresses to learning that words are made of even smaller parts—sounds. Noticing differences in sounds and words is facilitated by rhyming activities. Taking words apart into sounds and putting sounds together to make words are other important skills. These help children develop an awareness that words are made of parts that can be changed to make other words. Spoken language skills are the beginnings of phonemic awareness.
Reading and spelling are parts of written language. Phonemic awareness is extremely important in reading, and the root of many people’s dyslexia is a lack of phonemic awareness. Phonemic awareness also greatly facilitates spelling, because if a student can break a word into its phonemic parts, he/she is on the path to learning the corresponding graphemes. More than one grapheme can spell a phoneme (for example, ‘f’ ‘ff’ and ‘ph’ for /f/), but a student can learn rules that dictate which spelling to use. However, if a student cannot extract the /f/ sound, spelling a word is strictly dependent on memorization. There are some words that do not follow spelling rules, and these must be memorized. They are called sight words. Learning to read and spell sight words as well as words that follow spelling rules is the goal of breaking the code. If the skills involved in spoken and written language are explicitly and systematically taught, students will develop phonemic awareness and will also break the reading code. Below is a list of activities to help develop, strengthen, and support spoken and language skills.
• Rhyming: 1) Ask questions like “What rhymes with ‘man’?”. (Answers that are nonsense words would be correct as long as the answer rhymes.) 2) Read books and point out rhyming words. Eventually start to ask the child to point out the rhyming words as you read them aloud.
• Segmenting: 1) Using your feet, tap out the syllables of words with the students. 2) Sing and march to a song that everyone knows well. Take a step with each syllable.
• Blending: 1) Ask students questions like “What word do the sounds /k/ /a/ /t/ make?”. 2) Make large letters on the floor that spell simple, phonetic words. Have the student start with his/her feet on the first letter of word. As you say the word very slowly annunciate each sound clearly. Have the student move from letter to letter as you move from sound to sound. Repeat the same word but quicker so that it sounds more like a real word than individual sounds.
• Sight Words: 1) Play a game with students in which they divide into two teams and race each other to spell sight words correctly. One person from each team stands at the chalk board and the teacher gives them a sight word to spell. They must write it on the chalkboard without help from their teams. If neither student spells it correctly within a set amount of time, the teams may help. If a student gets the word right, the team gets a point. The team with the most points wins.bold text