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Sunday, October 8, 2017

Helping Students With Learning Disabilites

In 2010 my husband, Randy, went into Sudden Cardiac Arrest. Even though the paramedics and doctors were able to revive him, the six minutes that his brain was without oxygen caused cognitive difficulties.  For a couple of years, Randy had difficulty filtering, so when we had a family gathering or his late brother Davey came over for coffee and the three of us conversed, he became confused and agitated.  I had to learn to be quiet, so he could process the conversation with his brother. (Being quiet is something I don't do easily.) He was also confused if I asked him a multiple choice question, so I had to learn to simplify every question that I asked him.  Although my husband regained his cognitive ability, it made me think about the difficulties students with learning disabilities face in our classrooms.


I had learned at workshops that many students have difficulties distinguishing between information that is important from information that is nonessential, because they don't have "crap detectors." To help them compensate,  I used both empty outlines and V.E.N. diagrams and taught students how to complete them during lectures and readings.  This helped them identify the main ideas and the supporting ideas, examples and evidence.  I had not considered how extraneous noise might interfere with their learning.  My classroom was located at the front of the school where the public came and went continually. Since I had taught there for decades, many of the parents of my current students were my previous students. As a result, they frequently stuck their heads in to wave, shout a greeting or ask a question.  Furthermore, the band was housed next door, so music or sometimes something akin to music permeated the thin walls.  For a time I was sandwiched between the band and orchestra making a cacophony of noise in my room.  To make matters worse, I have always used small group discussion, so with forty students broken into ten groups of four all talking at once, students with difficulty deciphering conversations were in real trouble in my class.
 

For most of my students distractions like background noise was of little consequence to their learning as long as they were engaged in a learning activity; however, for students with a learning disability that just isn't true.  Autistic students who are overstimulated by a change in routine often shut down or worse yet have a panic attack.  Still, teachers are expected to meet all of the differing needs of the students while their classrooms are overflowing with students with various learning disabilities, language acquisition skills and emotional problems. 


I am not sure what the answer is or if there is an answer, but I know some things I changed about my teaching.
  • First, give instructions in clear, simple language and use a variety of medias to communicate it: tell them, write on the white board, give them a written copy of the instructions and put the instructions on your web site so parents and special education teachers can also help them. Limit the number of choices presented to students. Costco capitalizes on that idea.  Students need to have a clear idea how to proceed.  For some students selecting which seat to sit in when faced with forty empty desks is an overwhelming decision.  
  • Second, try to keep the distractions to a minimum by shutting the door.
  • Third, arrange the room for quick access to each students individually.  When a student needs extra instruction, kneel next to his/her desk, look into the student's face and whisper quietly so the child is not embarrassed while getting additional instruction.
  • Fourth, vary the types of activities often in a class period to meet the individual needs of students with differing learning styles.  The younger the students the shorter their attention spans are.  With ninth grade students, I rarely stayed on one activity longer than ten minutes.
  • Fifth, develop routines in your classroom, so students can move from one activity to another smoothly with little opportunities for chaos.   Chaos hurts the most vulnerable students.
  • Contact the special education teachers and the school psychologist often.  Their advice on a particular child's needs is invaluable. 

Monday, September 11, 2017

Ten Books Without Fairy Princesses


Ten Books Without Fairy Princesses

By Jill Jenkins

Many disenfranchised students become disenchanted by education when the literary selections they are fed in Language Arts classes depict a world through rose colored glasses.  Teachers and more often parents wish to protect students from the harsh realities of life and select novels with happy endings and little controversy and nonfiction books that avoid social problems. The truth is many of these students confront the harsh realities of life daily: crime, violence, child abuse and neglect.  Even those with seemingly perfect domestic situations may be exposed to spouse and child abuse, alcoholism, drug addiction and economic instability.  The inconsistency in the world the literature depicts and their own reality makes students question the authenticity of their entire education.  Teaching students historic novels and nonfiction that accurately illustrates the problems they may be facing or demonstrates how people from the past have overcome difficulties in their own lives provides students with life skills to overcome problems.  When I taught in an alternative school, I saw many high school aged students who felt their problems were unsolvable.  Reading about others who have faced difficult problems successful increases the likelihood that these students will develop a more positive attitude toward life problems.  Some parents complain that showing students the darker side history makes our county seem imperfect.  Some parents complain that showing students the darker side of man makes people seem despicable.  The truth is our country is imperfect and many people are despicable.  If students have a clear view of problems and are asked to develop methods to make the country, the world or people better, the world could become a better place.  Here are some books that I would suggest .


Although this Empire of the Summer Moon by S. C. Gwynne details the Comanche tribe violence and the violence committed against them, it captures the clashing of two different cultures and how both side committed horrible atrocities against each other in an attempt to obliterate the tribe and its life style.   Most of the tribe did not survive, but despite losing everything, a sense of pride and a sense of responsibilities to each other continued.   The book details the life of Quanah Parker whose mother, Cynthia Anne Parker, was kidnapped at  ten year old  by a Comanche chief. After having three children, Cynthia is rescued against her will, when her Native American husband and all of her companions are massacred.  Her two sons escape, pursued by the soldiers and find their way back to camp.  She and her daughter, Meadow Flower are returned to civilization.  Meadow Flower is taken from her and dies.  Her youngest son dies of fever and Quanah Parker, her older son, becomes chief.  Quanah's struggle to free his people and finally to live in peace on the reservation is never without treacherous dealings with corrupt officials. 



The Other Slavery by Andres Resendez non-fiction discusses the use of Native Americans, Asians and other minorities were enslaved from Columbus until the 1900.  Despite laws created to protect them, slavery continued by referring to it by different terminology.  The continual exploitation and murder of women and children from the Caribbean (called the Caribbean so justify enslaving Native Americans by accusing them of cannibalism) to the Navajos in Western United States (justified because whites were saving their souls by Christianizing them.)   Most students are aware of the slavery of African Americans, but many are unaware of the violence, and slavery that occurred to other minorities.  This book focuses primarily on Native Americans, but it touches on all of the different forms of slavery that occurred in the United States.  It also discusses how slavery continued by playing with language and rights.  As a result, many children and women continued to be enslaved despite laws meant to protect them. 



Bob Drury and Tom Clavin’s book The Heart of Everything That Is retells the story of Red Cloud, who waged war on the United States Government to keep his tribal way of life intact.  He was successful for some time.  It is also a violent book that describes the fight for freedom and the ferocious warriors of the Wyoming west.  Since those who believed in Manifest Destiny also believed that Whites had the right to disregard treaties and rights of the Native American, they were surprised at Red Cloud’s ability to use his forces as an effective military leader.  Eventually he destroyed the fort that was built illegally on Native American land and maintained the freedom of his people until his death. 


 


Another book to consider is Dee Brown Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee describing a horrible massacre of women, children and older men at Wounded Knee.  It is equally as violent and disturbing as The Heart of Everything That Is but reading both books together helps the student understand the anger and the violence.  Understanding why a people perpetuates violence is as important as understanding that they behave violently.  The book describes a variety of masacres that occurred through out the West and Midwest by military and westward expansion.  Reading the story of Manifest Destiny by those who lost gives students a second view of history.  



Most Language Arts teachers have taught The Diary of Anne Frank to provide students with an understanding of the suffering of World War II, but to be honest it hardly does it justice.  Lilac Girls
Caroline Ferriday
by Martha Hall Relly told through the eyes of three women: Caroline Ferriday, a New York socialite; Kasia Kuzmerick, a Polish teenager who is sent to a Ravenbruck Concentration Camp near Berlin with her mother, her sister, and her boyfriend’s sister; Herta Oberheuser, a German doctor who performs experimental operations on the women in the concentration camp.  Caroline Ferriday is based on a real person who raised money and provided corrective surgery of the victims of Ravenbruck.

Herta Oberheuser

  Herta Oberheuser was also a real person who felt she was helping the cause by cutting into the legs of young women, removing bones and muscles, inserting dirt, rocks, and pathogens that she allowed to fester.  She believed she was helping injured German soldiers and the lives of the concentration prisoners were unimportant because they had been sentence to death anyway. 



Kasia Kuzmerick is a combination of many prisoners at the camp.   The problems and the solutions were real and the cooperation of the prisons to increase the likelihood of their survival is also true.



This is an excellent novel to discuss how people cooperating with each other can increase everyone success; however, there are some sexually explicit parts that might make it objectionable in some communities.


Beneath A Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan is a true story of Pino Lella who was a seventeen year of Italian boy living in Millan whose parents sent him to live in a monastery in the Alps where he and his fifteen year old brother led Jewish immigrants, downed British pilots and others to freedom over the Alps to Switzerland during World War II.  Afraid Pino would be drafted and sent to the Russian front when he turned eighteen years old, his parents insist he enlist in the Nazi Army.  Using the skills, Pino learned from his race car driving friend, he becomes a driver for the premier Nazi in Italy where he is able to pass information to his uncle and the underground.  The book is violent and has some sexual scenes that are handled delicately.  Although this book does not have the brutality of  Lilac Girls, it could be used to demonstrate that evil can be overcome through brave behavior.  The advantage of an historic novel like Lilac Girls and Beneath A Scarlet Sky is they motivate students to research the real people.

The Orphan Tale by Pam Jenoff is another World War II story based on a true story.  A young teenage girl from Holland finds herself expecting after a Nazi soldier quartered as her parents house pays her an unexpected visit.  Rejected by her family, she travels to Germany and works cleaning train car.  Since she has blonde hair and blue eyes, she is persuaded to have her baby at a home for unmarried mothers where her child will be given to a good German family. Unfortunately, her child does not have blonde hair and blue eyes.  Depressed and fearful about the fate of her child, she returns to work cleaning train cars.  When she hears the cries of babies, she finds an entire train car of Jewish babies.  Seeing one still alive, she grabs the child and runs into the woods being pursued by the German soldiers.  Finally exhausted, she collapses in the woods where she is rescued by a circus clown.  She learns to be an aerialist by a famous German aerialist who is also a Jewish and being protected by the circus owner.  The details of the book are based a real stories from the war even though some of it is fictionalized.

F
Finally another book, Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand about World War II, is the story of Louis Zamperini  who was an incorrigible youth who became an Olympic champion. He overcame poverty and prejudice to achieve his skill with the support of a loving family.   During World War II his plane was shot down in the Pacific and he was taken to a Japanese Prisoner of War Camp where he suffered unbelievable hardship.  Despite every obstacle, he continued to endure.  Every young person needs to know that despite what obstacle one has to face, it is important to never give up.  Regardless of the cruelty of the camp's leader, Louis did not allow himself to lose hope, a lesson that would help many young people today.  


Before We Were Yours  by Lisa Winegate is based on a true story of Georgia Tann who kidnapped or usurped control of indigent children and sold them to wealthy families.  Although families attempted to retrieve their children, Georgia Tan used her political connections.  Although this nightmare continued from 1930-1950, Ms. Tan was not tried until 1950 when she died before her trial concluded.  This book takes place in Memphis in 1939 when the 12 year old Rill Foss and her three sisters and one brother are abducted by this heartless woman.    This is an excellent novel to discuss whether the rights of poor parents should take priority over the kind of life style a rich family could provide. 


A Thread Unbroken by Kay Bratt is a fictitious account of child trafficking set in modern day China.  Two twelve year old girls are abducted by a woman and sold to a family living on a junk.  The family wishes one to become a bride for one of their two sons and use both girls as domestic servants.  Many students will find the ending of this book unrealistic because one of the girl's father eventually finds them and all of the guilty parties are punished.  I used to teach Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens and my students complained that they ending was too contrived.  They preferred Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame because the ending seemed more believable.   (In the book everyone dies because of their character flaw.) I think most students are too sophisticated and recognize that life is often not fair. 

Friday, May 26, 2017

David and Goliath Applied To Education

David and Goliath Applied to Education

by Jill Jenkins
My stepson, Braden fills my I POD with books that he thinks I will enjoy listening to or that the two of us might enjoy discussing.  One book that he strongly recommends is David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants  by Malcom Gladwell which discusses how a weakness can be used as a strength and a strength can be used against a person.  Gladwell uses examples from biblical times to modern times  to support his premise.  For example, David uses Goliath's mammoth size and cumbersome armor to defeat the giant, Goliath. Goliath's armor restricts his movement.  His size is likely due to Gigantism which has many related health problems including problems with vision even double vision. Since David uses a sling-shot instead of arm-to arm combat, the giant is caught off guard.  His inability to move quickly coupled with his visual disorder meant he neither saw nor expected the rock flying at 90 mph towards his unprotected face; as a result, he was defeated.
One of the modern examples the book explores is class size.  The book claims that even though many prestigious preparatory schools claim to be superior because they offer small class size, class size does not effect learning.  At that, I shut off the tape grumbling expletives and complaining to my husband that I was not going to listen to such nonsense, but I did.  It turns out Gladwell was comparing class sizes of ten students to those of 15-20 students.  There is no difference.  I am not surprised.  If he had taught in any urban school in the country, he would have known that 20 pupils is not a large class; its a dream.  Most urban class sizes have forty or more students and can only dream of classes of 10-20 students.  Furthermore, it not just the class size, it's the diversity.  Finland and South Korea, nations he compared his data with have homogenous groups of students attending their public schools.  Schools in the United States accept all students mainstreaming intellectually handicapped students, N.E.P. and L.E.P. (No English Proficiency and Limited English Proficiency), emotionally handicapped students, advanced learners, and the ordinary students.  Meaning most teachers face classes from 35-45 students packed with every kind of need imaginable.  Does class size effect the teacher's ability to meet the individual needs of each student? Yes, it does.  Mr. Gladwell claims that teachers with smaller class sixe simply don't work as hard.  I was off in a tirade yelling expletives at my poor husband again.  In my 39 years of teaching, I have seen a few lazy teachers, but most teachers arrive an hour before the students and stay hours after the students leave taking boxes of papers home to correct late into the night, over weekend and I remember correcting research papers as my husband lay unconscious in the ICU after a massive heart attack.  Finally, the book admits that even though small class size from 10-20 had no significant difference, class sizes above 30 did and class sizes over 40 had devastating results.  Now, he was talking my language.  However, his first remarks were not seated in reality when one considers the number of students in each class.

Mr. Gladwell's next examples were three college students who according to him made the mistake of attending an ivy league college and changed their majors from STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics) after each received a "B" in a course.  Personally, I would call that lack of grit.  Something that Gladwell may be unaware of is the difference in how public school students are graded from how students are graded in college.  Students in public schools are graded against a set standard so that any student who earns 94% of the available points earns an "A." The teachers are encouraged to assist with each student's success and are chastised for any student who fails by earning less than 60% of the available points.  Parents negotiate with teachers and administrators to change grades or enhance them with extra credit to improve their child's GPA. In my last teaching assignment 700+ students of the 1500 students enrolled earned a GPA of 3.75 or higher.  Which means teachers are making classes easier to relieve pressure from pushy parents.  The students expect continual success and have no experience competing for high grades.  Ivy league schools accept only the best students and provide them with a challenging curriculum.  The faculty grades on a curve meaning only the top students earn the top grades.  No one coddles the students like the public schools.  However, the student who are selected to go to ivy league schools not only have high grades but high test scores.  Perhaps the ivy league schools should take a lesson from public schools and change their grading?  Better yet, perhaps students should be challenged.  Rather than getting perfect grades, learning difficult material should be the goal.

Next the book,  David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants  by Malcom Gladwell  discusses the value of struggling. To exemplify this, it uses examples of students who overcame dyslexia or poverty to become successful C.E.O.s and doctors.  As an educator I have witnessed this.  If an individual has grit and the support of a positive adult, whether that is a parent of a teacher that child can turn that disadvantage into a strength and perform some amazing feats.  For example I had a student, Dante, whose dyslexia was so severe that reading was impossible.  His parents and friends would read him the material aloud and he would memorize it in one reading.  The book describes people with similar skills of adaption.  However, few students with this type of handicap have either the ability to compensate as Dante did or the support system to help them continue their education.  The reality is most students need a great deal of help to overcome obstacles.  There are exceptions, but their numbers are negligible.  The book analyzes the connection between a child losing a parent during childhood and becoming successful.  It seems that 2/3 of those incarcerated have suffered the loss of one parent in childhood and 67% of all of the Prime Ministers of Great Britain during its world domination also lost a parent as a child.  The old adage "that which doesn't destroy you, makes you stronger," seems to be true.  Gladwell's book compares this to the blitz in London during World War II.  Although Britain feared that German's attack of London would demoralize citizens, instead it made them stronger.  Those that were hit directly died; those who witnessed their loved ones killed or maimed were emotionally crippled; nonetheless, the majority of the population witnessed the explosions of a near miss and felt emboldened and stronger.  Perhaps when Native Americans made young boys face their fear by hunting and killing a bear alone, they were preparing them for a future by arming them with courage. 
 
 
Finally the book discusses what gives one the authority to rule.  Anyone who is being ruled expect the rules to be fair, that the rules be consistently applied and that those ruled be treated with dignity. Those are my words interpreting his ideas.  I couldn't agree more. As a supervising teacher, I have heard more than once a novice explain, "I could not believe those students turned on me when I was being evaluated!"  Students protect teachers who create a warm environment where they feel safe and feel when they make a mistake they will be treated fairly.  Brut force backfired when the English tried contain the IRA during the 1970's according to the book and neither will brut force help a teacher control a classroom of seventh graders.  Teachers must have reasonable rules that are clearly communicated, consistently enforced and enforced without malice.  Teachers have to help students understand the importance of behaving within the norm.
 
 David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants  by Malcom Gladwell  may not be a book that I agree with completely, but it opens many avenues for interesting dialogue so it is worth the read. As an educator, it pitched me into a rage, but many of the ideas are sound and well supported.  After my tirade, I would recommend it.  Maybe schools need to help students overcome with fear to face their bear alone and defeat it.  Courage is the key to greatness.