Welcome to Teachers At Risk
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Dec
27
Problems with uploading to iTunes
Filed Under The way I see it | Leave a Comment
Sorry if there’s any confusion caused by the problems I’ve been having with uploading my podcast to iTunes. The podcast had to be loaded twice because it wasn’t linking to iTunes.
Dec
23
It’s the Christmas holidays and I’m taking a bit of a break and indulging myself by focusing on something less serious today.
Just recently, I changed the look of my website. I’ve had the old black and white colour scheme for about a year or so. I really liked it. The colour seemed to suit a blog/podcast called Teachers At Risk. But, just this past week when I was high on optimism, I looked at it and in a nano second I knew the black and white colour scheme had to go. I needed a colour that reflected my new optimism. I wanted something more cheerful. When I think about it, it’s not hard to find something more cheerful than black. I decided I wanted a green theme, a soft green theme for my web site. I’m a gardener and so green is good. A gardener has to be optimistic or why would she bother. So green it is.*** (I couldn’t get the green theme to work, so blue it is.)
I’ve recently changed something else as well-my hair colour and style, and I love it. I usually ask my hairdresser to give me a look and colour that is almost age appropriate. I like to push the envelope a bit. I like funky and edgy. I know that when you think of funky and edgy the first thing that pops into your mind might not be a special education teacher of a certain age, but there goes that stereotype. Anyway, I got fed up with my regular hairdresser. The funk was gone; the edge was gone. So, when a new salon opened in the neighborhood, I went and talked to the owner and told her what I wanted. She knew funky; she knew and edgy and together we chose the cut and the colour of the highlights I was to get. She performed her magic and now I have the best possible funky, edgy hair style that a special education teacher of a certain age could have.
My new hair style and colour is so much fun, but I have to admit I was a bit shocked when I looked in the mirror the next morning and saw those glorious copper coloured highlights but figured it was a good thing because now every time I look in the mirror I’ll be reminded not to take myself or life too seriously. Copper coloured high lights are not a serious thing.
I am serious though about wishing everyone peace and good will for the coming year. So
May you be filled with loving kindness.
May you be well.
May you be peaceful and at ease.
May you be happy.
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Dec
16
Helping kids with learning disabilities change negative habits of mind
Filed Under "At-risk" students, Special Education | 11 Comments
The other day in my senior class we were talking about what it feels like to have a learning disability. Many of the kids who are identified as having a learning disability said they felt retarded when they were told about their disability. Some of them laughed about being in my class and called it the “retard” class. I’ve heard their peers also call it the “retard” too class and laugh and comment about it. No wonder some of them want the door closed so that no one can see them sitting in the class. When I think about it, it’s a wonder any of them talk to me in the halls when they see me given that I ‘m the person who teaches that class. But, they do. Although, I must say that recently I had a grade 11 student cover his face with his hands when he saw that I was coming to talk to him. One of the students who has been identified as being gifted and having a learning disability told the class “One year they told me I was gifted; the next year they told me I was retarded.” How does a kid deal with that? This kid wasn’t dealing with it very well, unfortunately.
What do you tell kids who feel retarded because they have to live with the label of LD? I’ve told them everything I can think of. I’ve told them that they are not retarded. I’ve told them they have average or above average intelligence. I’ve told them they have interpersonal intelligence, intrapersonal intelligence, musical intelligences, etc that they could be proud of. But of course their daily experience in the classrooms doesn’t support pride. Now, I’m going to stop telling them things, and I’m going to have them start doing things that I believe will help them become more proud of who they are.
This is my plan. From now until the end of January, the end of the semester(I know that’s not a very long time, but I just thought of doing this now), I’m going to help them become philanthropists giving of their time, talents and money to help other people. This is my thinking behind my plan. At our school it’s really cool to be involved in various fund raising drives. The gifted kids do it all the time. The students helped raise eight thousand dollars to build a school in one of the developing countries. Students have raised thousands and thousands of dollars for charity. Every week there is some kind of fund raising going on. I’ve heard my students say that they’re never part of anything like that because other people think that they’re not good enough. It doesn’t matter what I say, they continue to feel that way. So, I’m going to use my class time to first teach them about philanthropy and then give them the opportunity to practice philanthropy and social action so that with each philanthropic act they do giving of their time, talents or money they’ll themselves in a more positive light adding to the common good and not see themselves as “retards” with nothing to offer the world.
Given that most of the students in the class are strong visual learners and extremely weak auditory learners and dislike reading, I decided that I would use a video or a movie of some sort to anchor the philanthropy unit. The question was what should I show them. I had no clue. So, I do what I normally do when I don’t have a clue. I googled and to my delight, I found a site that was most helpful. The site is called Finding Inspiration In Literature and Movies or F.I.L.M. for short. It is perfect because it has lots of suggestions for movies as well as questions kids could reflect upon. I showed them The Ultimate Gift, and they absolutely loved it and were more than willing to compete the assignments based on it. We’re at the point where the kids are going to interview an adult and create a video montage much like the one they saw in the movie. I can’t tell you how excited I was that they were excited about doing the assignments, even the kids who hate to write a word were willing to do this.
Now, I have to tell you something about showing videos or films to my class. Many of the kids in the class have short term memory problems and can’t do two things at the same time. I have found that if I show a movie over two consecutive days , many of the kids have forgotten much of the content. I’ve tried having them answer questions as they watched the movie, but that didn’t work well because they got so interested in the movie they couldn’t stop to answer questions .
So this is what I do now. I get the kids interested in the movie by asking a question about life related to the topic of the movie. Before I showed the movie The Ultimate Gift, I ask questions like: have you ever inherited anything; what would it feel like to inherit a million dollars; what would you do if somehow you got a million dollars? We talk about it for a while and then I told them that a character in the movie is facing those questions. Then I invited them to watch the film with me to see what happens. I showed the movie in it’s entirety, had a graphic organizer to help support memory and then I show the movie again in sections so that the kids could answer the questions. I find that showing the movie that way helps make sure that everyone get to see it at least once in class. If a kid wants to, I lend them the movie to take home and cross my fingers that they remember to bring it back the next day. Sometimes they do and sometimes don’t, but that’s life. I don’t remember everything either.
This semester I am teaching one Advance Learning Strategies class. Next semester, I teach two Advanced Learning Strategies classes so I’m going to spend some time before then, and see how I can incorporate more films to achieve the desired outcomes for this course.
I want my students to change the negative habits of mind they have about themselves, and I think I have found a way to help them to start do this. I think that when they start giving their time, energy, and talents to projects for the common good they’ll feel that they have done something valuable, that they are valuable and not a “retard”.
Helping students with learning disabilities change negative habits of mind [8:03m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (931)
Dec
9
Why don’t kids with learning disabilities get to do the cool stuff that gifted kids get to do?
Filed Under "At-risk" students, Special Education | 10 Comments
Why don’t kids with learning disabilities or kids who are taking applied level classes get to do the cool stuff that kids who are identified as gifted get to do? That was the question one of my students, let’s call her Cindy, asked in class this past week. Cindy who has a learning disability and is taking mostly applied level classes and getting good marks ,by the way, was indignent because she had been told by a teacher that she could not be part of the Student Activity Council because that was for the gifted kids. She almost didn’t get to go to a conference she really wanted to go to either because someone thought that only the gifted kids should go to that conference. Fortunately for Cindy, another teacher got wind of this and advocated on her behalf so that Cindy and another student who is also taking applied level classes could attend the conference. In a similar vein, recently one of my colleagues was asked to select some students to be part of a really cool activity outside of class. My colleague chose some kids that would really enjoy the activity, and the kids and their parents were really excited about it all. Then, my colleague was told that the activity was only for gifted kids and those kids who were originally chosen couldn’t take take part in the activity. My colleague was left with the unpleasant task of telling the first group of kids that they couldn’t go.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that students who are identified as being gifted shouldn’t be able to participate in enrichment activities. I think all kids should have the opportunity to take part in enrichment activities. I’m arguing that excluding certain groups of students from certain activities just because they are identified as being part of a specific group like students with learning disabilities or students who are taking applied level classes needs to stop. Equity for all students is what I’m advocating. Students who are identified as having a learning disability, students who are identified as having behavioral difficulties, students who are identified as being gifted, students who are not receiving special education support, all students need to be treated equitably . It’s time to stop the discrimination that is fostered through linguistic bias, stereotyping, exclusion, imbalance and fragmentation. Changes in school policy, changes in instructional strategies, changes in curriculum content, changes in school and classroom management and changes in family and community involvement can foster equity for all students in and out of the classroom.
How are we going to do this? The first step is to recognize that equity doesn’t exist and that biases do and then the next step is to re-culture the school community so that all students and teachers will be treated more equitably. I’m pleased to say that, that is beginning to happen. I’ve been part of the first group of teachers at our school who as part of the Board’s Grades Six to Ten initiative has just completed the Tribes Learning Communities training and hope to help more people at our school see with new eyes . I’ve been told that the Tribes training is only the first step, and I am looking forward to learning about and helping people take the next steps.
What is a Tribes Learning Community. Before I answer that question by quoting a passage from their web site, I want to make it clear that I am not connected to the organization in anyway other than I’ve taken the Tribes training course and believe that it will help us achieve equity in schools, among other very important outcomes. A Tribes Learning Community is a new way of learning and being together.
Thousands of schools throughout the United States, Canada, Australia and other countries have become Tribes Learning Communities, safe and caring environments in which kids can do well! After years of “fix-it” programs focused on reducing student violence, conflict, drug and alcohol use, absenteeism, poor achievement, etc., educators and parents now agree, creating a positive school or classroom environment is the most effective way to improve behavior and learning. The Tribes TLC® process is the way to do it.
Students achieve because they:
- feel included and appreciated by peers and teachers
- are respected for their different abilities, cultures, gender, interests and dreams ( that’s an outcome that I would really like to see given the demographics of my school)
- are actively involved in their own learning
- have positive expectations from others that they will succeed. ( this is another outcome that I would like to see given that I work with kids who often are not expected to succeed by others or themselves for that matter)
The clear purpose of the Tribes process is to assure the healthy development of every child so that each one has the knowledge, skills and resiliency to be successful in a rapidly changing world.
I encourage you to go to the site and explore it for yourself by clicking on the link I’ve provided.
Just an aside here, I want to say that I really like working at my school. It has an unusual mix of students and programs. There are about 1700 students enrolled in grades 7-12 . The school is home to one of the regional centres for the gifted and has about 450 students enrolled in the enhanced program and most of them are bussed to the school. It also has a high population of English Language Learners formerly known as English as a Second Language learners. But, since for some of the kids English is not a second language but a third or fourth one , English Language Learners is a more appropriate description. There are are about 60 languages besides English spoken in all. The school looks like a mini United Nations with students from different parts of the world sitting in classrooms, navigating through the halls and sharing the cafeteria during lunch. The school also has about 120 students who are identified as needing special education support and plenty more that need and get support but haven’t been formally identified, for one reason or another. A class for developmentally challenged students is also housed in the building and these kids are integrated into school life as well. It is a busy, busy place and I love it. But, that doesn’t mean that some things don’t need to be improved. I guess because I’ve spent over 22 years working with and advocating for students who need extra support of one sort or another I’m delighted to see the Board and school’s administration commit time and money to the new initiatives that will enable students to be successful in our rapidly changing world. Its actually a very exciting time to be teaching at our school.
Why don't kids with learning disabilities get to do the cool stuff that gifted kids get to do? [7:42m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (884)
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