Sep

30

A reflection activity to encourage students to think critically while watching movies or videos.

Filed Under Engaging Assignments and Activities for Students, Learning Strategies, motivating students, The way I see it, underachieving students, Web 2.0 tools and technologies | 1 Comment

I want to encourage my students to become critical thinkers especially when they are watching movies or videos. While I was searching my files for critical thinking activities for movies, I came across this activity and thought I’d share it with you and ask for suggestions. I can’t remember where I got the original version of this activity. So whoever you are thank you. I did modify it a bit to suit my purposes, but I think it could be improved. I would appreciate any suggestions that would improve the activity.

Learning Strategies Class

Movie Reflection Activity

1. Write a summary of the plot in paragraph form.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. How would you explain the ideas in the movie to someone younger or less experienced than you?

3. Who would most likely enjoy this movie? Why?

4. How are children and adults represented in this movie? (Compare and contract) Give evidence.

5. How are males and females represented in this movie? Compare and contrast. Give evidence.

6. Connect the facts or ideas from the movie to other things you have learned, remembered or discovered recently. Explain fully.

7. What are two ways these ideas or facts can help you in the future? Explain fully.

8. Create a symbol to represent the main ideas in the movie.

Sep

24

Some parents’ engagement with school is invisible but it’s still there

Filed Under "At-risk" students, positive climate, The way I see it | 1 Comment

Parent’s night or meet the creature teacher night is on October 7th this year. This is an opportunity for parents to demonstrate that they care about their child’s progress in school etc. Coming to meet me on parents’ night and promising to see that their child gets his homework done, or chaperoning on a school trip is not the only way parents can be inv0lved in their child’s education.

I wrote this post because of a tweet @ dajbelshaw wrote about why parents don’t engage with schools. I had just finished reading a research paper about that very topic. So, I thought I’d put what I had read to good use and share it here with you and answer Doug’s question at the same time.

I teach in an inner city school where many families are poor and/or recent immigrants. Many parents and students, for that matter struggle with English, and are intimidated by the school system. These parents do not feel comfortable meeting the teacher and discussing homework etc. But, they are interested in their child’s education and participate in their child’s education in many ways, ways that may be invisible and unappreciated by educators.

Research (S. Auerbach, 2007) suggests that poor and minority parents are involved in their child’s education. Their involvement is different from the mainstream more visible parental involvement in education. Poor and minority parents demonstrate their involvement in their children’s education by

encouraging their children to do well in school,
having high aspirations for their children,
respond to teachers requests,
sometimes making sacrifices so kids can attend better schools
expecting them to respect teachers

Personally, I’ve gotten strong support from parents/guardians when I’ve called home to suggest we be partners in their children’s education both of us supporting one another so that their children can do the best they possibly can. I’ve found time and time again, parents are delighted to hear from me even when I call and ask for help because their children are making poor choices that are interfering with their progress. I may never see parents face to face, but I know they’re involved in a positive way with their children’s education. Every year, I just keep inviting them to be involved in their children’s education and most, if not all accept the invitation.

Our school invites parents to be involved in their children’s education by removing as may barriers as possible. If a parent has difficulty with English, we find someone who can translate the conversation between teachers, administrators and the parent. The school also sends out information in a number of different languages so that parents are informed even if they still struggle with English. The school also offers sessions in different languages for parents that help them understand the school system.

Sep

21

Some students who are misdiagnosed with ADHD are really just young for the class

Filed Under "At-risk" students, Behaviour Management, Special Education, underachieving students | Leave a Comment

One of the questions we ask about students who seem to have difficulty settling down and concentrating in the classroom is when is their birthday. When we ask this question, we are really asking could the behaviour we see in the classroom be a function of a student’s immaturity. Some times what seems to be inappropriate behaviour in class is due to immaturity. Children’s behaviour may be inappropriate for the class they are in but appropriate for their actual age. Establishing birth date helps us better understand chidren’s adaptive behaviour in the classroom.

Students who have a birthday early in the calendar year are really older and have had more time to mature than students who have birthdays later in the calendar year. A month, let alone several months, is long time in a child’s life. For example, grade one students born in January have a huge advantage over grade one students born in December because they’ve had more time to mature. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve hear “Oh yes, he/she has a November/December birthday” to help explain some of the immature behaviour we see in the classroom. Students born in December may be mature for their age but may not be mature for their class. We need to keep this in mind when deciding what supports to put into place for these students.

Sometimes the immature behaviour of students who are young for their class is unfortunately mistaken for attention deficit disorder and a diagnosis of ADHD is made. The following video discusses this phenomenon in more depth. I’d like to thank @teach4failure for bringing this video to my attention in a tweet.

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Sep

18

Looking at students’ behaviour through a neurodevelopmental lense – Introduction

Filed Under Behaviour Management, motivating students, Special Education, The way I see it | 2 Comments

Why do students behave the way they do? I ask that question about my students all the time. In fact, I asked that question several times today in my period one math class when Skylar kept talking despite my attempts to redirect his attention to completing the questions I had assigned.

There are all kinds of theories explaining students’ behavior, not just the annoying misbehaviour that interferes with my teaching and with my students’ learning but other behaviours that make it difficult for students to do as well as they might do. When I first started teaching we were taught to explain misbehaviour in terms of Alfred Adler’s mistaken goals. Adler’s theory of mistaken goals has given me some useful answers about students’ behaviour over the years, but as a special education teacher, I have come to realize there were other factors at play which can help explain students’ behaviour and the struggles they have in school. The theory I’ve found most useful thus far in helping me understand learning and behaviour is Mel Levine’s theory of neurodevelopmental functions. Levine maintains that answers to why students have difficulty in school, or even out of school in the community for that matter, can be found in their neurodevelopmental functions, more specifically in their neurodevelopmental dysfunctions.

A few years ago (?), I took The Schools Attuned Program , Subject Specialist Path training program. I wanted to tell others about the program and share the link here in my blog but was told at the time I would have to get permission to do this and I couldn’t use their logo- are they paranoid or what? So I didn’t.

The Schools Attuned Training training was seven very full days of learning and was well worth the time and effort. The only thing that was disappointing was that everyone who took the training had to sign a confidentiality clauses stating that he or she wouldn’t share what was learned during the training and wouldn’t share the great resource books that we received as part of our training. Moreover, we could only use the resources for as long as we worked for the school board. We could not use the resources to help support kids who did not attend our school. So much for teachers training teachers! It seemed like a money grab to me at the time, but maybe there were other reasons for these very onerous restrictions. The training was based on Mel Levine’s theory and that is available in his book A Mind at a Time. What I’ve shared here comes from the book. So now for the sharing.

Neurodevelopmental functions

Let me explain. Neurodevelopmental functions are the basic instruments for learning. They include

attention control
memory
language
spatial ordering
temporal sequential ordering
neuromotor functions
social cognition
higher order cognition

The theory is if students have any dysfunctions in their neurodevelopment, they can have difficulties in school and would benefit from various supports or accommodations. Note, there are many reasons why students have difficulty in school. Neurodevelopment issues only account for some challenges.

In this post I am going to examine

mental energy controls, processing controls, and production controls
the challenges these controls present to students if there is a dysfunction in any of these
the accommodations and supports that can be put in place to help students be as successful as possible.

In subsequent posts, I’ll examine the other neurodevelopmental functions in the same way.

Mental energy controls are the controls that are used when

initiating and maintaining alertness
initiating and maintaining the flow of energy needed to complete assignments
maintaining performance consistency
getting to sleep easily and sleeping well at night and being alert enough the next morning to follow what’s going on

Processing controls are the controls that are used to

determine what information is important and what information isn’t important
focus with depth and detail to determine specific information
link incoming information to previous knowledge and experience
be able to concentrate for a given period of time
focus on things that are of low or moderate interest

Production controls enable students to

anticipate outcomes of any action, event or problem
make the best choice before doing something
complete a task at an appropriate speed
monitor output and make necessary modifications
use previous experience to guide behaviour

Attention Dysfunctions

I see evidence of attention dysfunctions on a regular basis. I’m sure you do too. Not all students who have attention dysfunctions present the same behaviours. Some students who suffer from mental fatigue compensate for their mental fatigue by becoming hyperactive to make up for their lack of mental energy. I’ve seen that in my class. You probably have too. Students who

have difficulty focusing in class while they are supposed to be listening or watching
don’t seem to have enough energy to start assignments let alone follow them through to completion
seem extremely tired in the morning yet can’t get to sleep at night
find school boring

might have mental energy control dysfunctions. I say might because other factors could account for students mental energy control issues. There could be circumstances at home that explain students behaviour, too. It’s important to keep in touch with parents/guardians to get a complete picture of what is going on in students’ lives. What I don’t want happening is that I’m only using the neurodevelopmental lens to determine why students have the issues they do. The neurodevelopmental lens is only one tool, a very useful tool, I can use to help answer the question why students act the way they do in my class.

Students can also have processing control issues that make it difficult for them to do as well as they might. These students have difficulty

determining what is important and what is unimportant
focusing enough to identify specific information
linking new information to prior knowledge and experience
focusing on the task at hand for a given time
focusing on a task that they have little or no interest in

I teach an applied grade nine math class and I see many students struggling with processing control issues. Some students are not interested in doing math at all. Getting them to do the work is a challenge. Other students cannot read a math word problem and identify what the question asks them to do. They cannot identify what is important and what is unimportant in the question and just get bogged down. Keeping focused on the task at hand is yet another challenge for some students. when students cannot or do not want to do the work, they decide to amuse themselves by causing excitement in the class and that’s when the misbehaviour starts. I have actually asked students who chronically misbehave in class if they misbehave because they are looking for excitement because they cannot do the work. They answer I get is yes.

Other misbehaviour problems can be a result of issues with production controls. Some misbehaviour can occur because students have difficulty

anticipating likely outcomes of their actions
selecting the best options for behaviour
self-monitoring and making the necessary changes to their behaviour
using previous experience as a guide to current behaviour

Last semester, I had a few students in my class that had major production control issues. I hear from other teachers this semester, that the behaviour issues still exist with these students. They continue to have difficulty predicting that certain actions they take result in certain consequences. They get into trouble time and time again for the same behaviour-skipping, skateboarding inside the school-even the classroom. These students seem to have great difficulty learning from experience. When I would advise them if they wanted better outcomes (not getting sent to the office for skateboarding in my classroom or in cafeteria or in hallways) then they needed to make better choices (leave your skateboard in your locker during school hours), they would agreed but still did the same thing until their lost their skateboards and then blamed me for their boredom at lunch time because they didn’t have their skateboards. did It was a very frustrating experience for both of us, I’m sure.

Supports and Accommodations for Students Experiencing Attentional Difficulties

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So what what an be done to help students who have attentional issues? Lots!

preferential seating near teacher and/or away from distracting sounds and sights
frequent short breaks between activities that demand intense periods of alertness
have students help in classroom taking attendance to office, erasing boards, distributing materials etc.,- anything to permit movement without disturbing class
use of different coloured highlighters to differentiate important information from non-important information
increasing or decreasing rate of speed information is presented or produced
listening to audio books
audio or video taping lectures or discussions
have students repeat information in own words
use of voice recognition software like Dragon Naturally Speaking, text readers like Premier Software
encourage students to doodle in class to help dissipate nervous energy and help them concentrate ( I use that coping mechanism for myself when I have to sit and listen for long periods of time)
encourage students to develop routines around bed time which include quiet activities, not stimulating ones

These are some of the accommodations I suggest be used to help students do the best they can do. I’m sure there are many others. If you use some strategies or accommodations for helping students who have attention issues that are particularly successful, please share them with us. Thanks.

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Sep

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