I’ve been recognized as somewhat of an authority on teaching academically at-risk kids. I’ve had a couple of articles from my blog published in a teachers preservice text. ASCD reviewed my blog as a blog worth reading. I’ve had boards of education ask me if they could use my articles in teacher workshops. I’ve facilitated workshops for teachers based on articles I’ve written. I’ve been interviewed on radio by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in syndication and I’ve been quoted in newspaper articles based on articles from my blog.

I started to and continue to write Teachers at Risk because I want to share what I’ve learned about teaching academically at-risk high school students for over 25 years and to provide a form for discussion about current topics in education. I’m pleased to say a vibrant learning community has developed around the articles and discussions in Teachers at Risk. In the past year, Teachers at Risk has had almost 200 000 visitors from over 100 countries. Who would have thought a blog about teaching academically at-risk kids  would generate that much interest. It’s so exciting.

I’d like to ask a favour of readers as I compile articles for my ebook The Best of Teachers at Risk. I’d appreciate your feedback to help me craft the most useful  ebook I can from the almost 500 articles I’ve written.  I’d like to know what topics and resources you’d be interested in seeing in the Best of Teachers at Risk. I’m really excited about doing this. I think I’m even going to get an artist to create a snazzy cover for The Best of Teachers at Risk.

Oh yes, I’d also like to know how much to charge for the ebook. I have no idea. I’m an educator and not a business person. How much would you be willing to pay for The Best of Teachers at Risk- $5, $10, $?. Would you like the option of getting The Best of Teachers at Risk in regular book  form as well? All is possible.

I value your input. Thank you so much.

Advice for ebook initiative- The Best of Teachers at Risk originally appeared on Teachers At Risk on January 18, 2012.

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Sometimes we can get the wrong idea about what it takes to successfully teach kids who are academically at-risk.  You don’t have to be a superhero like Erin Gruwell in Freedom Writers. You just have to be “good enough”. I’ll explain what I mean by “good enough” in a minute.

For those of you who have seen the movie Freedom Writers, you’ll know what I mean when I say Erin, the teacher in the movie, is a superhero.   For those of you who haven’t seen the movie, I’ve embedded a trailer here so you can have a better idea of what I’m talking about.

I mean no disrespect to Erin Gruwell, the teacher Freedom Writers is based on. What she did with her students was truly extraordinary. I’m in awe of her. But I think because she’s a superhero, teachers who watch the movie might get the mistaken notion you have to have super-teacher powers to teach students who are academically at-risk. You don’t. You don’t have to be a super-teacher. You only have to be “good enough”.

When I say teachers of students who are academically at-risk don’t have to be superheros they only have to be “good enough”, I don’t mean they can be mediocre. Far from it.  Let me explain what  I  mean by “good enough” teachers.  ”Good enough” teachers

• • have good  emotional intelligence
  • establish inviting student centered classrooms;
  • have excellent listening skills;
  • willingly treat their students with respect and demand the same from their students ;
  • have expertise in the teaching subject;
  • can differentiate teaching, assessment and evaluation strategies to suit students;
  • help students be successful using the students’ strengths;
  • are firm but fair;
  • are creative;
  • are life-long learners;
  • are flexible;
  • are skilled at teaching and assessment;
  • realize and accept they’re not perfect;
  • realize tomorrow is another day and another opportunity to get it right.

 

“Good enough” teachers realize it’s not their job to “fix” students who are academically at-risk; it’s their  job to help students realize better choices will lead to better outcomes and help them develop their critical thinking skills so they can make better choices.

Erin Gruwell did all this and more. She is a superhero who teaches, but we can be just “good enough” and still be successful at teaching students who are academically at-risk. We don’t need to be superheros ; we can just be humans who teach. I want teachers to realize that.

If you’ve been teaching academically at-risk students, what do you think it takes. How would you define “good enough”?

You don’t have to be a superhero to teach kids who are academically at-risk originally appeared on Teachers At Risk on July 8, 2011.

I believe parents and teachers need to work together to support students so they can do their best and achieve their potential. As a special education behaviour specialist, I support students who are troubled, troubling and troublesome. Sometimes parents will ask me for parenting advice because they don’t know what to do with their out-of-control children. I’m reluctant to give parenting advice.  My training as a behaviour specialist has been how to help students control their behaviour at school, not at home.

In the past when parents have asked me for parenting advice, I’ve  usually suggested  they seek help  from a therapist for parenting their out-of-control kids. Often, though,  parents were reluctant to go that route and didn’t seek help.  I’m not sure why. I know that some parents, especially sole parent families can’t afford the therapy. Therapy can be very expensive and some families just don’t have the money for therapy.  Some parents asking for parenting advice have told me  they have gone the therapist route but have found it didn’t really help much. I didn’t know what to say to them and always felt frustrated because I believed there must be a way to help parents develop effective parenting skills.  It’s amazing that we get such little training about how to be an effective parent when being a parent is such an important job.

Happily, now when parents ask me for parenting advice I can  recommend a parent training program that’s effective and affordable- Dr. Andrew Gibson’s Parenting Angry Children and Teens (P.A.C.T.) Training Program”.  After speaking with Dr. Gibson, reading his book Got An Angry Kid?, reviewing his program and his newsletter,  I believe that  parents of families who  live in conflict and have kids who have psychiatric labels like

• ADHD,
• oppositional defiance,
• conduct disorder,
• bi-polar disorder.

can learn effective parenting skills. Over 500 families have gone through Dr. Gibson’s program, and the success rate has been high.

I’ve never been excited enough about a parent training program to endorse it, but I’m excited about the P.A.C.T.  parent training program. What Dr. Gibson says makes so much sense to me as a behaviour specialist, special education teacher and parent.  Dr. Gibson has agreed to offer my readers a special free one month trial membership, a month free trial membership in Spike Club as well as  his book  ” Got An Angry Kid? Parenting Spike: A Seriously Difficult Child”. You only need to pay a $7.95  shipping and handling fee for his  book.

You can see and hear  Dr. Gibson tell you about his program in more detail, and the 8  benefits you will get from the program. I’m know you’ll be as impressed as I am about the level of support his program gives parents.  If you know anyone who might find the  the P.A.C.T. program useful, please tell them about it.

Parenting angry children and teens training program originally appeared on Teachers At Risk on May 9, 2011.

Bitstrips which is a user- friendly, online comic strip maker is an excellent teaching tool and learning tool. I’m presently using it to have my students demonstrate their learning.

I’ve asked my grade nine students to use Bitstrips to create a graphic-non-fiction booklet about the teenage brain based on the PBS video Inside the Teenage Brain. The the  booklet  would be for grade seven students to read so they could understand  how changes in the teenage brain might affect them as they enter their teen years.

I teach my grade nine students  about the teenage brain, and how it  is responsible for the characteristics we associate with teenagers- sullenness, difficulty going to sleep, difficulty getting up, engaging in risky behaviour, just to mention a few behaviours.  Students enjoy learning how their brain affects their behaviour because they finally can understand why they behave the way they do, and why adults react to them the way they do.

I planned the unit on the teenage brain  mindful of two things.  First,  my students enjoy spending  lots and lots of their free time online watching videos of one sort or another and little time reading, and second my students enjoy novelty. When I introduced the teenage brain assignment, my students  were quite keen on learning why they  behave as they do, and when I asked them to demonstrate their learning by creating a graphic-non-fiction booklet, they seemed to relish the idea.  If someone had complained about creating the booklet using Bitstrips, I would have entertained other options.  But, no one did, so we were good to go. I suspect  my students would  rather create a graphic-non-fiction booklet than write an essay to demonstrate their learning.

I introduced the teenage brain unit by asking them to do a placemat activity to generate the characteristics of  teenage behaviour.  After we talked about teenage behaviour, I asked them why teens acted the way they do.  Hormones is the answer I got.  I told them it was more than hormones that caused teenage behaviour.  It  was the teenage brain itself that caused teenage behaviour.  The teenage brain is different from the child’s brain and different from the adult’s  brain.  The teenage brain is unique, and they were going to find out why and how. I had their interest!

After our introductory discussion, I outlined what they would be doing during the unit. They would be learning about the teenage brain and how and why it affects teenage behaviour. They would be

• watching the  PBS video  Inside the Teenage Brain;
• taking notes from the video and a transcript of the video using the note-taking  graphic organizer;
• using the note-taking rubric to be mindful of  note-taking expectations;
• using the story board to plan the graphic-non-fiction-booklet;
• using the rubric for the story board to be mindful of the storyboard expectations;
• using the Bitstrips application to create the graphic-non-fiction booklet;
• using the rubric for creating the booklet to be mindful of booklet expectations.

I asked my students  to take notes during the video using the  Inside the Teenage Brain note organizer I created just for this assignment. I’ve  noticed  my grade nine students take notes better if they aren’t faced with an empty 8.5 x 11 in.  lined page. I think they’re intimidated by an entire empty 8.5 x 11 in.  lined page, so I  create graphic organizers to help them.  I’m hoping that given more practice note taking and more confidence, my students won’t need these graphic organizers or if they do, they can learn to create their own using Word.

I’m using this kid friendly  note taking rubric I created for the note-taking assignment.

Since many of my students have difficulty taking good notes while watching a video, I provided a link to the  the transcript of the video so they could read what was said during the video  and add to their notes.  Then I met with my students and we evaluated their notes using  the note-taking rubric to discuss strengths and next steps.

My students have almost  completed their note-taking activity and are ready to go on to planning their graphic-non-fiction booklet using the Inside the Teenage Brain Story Board legal size .

I haven’t had my students complete a graphic-non-fiction booklet before, so I’m not quite sure yet how many frames or pages would be reasonable to expect from my students. I’ll discuss this with my class,  and once we’ve decided on a range of possibilities, we’ll create a rubric to use as a guide for the booklet.  I’ll share all this in my next post.

If anyone has any hints about creating graphic-non-fiction booklets, I’d sure appreciate hearing them.  Creating a graphic-non-fiction booklet is all new to me.

Students demonstrate learning by creating a graphic-non-fiction book using Bitstrips originally appeared on Teachers At Risk on April 28, 2011.

Most of my students tell me that they like using the timer during activities because

• they  know exactly how much longer they have before the activity ends;
• they won’t spend more time on the activity than they are supposed to because I forget about the time;
• they like the different sounds the timer can make at the end of the activity.

I’ve had one student tell me she didn’t particularly  like the timer because she felt pressured to do more during the activity.

I like using the timer because it signals the beginning and the end of the activity.  For example, I have some students who would gladly not read at all and have difficulty starting the daily reading activity and others who would love to read for the entire 75 minutes of class and have difficulty stopping the reading activity.  When I use the timer, I don’t have to keep nagging and telling my students it’s time to start or time to stop reading.  The timer does that for me.  I love it!

I used to use a mechanical timer I bought at the dollar store, but it was small and difficult for student to see.  It did the job, though. Sometimes it would “disappear”  for a day or two. I guess some students just can’t resist.  Now, I use a timer I found online and display it on a large screen for all to easily see. Students assume the responsibility for setting the timer, and the class develops a consensus as to what sound the timer will make at the end of the time period.  Amazingly, this just takes a few minutes at the beginning of class and provides an opportunity for students to practice coming to a consensus respectfully.

There are a number of timers available online, I use this one because it counts the time down and give students choice of timer formats and sounds the timer makes when time it up. My students have great fun auditioning different timer formats and sounds.  I’m O.K. with that because the fun my students have  choosing the timer and the sound it will make at the end of the activity rubs off on the activity itself so that it becomes more fun.  My more reluctant, struggling students are more likely to complete an activity if there’s a bit of fun attached to the activity. Come to think of it, so will I.

Years ago, I started using a timer to time the silent reading activity at the beginning of the class and the journal writing activity that followed the reading activity. When I saw how well students focused on the task when I used a timer, I extended using the timer to other activities.  I think I’m going to start to use it in my grade 9 math class as well.  There are some reluctant, struggling students who have difficulty getting organized at the beginning of the class. I’m always waiting and nagging them to get their books and other materials out so we can start the class. I think I’ll have the timer displayed on the white screen as a reminder that class is going to start in 3 minutes, and they need to be ready.  I’m hoping the timer will refocus everyone, and we can start the class on a more positive note.  I hate nagging. It takes too much energy.

I’d love to hear about your  ideas for time management and motivational during activities in your classroom.  I definitely could use more strategies in my tool-kit.  Using the same strategies all the time loses its effectiveness.

Helping to motivate and focus students using a timer originally appeared on Teachers At Risk on April 25, 2011.

I decided to have a class meeting to establish a class YouTube policy. We had the meeting next class where I raised my concerns about the inappropriate use of YouTube, and the class reached a consensus that they wouldn’t access YouTube unless it was part of an assignment or until they  had completed all their work. One student suggested that we skip the daily reading and go to YouTube instead. He has such a sense of humour, that one!

I wish I could say that our student generated policy for using YouTube in class was working well, but I can’t. The lure of YouTube and what it has to offer is too much for most, if not all, of my students. So, it was back to the drawing board today to come up with another solution. I decided this time to ask my colleagues for help. I didn’t want to ban kids from using the computer because they need to use the online information computer technology to complete assignments. Getting banned from the computer could be another excuse for not completing assignments.

At lunch, I shared my dilemma about managing the use of YouTube in my classroom and got some wonderful suggestions.  I am so grateful.  Thanks.   I’m going to start by using some of S’s  suggestions and next class and for subsequent classes I intend to do the  following:

• have students know there are certain expectations around computer use in a classroom just like there are in a place of business that are different from the ones at home;
• help students understand  the YouTube videos they choose to watch should add value to what they are doing in class;
• encourage  students to think critically when watching YouTube videos to determine if the videos have the potential to add value to the task at hand;
• have students practice thinking critically about the videos they are watching and evaluating them.

I’m going to create a chart type graphic organizer for students to use while they practice evaluating the YouTube videos they watch. The headings across the top of the chart , at least the first draft, will include :

• Name of Video
• Short Description of video
• Score  for Adding  Value   ( 1,2,3,4)
• Why it doesn’t add value or how it can add value.

We’ll talk about this of course.  They’ll have 15-20  minutes for this activity. I’m not sure how long the activity should be, but since the activity is helping kids develop critical thinking skills  I think 15-20 minutes is worthwhile. I have my students  read for that long each day and do a metacognitive reflection on what they’ve read, so they’re  familiar with thinking critically about what they read. I don’t think its much of a stretch for them to think critically about what they have seen.  They’ll be expected to complete an entry for each video they choose to watch during this activity.  I’m not sure how many classes I’ll have them do this activity either. I guess I’ll just have to play it by ear.

Any suggestions or comments about what I’m doing or trying to do here?  I’d appreciate the feedback.

Continuing to develop a viable YouTube policy for my classroom. originally appeared on Teachers At Risk on April 4, 2011.

Image via CrunchBase

What’s that old adage “Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it”. I’ve been wishing the school would unblock YouTube so I could use it freely in my classroom. A couple of days ago my wish came true, and my nightmare began. LOL

I’ve been complaining for a long time about the fact that the school board was blocking YouTube. What a pain, I thought. There are so many educational videos on YouTube that I wanted to use in my classroom. I do use SchoolTube but not everything is on it. I’ve been downloading YouTube videos at home, converting them and then loading them onto  my netbook  so I can show them at school. What a pain. As if I didn’t already have enough to do. Oh yes, a password was available for my use, but I would have to go and ask an administrator for it in person.   He would write it down a a slip of paper, and I was left with the impression that I was supposed to guard it with my life. The password would change periodically, so  I would have to go find an administrator and ask for the new password. Let me tell you, I hated that. It felt demeaning. Recently, the board made the password available on line so I didn’t have to go find an administrator  to give it to me. That was much better. Then just a couple of days ago, my students discovered that YouTube was no longer blocked. The school had unblocked You tube.  The kids were ecstatic.

My teaching practice is information computer technology rich.  I use information computer technology to teach, my students use it to learn and to demonstrate their learning.   Now that my students can access YouTube freely, I’m constantly having to redirect them away from YouTube and back to their assignments. It is so frustrating. I’m not sure exactly what I’m going to do.   I think I’m going to have class meetings tomorrow with my students and have them come up with a policy about watching You Tube in class. I’m sure we can figure it out. Got any ideas you might share with my classes?

Here’s a link to another post I wrote about YouTube in my classroom that talks about  a  strategy I found that works.

Unblocking YouTube has caused a classroom management nightmare in my classroom originally appeared on Teachers At Risk on March 29, 2011.

I’ve had  ”teacups”and “crispies” in my classes. If you’re a teacher, you’ve probably had them in your classes too.  Last semester a student told me that his Mom considers a mark of 78% a fail and dreaded taking his mid term report home. A colleague told me a father of one of her students actually made a point of arguing   about the loss of  one- half percent on his child’s  test.  I had a student whose  mom overprotected him by insisting he come home for lunch everyday even though he was in grade 11 and wanted to stay at school with friends.  She would also visit  the school during the day to check and see that he was O.K. His Mom was driving him crazy.

These over anxious moms, it’s mostly moms, don’t limit their over-management to school. They do things like test for radon in the home, provide lists of food their children can’t have when going to visit friends. They carry their kids backpacks, lunch boxes, and class projects to school.  It seems to me  that most kids get driven to school now or drive themselves to school;  hardly any kids seem to walk to school. Walking to school is a great opportunity to get some exercise.  Parents are afraid of predators, fear that kids are having oral sex at  bar mitzvah parties, or that there are only 10 colleges worth going to( Mogel as cited in MacVean, 2011). One school even had red washcloths so that if  students got cut, they would be protected from the sight of blood (Mogel as cited in MacVean, 2011 ). Oh my goodness!

photo uploaded from Flickr

Some parents are so scared of doing the wrong thing they over-manage their children and make them fragile or push them to the limit so they burnout. originally appeared on Teachers At Risk on March 23, 2011.

Image by grantlairdjr via Flickr

Last week,  I decided to ask my students what they expected from teachers. I told them that teachers are always telling students what they expect from them.  Now, I wanted to hear what students expect from their teachers. I ask them to tell me in a paragraph what they expect and why.   This is some of what they told me.  I expect teachers to

• not abuse their power and order me around like they control my life;
• respect my personal life and not to bug me on things that are none of their business;
• not to yell at me because that  just makes me made and I won’t listen;
• not to talk about themselves all the time and show off they’re smarter than us because I find it discouraging;
• not to treat us like we don’t know anything;
• have respect for all students no matter what they have done;
• to be able to hear both sides of the story and respect them;
• to be equally fair to all students;
• try to help every student to make him or her have the best results in class;
• give me less homework because it is hard to do it by myself if I cannot ask the teacher;
• more free time in class to do homework;
• give less homework because it is boring and takes away from time with family and friends;
• let us eat in class because sometimes kids are hungry in class and can’t stay awake in class;
• not give us homework before the holidays;
• let us listen to music while working in class;
• let us watch videos in class and not have to write about them;
• to want me to pass my classes;
• to be  helpful, respectful, and fun to be around.

One student was philosophical about student expectations .  He wrote “what can you do it’s life”.

After reading their paragraphs it stuck me how students and teachers have similar expectations. Teachers want students to respect them; students want teachers to respect them. I expected more of them to tell me they didn’t want homework.  Some did tell me that, but it was because they didn’t have anyone at home that could help them with homework.  Some students told me they want less writing.  Maybe teachers could have their students demonstrate their learning orally more often.  I’ll be honest, I want to do this more often, and I’m not sure why I don’t.  I’ll have to think about that one.  Any ideas about an easy way to evaluate learning orally?

I was delighted that my students felt safe enough in my classroom to actually tell me these things.  I work hard to develop an inviting classroom, but I always think there’s room for improvement. My students are great teachers, and they tell me what my next steps need to be.

I encourage you to ask your students what they expect from teachers.  I teach high school kids who are academically at-risk.  It would be interesting to hear what students who are not academically at-risk expect from their teachers.  Is it the same, or is it different?

What my at-risk high school students told me they expect from teachers originally appeared on Teachers At Risk on March 6, 2011.

Image by MMortAH via Flickr

Most of us know what the three “Rs” of education are: Reading, wRiting, and aRithmetic. But, how many of us know what the three “D’s” of learning disorders are: Dyslexia (Development reading disorder), Dysgraphia (Developmental writing disorder)   and Dyscalculia (Developmental arithmetic disorder)? How many of us know how these specific learning disorders  affect people? Notice, I didn’t ask how many of us know how these learning disorders affect students. That’s because if you have a learning disorder, it affects you all your life, in all areas of your life- not just when you are a student in school. You don’t outgrow learning disorders; you learn to cope with them.

Developmental reading  disorders are more prevalent than you might think. Most likely, you know someone who has a learning disorder. Experts tell us that up to 17 percent of the population have learning disorders. That’s a lot of people! It’s important for us to understand reading  disorders because we may have family members, friends, co-workers etc. who have them. If we understand the specific nature of DRD and the challenges the individuals face who have DRD, we can be more compassionate and helpful.

In this post, I’m going to examine the first “D” of the three “Ds”- developmental reading disorder also known as dyslexia.

Facts

• Individuals with DRD  have average or above-average intelligence.
• DRD is not connected with the ability to think or understand complex ideas.
• It is not caused by a vision problem.
• DRD is a function of the problems the brain has recognizing and processing symbols.
• Individuals with DRD may have difficulty rhyming and separating sounds when they are listening to someone speak.
• Rhyming and separating sounds are abilities crucial for learning to read.
• DRD may be found in combination with dysgraphia or dyscalculia since all use symbols to convey meaning.
• New research suggests brain scans can predict whether individuals will improve at reading.
• Children with DRD who overcome their reading difficulties  bypass brain regions normally used for reading.

Symptoms

Difficulty in

• rhyming;
• learning to recognize words;
• determining the meaning of simple sentences.

Tests

Before a diagnosis of DRD can be made the following  tests should be conducted to rule out other causes

• complete medical, developmental, social, school performance , and family history
• psychoeducational testing
• psychological testing

Treatment

Treatments can consist of special education services such as

• Reading specialist help
• Individualized tutoring
• Individualized Education Plan specific to the student
• Psychological counseling to help with self-esteem issues
• Positive reinforcement

Students with reading problems can use software applications like Premier Software to read text to them.  I have my students input text by typing or scanning text into a word processing program and then the software reads the text to them.  My students take delight in listening to their text in a variety of male and female voices with different accents. I also  encourage my students to listen to the novels and plays in their courses.   In ” the old good days” I would have these books and plays on tape for my students, now I can get most of  these as audio books online from places like Audible or in regular bookstores and store them on MP3 players or discs to lend to students.    I’ve even seen an audio only bookstore here in town.  It’s   getting much easier to access audiobooks.  Although I enjoy reading books and do not have DRD, I also like listening to them. I’m always delighted when I get gift certificates for audiobooks.

Prognosis

• Reading problems can cause behaviour  problems or self-esteem problems in school as a reaction to teasing by other students;
• Remediation can help students become better readers, but students  will alway face reading challenges even in adults;
• Reading problems  can lead to problems in certain careers and occupations;
• Reading problems tend to run in families so families should try to recognize the signs early and seek help as early as preschool;
• Early intervention can give the best results.

I encourage my students who have reading problems or DRD not to define themselves by what they can’t do or have difficulty doing.  Everyone is challenged in some way.  The point is to discover your strengths and use those to help you  achieve your best.  Find someone to help you with your weaknesses, and you in turn use your strengths to help someone with their weaknesses.  I have my students determine their multiple intelligences so they are aware of their strengths.  We share the information in class, and I encourage them to help one another.  As adults we do this, so why shouldn’t we teach our students to do this.  I think working together and using the various strengths of team members to accomplish a goal is a life skill.

Dyslexia-one of the three “Ds” of learning disorders originally appeared on Teachers At Risk on February 27, 2011.