Day 4 - Remediation AND Compensation: A Necessary Balancing Act

photo © 2008 Hans Splinter | more info (via: Wylio)
Anyone who works with struggling learners must grasp the importance of balancing remediation with compensation. Remediation allows the student to gain the foundational skills necessary for academic success.Compensation allows the student to bypass the academic challenges which result from their learning disability, while they are receiving remediation. With compensatory techniques, students have access to the general education curriculum despite their learning challenges. Accommodations remove the obstacles which frequently hinder student success.

Special educators and other specialists, often overemphasize remediation at the expense of accommodation and compensation. What are the unintended consequences of this imbalance?

• Gaps in acquired skills. When remediation alone is emphasized, students are taught at their developmental level. This may be two or more grade levels below their current grade. Their peers continue to have exposure to grade level text and vocabulary while they fall further behind IF accommodations are overlooked. 

• Remedial instruction often includes "kill and drill" components making learning less than joyful. How much learning actually occurs in the absence of engagement and joy? (See Judy Willis' work on The Neuroscience of Joyful Learning.)

• Instruction focuses on students' deficits areas, continually pointing out that they are behind their peers and therefore, must not be as smart. Remediation often emphasizes deficits at the expense of strengths.

Is it possible to balance remediation with accommodations and compensatory techniques? I believe it is through the use of assistive technologies and the use of universally designed curriculum. Have you evaluated whether you are effectively offering compensatory strategies in your classroom? How often do you reflect on the experiences of your struggling learners? If you've never placed yourself in your struggling learner's shoes, now is the time to take 15 minutes to simulate their challenges. Check out the activities at the PBS.org Misunderstood Minds website. Try the "Experience Firsthand" activities under each category - Attention, Reading, Writing, and Math. If you have never tried these activities, I promise you will have a new appreciation for how difficult school can be for some of your students.

So, tomorrow, add accommodations which work to your lesson plans. If you need ideas, a good starting place is the UDL Tech Toolkit wiki. Peruse the numerous free tools and strategies.And think how they can bridge the gap and make learning fun again.

Day 3 - Mouse Skills - Help Kidz Learn

Some of our early learners need help using and controlling the mouse for computer navigation..Several sites help teach this skill. Today I will highlighting the HelpKidzLearn site to teach mouse skills. Click on the Early Years Tab and then scroll down to and select Big Bang Bugs.

Watch the video:
 

Application: This activity targets Mouse Skill Navigation:

1. Mouse click
2. Mouse movement
3. Mouse click on a target
4. Click and drag.

You can set it up in a developmental sequence depending upon the skills of your learner. Use in a preschool classroom or with students with intellectual disabilities who need mouse skill practice.

NOTE: It is oftentimes helpful to place a sticker on the mouse where you would like the student to press. This serves as a visual cue for those who benefit from visuals.

Additional Mouse Skills Practice Sites

• I See You!
• Mouse Program
• Drag the Hats on the Monkey - teaches click and drag
• Flower Garden - teaches mouse click and click and drag
• Bubble Wrap - who doesn't love Bubble wrap?? teaches mouse click
• Build a Snowman - timely, teaches click and drag
• Mr. Smiley Brushes His Teeth - click and drag the toothbrush to help Mr. Smiley brush his teeth, very cute. 
• Feed the Monster - click and drag

And you can always create mouse skills activities in Powerpoint using a child's preferred activities. I have created many using Thomas the Tank Engine, Dora, Favorite Foods, Clifford, Transformers, etc.

Do you have favorites that aren't listed?

Day 2 - StoryBird for Struggling Writers

Today's post highlights StoryBird, a free online storytelling tool to engage struggling writers. Storybird offers an extensive collection of beautiful graphics. Students select the graphics they would like to use in their story, drag and drop the graphics in a sequence of their choosing and then write text. It really is as simple as that.

It is also possible to read Storybirds that others have created, save them to a reading list or embed them in blogs, wikis, or glogs.

Storybird works with Co:Writer word prediction and Dragon Naturally Speaking software. 

Here are two to give you an idea of what a StoryBird can be:

The Holidays are Here on Storybird

When I look up at night. on Storybird

Applications - Struggling writers often have difficulty imagining and developing an idea. Storybird provides the external structure which promotes student success. Reluctant or struggling writers seem to love the ability to select graphics for their own creative stories. Because it is a forgiving, flexibility program, students can easily edit and change their work. Use this tool during a writing block to promote success with writing.

Don't forget to share the site with parents so that students can continue writing at home.

Day 1 - Into The Book - Reading Comprehension

Do your students struggle with reading comprehension? Are you using online resources to tap into your students' strengths?

The inaugural post for Around the Web in 80 Days highlights Into The Book, an interactive reading comprehension website for students and teachers. I first learned about it from a 4th grade teacher who is also a literacy specialist. Upon her recommendation, I explored the site further and have since shared it with numerous other teachers.

The site focuses on eight research-based strategies: Using Prior Knowledge, Making Connections, Questioning, Visualizing, Inferring, Summarizing, Evaluating and Synthesizing and provides tools and resources to help your learners gain meaning from text.

Watch this short video to learn more about the Into The Book site.




Applications: Many students struggle with understanding what they are reading, especially students on the autism spectrum or students with learning disabilities. There may be a breakdown in their ability to summarize or visualize or make connections to the text. Use this online resource during your literacy block to target specific strategies. Download the MP3 files and additional resources to build on your students skills. Make connections to your states' standards. Into the Book offers an engaging, multisensory, interactive approach to learning skills necessary for reading success. Students who are engaged by computer based activities and instruction will greatly benefit from the use of this tool to supplement teaching. Check it out!

Around the Web in 80 Days

photo © 2009 Beverly | more info (via: Wylio)

For the next 80 days, this blog will highlight a free, online resource to help meet the needs of struggling learners in innovative and creative ways. My hope is that educators will become motivated to offer students choices - of instructional materials, instructional methods and new ways to demonstrate learning.

Target one new tool or strategy each week to implement with your students.

Stay tuned for the first entry with an accompanying video which will briefly demonstate how to use the resource. I will also try to offer applications and will depend upon your creativity and expertise as well. Traditional methods fail to reach at least half of your students. Let's reach all the learners in our classroom and have fun, learning together.