Teaching Tips » Special Education and Learning Differences

Real Teachers-Real Strategies 3: Engaging Reluctant Readers & Writers

Jan 192012

This post comes from Jennifer in Lima, New York. She is a 1st-2nd grade teacher in Special Education, and her strategy is to help reluctant readers and writers get excited about doing just that: reading and writing!

Her project: Language Experience Stories.

“Students who are not yet excited about reading or who are hesitant to write need a hook. So we made them the characters in the story. I surveyed the children regarding things they like to do. They chose swimming. We created a list of things they did when swimming. I then brought in a blow up swimming pool and other items (floaties, pool toys). We then took pictures of them in the (empty) pool using the item or pretending to swim. From the pictures they wrote their sentences for their stories.”

Learning Objectives:

“Students learned to plan out a story, write their own sentences and then read their story to others. Their confidence grew and they were very proud of their accomplishments. When writing students used a promethean board rather than paper and pencil to make it different for them. Here they were more willing to stretch out the words and were more willing to stay on task.

“The children who created these stories were not enthusiastic about reading or writing prior to writing these stories. During the process they became more involved and excited. Once the story was complete and in their hands they loved it! Not only were they authors who could read their story, they were in the story! They wanted a copy to keep in their classroom and one to have at home. Parents also shared how proud their children were when they brought these stories home.”

Materials:

“With this story it was chart paper, a blow up pool, pool toys, floaties, camera, and a promethean board. Computer and printer were used to create and print the book. With other language experience stories the materials were different depending on the topic that they chose.”

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Brought to you by We Are Teachers partnership with PCI Education’s Teacher Grant Asks: http://www.weareteachers.com/ideas/partnerask/teachingidea?app=16609&grantId=75

Real Teachers-Real Strategies 2: A Radio Broadcast

Special Education Classroom, Teaching Tips No Responses »

Jan 162012

Our second post in this series is from Matthew in Carteret, NJ. He teaches 7th and 8th graders.

His idea: Fireside Chats.

Students learning about the Great Depression had the opportunity to step into the shoes of President Roosevelt and create their own fireside chat radio broadcast based on the events of the 1930′s. Students learn the material in the classroom and then record an audio broadcast using the software program Audacity. The tasks involved are research, writing a script, and performing the broadcast. The project has different modalities so that each student in the group can shine in his/her own way.

Learning Objectives:

Students will be able to understand the impact that the events of the Great Depression had on America. They will also be able to relate the information they have learned to today’s economy. Students will enhance their research, writing and technology skills throughout the process of the project.

As well, this project was a collaboration between the students’ social studies and language arts classes. It took place in a variety of settings in our 8th grade. Both in-class support students and self-contained students had the opportunity to create their own group broadcast. The students learned tangible skills while also learning the important characteristics of teamwork.

Materials:

Audacity, an opensource audio recording program. Microsoft word, to type the script. Microphones to record the broadcast. EBSCO and Grollier online for research.

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This post is brought to you by We Are Teachers partnership with PCI Education’s Teacher Grant Asks: http://www.weareteachers.com/ideas/partnerask/teachingidea?app=16996&grantId=75

Real Teachers Share Real Teaching Techniques That Work

Special Education Classroom, Teaching Tips No Responses »

Dec 132011

PCI Education collaborated with We Are Teachers offering a microgrant to teachers by asking, “Have you ever taught a lesson that really resonated with a special needs student?”

PCI had fabulous responses to our question and we are excited to share with you real ideas from real teachers that work! These teaching techniques will be posted weekly as “Real Teachers-Real Strategies.” Subscribe now to receive these ideas in your inbox for teaching students with special needs.

Our first post is from Cathy in Irving, Texas.

Her strategy: Re-read and Chart It!

I have students re-read the first few pages of a book and we time how many words read in a minute (with the number read listed on the sides of the page.) We subtract any words missed and then chart it on a graph that they keep track of. They do this every day and their wcpm grows and the chart goes up. They are excited to come in and do this activity all on their own each day. When they read their wcpm reading goal, we start on the next page of the book.

Learning Objectives:

Success and independence in reading!

Materials:

Leveled readers, timer, folder, chart/graph paper and a colored pencil to chart with.

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We Are Teachers in partnership with PCI Education’s Teacher Grant Asks: http://www.weareteachers.com/ideas/partnerask/teachingidea?app=16857&grantId=75

I would cheer them on every day

Teaching Tips No Responses »

Sep 062011

We gather around televisions to watch award shows where celebrities, many recently out of rehab/prison/the Big Brother house, walk down a red carpet to the theater doors. We marvel at the outrageous clothes and statements, accepting them as models of success, no matter how shallow their morality.

A Wisconsin high school recently put that iconic red carpet to a better use. Fall Creek teachers walked the red carpet, cheered by students, parents, and administrators. There was no paparazzi, no Joan Rivers asking who designed the T-shirts and sneakers, and certainly no line of limos snaking around the block. No one gave them a goody bag worth thousands of dollars, or cornered them at an after-party to negotiate an endorsement deal.

What teachers receive instead are long hours, low pay, mountains of paperwork, and increasingly high expectations. It is not a glamorous profession. Teachers will not get rich, nor will they gain prestige. What they do get is the knowledge that they help mold the leaders, achievers, innovators, and, yes, teachers of the future.

The role models I want my child to look up to are teachers – people who help build a better future for their communities, people who see education as the most reliable path to successful world citizenship, people who care about more than their next movie, ball game, or reality show.

So while there were no gold-plated statues handed out, no acceptance speeches, or Governor’s Balls, the teachers at Fall Creek High School were recognized as stars, lighting the way to the future.

If you have any fun/heartwarming stories of teacher appreciation, please share them in the comment section, we would love to hear your story and maybe even blog and share it with the world!

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Carin Lamontagne is a Senior Content Editor and Submissions Editor with PCI Education. For over four years, she has been key in developing process for product submissions and has spent a great deal of her career at PCI working on the software development teams for products such as PCI Reading Program Software, Word Munchers, and Math Munchers.

Prior to her career with PCI Education, Carin enjoyed 10 years in consumer products and specialty retail management. Carin holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Anthropology from Texas State University San Marcos.

You have the most amazing idea. Practical Advice on How to Get Your Product Published

Special Education Classroom, Special Education Resource, Teaching Tips No Responses »

Jun 082011

By Carin Lamontagne, Senior Content Editor and Submissions Editor

You have the most amazing idea. It will revolutionize education. If only someone would publish it…

PCI Education welcomes submissions from teachers, students, parents, or anyone else with a true interest in improving the materials available for students with special needs. So how do you get your submission to us? And how can you improve your chances of having PCI (or any publisher) develop your submission for publication?

Before you send a submission to a publisher, do some research. First, find out whether the publisher accepts unsolicited manuscripts. PCI Education does; some other publishers do not. Then, determine what market the publisher serves. In the case of PCI, we serve students with special needs; specifically, students with learning disabilities or with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities. Next, determine what types of products the publisher is putting out on the market. Check the publisher’s website or catalog for recent additions to the product line. For example, PCI has been focusing on core programs in the most recent years, although supplemental products continue to be a part of our line-up. Next, look for products that may compete with your submission. This is information PCI specifically requests from submitters, but it is a good idea to complete this research no matter which publisher you choose. If there are similar products on the market, focus on what makes yours different.

Once the research is done, find out what submission policies the publisher has established. These policies and the submission procedures will usually be posted on the publisher’s website; for PCI, look here: PCI Product Submissions Policy. Follow the instructions as closely as possible to increase your chances of success.

Finally, send your submission to the publisher for review. Depending on the submission, the publisher, the time of year, and a variety of other issues, review can take days, weeks, months, or even years. Many publishers have a “don’t call us; we’ll call you” policy, and you may not receive feedback unless they choose to accept your submission for publication. PCI informs authors when their submissions have been received, and we contact authors again when the decision to accept or reject has been made. Be aware that many publishers do not return submissions, retaining or discarding them after acceptance or rejection. PCI returns all rejected submissions that include adequate return postage.

We understand that people who work directly with students often have the best ideas for teaching those students, and we have seen submitted product ideas lead to successes in the classrooms. So if you have the next Cooking to Learn, or Academic Curriculum Framework, submit it for review. At PCI Education, we know that innovation comes from necessity. We take product submissions very seriously, and we strive to give each submission a full and fair review. We see our submitters as customers, partners, and resources; and we all share a common goal: providing solutions that help individuals with special needs and learning differences attain success in school, at home, and in the community.

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Possibility Spaces: Using Interactive Technology for Career Development with Students with Special Needs

Special Education Classroom, Special Education Resource, Special Needs Community, Teaching Tools, Uncategorized No Responses »

Aug 112010

by Erin Kinard

As educators, our task is to push students to move past the boundaries of what they are currently able to do—to expand their abilities, stretch their knowledge, test their understandings, and apply skills in new and unfamiliar contexts. We do this in an effort to help students achieve their fullest potential—to be their best academic, social, emotional, and professional selves. For most students, taking risks in a learning environment is not an easy or comfortable process. For students who have experienced repeated failures in school, the prospect of taking risks can be paralyzing.

At the recent Games, Learning & Society (GLS) conference , Beth King, a PhD. candidate at the University of Washington at Madison, presented on the process of “creating possibility spaces” for students within the virtual world of Sims2. King described her research with adolescent boys who were disaffiliated with school and had low academic self-esteem. The boys also had a strong affiliation with video games and gaming culture. “The project goal was to encourage each participant to consider the future not in terms of current academic performance but instead based upon their unique hopes, dreams and passion using potential self (Markus & Nurius, 1986) strategies.”

King situated herself as an advocate for the boys by creating safe places for them to practice their “authentic” selves and explore “possible” selves. Within the virtual world of Sims2, she had the boys explore who they thought they could become, who they were afraid to become, and who they were likely to become. King then conducted a series of career development interventions that included a blend of self-explorations within the virtual world sandbox as well as visits to actual worksites and college campuses. After the project, the boys who participated reported an increased ability to visualize their “hoped-for” futures. They also spoke about their individual futures with language that indicated much more agency and ownership.

As educators of students with special needs, the “possibility space” opened up within the sandbox of the virtual world is something we should be fully exploring. If we can give students the opportunity to safely “try on” a number of different occupations and explore various futures and identities, they may surprise us in ways we could never imagine.

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Erin Kinard
Vice President, Product Development/Publisher

Erin Kinard joined PCI as the Vice President, Product Development/Publisher in December, 2009. Kinard oversees product development for the company. Prior to joining PCI, Kinard served as Editorial Director, Reading and ESL for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Supplemental Publishers in Austin. During her eight years at Harcourt, Kinard held a variety of positions including Editorial Director of Steck-Vaughn, and Editorial Director of Reading for Harcourt Achieve. In addition to her educational publishing experience at other companies including Brown Publishing Network and Scholastic, Inc.,

Using a Nintendo DS with your special education students

Special Education Classroom, Teaching Tips No Responses »

Apr 072010

By Janie Holt

Have you ever considered using a Nintendo DS with your special education students to individualize instruction in your classroom? I hadn’t until I attended a presentation at the Texas Computer Education Association (TCEA)

The presenter was Christina Carrion, a kindergarten teacher from Garland, Texas. Ms. Carrion successfully uses the Pictochat feature of the DS to ability group her students.

Pictochat has four different chat rooms in which to place students. The students in each chat room can be working on different tasks at the same time. The DS allows for the interconnectivity of group members within a 50 feet radius. That means that students within one ability group do not have to sit in the same area or around the same table. Nor is the teacher bound by his or her location to the group.

Light Bulb Reaction

Ok, she got my attention! Being able to interface with any student, from anywhere in the classroom is HUGE! My mind was reeling with the possibilities:

–providing instant feedback for each student

–direct reteach without the need for other group members to wait

–an invisible vehicle that allows each student to respond at his or her own pace

–the timely delivery of lesson extensions for teachable moments

Lesson Ideas

But what kinds of lessons can be used with a Nintendo DS? Ms. Carrion has a plethora of ideas to share. She uses the DS technology for:

–handwriting practice

–small group assessment

–skill intervention

–note taking

–WebQuests

–collaboration on projects

–writing summaries

–and MORE!

Go check it out yourself at her website:

https://gblog.garlandisd.net/users/cmcarrio/weblog/2b8e6/Yo_Ho__Yo_Ho_a_DSing_We_Will_Go_.html

DS is not just for gaming anymore. If you’re using any of these ideas in your classroom, please post your ideas here.

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Janie Hohlt

Janie Hohlt is a technology content director and product development specialist for PCI Education. Hohlt has authored several other educational print and software programs for PCI, including the Basic Writing Series. During her 20 years as a classroom educator, Hohlt taught at every grade level from kindergarten through sixth grade. She received the Superintendent’s Award four times while serving in a large urban school district in San Antonio, Texas.

In Your Shoes

PCI Company Culture, Special Education Classroom, Special Education Resource, Teaching Tips No Responses »

Mar 222010

by Leslie Buteyn

A customer called me this week to ask a few questions about some of our products. After we discussed several different titles, she told me how much money she had to spend and asked what I would buy if I were her. What a great question, and I was thrilled to answer it! I loved the opportunity to put myself in the shoes of a middle school language arts teacher working with a group of students reading significantly below grade level; those are the very shoes I wore before I came to work at PCI!

One of the things that I love about working in PCI’s product development group is that our content team is comprised of educators. We have all spent time working in the classroom, and we know what it’s like to be in your shoes. That knowledge and experience drives the development of our products. I hope that you can see and feel that each time you use a PCI product in your classroom.

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Leslie Buteyn

Leslie Buteyn is tasked with developing products from the idea phase to the marketplace and is responsible for managing the development of many of PCI Education’s bestselling products. She has developed products for students from preschool age to adult in all subject areas.

Prior to her career at PCI, Buteyn was a middle school language arts and reading teacher in San Antonio. She holds a Bachelor’s in English and a Master’s in Teaching. Both degrees were earned at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.

Bundles of Straws: Place Value Made Simple

Special Needs Community, Teaching Tips No Responses »

Mar 222010

by Kristi Lindsay

What is a number? Have you ever tried to define that word? It’s not easy. Number concepts aren’t always easy to explain either. For those with learning disabilities, many number concepts pose quite a challenge, especially the abstract basic concepts. The best way to help struggling learners is to make the abstract tangible. Using manipulatives gives students a means to tactilely learn, manipulate, solve, and understand challenging math skills.

One concept that many of my former students had difficulty with was place value. Explaining the ones, tens and hundreds place was complex. But, many math concepts build upon this understanding, so it’s vital for students to understand what these place values mean.

To help my students comprehend place value, I used a lot of straws!

I began by demonstrating a one digit number in the ones place. First, I wrote the numerals 1 through 9 on the board. Then, students gathered the correct amounts of straws to represent those numbers, such as two straws represented the numeral 2. Then we moved on to the tens place. We counted out and bundled ten straws. As I wrote the two-digit numeral on the board, I said “zero ones and one ten.” We repeated the bundling process for numerals 11 through 19. For example, for 14, we bundled up ten straws, had four left over, and I wrote and said “one ten and four ones.” For many days I wrote numbers on the board and had students make straw bundles and explain how many tens and ones were in each numeral.

Once students grasped the concept, I reversed the process. For example, I displayed a ten bundle and six straws. The students identified one ten and six ones and wrote the numeral 16. Reversing the process helped students understood that groups of tens represented the digit in the tens place and the single straws represented the digit in the ones place.

Eventually we progressed up to 99, then added one straw to make 100. The addition of the tenth set of ten straws moved us up to the hundreds place.

What was beneficial about using the manipulatives with place value was the smooth transition into addition. For problems such as “7+9=”, students gathered sets of seven and nine straws, counted and bundled ten straws, and then counted the remainder. They understood that the sum was one ten and six ones or sixteen. When students practiced addition with regrouping, they understood the abstract concept because they were used to bundling straws into groups of ten.

In addition to identifying numbers, place value, and addition, students learned to skip count by tens. Students quickly caught on that they could count the bundles of tens by ten and that 6 bundles was 6 tens or 60.

Through the use of tangible manipulatives, learning disabled, kinesthetic and visual learners were given learning tools and skills to comprehend and understand these abstract basic math concepts. Go grab a bunch of straws and start learning!

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Kristi Lindsay

Prior to working with PCI Education, Kristi worked for another international publishing company, editing and writing elementary spelling and reading texts. At PCI, Kristi has written a plethora of teacher resources, activities, small readers, binders, board games, and software.

Math-Olympics: Making Math Matter

Teaching Tips 5 Responses »

Feb 232010

by Kristi Lindsay

My family and I are enjoying watching the 2010 Winter Olympics. We marvel at the speed skaters racing around the rink with skates barely catching on one another and skiers hurdling themselves down the mountain at break-neck speeds.

Photo Credit: Susan Gittins twitter.com/susangittins

But for me, as a mom and former educator, the best part of the Olympics is the real-world mathematics applications that occur with every event and venue. Some of these real-world math skills include counting backward, subtraction, numeric sequences, ordinal numbers, addition, greater than/less than, and charts and graphs, just to name a few.

I addressed many math skills and vocabulary with my own children as we watched the different Olympic competitions. For example, my sons

determined snowboarders’ ranks by evaluating if scores were greater than or less than the first place score
sequenced scores from least to greatest to determine the medalists
counted backwards from 45 as the speed skaters completed each round of their relay
discussed the concept of time because the relay and many other winter competitions were timed with the least time being the best score
tracked the medals won with a chart displayed on line.

Without knowing it, the boys utilized their newly acquired skills and enjoyed the benefits of using math in real-world situations. Their new math skills helped them better understand and appreciate the sports they were watching.

Math matters when it is relevant! And, the opportunities to make math relevant are endless. My former struggling students “got math” when I explained how the skills were applicable to their every day lives. When I used simple stories, funny poems, weather charts, sports statistics or scores, and recipes to introduce and reinforce math skills, the struggling learners grasped the skills quicker. The skills became relevant! That’s why when I wrote all of the Basic Math Practice series, I made sure to include many hands-on, real-world applications to introduce and reinforce the basic math skills addressed in each binder.

As educators and parents, I urge you to make learning math skills fun for your students and children. Find what interests them. Then take advantage of those real-world, teachable moments, such as the Olympics, and make abstract, seemingly irrelevant math skills matter.

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