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

 

Character Education, Lasting Effects

 Special Education Classroom  No Responses »
Oct 022009
 

A Curriculum That Builds Character and Reading Comprehension Skills

Character education has long been a shared responsibility of parents, teachers and members of the community throughout history. It is a learning process that should be exemplified in a school community to help students understand, care about and act on such core ethical values as respect, justice, civic virtue and citizenship, and responsibility for self and others. These core values serve as the foundation of our society.

Whether a student has learning disabilities, developmental disabilities, or special needs, developing a strong character is essential to everyone. It affects developing good behavior skills and social skills as well. Because students spend much of their day in classrooms, teachers have an opportunity to explain and reinforce core values upon which character is formed.

Character education must be approached comprehensively to include the emotional, intellectual and moral qualities of a person or group. We must offer multiple opportunities for students to learn about, discuss and enact positive social behaviors so that being a person of strong character becomes a part of a student’s beliefs and actions. We must practice character for it to have a lasting effect.

PCI Education has designed a curriculum that provides diverse activities to develop character, practice positive behavior skills, and build reading comprehension called Bugg Books.  These books infuse important life skills into engaging tales and entice struggling readers. As the main characters in each book work through everyday situations, they learn the value of good citizenship and having a strong character. The Bugg Books character lessons include:

•  getting along with others
•  learning to share
•  practice makes perfect
•  dealing with bullies
•  respecting others
•  sticking to the truth
•  facing your fears
•  paying attention
•  doing your best
•  consequences of stealing
•  the trouble with tattling
•  believing in yourself
•  controlling your anger

Teaching character education along with reading comprehension skills is easy with the Bugg Books. The curriculum features two distinct lessons and exercises for each of the books in the series. The first lesson focuses on reading comprehension. The second lesson focuses on the character education lesson of the book with a wide variety of activities to specifically engage students in the lesson, extend it to their own everyday situations, and make personal connections. The curriculum also includes activities that families can do at home to reinforce each lesson.

Students with special needs, learning differences, or developmental disabilities can also evolve in character education, understand social values and learn positive behavior skills. It is vitally important we instill core values in all our children so they, too, can embody and teach the next generation a strong sense of character, values, and citizenship.

Within the character of the citizen lies the welfare of the nation. — Cicero

Bolster Reading Comprehension

 Teaching Tips  No Responses »
Jun 022009
 

Drawing Conclusions to Enhance Reading Comprehension for Struggling Learners

littleboynewspaperReading comprehension is an essential life skill. Drawing conclusions about a story requires students to understand what they are reading and then use clues, hints, assumptions, and prior experiences. For struggling readers and English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) learners, drawing conclusions can be a difficult skill to develop.  Just understanding the words in the story is a challenge for many of these students.

When I taught elementary struggling and ESL students, I developed several interactive activities and strategies that helped students develop the skill of drawing conclusions.  These can also be used to help special ed students, students with autism, and those with mild cognitive disabilities.

Here are some activities you may find helpful and can modify to your students’ ability level:

1. Listen and Draw: Read a picture book to students. Wrap the cover so students cannot see any pictures and do not show the pictures to the students as you read the story. After reading, have the students draw a picture of what they think the main character or characters look like. Students must decide if the character is an animal or person, boy or girl, young or old, and what the character looks like. Then, have students explain their illustrations. Show students the cover and illustrations and compare students’ drawings.

2. Packing the Clues: Pack three small suitcases with items that can be worn or used to swim, play in the snow, and camp in the woods. Open and display one suitcase’s contents at a time. Ask students to conclude what the items in each suitcase are for and where someone would go with them. Have students share personal experiences that helped them draw their conclusions.

3. Five Questions: Have each student choose an animal for the activity. One student answers five yes-or-no questions from the other students about his or her animal. For example, “Does your animal have fur?” or “Does it walk on four legs?” or “Does your animal live in the water?” Students will use the hints to draw conclusions and identify the animal. When students correctly identify the animal, another student takes a turn.

For more activities and practice sheets on drawing conclusions, see my Basic Reading Series and Reading Comprehension Cards published by PCI. These activities are appropriate for introducing and reviewing how to draw conclusions and other reading comprehension skills to struggling learners, ESL learners, special ed students, and for reviewing and reteaching secondary students.

About the Author

Kristine Lindsay was an elementary teacher teaching ESL and working with struggling readers before she began working with PCI. Her teaching experience in the classroom led her to author several top selling products. She has a heart to see struggling learners, special ed students, English Language learners, and those with learning differences succeed in school. Kristine continues to author as well as consult on various projects.