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.

* * *

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

 

Struggling Reader Series: Identifying Letters

 Teaching Tips  5 Responses »
Dec 152009
 

by Kristi Lindsay

My four year old, Jadon, struggled with writing lower case “b” and “d”. “Which way does ‘b’ go and which was does ‘d’ go?” he asked. He can say their names, knows their sounds, and can match them up with their uppercase letters. But, sometimes, he gets the two confused. bread

Have you ever noticed how similar some of the lowercase letters are? Look at “b” and “d” or “p” and “q”. Or how about lower case “h”, “n”, and “m”? As a teacher, I remember how my struggling readers had a hard time identifying these letters. They could say the letters’ names, sounds, and even write them in isolation, but often got them confused when reading or used the wrong one by accident as a letter reversal when writing.

I figured there had to be a way to help him remember which letter is “b” and which is the “d”. Then it hit me: bread and drink! I remembered an afternoon talk show episode that discussed a simple way to identify which “bread” and which “drink” were ours at a formal table setting. “Bread on the left and drink on the right,” said the host as she held up her left hand with pointer and thumb in the shape of a circle and three other fingers together pointing up like the shape of a “b” for “bread.” Her right hand was the opposite in the shape of a “d” for “drink.” While the simple hand gestures helped me identify my bread and drink, I also realized the “b” and “d” could help my son.

Try it: make a “b” with your left hand and “d” with your right hand. They are in alphabetical order when held up in front of you! Silly and simple? Yes, but since sharing the “b” and “d” hand trick with Jadon, I often see him holding up his hands and saying “a, b, c, d,” accenting the “b” and “d” with his hands.

Struggling readers can’t sound out words if they can’t recognize the letters in the words. Providing these little reminders gives them tools to be better readers. If your child struggles to identify letters, come up with silly visuals to help him or her remember them. It can be as easy or as silly as “b for bread and d for drink!”

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

Technology for Phonemic Awareness

 Teaching Tips  No Responses »
Jun 112009
 

Help Struggling Learners and Students with Learning Differences be Successful Readers

Research conducted by a National Reading Panel created by Congress found the best way to teach children to read is “through systematic and explicit manipulation of phonemes in words in a balanced reading program… Knowledge of phonemes, as part of the beginning literacy program, is critical in early reading development.”¹

Once children have developed phonemic awareness, they can link letters and sounds together. Then, they can move on to phonics instruction and the next steps in a reading program.

But what about students with learning differences? How can students who struggle with phonemic awareness move to the next step? They need more time, more practice, and more reinforcement. Do you hold up the whole class for your struggling learners, or do you move on and hope that they catch up?

Although the use of computers is relatively new to classrooms, the National Reading Panel states that this technology has great promise in the teaching of reading. Students who need extra practice with a concept like phonemic awareness can use a computer program like Build & Read software to strengthen their skills.

Because using the computer is so appealing to children of all ages, it can be a reward activity that your struggling students can choose to do on their own time. Since the whole class does not have to be engaged in this activity, a student who is struggling can practice at his or her own pace without an audience.

Visual and auditory learners benefit from using computer programs as independent practice. Students who need to hear the sounds of the phonemes can use a program like Build & Read with headphones. He or she can get extra reinforcement without disturbing others in the classroom.

¹ The above quoted information comes from this website:
http://www.nationalreadingpanel.org/Publications/textversionvideo.htm

Article by Kristina M. Swann

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.