Thursday's class

Today's class was a great way to end our in-class time. To go back to the ipad minis and have a free for all with the apps in order to make an imovie trailer was a lot of fun. It was hands on, creative, and useful. This would be a great activity to do with students as way to convey information they have learned about a topic. I also think this would appeal to students with LDs because it would provide an additional way to convey a message.

The actual making of our imovie trailer was fun but also a little frustrated as we encountered problems sharing information between apps. However, as Barbara pointed out, these situations force us to be problem solvers and navigate around the issue.

The in depth explanation of how to use Clicker Sentences was very useful. I can see how this app could help a student achieve reasonable outcomes on their IPP.

This class has been a wonderful experience. I have learned some very useful hands on things I can do with ipads that I could do tomorrow in school with my kids (if it weren't summer). The readings opened my eyes to various LDs, and the extensive reading and writing process. Who knew they were that long!
Also, I now feel educated on UDL and AT and will aim to incorporate them into my classroom.
It was great to share experiences with classmates and to learn from an assistive tech guru.

Happy Summer Everyone!

Wednesday's Webinar Class

Today's webinar had a bit of a rough start. Getting my old computer to join the live webinar was not the easiest. I struggled with sound and visual but after a few minutes they came together to deliver the webinar. Throughout the lesson, my screen froze, and the audio became very delayed. Thankfully, I was with 3 other classmates and was able to listen in while watching my screen.

I did find the live webinar experience much different that a recorded version. It allowed for interactions with classmates, it was tactile, aurally, and visually pleasing which helped to keep me engaged. I enjoyed the pauses to check out videos (although this did overwhelm my computer haha). The webinar is a great way to deliver a lesson from a distance while maintaining versatility in representing the materials.

My take aways from the writing process webinar:

-it is an extremely long process! The mention of the editing/revision process really stuck with me as I have always had difficulty with getting students to perform this task. I see now that this is because there are multiple brain mechanisms being used for the task of editing. Any slip up in any step of the processes (for both reading and writing) would affect the final outcome or the task of revision. I find that students often don't see there mistakes, probably because they don't recognize them as mistakes which would relate back to the brain mechanisms.

-it's important to remember what we are evaluating.

-we need to foster flexible writing.

-we need to value all forms of response, writing or not.

-there is much value in the pre-writing process (the fine motor aspect) in order to reduce any stresses surrounding writing (how can someone focus on writing if they don't know how to pick up or hold a pencil.

-initiating, formulating, and organizing ideas

-Inspiration is a program that I use frequently for my own course work. I think it would be great for a student to use in the writing process.

-clicker 6 and clicker connect $25 each

-the mechanical tools were very interested especially the writing bird.

- word prediction software cowriter

Voice recognition-dragon and Siri (there is a free dragon app)

-start to finish books, high interest, low level

I will be checking out the following apps : co-writer, dragon, cricker sentences, and spell better. I would also like to further investigate the 'start to finish' books.

Overall, today's class was great. I particularly enjoyed being able to read the chat box. I think it provided a forum where people could voice their questions in a non vocal way.

Dyslexie

Click the page to go the dyslexie font webpage.

Tuesday's work on Itunesu

Now that Ashley and I are pro's at itunesu, we were able to get a lot of work done on our course. We continued to add resources today and research material. We developed a profile of a reluctant learner, as well as organized the structure and outline of our course. We also added a section explaining the difference between remediation and compensation.

We did reference the tutorials again today in order to see how to share our itunesu course.

We also got a little adventurous with our resources and added a few podcasts and ibooks to our course materials. We also found some great blogs and other websites that would support a learner in our course.

One site that I particularly like was The Iris Centre. This site provided guidelines and a process to follow to perform a task analysis when accessing the needs of a student.

Itunesu really showed us it's value today as we now see that it is an amazing tool for the sharing of information and the delivery of a course.

A tablet integration case study

This is a great case study that captures the positive implementation of technology integration in the classroom.

•  A Learning Untethered case study offers a valuable insight into the pros and cons of tablet implementation in the classroom. The project involved equipping a 5th grade class of 27 students with 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab devices at a cost of around $200 per student. Though there were a number of technical issues the results were overwhelmingly positive with greater student engagement.

http://www.learninguntethered.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Learning-is-Personal.pdf

Another assistive technology blog

Here is a link to the Virginia Department of Educator's Training and Technical Assistance Center's blog.
This is a great resource!

http://www.assistivetechnology.vcu.edu/

Day 11- The Universal Design

After reading this article the reciprocal relationship that exists between AT and UDL became evident. The article certainly clarified for me the difference between Assistive Technology and the Universal Design for Learning. Universal design for learning is an inherent design therefore considering all learners and their diversities. It is more about developing a learning environment in which all learners can thrive. To put it in my own words, Assistive Technology seems to be an addition whereas Universal Design for Learning is a foundation. The two complement each other very nicely as they work together to reduce barriers. 

When reflecting upon my teaching experience I know that I have made an effort to incorporate some of the guidelines from the Universal Design for Learning into my practice. That being said I do feel as though it has often been an afterthought. I would like to get to place in my teaching where the Universal Design for Learning is embeded in the development of all of my lessons. I am seeing progress in the development of new curricula that does embed the Universal Design for Learning however it is an idea that needs to be adopted by all teachers in order for it to be successful across the board. This is also the case in order to have successful implementation of Assistive Technology. 

I do not think that universal design for learning  can be achieved without assistive technology. As we have seen in many of the other articles we have read, assistive technology is becoming more and more mainstream. The UDL article comments that assistive technology makes universal design more effective therefore proving it's value yet once again. 

Day 8

Taking the pencil out of the process:

I have only read the first paragraph of this article and felt the need to stop and right on my blog. Right away the article addresses something that I have been arguing for quite some time now. The reality is that some parents are the ones who want to decide what the children do and do not do. Their schooling is no different. I have argued that some parents do not want their children using iPads and computers so early in their education.  They think their children are already getting enough screen time and that school is a place to develop the reading, writing skills, and social skills. I argue this only because I have encountered some parents who wish this is the case for their children. I do understand the parents desire to shelter their children from the technological world that awaits them. I think this desire comes from parental fear of the unknown. Some parents want their children to learn the same way they did and unfortunately with the way our society is moving their children will not go down the same path. BRB:)

Now that I have read some more of the article I wanted to comment that I learned that individuals with ASD presented with tasks are less likely to be successful because of a lack of resources to the brain (blood and oxygen) and will immediately experience a resource constraint resulting in reduced coordination of the brain. Wow, I am loving the science behind the various disabilities we've been reading about. It's not every day that you get an in-depth explanation as to the neurological factors that contribute to learning disabilities. It is very eye-opening for me. 

I remember watching the ABC nightly news report on Carly Fleischmann and thinking about how great it was this young girl was now able to communicate with her friends and family. I think what struck me the most was that up until the point that she communicated through her laptop most people didn't think she was capable of high level cognitive thinking. It really makes you wonder about the thoughts that are happening in the brains of people with autism and how they are struggling to communicate. 

I think if a teacher is making the transition with a student from using a keyboard as a full-time accessory to writing that it is important to consider whether this is a necessary compensation or if the student would benefit at all from remediation and further development of their writing skills.  

I agree with Broun when she states that hand writing is not essential to literacy and that it is the thought process that is the most important element. If a child can find another means by which they can express themselves and demonstrate comprehension then all the power to them. This is the direction we are moving in and if allowing students to use alternative modes of representation to express their thoughts and understanding reduces stress allowing them to further develop their ideas then isn't this the best case scenario?

Assistive Technology and Writing:

Like some of the other articles, I found the tables in this article useful. I suppose I am someone the benefits from guidelines as displayed in the low tech assistive technology for hand writing assistance table. Anytime the information being presented to me can be broken down into sections I find it very helpful. The breakdown of low-tech solutions, mid-tech solutions, and high-tech solutions provided a great overview of the possibilities available to students. This article has provided me with numerous resources that will assist students with drafting and editing, typing, spelling, and brainstorming. 

I also found the suggestions for portable wordprocessing devices useful. I had never heard of Neo or CalcuScribe. I am also looking to have a class blog with my grade 6 students next year. I had already begun to investigate Kidblog and now, thanks for this article I have another resource  (classchatter.com) to look into. 

Overall I think this article does an excellent job providing evidence that technology has a place in writing. 

Diagnosis and intervention strategies for disorders of written language:

This article wasn't my favourite however it did teach my a lot about a disability I knew little about. 

Compensatory Strategies and ItunesU development

Today's class on when to use compensatory strategies was extremely useful. I have always found it difficult to determine when to initiate the use of a compensatory strategy to help students.

It is important to have the student motivated and engaged for these strategies to be successful. Often, compensatory strategies are introduced between grades 3 and 4, a time where a student might be suffering from low self-esteem after treading through previous grades struggling with reading and writing. Therefore, prior to introducing compensatory assistance, regaining the students confidence and improving the emotions associated with learning is essential. Without this, the students success will be compromised.

Navidys: a web browser that allows a student to make appropriate accommodations to the browser content that allows them to use it successfully.

ClairoPDF, Voice Dream

Ashley and I put in some good time in on our Itunesu project. We found some great material to add to our research materials section.

While searching for information I found David Sousa's blog!!!!  It is called 'How the Brain Works'. He writes all about various functions of the brain in relation to learning. Check it out! Click David's head to be linked to his wordpress.

Today also gave me an idea as to how useful itunesu will be in my career. I can definitely foresee myself using this format as a way to present and share information with students and colleagues. I am still learning how to develop a course but would love to try it with my grade 6's next year.

Day 6 - Ipads as Instructional Tools to enhance learning opportunities or students with developmental disabilities: An action research project

This article brings to ahead a question I've been struggling with for the past year. Why is access to technology determined by individual schools and not a matter that is managed by the school board or provincial government? My statement might not be exactly true however, this past year I worked firsthand in a school that had little to no technology available to it's 550 students. Upon taking a job at a new school only 15 minutes away from my previous school I was showered with technologies available to meet for the upcoming year (as mentioned in a previous blog post). Although I'm excited to have the technology for next year I can't help but think about the vast difference between the two schools only 15 minutes apart. Why does one  school have an iPad for every single classroom along with an LCD projector and the other school has two iPads for the entire school? I realize money is coming from outside sources that tend to fund such purchases but to me this does not seem like an equal education. From all of the articles we have read thus far it is becoming more and more clear that the iPad is a universal tool to help students with and without disabilities. Therefore, why is their implementation not being regulated by a larger body that has the best interests of all students in mind?

I realize this wasn't the main point of the article however reading it reminded me of this existing issue in my school board. 

To comment on the PD aspects of the introduction of iPads to the classroom, I would like to say that time and time again I have heard of cases where teachers have access to the technology but choose not to use it. I believe that this is a result of not wanting to take on the unfamiliar. The best part is that iPads are extremely user friendly and if teachers just give them a chance they will realize how they too can learn not only how to use the iPad but how it can also enhance their instruction and assist students who are struggling.

Webinar LD APPS

This webinar really had me thinking about how the iPad is the essential tool for assisting students with LDs. It is the most versatile tool on the market. How is this tool not in every school on a mass scale? Every student should have an iPad. This would be the universal design!

The apps reviewed in the webinar certainly demonstrate a vast range of technologies that are available to help students with reading, writing, and the organization of their ideas. They help to remove barriers and allow a students to complete work, feel successful, and gain confidence.

My top 3 Apps:

I really liked the Shmoop website in combination with Paper Helper. I like that we are seeing an app the is geared towards high school students. As we all know the expectations in high school are largely surrounding by writing papers and presentations. The Paper Helper app would certainly be beneficial to students that need help planning their ideas, organizing their information. This word processor is versatile and user friendly. I like that you are easily share your work, can choose your format, and can  export your work. It also allows you to works in conjunction with apps allowing you to view and use a website such as Shmoop simultaneously. The Shmoop website is awesome. I love how it presents information on texts such as an introduction, summary, Therese, quotes, character information, and analysis. I would have definitely used this when I was in high school.

 To me, the microphone on the iPad is the most useful tool and proves its functionality in almost ever app demonstrated in the webinar. I use the microphone all the time on my iPhone. The ease of speaking into the mic in order to record ideas or to write an assignment removes a lot of barriers even for people who do not have LDs. For me, it allows to me to record my thoughts without having to type. I find this allows me to focus only on my ideas and not on the typing. This reduces the number of neurological steps needed to accomplish the task at hand.

 The Puffin app is something everyone should have as it allows you to use flash based materials on the iPad. Again, this is an app for everyone, not just students with LDs. I will be downloading this app. I will also be downloading what I think was called Read Iris. This is an app that scans your text and reads it out loud to you. This, much like the microphone, would help to reduce the number of processes occurring at once and would allow someone to focus only on listening.

 I also like Prizmo. I had heard about Prizmo but had never experienced it. After having watched the webinar, I feel as though Prizmo is an all encompassing app that would be worth while getting to know. I like its versatility with regards to pulling in text, zooming in and out, speak selection, font selection, and voice recording. I like being able to customize the text to my needs. I almost always enlarge a text I am reading and struggle with small print paper articles so much that if the print is too small, I just don't read the article because of the struggle to keep my place on the page and see the text. Prizmo would have greatly change my university experience as I often missed information because of the format it was presented in. Prizmo would be beneficial to many students with or without visual or auditory problems.

Webinar for Executive Function

Here are my Highlights and Takeaways from the Executive Function Webinar:

I learned what executive function is! It is frontal lobe that is responsible for behaviour regulation and time management. Immediately I started to think about how issues with executive function could really affect a person in their learning environment as both behaviour and time management are very important in the learning process.

I like the analogies used to describe EF - the CEO or conductor of an orchestra. The CEO or conductor decides what to attempt and what to complete. If this person walked away, a problem would incur.

The Think, Decide, Act slide also helped me to better understand EF. Without the ability to think decide, and act, a person would certainly have a difficult time accomplishing a task. I learned that someone with EF problems has a hard time think about the task, deciding where to begin or what to do next, and has difficulty managing time to complete the task.

The frontal lobe executive function is affected by every psychiatric disorder (ADHD, ODD,CD,ASD).

I also learned that students that have problems with EF can follow a well structured lesson where the teacher is deliberate with information and presents it in a easy to follow layout. However, once that student is alone and left to do a task, they struggle. Examples of these types of situations are tests, long term projects, or answering questions in class.Whenever that student experiences problems with EF they disengage and begin a downward spiral to an ineffective state which may trigger behaviour problems. This makes the student inconsistent with their performance and they may therefore underachieve. Problems with executive function tend to impact a student’s school performance the most.

As I mentioned about, time management is also affected by EF such that students have a difficult time deciding what activity to do first, in what order, and what to complete first. They find is hard to look at the long term picture and goal.

I enjoyed learning about the various apps that can assist  with planning, working memory, time management, organization, and metacognition.

My favourites were:

1) Take A Chill : I like this app because it reminds me of the principles of yoga such as being in the moment, checking in with your whole body one part at a time, taking deep breaths, and grounded yourself. I can see this being very useful and engaging for a student who has anxiety or has trouble self regulating. I think I would use this on my own anytime I find my mind racing and wanted to slow things down and reground myself.

2) Tools for Students: I really liked the graphic organizers available in this app. I immediately thought about ways you could use this app to plot out ideas. I also like that you can use the mic to record ideas to be inserted into the organizers. This is a versatile app that can be used to do many things that could assist someone with their organizational skills. I will definitely be purchasing this app and would love to have access in order to share this on the LCD projector screen with the whole class.

3) Waitstrip: Though simple, I see many uses for this app in the lower elementary classroom. I could have used this app many times over in my classroom this past year. I like how this app allows you to choose how many tasks you are going to complete. I like the tactile aspect of touching the screen, the change in colour, and the sounds of reward. I think this would give a student a sense of satisfaction for having completed the tasks they set out for themselves.

I also liked the social story apps as I feel they could be extremely useful in lower elementary. I would love to find some in french.

Day 5-Learning for Text

I think this article resonates with many teachers as we have all experienced the effects of a one-size-fits-all curriculum. The time, conditions, and achievement associated with the curriculum is not achievable by every student. This however, is not new knowledge to us. It has been a topic discussed time and time again and yet we fail to make the appropriate changes.

I found the article comments about curriculum files cumulating a child's failures somewhat amusing. Why do we collect all this information without making appropriate predictions for the future in order to assist the child? Instead we keep a record of all of their failures for teachers to examine each year. 

The article also clarified for me the difference between remediation and compensation. At this point in the article the comment is made "how much failure data do we need before we have enough evidence that the child can't perform the task?" At what point do we introduce assistive technology? What guidelines do we follow? As a teacher, I rely on my professional judgment to make decisions about my students learning. This is not to say that these decisions are easily made or that I know the appropriate solution. In these situations I find myself relying heavily on our school planning team. I think this is an invaluable resource to all teachers. To be able to have a group of professionals with whom you can discuss concerns about students and seek advice is a great resource to teachers. Unfortunately, in my experience there has been limited access to assistive technologies therefore limiting what was available to help students. 

I like Dyck and Pemberton's advanced model for making decisions about text adaptations 1) bypass reading, 2) decrease reading, 3) support reading, 4) organize reading graphic organizers, 5) guide reading. I think the table provided to help during the decision making process could be very useful:

This article has been one of my favorites. The ideas, resources, and tables provided are useful and the issues discussed are issues experienced by every teacher. 

The Writing Process Part 2

We had an interesting discussion about the very first things we must do in order to prepare for reading. We need to emotionally prepare ourselves to read. It is important to consider the how we must clear our minds, block out distractive sounds, and settle our bodies before we can even begin to read.

Once you have establish your readiness to read, we use our orientation skills and long term memory of where to start to locate the top left hand corner of the page.

From here, we begin to identify the letters on the first word.  We decode the letters by applying our background knowledge of the letters, their sounds, and how they blend together with other letters. After we read a word, she try to apply meaning to it if we have memory of that word. If not, we are left trying to apply meaning, which may not happened as prior knowledge may not exist.

Below is the chart Ashley and I started yesterday. After Barbara's 36 step explanation of the reading process we realize that we missed a lot if steps!

Taking a look at the individual brain functions really showed me how many steps are necessary to do simple tasks and how there is so much room for error that may result in a difficulty. We assume that people are capable of the simplest task when in fact, someone might suffer from a small disfunction that might not allow them to see a small spot on a page, rendering them incapable of see all of the words on a page and unable to read successfully. The smallest disruption in a particular brain function can change the outcome of reading even if all other functions work properly.

This is certainly something to consider when teaching students to read. I can't help but reflect on my grade 1 students from this past year. Every time they made a small mistake ( saying 'le' instead of 'la') I would assume they weren't paying close enough attention to the letters. Wrong! There are probably numerous reasons as to why my students commonly made this error and upon reflection on the process of reading I can't help but think that maybe it was an engagement problem. 

My Adjustable Seat

Upon reflecting on my classroom adjustable seat, it took me a few minutes to figure out exactly where to find it. From the video The Average Myth, I did gain an understanding of what it means to be a 'jagged'  (in a good way:)and how average just doesn't exist. With this in mind I made a list of what I think makes my classroom adjustable seat:

-Multiple representations of work

-Group work and individual work

-Journaling (blogging, video, pictorial, vocal)

-Self-assessment and peer assessment

-Resource and Early Literacy Support

-A versatile physical classroom environment

-Lots of visual representations

-Timed and untimed tasks

-Technology- computers, iPads, LCD projectors, voice recorders

I look forward to reading what other people think make up their adjustable seat so that I can improve on my own. 

Please leave a comment if you have any suggestions of ways I can expand my adjustable seat.

Breaking Down the Reading Process

Breaking down the reading process is a lot harder than you think. It is difficult to consider where to start. As I mentioned in previous posts I had no idea there was so much involved with neurologically with the reading process (and to be honest I  hadn't really thought about it before). This assignment is a great way for teachers to realize the demand we're putting on students when they are learning to read.

Another interesting part to this assignment is where to start. Ashley and I are working together and immediately we both wanted to start in different places because in our minds the reading process started with different things. This generated excellent conversation between the two of us and really got us discussing what the first part of the process was, where the neurological process began, and the basic steps behind reading. 

I realized how much I take for granted when I read. It take for granted that I already know what letters are, what they sound like, how they blend with other letters, how to make the appropriate shape with my mouth in order to say a letter and it's sound. 

As French  immersion teachers, Ashley and I had a good understanding as to where students begin when they have no background language in reading. We have both experienced beginning readers who come to us with absolutely no knowledge of the French language. This helped us to recap the step-by-step process of reading. Little did we know the neurological demands on students, and in addition the demand of doing it all in their second language. 

So far Ashley and I have established what we think is the beginning of the reading process. I look forward to continuing this activity together tomorrow to further deepen our understanding of what is involved in order to read. 

The Myth of Average

My three takeaways from The Myth about Average


1)

2) http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/design-to-the-edges/22880310/?s=6pejbt&ref=app

3) 

iBook presentations

Jonathan and Angela,
I liked how you layered the apps, we were tring to do that but ran out of time.

You made a good point about technologies always changing. Sometimes I wonder how much time I should spend on learning one technology when there is quite possibly a newer, better one around the corner.

Good job on the presumed competency video. We don't always have to use the fancy apps to delivery our ideas.

UDL- is not an after thought it is built into the design with allows the teacher to reach the needs of students they might not have been aware of.

Liz and Shauna
Video scribe- so cool! I want to learn how to use this app.
Great video on assistive technology.
I loved your imovie. You chose a great template.

Excellent job ladies. You gave me some great ideas of new apps to try out on my own and with my students.

Eleanor and Simon 
You two did a wonderful job of smashing many apps together!

I will definitely be rewatching the video you recommended by Stephen Hawking. Technology can be life changing for so many people as we have already seen in many videos and in the stories we have shared with each other.
Thank you for the recommendation of popplet. I too find inspiration difficult to use. I spend most of my in inspiration trying to figure out how to undo things I have done, and as a result I tend to do something I didn't want to happen!

Assitive technology for leisure and learning( I will look into this course, thanks for recommending it).

 Darah and Mark
Great choice of video into order to explain assitive technology. I used this same video on my blog. It is was great way to see assitive technology in action. The video you used actually has series showing many success stories. I posted a few on my blog:)

Video scribe- thanks for using this. I had no idea about the app and am excited to try it out. It could be a great resource in the classroom. I feel that apps like this can help build students confidence ( as the outcomes is quite impressive).

Apps I plan on trying out: Word Foto, video scribe, word poetry.

Kate and Greg
Thank for listing the app you used at the bottom of each page:)

Thank you for clarifing that disruptive technology is not just a new technology improving upon an old, but that it is a completely new technology that had ever been created before.

Great comparison to the recycling, compost, garbage system to presumed competency. Tools do not need to be complicated. They can as simple as signage.

Janet and Lindsay

Janet, thank you for sharing your experiences with the iPad pilot project. It is so positive to hear about school boards that are looking forward and try out new technologies on a large scale. Also, thank you for telling us about PDAF funding ( I can only assume that there will be an increase in applications for next year:)

Great job using kidspiration to explain UDL.

Ashley and Natalie
Explain everything app- this is a very useful app. Many of us struggle to input videoed into our iBooks.

Temple- I will be checking out this movie:)

Educreation- thank you for the little introduction to educreation. This would be a great tool for students to use to explain what they have learned and represent it in a non traditional way.


Megan and Candice
You did a great job of making your presentation inclusive ( assuring visual and audio on all pages).

Thank you for suggesting the download up. This would make a big difference in the quality of videos we use in our classrooms.

Colorsplash- will check it out

You two clearly worked hard to explore new apps and perfect them. You bravely explored imovie and and cutting films in order to shorten them. This is a great skill to have as often it can be a frustrating experience trying to edit film.

Christy
It's great to find an app with like and a re comfortable with.

Douglas Biklen

You presented some great information about presumed competency. It is interesting to see quotes from family members who are trying to adjust their own views in order to change their presumed competency of their children.

I think it is important  realize that UDL impacts everyone, not only the people we are trying to accommodate from the beginning as you demonstrated with you comments about wheelchair ramps, they not only assistance people in wheel chairs but also other people challenged with stairs.

Your presentation had great flow, great work!

Day 4-A response to Sousa's article

This article has articulated some very important research about brain development and children's readiness for school. I often find myself thinking about these issues and even more so this past school year because I taught grade 1 French immersion. According to Sousa, 50% of students make the appropriate adjustments to learn how to read while the other 50% struggle to make the appropriate cognitive adjustments. I am very curious to see what the statistics on reading development in early elementary French immersion would be. Based on my class this past year I had approximately 6 struggling readers. They came to me at prereader level after one year of primary French immersion. I can't help but apply the information from this article to these students. Sousa writes that children acquire language at an early age and fine tune their pronunciation through conversation with others and from corrections from parents. Therefore, by the time they go to school they have some mastery of language. In many cases, this is not the situation for French immersion students. They often go to school with no knowledge of the French language and are expected to learn how to speak, read, and socialize in their second language all within the 4 hours they are exposed to the language each day. I think that Sousa would agree that some of the students brains might not be ready for such a challenge.
Sousa comments that reading requires adding new words to ones mental lexicon and that there must be a connection between the systems to allow the brain to recognize spoken words and the system that recognizes written words.  This illustrates the exact problem I see with students in early French immersion. Often times, students struggling to read in French do not have a mental lexicon of French vocabulary (probably because they do not speak the language outside of school in daily interactions) and struggle to make a connection between spoken and written words.

Therefore, when students join the French immersion program they are starting from scratch. This is where phonological awareness is very important. At the beginning of primary students begin a program of learning the basic sounds in French, and by grade 1 they are working on letter blends. The learning of these phonetics is a long process and requires much repetition. Having watched this learning process I can attest that for some students this is very difficult and after having read Sousa' article I can only conclude that neurologically these students are not making the necessary connections. Therefore, translating phonological awareness to letters in order to read could be an extreme challenge for some students.

I really enjoyed reading this article  as it opened up my eyes to the neurological process necessary to read and the role this plays in learning for students in the French immersion program.


Question: Did anyone learn about the neurological process of reading in their bachelor of education degree?

I didn't, and it certainly appears to be something a teacher should be familiar with. 

Day 4

The education of dyslexic children from childhood to young adult:

I found the article about dyslexia very interesting. I learned a lot about that historical roots of dyslexia, the genetic influences of dyslexia, and the various interventions available to help those with dyslexia.

Although it was interesting reading about the epidemiology of dyslexia and it's cognitive implications, I enjoyed most reading about the interventions available to those with dyslexia. The Teaching Reading to Dyslexic Students portion of the article thoroughly described the interventions available at the early, intermediate, and late stages of education. It is no surprise to me that a combination of programs and adaptations together result in significantly better reading, fluency, and comprehension results. The explicit, intense, systematic, and developmental appropriate interventions mentioned in the article clearly provide evidence for their continuation in order to approach success with reading. 

I also found the evidence suggesting that intervention programs for children beyond second-grade are not as effective intriguing. To me, this suggests that between primary and grade 2 is the most important time to develop reading strategies and to use the suggested interventions with not only students with dyslexia but other students struggling as well.  

As I reflect on this article as a teacher I can only imagine the time and effort it would take to help teach a child with dyslexia in order to help them reach the word accuracy and fluency goals. This article only strengthens the case that lower elementary classroom sizes should be smaller in order to meet the needs of young readers, to  implement necessary intervention, and to develop the necessary skills to survive in a print dominated world. 

I have never taught a student with dyslexia and shall it ever encounter the situation I will be sure to review this article in order to properly prepare myself.

Class comments and thoughts:

Today Ashley and I work diligently on our iBook assignment. We spent a lot of time learning. Pretty much every app was a new to us app and required some instruction and a learning curve. A lot of time was used up in this process. When we did finish our iBook but would have like more time to polish it off.

For our iBook, we used:
Book creator, imovie, Soc puppets, inspiration, doodle buddy, PicCollage, telligami, toon camera, cloud art, strip design, sketch, educreation.