Welcome

1. Welcome While we wait think about one of your students that is capable of achieving better than they currently are. What are their characteristics as learners? Record these as bullets. For example: • Likes to draw • Substitutes long words while reading aloud. • Inventive spelling

2. WINNING STRATEGIES FOR STRUGGLING STUDENTS

3. Gerald Logan glogan@me.com

4. KIDS Here’s to the kids who are different The kids who don’t always get A’s The kids who have ears Twice the size of their peers Or noses that go on for days Here’s to the kids who are different The kids who are just out of step The kids they all tease Who have cuts on their knees And whose sneakers are constantly wet Here’s to the kids who are different The kids with a mischievous streak For when they have grown, as history has shown It’s their difference that makes them unique.

5. The Goals of the Workshop Are to Help Students Who Struggle By: • identifying struggling students, • understanding their anxieties and frustrations, • gathering information, • differentiating instruction, • determining when to use appropriate accommodations, and • providing effective learning strategies and resources.

6. Advanced Organizer • Introductory Activity • Definition of Inclusion • Identification of “Struggling Students” • Learning Styles • Accommodations • Engage Students – some ideas

7. Read excerpt from The Boarding House by james joyce Mrs. Mooney was bachelor’s daughter. She was a woman who was quite able to keep things to her self; a determined woman. She had married her father’s fireman and opened a bachelor’s shop near spring Gardens. But as soon as here father-in-law was dead Mr. Mooney began to go the deeper. He drank, pludered the till, ran headlong into bed. It was no use making him take the plan; he was ssure to break out again a few days after. By fighting his wife in te pressure of customers and buying bad meat he royed his business.

8. 1. What kind of business did the Mooney’s have? 2. What did Mr. Mooney do before he married Mrs. Mooney? 3. Why did they not have much money? 4. What did Mrs. Mooney do to try to stop Mr. Mooney’s devilish ways? Your Score _____% correct on reading comprehension

9. The Boarding Houseby James Joyce Mrs. Mooney was a butcher’s daughter. She was a woman who was quite able to keep things to herself. She had married her father’s foreman and opened a butcher shop near Spring Gardens. But as soon as his father-in-law was dead, Mr. Mooney began to go to the devil. He drank, plundered the till and ran headlong into debt. It was no use making him take the pledge—he was sure to break it again a few days after. By fighting with his wife in thepresence of customers and buying bad meat, he ruined his business.

10. Definition of a struggling student: under achieving, with no clear reason. It is often hard to figure out the cause.

11. Students Who Struggle can learn more when teachers: • create a “comfortable” place to learn • use tools that identify learning preferences and styles, • make accommodations/adaptations based on individual needs, and • explicitly teach self-regulation strategies and procedures (eg, goal setting, self-instruction, self-monitoring, and self-evaluation).

12. Gathering Information A starting point is gathering relevant information about a student―information about their academics, home life and learning styles are very important pieces of the puzzle. 1. Previous Teachers: Preliminary Student Profile 2. Student Records: Cum File Reviews 3. Parent information: Goal Sheets and background information 4. Student Input: Interest inventories

13. Creating a “Comfortable” place to learn (Anxiety) • Advanced Organizers • Safe Place to take risks (class rules) • Question Bag: Allows students to discreetly ask questions. • Reading (levelled class library, library and reading assessments) • Five Finger Rule

14. The Boarding Houseby James Joyce Mrs. Mooney was a butcher’s daughter. She was a woman who was quite able to keep things to herself. She had married her father’s foreman and opened a butcher shop near Spring Gardens. But as soon as his father-in-law was dead, Mr. Mooney began to go to the devil. He drank, plundered the till and ran headlong into debt. It was no use making him take the pledge—he was sure to break it again a few days after. By fighting with his wife in the presence of customers and buying bad meat, he ruined his business.

15. The Boarding Houseby James Joyce Mrs. Mooney was a butcher’s daughter. But as soon as his father-in-law was dead, Mr. Mooney began to go to the devil. By fighting with his wife in the presence of customers and buying bad meat, he ruined his business. www.textcompactor.com set at 25% Textcompactor.com

16. www.textcompactor.com

17. How do you make your classroom a comfortable place to learn?

18. Carol Ann Tomlinson on Differentiated Instruction “Educators need to consider student needs and learning styles first, then differentiate curriculum content, processes and products before delivering instruction.”

19. Learning Styles • What type of instructional strategies do I prefer? Think about the learning style of “your struggling student”

20. My most preferred learning style is…. • Visual • Auditory • Read/Write • Kinaesthetic

21. Learning Styles Homework Complete the Learning Style Inventory. http://www.vark-learn.com/english/page.asp?p=questionnaire How can I work outside my comfort zone? • Another idea is to use the Multiple Intelligences as an organizational framework.

22. Practical Classroom Learning Strategies Do you address some modes of learning when you are planning lessons?

23. Ideas • Centres or Learning labs (very similar to centres) to explore content in a variety of ways • Collaborative learning groups. • Open-ended tasks; • Flexible groupings and tiered lessons; • Individualized, according to independent levels; • Tiered assignments; • Compacting curriculum to meet the needs of high-achieving students Adapted from Every Child is a Winner. 2005.

24. Visual Unit Planner

25. Accommodations/Adaptations • Alter the delivery of instruction or method of student performance in a way that does not change the content or conceptual difficulty of the curriculum.

26. Accommodations

27. Accommodations and Modifications—What Is the Difference? • Modifications • Actual changes to curriculum • Generally for students with IPPS • Accommodations • Curriculum • Helps many students

28. Accommodation Can Mean That Teachers Alter the Way They Teach (Expect Students to Learn) By: • Environment • Adjusting the classroom and/or physical surroundings (eg, alternative seating, adaptive devices) • Instruction • Making instructional accommodations (eg, copies of notes, alternative materials, etc) • Assessment • Evaluating and testing accommodations (eg, extra time, oral, etc) Alberta Education. 2002. Unlocking Potential— Components of Programming for Students with Learning Disabilities.

29. Environmental Accommodations • ENV Environmental accommodations may be related to the resources and materials the student uses or to the layout and use of classroom space.

30. Wiggle While You Learn (env) Some students can’t sit still. Use these sensory strategies to let them move and learn simultaneously. These sensory strategies can be: providing fidget toys, such as squishy balls and hidden pouches to hang on the neck. Sinnema, J. Wiggle While You Learn. The Edmonton Journal, March 16, 2004.

31. Wiggle While You Learn (env) a hug vest or a rubber seat cushion; .

32. Wiggle While You Learn (env) My favourite is a stand up desk. (no you don’t need a special desk just a higher table)

33. Instructional Accommodations • INST Instructional accommodations are changes to the way information and concepts are presented or practised to ensure that each student has the opportunities and support he or she needs to learn.

34. Technology (inst, env) • Computers that scan and read textbooks to help students who have difficulty keeping up with assignments and tests. • Go to http://webanywhere.cs.washington.edu/wa.php. This website uses voices to read text (word by word). • Textcompactor.com

35. Technology (inst, env) iPad Apps (free) • Dragon Dictation: Speech to text • iSpeech: text to speech • NaturalReader: text to speech (only 10 minutes per day)

36. Assessment Accommodation ASSESS Some students will: • require accommodations that allow classroom assessments to measure and communicate student growth and achievement clearly and realistically. • know what they need in order to demonstrate their knowledge in the classroom and in testing situations.

37. Barriers • Misunderstanding the purpose. • Not involving the student in the process. • Using accommodations inconsistently.

38. What Successes Have You had…..

39. Organizing and Engaging Students • Weekly Goal Setting for Students • Reviewing Your Weekly Goals • Student Agenda Planner • Do-It-Now Board • More Strategies for Helping Students Organize

40. Weekly Goal Setting for Students (org) • It is important to set goals on a weekly basis. • What is the weekly goal? • How will students know if they achieve the goal? Terri-Lyn Rogusky, Edmonton Public Schools.

41. Student Agenda Planner (Org) • helps students organize their own priorities and commitments. • provides a way to communicate with parents. • teaches the skills of planning and organization.

42. TeacherDaily Planner

43. Sample Learning Strategys COPSis an acronym for a strategic approach that helps students detect and correct common writing errors. Each letter stands for an aspect of writing that students need to check for accuracy. Shannon and Polloway. 1993. Capitalization of appropriate letters Overall appearance of a paper Punctuation Spelling accuracy

44. Teaching Strategies MOOFS is a learning strategy where the teacher models how to understand a particular concept. Students watch and practice what the teacher has modelled. Teacher models concept, students watch. M Overt modeling by teacher, student copies. O Overt practice by student, teacher watches. O F Fade checking by teacher. S Silent practice by student, teacher checks regularly.

45. What is an idea you can try this next week?

46. Thank you. If you have any questions please email me at glogan@me.com For further information, contact PD staff at Barnett House, phone 780-447-9400 or 1-800-232-7208 (toll free in Alberta); or by email at pd@ata.ab.ca. Information is also posted on the Association website at www.teachers.ab.ca