Promoting Student Success

I had another one of those conversations with a teacher the other day. You know the one, where they say the student just sat in front of the computer for 45 minutes and produced a five word sentence. The student is used to dictating to a scribe because output is an issue for him (legibility issues, organizational issues, etc.) He has been dictating to a scribe for five years now. The teacher wanted to help the student increase their output. But how?

How does this occur when a student has relied on a scribe for years? How do we move a student from dependence to independence? How do we help improve a student's output in the face of "learned helplessness?"

Suggested strategy:

1. Recognize that the way we improve our writing is to write. About anything. Preferably of interest.

2. Identify topics of interest to the student. Sit down with them and list everything that interests them - TV programs, music, movies, hobbies, things they text or IM about, clubs they belong to at school, what they do with their free time away from school, favorite anythings. (You get the drill).

3. Let the student decide the top three choices that are of interest to them. Rank them in order - 1, 2. 3.

4. Brainstorm writing ideas considering the top three areas of interest. Narratives are easiest to start with. But together come up with anything you can that will motivate your student(s) to write about their preferred topics. Tap into the reality that we learn best that which we enjoy (The Neuroscience of Joyful Education). Use various comic strip creator tools. Detail everything you can about the preferred topic to someone who is visiting from another planet and has no idea about what interests you, the student. The possibilities are endless.

5. Allow the student to use their preferred method of output - paper/pencil, word processor, speech recognition, even consider alternating with the "Power of Voice" - use sound recorders built into Word or Powerpoint, create a Podcast, use Jott, etc.

6. At this point, do not worry about the mechanics of the product. Just encourage and promote student success. And if you worry that this doesn't align with the curriculum frameworks, compare what the student produced independently before (a five word sentence in 45 minutes) to what they are producing today after you have decided to step back and allow your student to work with preferred subject material.

Other thoughts that have worked for you?

Who Decided This Was Good Teaching?

There are many students in our classrooms who struggle with reading grade level material due to decoding, fluency or automaticity issues. Too frequently, I hear of teachers who read text to these struggling learners as an accommodation strategy, not just once, but throughout the day.

There are many students in our classroom who struggle with producing written work according to teacher expectations due to difficulties with the mechanics of writing, executive function issues, poor legibility or a variety of other issues. Too frequently, I hear of educational assistants who scribe for these struggling learners as an accommodation strategy, not just infrequently, but throughout the day for all written work.

Who started this trend? And, why? Is this good teaching? An effective instructional method? What is the educational rationale for this?

If you can sense my frustration, it’s because this is happening too often in our schools and this must stop!

The availability of technology makes dependence upon adults for accessing materials and demonstrating what students know unnecessary. Students can be taught how to use text-to-speech to hear the text read to them and they can listen repeatedly as needed without asking an adult to read it to them again if they didn’t get it the first time. In addition, research shows that reading skills improve when text-to-speech is combined with highlighting each word as it is read. Makes sense to me!

Allow students to gain control through accommodations and bypass strategies that support their strengths. Federal special education laws require a free, appropriate education for all students. I ask you, is having an adult read content to you "appropriate?" Picture yourself in a middle school or high school classroom dependent upon adults to read you a book chapter or directions on a handout or whatever. How would YOU feel?

When we encourage adult dependence, we are allowing our struggling readers to fall further behind. We are encouraging learned helplessness. Is this good teaching?

It is vital to provide exposure to grade level text in a multi-sensory format that promotes independence. Otherwise, the opportunities to read are lost with devastating long-term consequences. Learned helplessness often results with reluctance to explore any text. The gaps between the readers and non-readers increase and by middle school and high school it is very difficult to recapture those lost opportunities.

Similar issues with scribing. A few years ago, I worked with a student who was a senior in high school. A paraprofessional was assigned to work with her since early elementary grades to help with content acquisition (she had difficulty with reading) and to scribe for her (she had difficulty getting her thoughts on paper). She was ready to graduate and yet could not even write a paragraph! What had been done to her? The paraprofessional couldn’t continue working with her after graduation! The educational team failed her....

A great disservice could have been avoided by offering effective interventions that promoted independence instead of dependence.

Can we agree to put an end to this pervasive practice?

Technology supports exist which provide a variety of options to promote independence. Use them in your classrooms! Now, this IS good teaching!