Integrating RTI With Cognative Neuropsychology: A Scientific Approach to Reading - CHAPTER 1

I really wish scientists would come up with better titles. As a side note, I'm sick at home today, and the upside about being sick is that you can write. So - let's look at Chapter 1, "Cognitive Neuropsychology and Five Dirty Words." Now that's a better title.These are well used words that describe behavior and achievement in ways that are entirely nonproductive. But they're easy to remember and everyone gets an iconic image of what's being expressed. They are nonproductive because they're too general. They don't relay information that can help solve the problem. Understand that while I summarize what the authors, Feifer and Toffalo, are saying, I'm also adding my own reactions to the information. That said, the words are:

1. Over-Achievement. You'd think that would be an asset. We understand it to mean someone who is achieving beyond what is expected. But it can be used to explain away discrepancies in test scores, which brings us to a dirty little secret of SPED. Students taken into special education programs have to pass specific guidelines set by congress. Basically, they are discrepancy numbers between IQ and academic scores. That means, there has to be a significant difference (pretty much 15%) between what a student's IQ number is and what his school work is scored at. The dirty little secret is that all educators know that an IQ test measures only some of the many areas of intelligences of which the human being is capable. Also, the overall score gives a very vague measure of the limited areas of intelligence measured, and often neglects to provide sufficient information was to why a student has scored at that level. In other words, this is extremely limited information that can determine a child's ability to receive much needed help. So what happens if your child's IQ score is low and he's scoring normally in academic testing? Then he's an over-achiever, and probably not qualified for services, even if he's struggling. This is another example of the problem of high stakes testing. A critical area of human intelligence that IQ and academic tests typically miss is in the area referred to as "executive functioning." The intelligence that allows a person to "perceive stimuli, respond adaptively, flexibly change directions, anticipate future goals, consider consequences....." or what we would call "common sense." Feifer and Taffalo go on to point out that the person administering the test is performing all of these functions: what, where and how will the test be performed, what are the time constraints, and what will be measured. Yet executive functioning is critical to success. It can compensate for problems in academic learning. It can also destroy a student's ability to function even when academic functioning is good.
2. Potential: the IQ test is supposed to measure a person's potential. Cognitive psychology is an attempt to synthesize information from neurology, psychology, education, and medicine to produce a study of how the brain functions. Intelligence, again, is many faceted, To best intervene, to help a struggling student, we need to understand specific problems that may be the result of physical, emotional, or environmental causes. We simply can't measure (or pigeon hole) a student's potential based on test scores.
3. Discrepancy: repeat item one. Congress has mandated, and most state comply, with a discrepancy model to identify students who need intervention. Establish the IQ, compare it with academic testing scores, and the students who rank sufficiently below their IQ will get help. Problems outside of academics are also tested (emotional problems especially), but those problems have to affect academics in order to receive extra support. The authors point out that younger students may not score low enough for services, and must therefore wait for future retesting before intervention can occur. The wait and fail model means further damage (both academically and emotionally) and will require greater effort to correct later. I have personally seen students who have reached a point where they will no longer respond to help, they are so withdrawn and hostile.
4. Lazy: an easy way to blame the student. It lets a teacher off the hook. I've fallen into this trap myself if I can't get a student to respond to my efforts. But lazy is a behavioral term and therefore should respond to behavioral intervention. Why can't or won't the student respond? Is it a processing speed problem? Is it an inability to organize thought and stay on task? Is it a knowledge gap? Motivational? Distractability? Inability to initiate work? It is the authors' view that labeling a student lazy should really just open up a whole new set of why's.
5. Manipulative: my favorite. We are all manipulative. We all try to change our environment to suit us, interpret information to support our views, use the system to get what we want, and try to convince others we are justified. We all manipulate to survive by control. The student who is overtly manipulative feels a greater need to control. Many of these students don't recognize when reinterpreting information is lying. They don't understand cheating is wrong or prolonged debate is arguing. Only by understanding the underlying cause and then helping the student develop socially acceptable limits on manipulation can we help a student become successful.
There was also great information on brain function and specific regions that control areas of executive functioning. All in all - a very interesting chapter. 

Integrating RTI With Cognative Neuropsychology: A Scientific Approach to Reading

I spent a good deal of last summer reading up on comprehension strategies and disabilities specific to reading. Some of those books I reviewed on a previous blog, which was again posted here. It seems appropriate that I should spend some of my Christmas break doing the same thing. After all, my technology classes are on hiatus and I need to blog about something, right? This book was lent to me by our school psychologist. The authors are Steven G. Feifer, D.Ed. and Douglas A. Della Toffalo, PH.D. Turns out, it covered some very interesting research.

That said, I've hesitated tackling it because first, it's written in scientific jargon, which just takes longer to plow through. And second, it seems like every chapter had some very intense information. Frankly, I was a little overwhelmed. So this is what I propose: a series of blogs covering each chapter. That's probably a better way for me to digest the thing.

So first, let's attack the title. RTI, for you uninitiated, stands for "response to intervention" and is the current, all popular catch phrase for working with high risk kids. In this case, of course, that includes any struggling reader you may have in your classroom. Remember, reading disabilities are especially insidious. Problems in reading affect every other area in school and most of life. So information on how to interrupt this cycle of reading failure is critical. Forgive my bias. I am a reading teacher, of course.

Each chapter systematically covers specific aspects of reading instruction. First is a general discussion of Cognitive Neuropsychology. The second covers RTI. Chapter three concentrates on phonological processing. Four, orthographic processing. Chapter 5 looks at dyslexia (which I'm coming to suspect is far more common than we would like to believe). Chapter 6 ties everything to comprehension. Chapters 7 through 9 then discuss cases and application.

As a teacher, of course, application is the key. I hope that by reviewing each chapter individually I can ponder possible application of said materials. So, patience, dear readers, and I think we'll discuss some interesting stuff. The book was first published in 2007. But it takes a while to move from research into the classroom. A cursory review, which I did last month, excited me.

I hope you find it exciting, too.

Creativity in Education

by Jodee Steffensen on 07/08/11

What do teachers do all summer? Most of us sleep in, take classes, research, and heal our wounds. The classes and research often help the healing process by inspiring us with new ideas. The first book I read this summer helped ignite my badly dimished flame. "Out of Our Minds," by Ken Robinson, challenges the traditional "assembly line" educational model. He maintains that the future demands creativity, which is mostly decimated in today's classroom.
Any well intended teacher will argue that creativity in the classroom is severely compromised by increasingly pervasive core standards, district directed curriculum, severe time constraints, and high stakes testing. We've all been taught that creativity in the classroom is more engaging and results in greater understanding and retention. Yet most of us struggle to apply it.
Ken (I'll call him Ken because his writer's tone is that inviting) offers several recommendations I can't help but support: flexible schedules, greater student choice, differentiated curriculum, emphasis on social interaction and problem solving, and an explicit focus on brainstorming, research, evaluation, application, analysis, and re-evaluation strategies. Okay, these are my words (teacher speak), but the concepts he presents are familiar. And okay, I have no control over scheduling and student choice. But I'm trying to incorporate the rest into my classroom, and find his endorsement of those efforts reassuring.
No, he didn't forget to mention relevance of subject matter, recommending service  projects to develop community awareness. Nor did he neglect the importance of risk taking and learning from trial and error. "Creativity is not about generating ideas; it involves making judgements about them. The process includes elaboring on the initial ideas, testing and refining them and even rejecting them, in favor of others that emerge during the process." (pg 153)
So how do we explicitly teach this process? How do we do it in a way that enhances student confidence by rewarding risk taking? And how do we do it within the constraints of our current, over loaded, under resourced system? Fortunately, Ken also pointed out that creativity doesn't grow out of unrestricted chaos. It's best developed when supported by a firm frramework of requirements and limitations. "The internal challenge is to evolve structures and processes that are supple and responsive." (pg 237)
Bottom line - this is a great book which I highly recommend. I'm planning to pursue implementation and would love to hear from anyone out there who might have experience and/or ideas. Comments please?

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TRACK THE ENEMY - BY USING YOUR PLANNER

by Jodee Steffensen on 11/26/10

The first critical step in any military maneuver is knowing your enemy.You can't hope to have the advantage until you know exactly what you're dealing with.
THAT'S WHAT A PLANNER IS FOR!
But often you get one and have no instruction as to how to use it. So you carry it around for a while until it falls apart and then you chuck it.
Look on the organization page and watch the planner power point for specific step by step instructions on how to use this critical asset. To get you prepared, make sure you:
1. List all assignments and tests, along with any other information that may affect your schedule.
2. Check off each assignment as you complete it (yes, even if you finish it that day in class).
3. Cross off each assignment as you hand it in (ditto above). Acknowledge that sense of power that surges through you as you cross an item off. That's one of the great reasons for using a planner. That's why you list even the small assignments and go through the process. LET IT EMPOWER YOU!!!

Questions? Comments? Let me hear from you!!!

DROP BOX PART 2

Okay - free storage, accessible to any device from anywhere. I gotta' get this one down! Tried a little with google docs., had formatting issues. So I'm curious to see if this works better. We actually covered this briefly in a faculty meeting and it looked intriguing. Now let's see if I can actually use it.

1. Good news, files can be transferred from PC's to Macs. The whole point is to make sure everything is filed exactly from device to device.
2. It's the perfect backup because it's not dependent on a specific device.
3. Go to www.dropbox.com to create an account and download the software.
4. Enter email and password to create an account. It will also recognize more than one email.
5. There's a tutorial on the dropbox site that will guide you through the installation process.
6.  Storage is limited to 2 gigs of free space. You can invite someone new to join dropbox, and if they use the link you end them, you get more storage space. You can also pay for more storage.
7. Once on your computer, you can do a search (finder for Mac), look for the "Home" (little house on the Mac) or look under documents, or dropbox.
8. You click and drag items you want to put into the box. You can transfer entire folders in one stroke.
9. A huge advantage to dropbox is the share option where anyone you designate can get into your drop box for documents, pictures, etc.
10. This is great for transferring movie files because they're typically too large to email.
11. You can organize your material within dropbox by creating any number of folders. There are the usual defaults.
12, Be aware that you uploading formatting, also. So if you upload a doc in .pgs, a word program wouldn't recognize it. It will still be in the box, it's just you need to have the right software to read it.
13. When you share, you select which folders they have access to. Be cautious, because guests can control the content of that folder.
14. Your invitations have to be accepted, either by email or through dropbox.
         *****OTHER OPTIONS*******
15. www.box.net is another application that allows for storage and sharing, but restricts control of contents to the user.
16. Icloud is also available through Itunes.
17. There's also a service that's available for backing up data "into the cloud" but it's automatic and you don't control the organization of backed up files.

SO, simple and straight forward. I think it's pretty easy to use and certainly opens tons of options!

Check it out!!!

Social Media

Today we're looking at Facebook and other social media. Which is good, because I have a Facebook account that I never use. AND, I keep getting invites and postings from friends who obviously do!
So here goes....
RULES (DISTRICT) AND SUGGESTIONS REGARDING USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA:
-How to use Facebook in the class room? - First, don't friend students, create a fan page for them. Exception, Canyons District policy says you can friend student after high school.
-Check security options on Facebook to see who can access your information.
-Always preview and approve youtube videos.
-When you find someone who posts good stuff on youtube - subscribe.
-Create your own channel on youtube to upload your own videos, then refer to just the link in websites and blogs.
-Check on permission slips for students.
- The challenge is to make sure the use of technology is two way. I'm learning to use youtube in the classroom. I also know how to film and edit. I need to become efficient at posting student presentations on the youtube site.
-Twitter -144 characters only. A good way to get students to identify the main idea of any communication.
-tweetdeck - an application that helps you organize tweets.
-twhistory - a site that creates historical versions of tweets (i.e. the sinking of the Titanic).  This would be a fun way for kids to get into a story or historical event. The site has a "How to Create" tutorial that would allow the classroom to create it.
-Doorman - lets you list passwords, secured by another password, so you don't forget them over the summer when you're away from school.
-Skype - Computer to computer telephone. Used for chatting, voice and video. But you need to know the user name at the other end. It can handle up to ten people at the same time. All of this can happen simultaneously. So you can have a meeting with several people, individual chatting and others are chatting. 


Well, class is ending so I'll sign off. I look through these and they seem ragged. I'm getting sloppy. I'm not even editing before I post. So sorry. I probably should blog some full out thoughts. Forgive me if this irritates you. I'll get better.

INSPIRATION

Today we explored Inspiration, a program designed to make it easy to create flowcharts which result in outlines. But the flowcharts aren't limited to planning. They can be applied to any kinds of brain storming activity to help organize information for essays, stories, presentations, etc.

• It's easy to navigate between the flowchart and the outline.
• It's easier to change or adjust information when in the outline mode.
• It's easier to add in the flowchart mode.
• There's a library of pictures that can replace the bubbles of the flowchart.
• There is also a variety of bubble types.
• There are hundreds of templates that can be used and are categories by subject content.
• There is access to more templates online.

This would be a great tool for helping student understand how outlines works.