SPEDucation

DIBELS Next

2010-05-19T23:28:00.000-07:00

DIBELS, the University of Oregon brain baby, designed to help teacher use data to make instructional decisions to measure student progress in reading, has been updated! DIBELS Next is an revised product with new forms and passages, clearer directions for assessor and students, a larger format, and all published materials are free to download at the DIBELS website, DIBELS.org.

You may also purchase full color versions of DIBELS Next teacher and student materials from Sopris.

I hope you find this helpful!

LL

Oregon Department of Education: Resources for Education Achievement and Leadership

2010-03-26T08:01:00.000-07:00

The Oregon Department of Education (ODE) is making an effort to provide valuable, functional resources to Oregon educators through their website. If you were to navigate from the home page, through Teaching and Learning, then click on Resources for Educational Achievement and Leadership (REAL), you would find yourself on a page with about 9 blue links. We are going to focus on 3: Strategies for Student Success, Searchable Standards tool, and Teaching and Learning Resources. Although only 2 of these features are currently operational, I believe they all will have a positive impact on both general and special education teachers.

Resources for Educational Achievement and Leadership (REAL) will help teachers and administrators foster success among Oregon students. Unfortunately, this feature is not currently operational. According to the page, "Due to budget constraints, ODE is unable to update the materials contained in the Strategies for Student Success portion of the REAL web site during this biennium. Once funding is available the Department expects to once again provide these resources for teachers, principals, superintendents and other school and district leaders."
Searchable Standards tool. "The Searchable Standards tool allows you to easily locate the content standards you wish to view by subject area and grade. This web-based version of the standards also allows you to cut and paste individual standards into electronic lesson plans, curriculum maps and more."
Teaching and Learning Resources. "Resources to assist the state’s educators in knowing, understanding, and using the Oregon content standards. To further this goal, all of the teaching and learning resources contained here are specifically matched to Oregon’s content standards. Users of this site will find sample lessons, assessment items, content background information, and other materials designed to promote standards-based teaching and learning." Please check out my presentation below, it will walk you through the website so you too can easily access the resources you want.

ODE Teaching and Learning Resources

These 3 features of the ODE REAL site are designed to provide teachers with resources to be effective educators. More specifically, the Searchable Standards tool and the Teaching and Learning Resources make it easier for teachers to align their instruction with the Oregon state content standards.

I hope you find this helpful, especially as spring break is just about over, and you will be returning to school Monday to make that final push before summer. Take care!

Blog Break

2009-10-15T10:55:00.000-07:00

It has been a long time since my last post, but don't expect that to change anytime soon. I am staying busy substitute teaching, coaching (both cyclists and a basketball team), and trying to make Oregon CEC more awesome.

Have a great day!

No Excuses: Closing the Racial Gap in Learning

2009-04-28T19:49:00.000-07:00

Authors Abigail and Stephan Thernstrom explore the widening gap between the academic achievement of white and Asian students compared to African American and Latino students in No Excuses:Closing the Racial Gap in Learning. The gap is so large that black students are typically 4 years behind white students by the 12th grade.
The Thernstroms highlight the success of KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) academies, small middle schools, in raising achievement for even the most at-risk students.

What KIPP does:

KIPP builds a partnership among parents, students, and teachers that puts learning first. By providing outstanding educators, more time in school learning, and a strong culture of achievement, KIPP is helping all students climb the mountain to college.

Families who choose a KIPP academy must commit to a rigorous program that includes long school days, a long year (including three weeks of summer school), and a strict behavioral code. Those who do not follow through with their commitment are asked to leave.

There are no excuses. As one teacher says, "Kids need to work...much longer than they've been working..." And they do. "Students arrive at 7:25 A.M. (earlier if they want breakfast), and leave at 5:00 P.M. During the regular academic year there are half-day Saturday classes, and school is in session for three weeks during the summer." This accounts for a whopping 67% more instructional time than regular public schools.

Yes, teachers work long days. But, they are supported with increased pay and a minimum of 2 hrs and 15 minutes of daily prep time.

It has paid off. "For instance, at the KIPP Academy New York in 2000, 66% of the students in math and 55% in reading had scores above grade level by New York state standards." Compare that to District 7, where KIPP draws its student, only 9% in math and 16% in reading were above grade level.

Now I'm daydreaming about working at a K-5 KIPP school in Oregon...

10 Steps to Behavior Management

2009-04-25T20:58:00.000-07:00

Randy Sprick of Safe and Civil Schools presented at the Council for Exceptional Children's (CEC) national conference in Seattle. Titled Prevention and Early Intervention in the General Education Classroom, this was one of my favorite sessions of the conference. He explained how to prevent misbehaviors in the general education setting by treating behavior management like academic instruction-you must teach explicitly what you want to happen.

10 Steps to Behavior Management

Design rules that communicate your most important expectations. No more than 5 rules should be specific, observable, and stated positively.
Develop and post "Guidelines to Success" to use as the basis for positive feedback, corrections, class-wide discussions, monthly themes, assignments, celebrations of progress, and guest speakers.
Develop an "attention signal" that can be used from any location and define a reasonable length of time for students to respond.
Prepare lessons on you behavioral expectations for critical activities (such as during tests, cooperative groups, independent seatwork, etc) and fill out a CHAMP sheet (I will upload soon) for each occasion.
Prepare lessons on your behavioral expectations for each major transition (such as arriving at the classroom, beginning class/routines, getting out materials, cleaning up, leaving the classroom). Reteach expectations before and after major vacations or special days.
Analyze the physical setting and ensure you have easy access to and from all parts of the classroom.
Establish routines and policies that create a calm, orderly, efficient classroom climate. (Beginning/ending routines, procedures for assigning work, procedures for collecting work, homework routine.)
Provide frequent non-contingent attention to help create a friendly and welcoming classroom climate.
Develop consequences for common rule infractions and implement them calmly and consistently.
Develop a plan for providing frequent positive feedback for following rules, striving toward the "Guidelines to Success" and for meeting expectations. Feedback should be specific and descriptive, age appropriate, given in a manner that fits your style, and contingent on behavior that is new or difficult

CEC National Convention in Seattle: UDL

2009-04-08T10:24:00.001-07:00

During my week at the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) convention in Seattle, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) was a popular topic. If you don't know about UDL, I suggest you check out CAST's What Is Universal Design for Learning or the introduction to this blog.

At one point during the week, I was given a handout titled CAST's Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Guidelines-Educator Checklist. It provides an easy way to ensure you are including UDL concepts into your lesson planning and making your lesson more effective for more students.

I encourage you to download a similar handout here, and to keep it in front of you when you are planning your lessons and check off the the ways your are providing 1) multiple means of representation, 2) multiple means for action and expression, and 3) multiple means for engagement. Set an initial goal to meet at least one item for each of the 3 main headings. As you become more proficient to 2 or 3.

Are any of you deliberately using UDL now? Do you plan on using UDL? How so?

CEC National Convention in Seattle

2009-04-07T21:25:00.000-07:00

With my first Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) national convention in the bag, I'd like to share a little of what I learned. There was an overwhelming amount of information presented throughout the week and it will take some time to process it all. But I promise to post highlights so you too can learn some of the good stuff.

To begin...

A study by Nicole Conners of George Mason University. What Experiences Create Positive Changes in Practice? Answers From Expert Special Education Teachers.

This study identified what 30 middle school special education teachers "believed contributed most in their growth and eventual change in instructional practice from novice to expert."

6 Key Experiences

Observation and collaboration with peers
Support from colleague and administrator mentors
Opportunity for leadership roles; seen as teacher leader
Participation in higher education coursework and professional development in school system
Teaching peers/colleagues
Life experiences

This study is important to me because I fear the first few years of teaching, where I will inevitably make some mistakes. I look forward to the future when I have considerable experience under my belt and have found a set of tools and strategies that work best for me and increase my students' learning. This study gives me concrete experiences that I can deliberately seek out during the first few years as a SPEDucator.

Introduction

2009-03-31T22:15:00.000-07:00

My name is Larry Linebaugh, I am the brains behind this blog. Here's a quick and dirty introduction so you know I am the real deal :)

I was born in California, but we moved to NY before I was a year old. When I was 4, we moved to Salem, Oregon, where I spent my K-12 years in the Salem-Keizer School District. At the University of Oregon I worked in 7 elementary schools (as a volunteer, practicum student, student teacher, and paraprofessional), a middle school, and a high school. I earned an undergraduate degree in Sociology, then spent about 8 months as a 1-on-1 paraprofessional for a student with multiple disabilities. I stayed in Eugene to begin U of O's Special Education masters and licensure program and just two weeks ago, on Tuesday March 17th, I finished my last project and have now completed the program!!! Currently I work as a paraprofessional in an elementary school life skills classroom and I am having a blast.Next up is the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) national convention Convention in Seattle, Wednesday through Saturday! I can't wait. There is so much to learn and so many jobs to apply for!

Subscribe to my blog feed (click the small, orange icon on the right that says Posts) or check back often because I plan on posting throughout the week to share what I learn. You can also check out my twitter where I will try to tweet throughout the week.

Have a great week!

Speech Recognition Tools: Dragon NaturallySpeaking

2009-03-29T08:43:00.000-07:00

Most people speak over 120 words per minute but type less than 40 words per minute. Dragon NaturallySpeaking is a software that allows you to control your computer (create documents, start programs, surf the web) using only your voice. The cool thing is, it learns to recognize your voice instantly and improves the more you use it.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking improved their chances I'll use their software in my classroom because they now offer an education discount.

Here's why:

Students with language-based learning problems, such as dyslexia, can benefit from using voice recognition software to transfer their ideas into print. Since dyslexic students have trouble expressing their thoughts on paper, they often convey less sophisticated thoughts in their written work, use a simplified vocabulary, or avoid writing tasks altogether.

Learning disabilities researchers have consistently found that use of speech recognition software can make a significant difference for dyslexic students because it enables the students to communicate more efficiently and effectively.

In fact, research suggests that the use of speech recognition by dyslexic students has actually generated significant improvement in reading, decoding, spelling and comprehension. It gives students the opportunity to practice their reading skills and can positively influence sound-character awareness.

If you have used this software before, please leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Obama's Ecomonic Stimulus Plan

2009-02-12T10:13:00.000-08:00

According to this yahoo article, President Obama's ecomonic stimulus "package has $11.5 billion to support the IDEA program for special education."

Thank goodness!

3 strategies to reduce stress in inclusion classes

2009-02-11T12:25:00.000-08:00

Monday I covered Dr. Judy Willis' 7 Strategies to benefit the various learning styles and abilities of students.

In my third and final post sharing information from Brain-Friendly Strategies for the Inclusion Classroom , you gain a better understand of how to reduce the stress levels of students in an inclusion classroom.

Dr. Willis explains how the brain copes with stress:

Before information can reach the relational, patterning, and memory storage areas of the brain, it must pass through the reticuluar activating system (RAS) which filters stimuli and decides which data a person attends to or ignores. The most powerful stimulus for the RAS is physical need; the brain will not be able to engage in the task of learning unless basic survival needs are first met. If students associate their classrooms with a visceral sense of fear, the RAS will filter out all but life-sustaining sensory information

When we take into account the information-blocking potential of both the RAS and the affective filter in the amygdala, it becomes clear how important it is for teachers to create environments low in destructive anxiety and high in appropriate challenge. Several indicators can clue teachers in to excessive student stress

When stress is getting high from a lesson that is overly abstract, not relevant to students’ lives, or too simplistic, the teacher should make the lesson more personally interesting. Neuroimaging research has demonstrated that pleasurably challenging lessons moderately stimulate the amygdala’s metabolism and thus facilitate the brain’s processing of information. Lessons and activities that arouse the brain’s search for meaning will penetrate the RAS and reach the higher cognitive centers because of humans’ natural survival instinct-the need to understand their environment and make meaning of what they see, hear, smell, and touch. Connecting the lesson to students’ lives and interests therefore reduces stress and increases motivation. Teachers can try the following stress-reducing strategies.

Bring the lesson to life. The internet is a great resouce for finding strategies to bring fact-heavy, cold-data lessons to life. Sample lesson plans from other teachers abound, and even state websites listing standards often provide sources for student activites and links to information databases.

Give students a three-minute vacation. Teachers should occasionally give students a break by relating a personal anecdote, asking about films that students have recently seen, or telling a joke. A brief mental vacation takes the RAS out of its basic survival response to stress, allows the amygdala to cool down, and provides time for neurotransmitter supplies to rebuild.

Reward students’ efforts. When a lesson Is heavy on dry facts and memorization, teachers can offer an authentic rewards for students’ mental efforts, such as letting them participate in a stimulating experiment, watch a film version of the book they’ve been assigned, or use geometry to calculate the height of buildings outside. The anticipation of an engaging activity will increase students’ receptiveness to the lessons. As an added bonus, students’ enjoyment of the associated activity will ensure that the information they learned will have more relational connections (neuronal links) to hold it in long-term memory storage.

7 Strategies to Benefit the Various Learning Styles and Abilities of Students

2009-02-09T12:09:00.000-08:00

Saturday I wrote a post about 5 Brain-Based Steps in Turning Information into Knowledge.

Today you can learn about Dr. Willis' 7 Strategies to Benefit the Various Learning Styles and Abilities of Students.

1. Make physical accommodations.

Be strategic with seating arrangements.

2. Make lessons more relevant and meaningful.

Rote memorization of facts and skills taught in isolation is the least efficient memory

strategy.

3. Provide realistic challenges.

Value mistakes. Learning can increase when students experience puzzlement.

4. Set goals.

The goal-setting process has the brain benefit of lowering students’ affective filters and stimulating the dopamine reward system.

5. Lower the barriers, not the bars.

Students initially entering an inclusion class will need more support and encouragement and smaller, more reachable goals so that they can recognize their successes.

6. Offer choice.
7. Make adaptations for participation.

5 Brain-Based Steps in Turning Information into Knowledge

2009-02-07T11:56:00.000-08:00

In my last post, I introduced you to Brain-Friendly Strategies for the Inclusion Classroom, by Dr. Judy Willis.

Today's post will cover the 5 brain-based steps in turning information into knowledge discussed in the book.

1) The brain responds to sensory input that engages the attention of sensory processing filters.

2) After the senses register the information, it passes along to the neurons in the amygdala, where it can be moved to memory storage. At this point, the affective filter in the limbic system must be set to accept and not block incoming data. If high stress or negative emotions have overloaded the amygdala, the affective filter will block passage of the data into memory. On the other hand, pleasurable, positively reinforcing, and intrinsically motivating stimuli unlock the gates of the limbic system to facilitate active information processing. Such information has the best chance of entering long-term memory storage banks.

3) Sensory data that pass through the brain’s filters are coded into patters that can be connected to existing neuronal pathways.

4) Dendrites (neuron extensions that conduct electrical impulses to neighboring neurons) and the synaptic connections they form build neuronal pathways that cross-connect to multiple storage areas of the brain. These neuronal pathways are activated through relational, emotional, personally relevant, learner-participatory, and experiential stimuli. The repeated activation of these new circuits by the vaierty of access stimuli will strengthen the new pathways, limit their susceptibility to pruning (a process of eliminating inactive brain cells), and increase the efficiency of memory retrieval.

5) Repeated multi-sensory stimulation brings new memories from the brain’s data storage areas to it executive function processing centers. When the brain’s highest cognitive levels use the facts, processes, sequences, and routines that it has acquired as memory, all learning comes together. At this stage, synapses are firing in brain centers of critical reasoning, prioritizing, judging, and pattern analyzing. This is the brain’s electrical dance of original, creative, discovery-the ‘aha’ moments.

Stay tuned for the continuation of this series when I post about Dr. Willis' 7 Strategies to benefit the various learning styles and abilities of students.

Brain-Friendly Strategies for the Inclusion Classroom

2009-02-05T23:52:00.000-08:00

In Dr. Judy Willis' book, Brain-Friendly Strategies for the Inclusion Classroom, Dr. Willis shares strategies that “aim to empower students’ brains to recognize which sensory data are worthy of focus; promote the passage of these data through alerting and affective lifters; pattern the data into the coding of brain cell communication; and prepare the data to be successfully stored, maintained, and retrieved (Willis, 2007)."

Simply put, she explains some of the strategies she used to help students learn in her classroom.

With her unique perspective (she began as a neurologist then became a classroom teacher), the information she shares is based on the science of how the brain works.

I won't spoil all the fun of actually reading the book but over the next 3 posts, but I will summarize some of the more interesting information I found.

Post 1: 5 Brain-Based Steps in Turning Information into Knowledge
Post 2: 7 Strategies to benefit the various learning styles and abilities of students
Post 3: 3 strategies to reduce stress in inclusion classes

Mr. Rogers on Word Processing

2009-02-01T09:40:00.000-08:00

Do we speak too quickly for children to process and understand what we say? The answer would be yes, according to Wichita State Audiology Professor Ray Hull. Professor Hull says that adults say at a rate of 170 words per minute. 5 to 7 year olds according to Hull can only process 120 words per minute. Older students can process more except when learning new material. Overall, Professor Hull is a proponent of teachers and parents slowing down their speech in order for the students or child(ren) to better process what is being said or asked of them. Professor Hull said that Mr. Rogers learned to slow his speech down to 124 words per minute. This is certainly worthwhile to consider as a professional working with children. (Suzanne Perez Tobias, The Wichita Eagle, August 22, 2008.)

Excerpt taken from the Council for Exceptional Children's Division on Visual Impairments quarterly publication (Vol 54, Number 2, page 20).

President Obama on Students with Disabilities

2009-01-21T09:59:00.000-08:00

A reassuring quote from the White House's recently updated website:

Students with Disabilities
Obama and Biden will work to ensure the academic success of students with disabilities by increasing funding and effectively enforcing the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and by holding schools accountable for providing students with disabilities the services and supports they need to reach their potential. Obama and Biden will also support Early Intervention services for infants and toddlers, and will work to improve college opportunities for high school graduates with disabilities.

Larry's thoughts on Seclusion

2009-01-12T20:20:00.000-08:00

My friend emailed me a link to an article titled, Children Forced Into Cell-Like School Seclusion Rooms, and asked my thoughts as an up-and-coming special educator. Here is my reply.

From my experience, seclusion rooms (we called it a safe room) are a necessary evil. I worked with a student who ended up in the safe room multiple times a week, primarily to keep other students safe. Clearly, the safe-rooms highlighted in the article are poorly-designed and anything but safe. Schools using safe-rooms must be conscious of it's design and make it inefficient for teachers to use (i.e. lots of paperwork to fill out for every time it is used). This helps ensure that students are safe and teachers only use the room as a last resort.

I'll point out a few things I find important in safe-room design:
Let me be clear that bars across windows are a bad idea. They not only limit visibility into the room, but likely cause a sense of imprisonment for the student instead of that safe, calm place that we want them to be.
One thing I quickly learned with my student was that any adult attention, even a peek in the window, prolonged and intensified my student's inappropriate behaviors while he was inside the room. I recommend windows made of one-way glass (think police interrogation room) so supervision can be constant without further engaging the student.
Finally, doors should not have a locking mechanism that allows the student to be unsupervised for any period of time. I am a fan of a big red button located just outside the door that engages the lock when pressed. This has the double-effect of ensuring student supervision and is a natural prompt to think of creative strategies that better address the student's behavior (you'd be amazed how much your arm burns holding down that button for anything more than a couple minutes!).

Definition of Reading

2008-12-01T21:56:00.000-08:00

"Active and reflective reading, therefore, is not a term that refers to a particular methodology. It is a term that refers to the flexible application of numerous tactics. To promote active and reflective reading, an instructor must teach students two things:
How to use particular devices for understanding texts, and
That it is the use of these devices (that is, the tactics), not the act of finishing pages, that constitutes reading."

Howell, K. W., Nolet, V. (2000). Curriculum-based evaluation: Teaching and decision making. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.

Sarah Palin on students with special needs

2008-09-07T20:46:00.000-07:00

Sarah Palin says she'll be an advocate for special needs students (skip to the last 30 seconds of the video). That is great to hear from somebody, no matter what party they represent. Now maybe if she works on her person-first language she'll get my vote?

Voice Stick

2008-08-29T12:17:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure how the Voice Stick works. What I do know is that it might be a pretty cool device for students who are blind or have a vision impairment.

Facebook and Mypace as Assistive Technology

2008-08-01T12:53:00.000-07:00

Before we create legislation to restrict students’ participation in online social networks such as Myspace and Facebook (Ledyard King Gannett News Service, 2008), we must consider their potential as assistive technology that will increase opportunities for students with disabilities to communicate with their peers. Downing (2008) identifies friendship as a highly rated outcome of the educational process for students with severe disabilities who often have poor social skills and limited social relationships. Causton-Theoharis and Malmgren (2005) found an over-reliance on paraprofessionals intensified students’ social isolation. Online social networks are a tool used to make new friends, share pictures, and even invite people to social events that will take place in the real world. In an article questioning the inclusiveness of social networks, Whittle (2007) acknowledges that social networks provide a way for students with disabilities to socialize with typically developing students by removing some of the social and physical barriers faced in the real world.

Before we ban them, lets first see if we can use them?

Causton-Theoharis, J. N., Malmgren, K. W. (2005). Increasing peer interactions for students with severe disabilities via paraprofessional training. Council for Exceptional Children, 71 (4).

Downing, J. E. (2008). Including students with severe and multiple disabilities in typical classrooms (3rd edition). Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.

Ledyard King Gannett News Service (2008). Bill would ban kids from Facebook, MySpace in libraries. USA Today. Website: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2008-07-28-libraries-computers_N.htm

Whittle, S. (2007). Social networking: not as inclusive as you might think. Retrieved July 21, 2008 from ZDnet.co.uk. Website: http://resources.zdnet.co.uk/articles/features/0,1000002000,39290559-1,00.htm