Student Guide Corner

photo � 2008 Hans Splinter | more info (via: Wylio ) Anyone who works with struggling learners must grasp the importance of balancing remediation with compensation . Remediation allows the student to gain the foundational skills necessary for academic success.Compensation allows the student to bypass the academic challenges which result from their learning disability, while they are receiving remediation. With compensatory techniques, students have access to the general education curriculum despite their learning challenges. Accommodations remove the obstacles which frequently hinder student success. Special educators and other specialists, often overemphasize remediation at the expense of accommodation and compensation. What are the unintended consequences of this imbalance? Gaps in acquired skills. When remediation alone is emphasized, students are taught at their developmental level. This may be two or more grade levels below their current grade. Their peers continue to have expos...

Some of our early learners need help using and controlling the mouse for computer navigation..Several sites help teach this skill. Today I will highlighting the HelpKidzLearn site to teach mouse skills. Click on the Early Years Tab and then scroll down to and select Big Bang Bugs . Watch the video:   Application: This activity targets Mouse Skill Navigation : Mouse click Mouse movement Mouse click on a target Click and drag. You can set it up in a developmental sequence depending upon the skills of your learner. Use in a preschool classroom or with students with intellectual disabilities who need mouse skill practice. NOTE : It is oftentimes helpful to place a sticker on the mouse where you would like the student to press. This serves as a visual cue for those who benefit from visuals. Additional Mouse Skills Practice Sites I See You! Mouse Program Drag the Hats on the Monkey - teaches click and drag Flower Garden - teaches mouse click and click and drag Bubble Wrap - who d...

Today's post highlights StoryBird , a free online storytelling tool to engage struggling writers. Storybird offers an extensive collection of beautiful graphics. Students select the graphics they would like to use in their story, drag and drop the graphics in a sequence of their choosing and then write text. It really is as simple as that. It is also possible to read Storybirds that others have created, save them to a reading list or embed them in blogs, wikis, or glogs. Storybird works with Co:Writer word prediction and Dragon Naturally Speaking software.  Here are two to give you an idea of what a StoryBird can be: The Holidays are Here on Storybird When I look up at night. on Storybird Applications - Struggling writers often have difficulty imagining and developing an idea. Storybird provides the external structure which promotes student success. Reluctant or struggling writers seem to love the ability to select graphics for their own creative stories. Because it is a fo...

Do your students struggle with reading comprehension? Are you using online resources to tap into your students' strengths? The inaugural post for Around the Web in 80 Days highlights Into The Book , an interactive reading comprehension website for students and teachers. I first learned about it from a 4th grade teacher who is also a literacy specialist. Upon her recommendation, I explored the site further and have since shared it with numerous other teachers. The site focuses on eight research-based strategies: Using Prior Knowledge, Making Connections, Questioning, Visualizing, Inferring, Summarizing, Evaluating and Synthesizing and provides tools and resources to help your learners gain meaning from text. Watch this short video to learn more about the Into The Book site. Applications: Many students struggle with understanding what they are reading, especially students on the autism spectrum or students with learning disabilities. There may be a breakdown in their ab...

photo � 2009 Beverly | more info (via: Wylio ) For the next 80 days, this blog will highlight a free, online resource to help meet the needs of struggling learners in innovative and creative ways. My hope is that educators will become motivated to offer students choices - of instructional materials, instructional methods and new ways to demonstrate learning. Target one new tool or strategy each week to implement with your students. Stay tuned for the first entry with an accompanying video which will briefly demonstate how to use the resource. I will also try to offer applications and will depend upon your creativity and expertise as well. Traditional methods fail to reach at least half of your students. Let's reach all the learners in our classroom and have fun, learning together.