Share with the group one successful way you have implemented a meaningful reading, writing, or spelling exercise in your classroom. What made it successful?

PLEASE EXPLAIN WHETHER YOU AGREE OR AGREE WITH MY CLASSMATE ANSWER TO THE ABOVE QUESTION AND WHY?

                                                                      CLASSMATE’S POST

As I taught Art and art history in the early 2000s, I did not deal specifically with teaching the fundamentals of reading, writing and spelling. However, my son Coleman was diagnosed with Central auditory processing disorder in the sixth grade. He worked with a wonderful teacher who used several techniques to help him through his reading and spelling in which he was struggling. Therefore, I will share Coleman’s story and what made his outcomes successful. Coleman seemed to struggle in his studies and he was constantly behind his classmates in turning in work no matter how much we worked with him at home. We knew he had trouble following directions but at the suggestion of his teacher, Ms. Mason, we had Coleman tested. Coleman not only heard about every other word when he was listening to his instructors, but he was also having difficulty following assignment instructions and he couldn’t keep up with the spelling and reading exercises. To elaborate, the teacher explained that in Coleman’s case with his CAPD, you could give him list of instructions and he would only remember the first and last thing said and he struggled to absorb virtually all content that was presented verbally to him. My concern as a parent was that he had never communicated that he was having difficulties understanding his teacher; probably out of embarrassment,  and we wanted to ensure that working with a special education teacher would not be disruptive to his normal class activities or would segregate him from his classmates. So, we began working with his teacher to develop techniques at school and home to help him. First, he was given preferential seating up front during classroom discussion and then he was allowed to access to a quiet study area free from distractions when he had to work on individual assignments. Secondly, for reading and spelling exercises, he worked with the special education teacher for one hour a day and she created visual aids to help him understand the concepts that were being covered that week in class. The teacher also had us use cues to initiate conversations with Coleman regarding his homework at home. She also instructed us that it was important that when we wanted him to understand what we were wanting him to do, that we address shim by name, create eye contact and have him repeat what we were asking him to do. This was to help him focus more on auditory directions.  In the class room, they had Coleman keep a daily journal which he brought home every day with his notes. His teacher would specifically tell him when to write down what she was saying and Coleman told me that Ms. Mason would often come by his desk and put her hand on his shoulder while she was talking. At the time, he didn’t understand why she would do that. Looking back, I can see where this was a technique (Cues) to engage him and to ensure he was focused on her instruction. Salend (2016) contends that nonverbal and verbal cues can be used to help students listen and I believe that the strategies that Coleman’s special education teacher used, effectively aided his reading , writing, and spelling skills. Salend, S. J. (2016). Creating inclusive classrooms: Effective, differentiated and reflective practices (8th ed.). Boston, MA:Pearson.