I've been watching my students research online and try to use this in their writing with some mixed results. Here is the most successful strategy I've been incorporating into their programs. Two Devices or Device + Paper The time and multitasking skills required to read, understand and select the information required online and remembering this… Continue reading Avoiding Cut & Paste
Assignment completion can be tricky, this is not something new to your life at home with a child with a learning difficulty or disability, and is certainly something mentioned often in this blog. I am usually providing advice to help your child understand, simplify and complete the task independently. That is of course the ultimate… Continue reading Scribe for Your Child
Much work goes on in English classrooms around the writing of thesis statements and manipulating these to suit different HSC questions. Whilst it would be wonderful if the focus were on writing skills in general, the skills of rewording are very important. For students with learning difficulties and disabilities, including dyslexia, this is a skill… Continue reading Writing thesis statements
Throughout the week I have noticed several students who had struggled with a maths concept at school during their daily maths lessons. Now I don't presume to have the cure for all ails but have been pretty successful during the week. The reason, I get straight to the point! For each of these students their… Continue reading Get To The Point!
I don't have the best eyesight, even as a child in my own schooldays word searches were an awful torture to endure - and I was bright and a capable reader! They are never anything I designed or used in my teaching during my entire career, and I have always steered any teacher under my… Continue reading Please stop giving me word searches!
Schools, like all aspects of our lives, are embracing technology. In many schools the weekly class newsletter, school newsletter, sports notes and assignment sheets are now being provided electronically. Teachers are often emailing work to students or maintaining class blogs using services such as Moodle and Edmodo. I'm a huge technology fan and the most… Continue reading Online Chaos
For students with learning difficulties and disabilities, including dyslexia, so much of the focus of remedial teaching is on the skills of reading and spelling and whilst this is undeniably important, it means there are other skills that are not able to be addressed due to time constraints. One of those is the ability to… Continue reading Introducing Writing to Reflect Critical Thinking
As much as I adore Google video searches, sometimes they are not enough or – gasp – completely unproductive! In these cases real internet searching is required. For students with learning difficulties, including dyslexia, the reading requirements of a general internet search is too much. In these cases I encourage my students to use as… Continue reading More Assignment Strategies
When I'm working with reluctant writers I have a trusty resource I employ to build details in writing. So often the blank page or random story title is just too overwhelming. This supportive narrative writing program I will link to has been a staple of mine for a long time. My copy of this is… Continue reading Building Details in Writing
