Two weeks ago, when beginning to learn the countries of South America, a student stated , “There’s no point doing this, I’m going to fail anyways.”
One week ago, after studying with a mneumonic and matching visuals, I casually asked what he got on his quiz and he said, “100%.”
Today I announced that I had a mneumonic and visual for learning the countries of Central America and the same student declared, “Bring it on!!”
What a difference success can make!
You know what’s hard about being a special ed teacher? You want to fix things and you can’t. You can make things better, certainly. But the nature of a learning disability is that it cannot be cured. I find parent teacher conferences very emotionally taxing. I appreciate the parents’ input and insight so much but I also feel a real burden when the hard questions are asked like, ” What’s going to happen to my kid?” “Will she ever be caught up?”
Truth is I can’t answer those questions. Wish I could, but I am careful not to make promises that I cannot keep.
Another truth comes to me. I read a book about children with learning disabilities that were successful adults. The book studied these individuals and found that the common denominator for these kids was they each had a cheerleader in their life. Someone who never gave up hope and someone who kept encouraging. This was most often a parent but could also be a teacher or other trusted person.
I may get frustrated that I cannot “fix” things but I will continue to be a dedicated cheerleader.
A tool that has been very useful to myself and my students is Google Drive. My students can create a presentation (similar to powerpoint) or a word document (similar to Microsoft Word) and share it with me. I can edit their work (mostly I help with spelling) anytime from any computer.
Students will make a presentation for their history class and share it with me. I can be at home or in my classroom and I can help them along or just read it, comment, and help the student feel more confident. I’ve worked with students even when they are at home and I am at school!
In addition to sharing with me, students will share with a parent. What a great way to work together! What a confidence booster for students!
If you have Gmail, click “Drive” at the top of the page to discover what you can do.
Here is a poster I put by our computers to help with shortcuts.
The Resourceful Resource Teacher 