Notes on the Reading:

What is the difference between learning to read and reading to learn?
Learning to read= reading instruction
Reading to learn= the ability to use reading to aquire new knowledge

What are the essential five areas of reading instruction ?
Phonemic Awareness
Phonics
Fluency
Comprehension
Vocabulary 

How can computers be used to teach reading skills?
 Students with LD respond well to systematic, repetitive, engaging, and individualized instruction.

Phonemic awareness and phonics:
Effective reading applications will:
* highlight patterns  among sounds, letters, and letter-
    sound correspondence
*provide multiple opportunites for meaningful practive
*engage students through interesting,  interactive
    activities 
*allow for customization for individual differences.

Fluency:
The multi-media capabilites of computers make them an ideal technology for providing fluency-building activities.

Strategies to increase fluency include:
*modeling fluent reading then giving students a chance
    to read the same text aloud
*providing opportunities for repeated oral reading with
    support ( help with unknown words)
*providing opportunities to practice reading with a high
    degree of success

Comprehension:
Comprehension skills can be developed by applications which include text combined with embedded comprehension strategies such as:
*summarizing
*questioning
*clarifying
*predicting
*visualizing
*reflecting

Vocabulary:
Effective vocabulary instruction includes direct instruction on vocabulary items related to a specific text a student will be reading.
 
Applications with "authoring capabilities"  provide opportunities for teachers to add their own content to exisiting templates.
 
Engagment is essential for successful reading. Intersting material can motivate struggling students to overcome the difficulties in the reading itself.  The internet can help provide emerging readers with a wealth of interesting material.

Teachers can download internet material and modify it or manipualte it in word processing documents to accomdate the individual readers skill level.

Alternately subscribing to a leveled reading Web site can  make it easy to locate reading material that is  both interesting and at the appropriate skill level for their students.  

How can computers be used to help student who are reading below grade level compensate for their reading difficulties?
By providing access to the printed word thru
Alternate Formats:
e-Text
DAISY; Digital Accessible Information SYstem 
PDF Files
MP3
Large Print
BRF: Braille Format
 
And by providing tools to access alternate formats:
*text readers
*scan/read systems

My response to the Reading:
Although the entire chapter was filled with useful information I was most interested in the final section on decision making. I was particularly interested in the question: how does an educator decide when to switch emphasis from using technology to teach a student to read to using technology to help a student read to learn.

Often I hear people express a fear of creating "learned helplessness" and not wanting struggling students to "rely" on "crutches".
But the term learned helplessness was developed to describe the result of repeated failure, not of too much support.

I really appreciated the quotes from D.L. Edyburn who advocated for a success based strategy of providing students with the appropriate compensatory tools, with the knowledge that the experience of success is the goal- not the experience of overcoming educational hurdles, nor of failing.

I believe that if we want our children to succeed, we should not be afraid to give the the tools they need to do so.

My questions for the class:
Do you think it is possible to offer a student too much support? Who should decide when it is time to remove supports, if ever? Should a student be "weaned" from support over time or allowed to use the supports until they feel they no longer need them?
 
Notes to myself- copy:
Table 3.2 Applications that Support Fluency. pg.61
Table 3.3 Applications that Support Vocabulary  Development pg. 64
Table 3.4 Applications for Developing Reading Comprehension pg. 65
Figure 3.7 Using Technology to Adapt Text for Students who struggle with reading comprehension




 
My Notes from the Reading:
What are the Major Components of the Writing Process?

“Writing is a complex problem solving activity that involves thinking, planning , and decision making, in addition to the mechanics of transcription.”

A Cognitive Process Model of Writing

Flower and Hayes (1981) composed of:
·         the task environment
·         the writer’s long-term memory
·         the process of writing itself

Task Environment:
 “All those things outside the writer’s skin, starting with the rhetorical problem or assignment”

Writer’s Long Term Memory:
“Stored knowledge, not only of the topic, but of the audience and various writing plans”

Writing Process:
“Planning, Translating ,and Reviewing”

Current Educational Theory:
Writing as a 5 Process Cycle

·         Prewriting
·         Drafting
·         Reviewing
·         Editing
·         Publishing/Sharing

My Response to the Reading:
The Process Model of Writing
Flower and Hayes (1981) :

In the homeschool world we have long been cognizant of the need to separate the act of composing from the mechanics of writing.

 The world of the ET includes the addition of the task environment: the idea that in the classroom a student needs to successfully complete an assignment that has not been customized to their own ability WHILE being involved in a social arena in which they are able to compare their own ability to those of their peers and form opinions or anxieties about themselves (or the task) based on these comparisons.

Note to Self: Print a copy of the Flower and Hayes Article for Thesis Research!

Flower, L., & Hayes, J.R., (1981) A cognitive process theory of writing. College Composition and Communication, 32(4), 365-387.



What Kinds of Problems do Students with Disabilities have with Writing?


 Students with learning disabilities find writing overwhelming.

·         Students with LD may not plan because they do not know how to plan.

·         They experience difficulties in the transcription process, both spelling and handwriting, and these struggles affect the overall quality of their writing because cognitive resources devoted to transcription are not available for higher-order processes.

·         Revisions can become limited to the correction of mechanical errors.

Students with other kinds of disabilities face other obstacles to writing- primarily with the mechanics for most physical disabilities, although the language aspect can come into play with SLD and hearing disabilities.

Note Taking deserves special notice:
While it does not involve pre-writing and revising
It does require:
·         multi-tasking and cognitive switching
·         the ability to organize ideas
·         the ability to distinguish what is salient from what is not
·         the ability to write fluently and speedily

Which technology tools can address problems with
pre-writing activities, and how?

Graphic Organizers:
·         Think sheets
·         Concept maps
·         Templates

Questions: Will we have a chance to explore Inspiration Software in class?

Which technology tools can address problems with drafting, reviewing, and editing, and how?
Drafting:
·         Typewriters
·         Word Processing Applications
·         Word Prediction Applications
·         Custom Dictionaries
·         Auto-correct
·         Speech Recognition Applications
              o    Dragon Naturally Speaking
              o   SpeakQ
              o   MacSpeech Dictation

Reviewing
·         Text-to-Speech

Editing
·         Spell-checks
                o   Phonetic based dictionaries
                o   Talking spell-checks
·         Thesauruses
·         Grammar checkers
·         Homonym finders
·         Text correction software
·         Track changes /Insert Comments

The older form of Microsoft word had a summarize tool…does the current version have one that I have just not found? If not, are there any applications out there that will summarize text?

Which technology tools can assist with publishing or sharing of students work?
·         Printers!
·         Class newsletters/newspapers
·         Multi-media presentation applications
·         Story writing programs
·         The internet:
            o   Blogs
            o   Discussion boards
            o   Instant messaging
            o   Wikis

I love the digital storytelling idea  on pg.44

My students have used power point to make simple reports with text and images but the idea of starting with a story or script and then adding multimedia to make it come to life is another avenue to explore…especially in task based Executive Function Thinking Therapy.

 I am curious to see Prezi how easily Prezi is to use…

Which technology tools can address problems with note taking, and how?
·         Portable note takers
·         Smartpen
·         Braille note takers
·         Application with captionist and second display
·         Capturing devices

What else, in addition to appropriate technology selection, is essential to improve the writing of students with disabilities?

Best Practices for using At to improve student writing takes a three pronged approach:
·         instruction on the writing process
·         training with the tech tools
·         training on how to use the teach tools to enhance the 
           writing process

Print a copy of Fig.2.11 pg. 51
The Writing Wheel from Teaching the Writing Process to Students with LD by Scot and M. Vitale 2003 , Intervention in School and Clinic, 38(4) p.222

Awesome graphic!

Note to Self:
Print a copy of Table 2.2 pg. 45
Linking Technology Tools to the Writing Process