“It’s not what problems you have: it is how you face them. Your attitude can help take a bad situation and make it better.”
~Jennifer Smith, author and dyslexic college student. Link to her story and how to purchase her book coming tomorrow.
Tag: determination
Lincoln Verbs?
I was grading 5th grade grammar books with a combination of humor and despair when I came to Patrick’s book. He so stumped me by writing that there are two kinds of verbs, action (ok, it was spelled acshun) and linconverbs. What on earth is a Lincoln verb?
Then it hit me, he meant Linking Verbs.
People with dyslexia often misunderstand what others are saying. We call it poor auditory discrimination, and it can sure raise havoc with vocabulary building and comprehension! This issue is one of the reasons I am such a big fan of recording the text for a student to listen to as he or she follows along in the book. It is not at all uncommon for a student to look up in wonder and remark that they always thought a word was something completely different from the actual word. Hearing text read as the student is following along has value on many levels.
I need to finish grading the 5th grade grammar books. Patrick’s linconverb answer has me smiling. I can only wonder if in History he lists the 16th President as Abraham Linking.
Accomplishing the technically impossible
Aerodynamically, the bumblebee shouldn’t be able to fly. But the bumblebee doesn’t know that, so it goes on flying anyway. ~Mary Kay Ash
I love it when my students surprise themselves and me by doing things which we didn’t know they would be able to do! This quote reminds not to limit what they may be able to accomplish.
A-Z of dyslexic strengths
A – Ambition
B – Big picture thinking
C – Creativity
D – Determination
E – Empathy
F – Friendly
G – Generous
H – Holstic thinking
I – Innovative
J – Jolly
K – Kindness
L – Lateral thinking
M – Motivated
N – New ways of doing things
O – Observant
P – Practical skills
Q – Quizzical
R – Resiliant
S – Spontanious
T – 3D visualisation
U – Understanding
V – Visual thinkers
W – Wishful
X – X factor qualities
Y – You (helps make you the person you are!)
Z – Zest for life
What do you think? Any alternatives?
Dyslexic Kim posted this on her FaceBook page yesterday. I love it! What a wonderful way to remember the strengths of our dyslexic students and friends.
Rearing Competent Children
Why no new blog entries for a week?
My blog has been quiet for a week because I am in New York City with a group of ten high school seniors. My husband and I are organizing and chaperoning their senior trip.
I taught six of the students we have with us when they were in elementary school. Two of them were in a Kindergarten music class I was assigned to cover during one of my classroom teaching years. Those two plus one more were in a first grade class I taught. Five of the ten were in my mainstream classroom for their 5th and 6th grade years.
There is a unique and I think interesting perspective that comes from reconnecting years later with people whom you taught as children. It gives a chance to see the results of seeds planted by you and others along the path of each one’s journey into young adulthood.
The goal is competence
We all want school children to get good grades; to memorize those spelling words, math facts, presidents, states and capitols; and to learn to turn in assignments on time. Parent Teacher Conference topics range from social skills to attitude issues to messy desks. All those skills and minor goals are part of reaching toward a loftier, more over-arching goal. We need to turn children needing our guidance and advice at every turn into young adults who are competent to stand on their own two feet and make good decisions, asking for help when they need it and able to navigate the difficulties and challenges which come into everyone’s life.
This group proved to me they have learned the lesson well
Yesterday my wonderful, map-reading, subway-navigating husband was down with a foul bug and had to stay behind in the hotel. That left me to take our group into the city for the day’s activities. Alone, I could not have pulled it off. But with me were ten capable high school seniors, ready to use their areas of strength to make up for my areas of weakness.
I am not up for the task of navigation, but I know two of the students have shown a keen interest in learning the layout of the city and how to read the maps. Map reading becomes their job.
I am not great at the subway, but one of the girls has made herself a student of the way subway stops work, and how to know when to get on and off. She tracks our progress and tells us when it is time to get off.
I cannot both lead the way and watch our backs, but the tallest guy is willing to bring up the rear of our group, shepherding the slower ones through heavy foot traffic of Times Square’s five o’clock hour and counting people at each turn to be sure our whole group makes it together. He makes sure we don’t loose anyone.
Others shoulder tasks and take care of each other during times of need. In short, this little group of seniors shows competence. They step up and do what needs to be done, and our entire group benefits. The day was a success, despite the challenges it brought.
I would say the seeds planted in these students by so many teachers and family members are flourishing. It is a beautiful thing to stand in the midst of this group of teens on a rainy New York City afternoon and think I may have had a tiny part in bringing them to this point. How glad I am to be a teacher.
Letter from a student
Every once in a while a student will surprise me with a letter tucked among the assignments they turn in. I had just such a surprise today. Marie wrote me a letter in her journal. It is the kind of letter that makes all the long hours and brain racking to think of yet another way to present a concept again worthwhile. I share the text of the with you here
Dear Mrs. Hall,
Thank you for being a great teacher for me. You helped me so much with my reading and spelling. You have inspired me to keep on going until I got it. You helped me improve with everything.
Your friend,
Marie
I can only humbly say, “Thank you, Marie. You and your fellow students inpsire me every day too. We are a good team that way.”
Advice from Mrs. Roosevelt
“Do what in your heart you feel to be right. You’ll be criticized for it anyway.” ~Elenor Roosevelt
This is such good advice on many levels.
Dr. Maggie’s story
Dr. Maggie attended 13 different grammar schools, and was diagnosed with dyslexia when she was eight. Her childhood love of the stars and a cartoon about space travel drove her to persevere and become a space scientist and mechanical engineer! A great story of where curiosity can take a person who is determined to find the answers to her own why questions. Dr. Maggie’s Story
Everyone has to work hard!
“The only thing I’ve found that works is to keep on working and not to expect that you will get it right the first time.” ~ Kate deCamillo
Kate DiCamillo, author of Because of Winn Dixie and several other children’s chapter books, gives this outstanding advice in her interview for Scholastic Publishers. My 4/5 grade dyslexic students just finished reading “Winn Dixie,” and they were amazed and enlightened to read that the author had to work hard to turn out the story they came to love so dearly. It is good for them to know that they are not alone in having to revise and rewrite to achieve a great story!
There is a reason for that…
Patrick has become a speedy and a good writer through the time we have worked together. He has a razor sharp wit, and has learned to express it in writing. Yesterday he finished his journal story in record time, made the few corrections I suggested, and needed another productive task to fill his time until the others in his small group finished their journals.
I suggested he and another early finisher get manipulatives from the closet and call out spelling words to each other to spell using the magnet letters, letter tiles or Upwords tiles. His face screwed up, and he said, “You know, I never really know what you mean when you tell us to use …..” and his mouth went through a hilarious round of gyrations as he struggled to get out the word manipulatives. I smiled and said it by syllables so he could hear it in parts, then put the whole word together. The word came out successfully enough for my satisfaction, and after telling him I meant letter tiles or magnet letters, I turned to assist another student, thinking he was moving to the closet for supplies.
I heard Patrick’s question, phrased to the room in general. “Why do I do that? Why do words get all twisted in my mouth when I try to say them?” His voice carried a hint of humor, not frustration, so I let a student sitting near him give our standard answer.
Neil turned to Patrick with a smile and said, “I don’t want to shock you, but you have dyslexia! That means sometimes the words get mixed around.” Good natured laughter followed, and we all smiled before turning back to the tasks at hand.
It helps my students to know when their struggles are from dyslexia. They benefit from knowing what they wrestle with is not their fault, and be able to joke about it and move on. Teaching them methods to overcome the difficulties is my daily mission and why I go to work each day, but the ability to laugh at themselves is a lesson that will carry them, and all of us, into a happier daily life. After all, we all like to know there is a reason for that!
Tales from the Dyslexia Center 