San

Posts tagged with "education"

My school ROCKS!

Saturday, December 18, 2010 12:28:12 AM

Last night was our school winter concert, "Fraser Rocks". It's certainly not your typical Christmas holiday concert. Watch this clip from the morning news....

...and a recently posted youtube video of the Grade 6 class...

Next week they'll have a clip of the high school students. They were absolutely incredible.

5 comments

Why I do what I do

Thursday, August 26, 2010 10:38:32 PM

education, life

Do you know before I found you I was at a lost to do with my son. The school system has let him fall through the cracks. Know matter what I said or tryed to do nothing was ever done. But the GREAT news is you are one of my sons angles. We will never forget what you have done for him thank you thank you a million times can't cover it. I will be forever greatful to you. Thanks for one of my biggest wishes in the world. 'D' can spell and knows at least 30 new words. Your amazing. he is finally proud of himself. Thank you for everything.

19 comments

Mr. J is a busy statue

Monday, April 26, 2010 4:30:03 AM

education, dyslexia

Each lesson most students learn one new sight word (non phonetic). After he learns the word he must write a sentence using that word. In the beginning some students can't write a sentence let alone spell many words correctly. I only correct what we've learned so far. If they make mistakes with unknown spelling rules or sounds I just leave them as they are. Those lessons will come later. Here is a sample of Mr. J's sight word sentences. He decided to read through his previous work the other day and well, we didn't get much done because we both were laughing so hard.

Learning

Friday, August 28, 2009 5:08:12 AM

education, yoga, kids, vacation

I just finished 21 days straight of work. Well, it's not so bad, now I have two weeks off.

And most days, except on the weekends I was finished at 2:00 pm.

During the week I supervised a summer learning camp. And, like last year I taught a short (15 minute) yoga session in between classes. This part of the day gave me such energy. Warm fuzzies. It was so rewarding to see the students so relaxed lying on the floor in savasanna (corpse pose) concentrating on their breath. Every student said that this was his/her favorite pose. This gave me so much hope that they will take this practice with them and use it throughout their lives. It makes me want to learn more about teaching yoga to kids. This is where yoga should start. It's not all about having a toned body and wearing the latest trendy yoga gear.

And then on the past three weekends I taught a seminar about teaching English. Most of my students were young adults wanting to travel and teach ESL. But one of them had a doctorate in linguistics and had lectured in universities in India. At first I was a little worried that I would have nothing to offer her in this course. She is highly educated but like so many recent immigrants could not find a job in her field because of government regulations. Anyway, after the first day I could see , though she was an expert in grammar, she did not know the best teaching practices. But that's not the point. Highly educated, and well read in the classics, she taught me a few things too. One day I came in to class and I was extremely sore and tired from my yoga class the day before. She told me that doesn't happen if I practice yoga every day. So I asked her about yoga in India and she said that people learn it at home, at school, from a very young age.

Sometimes I think I can't teach this class anymore. It's so intense and it's on the weekends. But every time I teach it I meet such interesting people and I learn from them as well.

Okay, what to do for my holiday now?

9 comments

Brain olympics

Thursday, July 23, 2009 3:36:02 AM

kids, education, meaningful conversation

I really stretched your brain yesterday didn't I?

Yeah.

It hurt a bit didn't it?

Yeah. But it's ok.

When your brain is stretched it doesn't have anywhere to go, so it gets a little sore I think.

yeah.

But like your muscles, then you can stretch and get stronger the next time.

Ms. B?

uh huh

You know what you're like?

No, what?

You're like a high performance coach.

I like when you challenge me!

7 comments

I really have the coolest job

Friday, July 10, 2009 4:25:00 AM

kids, education, work

I wasn't looking forward to working in July. With the bad economy we didn't have enough registrations for our summer camp and so I was faced with the prospect of not working, with no pay , or tutoring just like I do during the year. So tutoring it is. I really wasn't looking forward to it, but now I have four brand new students and one old one (who is a miracle)and they have given me new energy. I didn't think they'd be keen on having to come to "school" during the summer either, but I was wrong.

My first student is a little doll. She comes in tired and bleary eyed but by the end of the lesson she is all smiles and skips out of the door. Because she has to start first I always do active things with her. Today I had her juggling three balls while spelling! She's only seven! The grin on her face just melted my heart. I asked her if she wanted to learn handwriting and her eyes widened.

My second student pulls out his hair. He has a lot of it but seriously, there are clumps of it on the table by the end of the lesson. Still, the change in him after four days is amazing. He likes that I just tell him how things are, what the rules are and that I don't talk to him like his not intelligent. So many of my students are so smart but they just can't figure out how to read and write. How frustrating can that be!

Number three came in the first day and hardly said a word. Now she won't be quiet! I will do a meaningful conversation post about her next.

Anyway, I do math with her. She's very very low but smart and catches on fast. Today she bounded in....5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100! She was so excited about it she just kept repeating it again and again during the lesson. She is also very competitive and will almost anything to beat me at a game. She's only seven too.

Fourth student has a psychoeducational report that makes Forest Gump seem like a genious. But I discovered this week, he's actually very smart, he just has the most severe speech impediment I've ever heard. I suspect his hearing is not very good either. What a sweet child he is, so polite, so happy. His mom says he loves coming to school!

My last student, I have had for the past 2 years. He's been at our centre for 3 years. He is classically dyslexic in every way. When he first started he was a non-reader and now he reads above grade level. His spelling is really great too. Writing is coming along, but a struggle. He can add, multiply and divide in his head now! The biggest change in him is his attitude. He's happy , he likes school, he reads on his own, he even likes his big sister. And he's proud that he got straight C+ 's on his final report card.

I know I don't make as much as a teacher in the public school system, and I don't get the summers off but it really doesn't matter. I can actually help kids now.

12 comments

GRRRRRRRRRR

Saturday, March 7, 2009 6:07:35 AM

blag, education, splode

For those of you who don't know, I teach kids who have dyslexia. Dyslexia is a perceptual problem with written language. Students who have this have great problems learning to read and write. It's not that they aren't intelligent, it's just that their brains see things a little differently. And because they see things "outside the box" they often have other gifts. One researcher has coined the phrase "The Gift of Dyslexia". One thing most of my students have in common is that they appear to think really quickly and aren't always in control of it. Sometime their brains are faster than their hands, mouths and ears.

A lot of teachers don't understand this. Many see these students as difficult, obstinate, lazy, or whatever label they can give them because they don't bother to try to understand them.

One of my students is very difficult. I have had him for 2 1/2 years and it's only in the past 6 months that I have seen some remarkable improvements with him. I finally figured out that his main problem is his working memory. For those of you computer nuts, that would be your RAM. This kid has incredible memory for every single NHL hockey statistic you could imagine. But get him to write a short sentence, well, he forgets it half way through the first word. Anyway, I figured this out, and so started doing a lot of memory games with him. And what a difference it has made. Can you imagine, being able to read, but by the end of a sentence you totally have forgotten what you've read? That doesn't make reading fun does it? Can you imagine being in a classroom where there is a lot of noise and confusion and your teacher gives you all these instructions, and you can't remember the first one? And then she gets mad at you and says you're not paying attention, when in fact, you are paying attention to every little thing that is going on?

I can't imagine.

This poor kid, he has developed severe anxiety because of his problems. He just wants to be like his peers. He knows he's smart , but he can't read nor write well enough to express himself.

And now I find out that his teacher is yelling at him because he won't read in front of the class. She thinks he's being lazy, trying to get out of doing work. I'm so angry about this. Why does he have to read in front of his peers anyway? I told him during the last lesson, that I was going to make sure he would not have to read in front of the class like that. To not worry about that. He didn't even go to school the other day. He was so nervous that he feigned an eye injury. I know he was faking it. His eye wasn't red, no bruising, and every few minutes he would turn around and check out the clock. I told him I knew what he was doing. He knows I won't tell on him.

How can soome teachers be so STUPID. I'm embarrassed to be in a profession that includes such people. Anyway, my boss was so angry about this as well, that she fired off a letter to the teacher with some recommendations for workshops in dealing with kids with learning disabilities! WOOHOO.

19 comments

Things come in threes...

Wednesday, December 3, 2008 6:31:00 PM

kids, education, work

On Tuesday and Thursday I have three of the cutest students, one after another. It's really hard to hold on to my bad mood when each of them comes skipping in wearing some crazy outfit. The first one, Miss C. is such a little diva. When I asked her what she was hoping for for Christmas presents she replied, "Well, what do you think? I'm a fashionista you know!" (She's only seven). Yesterday she was wearing striped leggings, shiny black boots and a short pink and grey dress. As she was reading her sight words she stopped at the word 'some' and began analyzing it. (This is a girl that the experts said had low IQ and severe learning disabilities) "Well, this is an interesting one. No, it really is. Look at this. You see, this word should say , "soam", but it says "sum". That 'e' on the end, it should make that darn vowel say its name. But it doesn't. Weird eh? This word is not respectful of the rules! " I just had to laugh. And then she says, "I'm really very smart you know. No, honestly, I really am."

My next student Miss M. is a pale tiny ghost. Though dressed in the latest designer wear she is so quiet and humble. But not with me! As soon as she skips in and sits down she can't wait to tell me about her weekend. She actually got to watch t.v. with her dad because her mom was away at a conference. "My mom says t.v. is bad for your brain! But sometimes when I watch t.v., I get to see my mom on there! She prefers me to do reading or art. Sometimes I get to go to conferences with my mom. It's really fun, we get to stay in hotels and swim in the pool. My mom, she fixes peoples' brains. My dad, he's a lawyer. " She has a nanny that brings her from school to the learning centre each lesson. Miss M. works so hard, never complaining, her nanny says she loves coming to our centre. This girl has few difficulties though and probably won't need much intervention.

My third cutie is Miss W. She's always wearing some crazy outfit, covered in paint or clay. Her hands are always dirty from some art project. I just adore her little giggling fits. One time she kept putting her head under the table and mewing. I followed her lead, and pretended there was a lost kitten in the centre. She knows that I love cats, so she just thought this was a hoot. Sometimes we play games to help reinforce concepts and sometimes she lets me win! This is very unusual for my students, they hate to lose and some start to cry if they do. Not her.

Then I have lunch, and then prepare for my difficult students come...three in a row. I'll tell you about them some other time.

5 comments

Graduation day

Wednesday, October 29, 2008 3:15:42 AM

kids, education, life

Sigh. One of my students has left me today, graduated from our program. I suggested last June that she really didn't need my help anymore, but as it is, when parents see success they want to keep bringing their children here. It's my job to have them function on their own though. Anyway, last week my boss tested this student and her scores had improved phenomenally. She's now reading at the level of a 12 year old. (She's only 9). Anyway, lately she's been dragging her feet coming into the centre, not wanting to come to lessons anymore. This is a far cry from the little girl who used to skip into the room. Well, today when I told her this was her last lesson she was a little shocked, but the bounce in her step was back! I taught her a few new things and we played some games and that was it. She just walked out the door. Funny, I don't really feel anything; maybe I've been doing this too long, students come and go. You just can't get attached to them. I feel happy though that she has succeeded and has the skills to learn on her own.

Here's a conversation I had with her last year.

And, try and read this! It really makes me understand how someone can read fluently but cannot spell. I have so many students like this....

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too .

Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.

i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

13 comments

Positively autistic

Tuesday, October 28, 2008 5:59:53 AM

autism, education

Very interesting piece on CBC tonight. Watch it here .

After viewing this, I realize many people I have gone to school with, worked with, may have been or are autistic. I've read a lot about autism, and I think the rise in cases is due to a number of factors. One is the testing of these children. What probably in the past would've been thought of as an intellectual disability, and dare I say "mental retardation" is now classified in the autistic spectrum. Some of these kids, are not intellectually low but socially different. Perhaps, those were the kids in school we though of as "weird/different". And I really don't buy the argument that vaccines cause autism. Many parents of austic children say their kids were different before their first shots. If there is a small corellation between vaccines and autism, studies show that it may not be the preservative, thirmesol (which is rarely used anymore) but that possibly vaccines cause an auto immune response, almost an allergic reaction in some individuals. However, if this was really the case, it is believed that autism would be even more common than it is. I don't know , but is autism common in other countries? A genetic component is also very likely. Certainly, it runs in families, that is proven. Another theory is that it is caused by some genetic mutation. Anyway, I think it is dangerous to say that this or that particular factor is the sole cause. And after watching this video, maybe people can realize, like I said before, haven't we all encountered people like this in our lives?

I have a student who is considered autistic. He functions very well on a social level and is very affectionate. Intellectually he is very behind his age level, but he is able to learn. Because he looks so "normal" (what is that?) I'm sure that if had been born 40 years ago he would have been put in a special school and considered "retarded" . (How I hate that word!) Labels. Blech.

6 comments

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