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With large classroom sizes, it is often challenging to meet the individual writing needs of each student. What makes it doubly difficult is the writing process involves a complicated synergy that requires students to physically write, type or dictate , implement rules of written language/spelling, as well as generate and organize ideas. Those are a lot of tasks that require attention, and every student comes with their own unique preferences and needs. So How Can a Single Teacher Manage the Writing Needs of Individual Students? I find that when most students receive a graded, written assignment, they rarely look past the number. However, sprinkled across their papers are colorful hints and suggestions on how to accomplish higher marks as well as personalized clues on how to develop greater mastery over the written word. The best way to meet the individual needs of your budding writers is to provide the metacognitive strategies, tools, and feedback so that they can consciously learn to ...

Learning to follow both oral and written instructions is a vital skill that students need to learn at an early age.  However, grabbing their attention long enough to learn the complicated process can be challenging! Why are Following Directions a Difficult Skill for Young Learners? Following directions involves a combination of mental tasks. Therefore, for a student to be good at this, he or she needs to be proficient at the following skills, and he or she also needs to be able to do them simultaneously: Attention is the ability to maintain focus on a selected stimulus, sustaining that focus and shifting it at will. Receptive language  is the ability to understand language “input” - including both words and gestures.   Memory  is the ability to understand and remember information over time. Verbal reasoning  is the ability to understand and reason with words. Executive Functioning  is the ability to multitask, self-monitor, self-initiate, plan, priori...

I'm happy to continue a discussion on listening skills from my prior blog post, " What are the 7 Root Origins of Poor Listening Skills ?"  This past blog reviewed the cognitive skills behind listening.  Now, I would love to share the games and activities that I use to improve listening skills in my own students. It's all in the Presentation: Here are three magic steps: Motivating lesson titles can hook your learners and feed eager and enthusiastic attitudes.  Upbeat and animated presentations can grab your students' attention and get them engrossed in the content.  Integrate fun and interactive games that reinforce the concepts so that the content sticks.  Games and Activities that Strengthen Listening Skills: If you know anything about me, you know that I love games and fun, multisensory activities.  In fact, if I don't already have a game or fun activity to practice new concepts, then one is quickly created.  Here are some of my favori...

Dysgraphia is a learning disability that affects written language: spelling, capturing ideas on paper, visual-spatial skills, and fine motor skills such as handwriting. Different terms are used to describe these difficulties. In fact, the most recent Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5 (DSM-5) doesn’t use the term dysgraphia but uses the phrase “an impairment in written expression” which is under the category of “specific learning disorder.” What are the Signs of Dysgraphia or Impairment in Written Expression? Handwriting is Messy or illegible  Covered in cross-outs and erased text Burdened with improper spacing between letters and words Hindered with oversized and crooked letters and words Disrupted with a combination of lower and uppercase letters as well as a mixture of print and script Misaligned when doing math problems Labored written language includes Pencil grip is cramped and strained Word repetition Word and punctuation omissions Sentences are unfinish...

It is easy for parents and even teachers to lose their cool when children do not listen to repeated directions. So, if kids aren’t making sense of what they hear, how can the learning process even take place? To solve this problem, it is necessary to uncover the root causes of poor listening skills.  Then, one must find the individualized, cognitive-based culprits for each student.  What are the Cognitive Skills Behind Listening? There are a number of core cognitive skills that support one's capacity to listen: Attention - Attention is the ability to tune into information, sensations, and perceptions that are relevant in the moment. Working memory - Working memory is a cognitive function that enables students to recall and use relevant information to complete an activity. It also enables learners to hold multiple pieces of information in the mind and manipulate them. Often described as a mental workspace, working memory helps students stay focused, block distractions and sta...

Many teachers are miffed when apparently simple tasks such as using an agenda or turning in an assignment is difficult for their students. Many of my own students have shared that some teachers impose very strict rules and regulations about both recording assignments and due dates. In fact, I have witnessed policies that are so rigid, a zero is divvied out if an assignment is even a minute late. Unfortunately, harsh punishments do not provide the attention and instruction that these students need to develop this skill. Instead, penalties and labels such as careless, lazy and unmotivated simply place these frustrated learners in a state of learned helplessness.  In contrast, these students need structured routines, comprehensive instruction, and a scaffolding approach to planning, managing time, and organizing. How Hard Can it Really Be to Plan, Manage Time and Organize? I have to admit, when I first started working with students that struggled with executive functioning, I was perp...

This week I am thrilled to share a case study of a fabulous teacher named Kim, from Cape Town in South Africa. Kim teaches a 3rd-grade class at a special needs school. The children range from 10-12 years old and most are bussed in daily from very disadvantaged areas all over the peninsula. Kim reported, "I was so thrilled to have stumbled across your website when I was drowning in a sea of unrecognizable words and paragraphs which were proudly presented to me by 8 out of my16 pupils." Kim knew they were capable, "as most of them could do math with the greatest of ease. So what was this?" How Could Kim Meet the Diverse Needs of Her Students? Kim signed up for my course: Spelling Instruction: Assessment and Focused Remedial Approach .  She shared, "After studying your course, I realized that my student's brains were wired differently as far as language processing." Kim learned that her struggling students had different cognitive based weaknesses that wer...