Module

My apologies to all of my followers, but this post could be a tad a bit long but I will do my best to break it down and be as precise as possible!!!

Based on Articles 1 & 2:
1) I think the social and mental implications for students with learning disabilities was really brought up in the activities that we had to go through for our first block. The frustration and anxiety I experienced in that short amount of time is what a lot of students go through for an entire school day, five days a week. Add into that possibly a low self esteem and some depression and you can understand why a student with a learning disability can have some social problems along with the educational problems.

2) Unfortunately for me, I don't remember a lot of the strategies that my teachers used in elementary school and for most of middle school. I don't know if this is because I always did well in school and got into little trouble or what. But I do remember that a lot of my educational upbringing was teachers really talking to the students with a lot of drill involved. We constantly did math drill and that went throughout elementary and middle school. Growing up in the school district that I did (a very small district out in the boonies in New York) we didn't have a lot of the behavior problems I have seen in the Erie City school district. I do remember that we got in trouble when we didn't hand in our homework, and were kept from recess or some fun activity. In middle school we were forced to stay 10th period which was 40 minutes after school and if we did something severe enough you had 5 o'clock detention. I do think this type of behavior and homework policy could be problematic for a student with a learning disability. Completion of homework can sometimes be an issue with a student with a learning disability and repeated detentions or loss of activities can be hard on a student with a learning disability. It can also affect their social circles as they are not able to participate in some of the other things their peers may be doing after school. That is really all I can remember about the educational and behavioral techniques used in my upbringing.

3) One of the goals of my classroom is to try and make it a warm and comfortable place for all of the students involved. They need to know that all students don't learn at the same rate and that those who may be a little slower are by no means dumb. Learning some cultural acceptance for these students is key. By fostering a healthy classroom in which each student is respected, you can expect more from individual students. This will allow opportunities for peer tutoring and group work in which students can work in cooperation with each other and grow together.

1/3 of the way there....or 33.333333333333333% if you prefer...

Article 3:
1)The evolution of medical technology has had a huge impact on the way we look at disabilities. Before this technology students with disabilities were just dumb, or lazy. They were the kids that just couldn’t do the work because it was above their level. Or they were the kids who constantly acted out so they wouldn’t have to do the work. This new technology really shows parents, students, and teachers, that there are medical reasons that children are having problems in school. Being able to point to certain parts of the brain where reading takes place (parieto-temporal and inferior frontal areas) gives us the opportunity to find out if a kid with a disability actually has a problem in these areas. The fMRI can also help when developing a curriculum for students with disabilities. Testing curriculums on students to see if it stimulates the parts of the brain it needs to does not seem like a very far out thought anymore. I feel that the evolution of medical technology has completely changed the way we look at students with disabilities.

2)As far as teaching, I think we will invent new reading programs that really focus on those parts of the brain that new readers need to use. I mean now-a-days teachers have to use teaching practices that have been researched and proved to be successful. Can you get more successful than seeing a program stimulate the brain that is involved when reading? I don’t think so. So I feel that in the new future we will be seeing more programs that are medically researched based rather than just researched and practiced in the classroom. This will ultimately have an effect on mandated legislation because these researched practices may become the norm. They may be the new clauses in legislation that says we have to use certain programs that activate the proper areas of the brain. In general, with the increase of technology that allows us to look at the brain, we can see a total upheaval in educational practices and instruction that focuses on making sure that certain parts of the brain are stimulated.

2/3 of the way there......again 66.6666666666666% if you prefer.....

Articles 4&5:

1) There are many issues surrounding this topic. One of them is the over representation of African American students in programs for students with MMR and EMR. Another issue would be the over representation of English Language Learners in programs for students with MMR. These are just two of the many issues on this topic.

2) I feel the biggest way that legislation has tried ameliorate this problems is by the amendments added to IDEA in 1997. These amendments were added because Congress noticed the quickly rising number of students with culturally diverse backgrounds showing up in our nations schools. According to some data as recent as two thousand, one in three (33.3333333333333333%) of students was either African American, Hispanic, Asian American, or American Indian. In some schools within the larger cities in the nation, white students have become the minority.

3) My feelings on this topic are kind of mixed. I guess the question I would pose would be what else can we do for these students? I think that it is obvious that not all of these students are special education students, far from it. But what do schools do with these students who just do not have the cultural and language foundations that are needed to succeed in our schools? Should we create some other division besides special education for these students? I do think these students need extra help and extra time and many of the accommodations that students with learning disabilities need. Therefore I do believe many of the services they are receiving are relevant, but they are clearly mislabeled as Special Education students.

4) I think that a lot of thought needs to be put into creating a new "section" of education. Come up with a curriculum for these students with diverse backgrounds. Give them the accommodations that they need in order to succeed in our classroom. Do not expect too much from these students right away. They simply do not have the necessary skills to succeed in American schools right away. Allow them the time to be acclimated to our society and once they have this solid foundation, then and only then can they really be gauged on their academic abilities.

DONE! 3/3......or 100.0000000000000000%

Hope you enjoyed!

HAKUNA MATATA
'GO CUSE (nice win today for anyone who noticed)