Although this was the second time I had gone through these simulations, I once again found them eye opening. I will go through the four categories and tell you how I thought about them, and then give my overall opinion on them and the implications they may have on teaching.
Attention: These were probably my favorite activities to partake in. I found them very difficult to complete although I somehow got all of the questions right on the Focusing activity. I did feel there wasn't enough time to read that passage before it disappeared however. The Auditory activity is a HUGE eye opener as to the distractions a student can have in the classroom.
Reading: I found this section to be the most frustrating of the four. Trying to complete the decoding exercise was exhausting, and even I gave up near the end. It is easy to understand why a student with decoding problems may give up on reading and not like it. The reading activity was difficult because I had to read the passage so quickly that I had absolutely no comprehension of what I was reading.
Writing: The graphomotor exercise was a complete disaster. I have terrible penmanship as is, add to the fact I was on the computer and completing the exercise like a student with a learning disability and it was a complete failure. The composition exercise was exciting to me because of how unbelievably close it is to the writing of a real student. After just completing my student teaching placement in an LD setting, my writing in the activity compared to the 5th grade studnets I was working with was almost identical. It was actually a little scary.
Math: Seeings as Math is the subject I felt most confident in, I figured I would still be able to complete these activities with a good number correct. WRONG. I checked every single computation I did in the arithmatic activity and still got three wrong. FRUSTRATING. The spatial activity was difficult because I am not a spatial person at all and I thought there was no way A could have been the right answer. Needless to say I was shocked when it was correct, and ultimately I was able to see why it was correct. The sequence activity was eye-opening as well. It asked to me to try and time myself and complete it in under a minute. I think it took me a minute just to read the directions and figure out how to complete the three different questions. I still only got two out of three right and it probably took me three minutes to complete. Again I went back up to the top after every computation to find out what the next step was.
Overall I found these activites to be very eye opening and take them as acitivities that are very close to what a student with a learning disability might go through.
As far as implications on teaching, I feel there is something to be learned from each section. The attention section shows how important it is to have a classroom that is under control and well behaved. You will never have the perfect classroom as a teacher that does not talk out, however you must as a teacher have the necessary classroom management techniques to limit these distractions for all students, not just those with learning disabilities. The reading section simply points out how frustrating it can be for students who are struggling in certain phases of reading. It is important as a teacher to notice this frustration in a students and do what you can to help them grow as a reader. It is also nice to be put in their shoes and see why it may be difficult for them to read certain words even after you have told it to them 20 times, because I had that problem while I was reading.
The writing shows how difficult writing can be for students with a learning disability. I thought it wrote a very good paragraph and by the end when I read it with all of their changes I was still able to get the point of the writing, but the pure number of mistakes was astonishing. It shows that the students know what they are saying and writing, but it just does not come out the proper way. I relate the Math section close to the reading section due to the fact that it was again very frustrating. Having to check EVERY computation and EVERY direction got me frustrated, and then seeing that I still missed some made me wondering if doing all that work was with it. That is the feeling learning disabled students may be feeling. Realizing this frustration is a very important part of working with students with learning disabilities I feel, and finding a way to make school a more positive and less frustrating place is a task that I feel all teachers need to complete.
Welp, hope you enjoyed my first blog ever. Have a good weekend and Hakuna Matata friends.....GO 'CUSE
23 Years, and Still Blogging
1 week ago
First of all, let me just express my disappointment in your blog name. No "Twilight Tom" or "Edward Eighmey"... what the heck!?
ReplyDeleteAnyways, it sounds like we felt the same way about these simulations. Frustrating and discouraging seem to be their theme. I agree with you that it was really eye opening to be put in the shoes of a student with disabilities. I also agree that many of these issues will need to be faced regardless of if you are in a special education classroom or general education classroom. Eventually, your classroom management skills will be tested.
While you must be in tune with the frustration level of your students, I think its also critical to be in tune with your own frustration level. We already know how easy it is to let your bad day be reflected in your attitude to the class. With students with learning disabilities, it's even easier to forget their own frustrations and let your frustrations take over. Not only is classroom management crucial, but self-management is as well. I think you're right that positivity can be helpful.
Nice Blog Tom! I liked your comment, " however you must as a teacher have the necessary classroom management techniques to limit these distractions for all students, not just those with learning disabilities" I feel classroom management is the centerpiece of good teaching! Thanks for soing this activity...again!
ReplyDeleteSo it looks like we all were thinking the same thing on this activity...eye opening and frustrating!!!
ReplyDeleteYou had a GREAT point that our classroom management and self management skills as teachers are a very important aspect in allowing and helping these students keep a positive attitude and to keep their frustration levels down. So we are able to help them succeed to their best abilities even though they may be struggling with some disability. While I was doing these actives that never really crossed my mind.
Also, in your writing section you were talking about how you already struggle with neat handwriting and when doing the activity it was even worse. The whole time I was working on the reading activity I kept thinking...wow this is like me have multiple disabilities having to have learned how to deal with different disabilities growing up and what works best for me.