[etni] Re: english teacher LD forms
- From: michele ben <benfam@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 17 Nov 2005 16:43:13 +0200
A learning disabilities don't suddenly appear in the high school. They are
there from the very beginning. Language based learning disabilities are obvious
to an observant or an experienced parent or kindergarten teacher right from
early childhood. Most LD kids have some sort of trouble in elementary school.
The brightest kids who manage to cope generally collapse by sixth grade the
burden of trying to survive and not realizing that there's a real reason that
they are different from the rest. The really clever LD kids are smoked out by
the seventh grade. After that, if suddenly a kid develops learning problems,
the problem probably isn't LD but something else. Therefore, there is usually
some record from the elementary school of LD kids. A diagnostic tester should
get that material. A diagnostic tester also interviews the parents about a kids
educational background and developement. If a tester gives accomodations on the
basis of a few hours of assessment without the necessary background and
detective work, then the test is a sham. Furthermore, an assessment is useless
without concrete suggestions.
Michele
Adele Raemer and Laurie Levy wrote:
> Dear Sharon and ETNIers,
>
> I would like to thank Sharon here for her posting. I wanted to respond to
> this, but just hadn't gotten around to it. What's more, as a teacher who has
> NOT gone through the course which she has, she did it much more accurately,
> intelligently and in -depth than I could have ever done! So Saron: Thanks!!!
>
> What I WILL add here, is my gut response to the original complaint.
>
> As a veteran ETNIer (not quite from the beginning, but quite active for many
> years already) I can't COUNT the number of times people have complained,
> over these emails, about kids receiving adaptations that were IRRELEVANT,
> and they did NOT need! About the ever-growing number of kids who were
> receiving hakra'at sheilon, despite the fact that they, as teachers, knew
> VERY well that those kids had NO problems whatsoever reading on their own!
> Or that a pupil of theirs who was given be'al peh could really manage with a
> tape! Now when a kid gets a testing adaptation that does not suit him, not
> only dos it not allow the learner to accurately demonstrate what s/he is
> capable of, but it also makes more work for US , the teachers! (Making more
> tapes than we really need to; sitting one-on-one with more kids than we need
> to for oral testing, etc.)
>
> I remember a thread (or 2 or 3) a while back, (even a report in the media)
> about kids who receive testing adaptations because...."well, their parents
> paid for the assessment! How can the testers send them home 'empty-handed'
> "?
>
> Furthermore, I, personally, have heard a tester (who is also a teacher)
> relate overhearing a kid in school explaining to another kid HOW TO CHEAT on
> the assessment exam! In other words, explaining what type of behavior during
> the assessment (pretend to have a hard time concentrating, move your feet a
> lot, look out the window often, don't sleep the night before, etc.) will
> elicit receiving adaptations!
>
> Now, a tester doesn't know these kids from Adam, and sees them a few times
> for a few hours. We have good actors who can put on excellent performances
> for that amount of time, when sufficiently motivated (and parents laying out
> thousands of shekels seems to be quite motivating, to me). Who better than
> the teacher (who knows these kids well, can take opportunities in class to
> try numerous approaches, to try and see how the kid actually performs best
> PRIOR to going to the assessment, and then report this to the assessor) to
> report on what actually happens in the field when the kid tests in one way
> as opposed to another? It's not that we are doing the job of the assessor.
> There is a very excellent course which assessors much take that provides
> them with this expertise, and _I_ do not have that! Rather, we are helping
> do an accurate assessment by providing valuable information which the
> assessor would otherwise have no access to. (Would you take your baby (or
> pet) into a doctor and say: Hey Doc! My kid/dog doesn't feel well, but I
> won't tell you her symptoms. I'll just sit here and let you check her, and
> see if you can figure out what hurts her and why!)
>
> HERE, then, may be the point where we are lacking: clear instructions (maybe
> a short hishtalmut on the topic) of how we, as classroom teachers, can work
> and experiment with our learners to be able to fill out these forms in a way
> that will:
> 1. find the most appropriate (and fair) mode of testing for our learner,
> 2. help the assessor do this most accurately and
> 3, make the assessment system fairer for ALL of our learners in the long run
> (those who receive the needed dispensations, as well as those who do not
> need them).
>
> Does all this mean more work? Yup. It does. But not that much. And it makes
> us more professional, IMHO. But on the other hand, it should also prevent
> Johnny (who really CAN read) from getting that dispensation he does not
> deserve, and then WE have to sit with him and test him orally, rather than
> have that much needed 30 minutes to deal with other things.
>
> We can't have our cake, and eat it too!
>
> Adele
>
> --------------------------------------------
> Visit the ETNI site - http://www.etni.org
> Send a message to the ETNI list: etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Send queries and questions to: ask@xxxxxxxx
> --------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------
Visit the ETNI site - http://www.etni.org
Send a message to the ETNI list: etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Send queries and questions to: ask@xxxxxxxx
--------------------------------------------
Other related posts: