Lindamood-Bell training for Gemini
posted: Jan 4, 07:24 PM
So, here it is, the fourth day of a new year. The advent of a new year often leads to reflecting on the year past and the one to come.
I’ve been giving some thought to what 2009 may “look like”. I stress the may because I know all too well how our plans can change in a blink!
I’ve decided to go into debt and register for the Lindamood-Bell workshop which is being held in Hali in February and March. I’ve wanted this training for a few years and it’s expensive. University tuition and Lindamood were not going to happen in my world at the same time, and then once univeristy was complete I couldn’t afford to travel to the U.S. for a week’s training.
Lindamood training will help me to work more effectively with my learning disabled students. Additionally, this training is required by our school board to work as an SLD teacher. The field of teaching loves acronyms and SLD stands for severe learning disability. The student’s not the teacher’s! I have been giving some thought to applying for a position as an SLD teacher in a couple of years.
SLD teachers have the opportunity to truly make a difference in their students’ lives. Their caseloads are small and they work on a one to one basis with these students for two years. I would like to know I had made a tangible difference in a child’s ability to read and from what I’ve learned from SLD teachers, their focus is teaching students to read.
Currently, I am working with two students who have been designated as severely learning disabled. In order for a child to be described as SLD, they must be of average to above average intelligence, and diagnosed with a severe learning disability (l.d.).
I have a third SLD student on my caseload, but he refuses resource support. I don’t take this refusal personally, it has been an issue for several years in his previous school. I would like, however, to find a way to break through his barriers and help him to realize we all have unique ways of learning and just because our brain may learn differently from many other brains, this doesn’t mean we are stupid.
I have three students who cannot read. I stay awake at night trying to work out how to change/adapt my schedule to meet their need, while attempting to meet the needs of my 40 plus other students.
I am constantly looking for research on teaching adolescents to read; it is a different process than teaching little ones or adults. Understandably, as learning to read is challenging; takes time; is frustrating and, if one is 14 or 15 years old it is also a major risk in the pride department. I am sure it is no surprise to hear these students tend to be quite behavioral within the school environment. So, here I am with my gigantic caseload, full of kids with inappropriate, often aggressive behaviors, wanting to teach three of my students to read!
All of this brings me back to Lindamood-Bell and phonetics, sight words and whatever other wonderful techniques the program may offer to me. All I want is to be able to teach reading in the most effective manner possible, whether I am a resource or a SLD teacher. No child should go through the school system and not be able to read!