Foundations of Special Learning Needs

Working to understand learning needs to best meet our students' needs! Thanks to everyone who made the trip to Parkland last Friday.

Rich discussion allows participants to learn from each other.

Thanks to the educators who met at Sauk Valley last Friday! Great discussion - great input - great energy!

Sharing and learning in a student-centered atmosphere!

Exceptional educators having fun and working hard to best meet the needs of their students! Thanks for your efforts! Please note: something is amiss in this photo. If you can spot the shenanigans, email Sarah for the opportunity for a fabulous prize! People pictured here not eligible:)

More Learning in Active Learning Classrooms - but Students Don't Know It - Check out new research

From Science News - Harvard University - September 5, 2019

For decades, there has been evidence that active learning -- classroom techniques designed to get students to participate in the learning process -- produces better educational outcomes for students at virtually all levels.

And a new Harvard study suggests it may be important to let students know it.

The study, published September 4 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that, though students felt like they learned more through traditional lectures, they actually learned more when taking part in active learning classrooms.
Read more: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190905171810.htm

Integrating Hands-on Activities to Engage Your Students!

I have had a request from the field for more hands-on classroom ideas to engage adult ed students and to provide a richer learner experiences. I'm asking our experienced teachers who have become Special Learning Needs Specialists to post some of their ideas for our Illinois teachers. Let's use this "back to school" time  to think about reaching our students through differentiated instruction - especially through hands-on activities. Feel free to share your ideas whether you are a Specialist or not. Simple ideas welcome! 

Thanks for attending the COABE Webinar: Fostering Metacognitive Skills and Critical Thinking in Your Classroom

Thanks to everyone who shared an hour with me on the COABE webinar. Please share with other educators one new way to apply explicit teaching of metacognition and critical thinking in your classroom. Click on the comment hyperlink to reply. Thanks for all you do to serve our students!

COABE Webinar: Fostering Metacognitive Skills and Critical Thinking in Your Classroom

Date: Tuesday, June 25, 2019

Time: 2:00-3:00 p.m. EST

Presented by:  

Sarah Goldammer 

 

Are you teaching your students to think about their thinking? Are you giving them opportunities to build their critical thinking skills to problem solve? Let's have fun together discovering metacognition activities, strategies, and lessons to build important thinking skills for success in class and in life. Teaching critical thinking is good for ALL students and especially important in reaching those with learning difficulties.

Webinar space is limited to 500 and is provided on a first-come, first-served basis. 

You will need your membership ID to register for this webinar.

Please contact membership@coabe.org if you have any questions.

Please Note: Certificates are automatically emailed 24 hours after the webinar has ended.

Register: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_11Ag_i1zR7-fWM-FBrmR-A

Foundations of Special Learning Needs

Thanks to the newly created Foundations of Special Learning Needs  groups that met at UIC and at Shawnee Community College for your participation and insight into how to best meet the needs of our adult education students! 

Please post below your application exercise using one strategy for student-centered teaching. Please share how your students benefited from this activity. Please also share any suggestions you have for other teachers as they plan to incorporate your idea. Check back to read other participants experiences.

Foundations of Special Learning Needs at UIC

Thanks for the great work from all of the educators who attended the Foundations of Special Learning Needs training at UIC last Friday! Check back on the SLN Blog to read the posts from the participants as they apply what they have learned!

Preparing Students with ASD for College and Career

As the number of students diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) continues to rise, many students with ASD are now graduating from high school with the goal of entering postsecondary education and the workforce. Unfortunately, research indicates that most graduates with autism will have “a difficult time following high school for almost any outcome you choose – working, continuing school, living independently, socializing and participating in the community, and staying healthy and safe. To complicate matters, many such youth begin their journey into adulthood by stepping off a services cliff” (Roux, et al, 2015, p. 8).  Part of this might be understood as resulting from the limited availability of appropriate services in adulthood. But some of the responsibility can be attributed to the limited or, at times, simply inadequate, transition programming provided by schools.

Join ICSPS for a day of exploring resources, discussing strategies and engaging in dialogue around supporting students with ASD as they transition to postsecondary and the workforce. This day long workshop will explore the Autism Training and Technical Assistance (ATTA) project – the resources that have been developed to be used by students with ASD, their family members, secondary and postsecondary educators and staff, employers, and members of the community, to better understand the transition process, the unique barriers faced by individuals with ASD, and to assist in working towards or providing equitable access in the workplace/postsecondary setting.

Event Information

April 26, 2019
9:30am – 2:30pm
Holiday Inn & Suites
3202 East Empire Street
Bloomington, IL 61704

SIGN UP TODAY! 

Event Flyer:

Download and share the event flyer here:
Flyer

Swipe Right for Digital Literacy: Take Your Adult Learners from Analog to Digital

Mandy Dwyer shares ideas and provides
direction to the IACEA participants!

Mandy Dwyer, Cathy Kramer and Ramien Manson of Joliet Junior College provided an interesting IACEA session on integrating technology into tutoring, into the adult education classroom, and into Workforce Development program. Mandy and Cathy are Special Learning Needs Specialists as part of the ICCB Instructional Staff Professional Pathways. In this capacity, they serve as expert resources within their program providing insight into reaching the needs of special learners through effective instructional strategies. They also serve the entire state when they share interactive resources that can be immediately used to increase digital literacy among students, including those with adaptive needs. We certainly “like” the way they are teaching and reaching by providing inclusive instructional tools!

Cathy Kramer inspires with her wealth
 of knowledge and experience!

Thanks to Cathy and Mandy for making a difference! To learn more about becoming a Special Learning Needs Specialist, contact Sarah Goldammer at sgoldam@siue.edu.

Teaching to ALL While Meeting the Needs of Special Learners

A huge thanks to Monica Waller of Lewis and Clark Community College for sharing her expertise at the IACEA conference. Monica is a Special Learning Needs Specialist as part of the ICCB Instructional Staff Professional Pathways. In this capacity, Monica acts as an expert resource within her program providing insight into reaching the needs of special learners through effective instructional strategies. Her session title, Teaching to ALL While Meeting the Needs of Special Learners, says it all! Thanks to Monica for making a difference! To learn more about becoming a Special Learning Needs Specialist, contact Sarah Goldammer at sgoldam@siue.edu.

Creating a Connection Between the Illinois Division of Rehabilitation Services (DRS) and Illinois Adult Education Providers

Many thanks to John Marchioro from the Illinois Division of Rehabilitation Services, for sharing information at the IACEA conference. Great response to questions and a wealth of resources to assist as in Adult Ed to know how to best partner with our Title IV folks!

Special Learning Needs Sessions at IACEA

Hope to see you at the 39th Illinois Adult and Continuing Educators' Association (IACEA) Conference  Dream, Create, Inspire

Wednesday, March 6 - Friday, March 8, 2019
 Wyndham Springfield City Center

Visit the IACEA website to register: https://www.iacea.net/

Check out these Special Learning Needs focused sessions:

March 6^th

Wed. 9-10:15           

Creating a Supportive AND Challenging Classroom to Engage Learners     

  

How do you design a learning environment that fosters support and acceptance while challenging students to thrive in the competitive world of college and employment? Discussion will include group dynamics, managing classroom behavior, and deescalating aggressive behavior.

Bevan Gibson          

Sarah Goldammer  

Wed. 10:30-11:45   

Building Confidence with Fractions    

In this workshop, we will focus specifically on fractions, an idea that many students find particularly challenging and anxiety-producing. Learn how to incorporate spoken and written language, student-created sketches, real-world context, and hands-on activities into your fraction lessons in order to boost your students’ abilities and confidence.   

Becky DeForest                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Wed. 10:30-11:45   

Building Trauma-informed Practices to Increase Student Retention   

 

Trauma-informed practices is becoming the 'new thing' in education. But where does it come from? What does this have to do with grit or mindsets? And how do you move from research to implementation? Join this interactive discussion to explore trauma informed practices and learn how to implement best practices in your program to increase student performance.     

Kathy  Olesen-Tracey

Wed. 10:30-11:45   

Teaching to ALL While Meeting the Needs of Special Learners 

Do you struggle to meet all the learning needs of the students in your classroom? In this presentation, participants will be shown how to take proven effective lessons and modify them to engage ALL learners and meet special learning needs by involving multiple modalities. Contextualized work applications and Illinois ABE/ASE Standards will be infused giving the greatest possible return on lesson investment.     

Monica Waller                                                                                                                                                                                                          

Wed. 3:30-4:45        

A Universally Designed Classroom: A Space for Everyone   

      

This workshop will offer techniques for utilizing the concept of Universal Design in your classroom and in your lesson plans. Participants will leave with the tools needed to create a welcoming and accommodating class for all students regardless of their learning needs.  

Katharine Ward       

Daniel Cloward 

      

March 7^th

Thurs. 10:30-11:45 

Emotional Roadblocks Along the Student Journey

Discover how students deal with more than just educational roadblocks, but also emotional roadblocks. During this session, information regarding emotional roadblocks students face will be discussed and shared. Learn some common roadblocks your students are facing, and how to help them steer clear of these roadblocks.     

Melissa Koke           

Chad Murphy         

Thurs. 10:30-11:45

 

An Overview of The Illinois Division of Rehabilitation Services (DRS) for the Adult Education Provider  

     

The Illinois Division of Rehabilitation Services (DRS) provides solutions for the workforce needs of business customers while preparing talented, qualified job seekers with disabilities for their chosen careers.  This presentation will provide adult education partners with an overview of DRS eligibility requirements, services and referral information.  A question and answer session will also be included.      

John Marchioro                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Thurs. 2:15-3:30      

Learning to Remember: Teaching Memory Strategies in Adult Education 

     

Focus and memory are essential life and work skills. Teaching our students to improve their focus and increase their memory capacity could be the most important topic we teach! Learn what the research on memory says, how we can use research to inform instruction, and have fun learning to remember! Classroom ideas and resources will be shared.               

Sarah Goldammer                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Thurs. 2:15-3:30      

Swipe Right for Digital Literacy: Take Your Adult Learners from Analog to Digital 

 

Integrate technology into your tutoring, adult education classroom, or Workforce Development program. We will interactively present resources that you can immediately use to increase digital literacy among your students, including those with adaptive needs. Surveys, websites, and phone applications are among the tools you will “Like”.

Mandy Dwyer          

Cathy Kramer          

Ramien Manson                              

Thurs. 3:45-5:00      

Create a Culture of Health and Fitness While Hardly Breaking a Sweat 

          

Mountains of research findings laud the positive effects of exercise on our ability to improve memory and critical thinking abilities. We'll discuss some simple ways to incorporate activity into your program to help students stretch their physical and mental fitness to new heights. Includes accommodations for those with disabilities.       

Sean McGahan                                                                                                                                                       

Thurs. 3:45-5:00      

Learning for All: Practical Considerations for Inclusivity, Accessibility, and Equity through Universal Design  

In this interactive session, we’ll share a universal design approach to make your instruction usable for more people. You’ll consider the impact of the instructional context, technology realities, and compliance regulations in setting learning goals and developing strategies that allow your learners multiple means of accessing information and demonstrating knowledge.    

Jennifer Maddrell    

Jeff Goumas

Tech Ideas from the Field

Thanks to Mandy Dwyer, Literacy Specialist at Joliet Junior College, and newly credentialed Special Learning Needs Specialist, for sharing the following:

I absolutely recommend working with the Disability Services/Center, in order to find creative ways to fund technology to assist students. So many student benefit from read-aloud technology, and have it as an accommodations for their testing, but don't use the technology on a daily basis. Using our D.S. Office, we have enabled Kurzweil/Firefly for our students, which not only reads their texts aloud, but also websites (using the Chrome plugin). It has revolutionized the reading habits of one of our low-vision students.

Smart phones are the optimal resource for technology assistance. Not only are they common among the students, and the apps constantly evolve to meet people's need. Students seem to regard them only as a device to call and text, and the simple act of looking up definitions and using text-to-speech is a brand new world for them. I will definitely spread word of the apps, especially Bigger and Brighter.

I am constantly on the lookout for new ESL/Low GLE reading resources that are interesting. I had heard about California Distance Learning. It seems similar to the News for You online resources, but News for You is a paid resource. California Distance Learning seems more appealing for my community partners.