Vocabulary Archives

Whole Body Listening

February 12, 2015 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

Last edited May 14, 2023 @ 1:44 pm

In March 2012, I attended Michelle Garcia Winner’s Social Thinking Conference in Baltimore, Maryland. During that two day conference Michelle introduced the participants to a variety of ways to assess and develop social thinking in children. One of the techniques she introduced was the idea of whole body listening, a great strategy for any primary classroom, and one that parents can reinforce at home. This strategy was developed by Susanne Poulette, a speech pathologist, in 1990.

Whole Body Listening Behaviors For Each Body Part:

Eyes are watching the speaker
Ears are listening
Mouth is quiet
Hands are in lap or at your side
Feet are still
Heart is caring about what the speaker is saying
Brain is thinking about what is being said

For some students this is very significant because it tells them exactly what listening looks like and sounds like. Once the task of listening has been broken down to meaningful behaviors it becomes something that can be conquered and practiced by almost all students, thus helping them to achieve greater success academically and socially.

I began implementing this strategy upon my return to my classroom and have continued to use it to this day. It has changed the way I have asked students to pay attention and stay on task. By using this technique, I continue to notice that my students understand and demonstrate what engaged listening is.

Whole body listening asks children to use more than just their ears for listening. In the book, Whole Body Listening Larry at School, the authors share a holistic approach to teaching students to use multiple parts of their body to take in and process information, follow directions and instructions.

To view a free webinar about Whole Body Listening by Michelle Garcia Winner, visit the Social Thinking website.

By Amy Shapiro, Reading Specialist and National Board Certified Teacher

A Brief Essay About Handwriting Without Tears

February 4, 2015 Brad Hoffman 1 Comment

There are many programs that schools have come to use in order to get their early students ready to read and write. One program in particular that primarily focuses on the writing component of a beginner students agenda is Handwriting without Tears. I have found this program to be both successful and enjoyable for the students involved. This extensive writing program consists of an abundance of activities in which students use a variety of sensory and tactile objects in order to understand the root of each letter in the alphabet. Handwriting without Tears does not stop at the alphabet, it actually expands to number writing and as the student becomes more advanced, word and eventually sentence writing is a part of the amazing program.

My focus in this piece is for the beginner learners; the ones that are just being introduced to the wonderful world of writing. Most children, once entering kindergarten or even pre-kindergarten, are excited about the prospect of learning their alphabet. Handwriting without Tears does such a wonderful job easing the child into their program and providing a multitude of resources for practice, practice, practice!

Handwriting without Tears teaches children the letters of the alphabet first by introducing a fun character called “Mat Man.” This character is made of big and little curves, as well as big and little lines made of wood. These terms are used throughout the entirety of the alphabet, seeing as how each letter is ultimately made up of some big or little curves and lines. Once the students are familiar with these wooden tools they sing a song about “Mat Man” as well as a song about where letters always begin (at the top). These catchy songs help the children to learn about letters and direction without becoming overbearing or confusing.

The next step in the handwriting process is learning each letter. When each letter is introduced the children and teacher practice the letter in many different ways before actually writing it on a piece of paper. First, the students use the wooden pieces to figure out how the letter can be portrayed. Then, the teacher models how to create the letter with the pieces and shows the class how to trace the letter with their finger, starting at the top of course. Next, it is the students turn to copy what the teacher has modeled and create/trace their own letter. Upon finishing with the wooden pieces, each child then gets a mini double sided chalkboard, chalk and small eraser (some teachers prefer to use a sponge cut into small cubes). The teacher once again models the letter on both sides of the chalkboard, and then allows time for the students to complete this task. Then the teacher models how to erase the letter, using the same process used when writing the letter. Once again this is then completed by the students. Lastly, the students are given a piece of paper from the Handwriting without Tears workbook where they are to trace the letter learned.

I have seen this process done in classrooms, such as my own, and I have come to very much enjoy each task that needs to be completed. The most important aspect about this program though, is that I have also seen that the students are enjoying their experience and are proud of what they can accomplish.

By Samantha Yanofsky, Private Tutor

Approaching New Words: Decoding With Syllable Types

January 25, 2015 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

In her highly regarded book Speech to Print, Loisa Cook Moats defines decoding as, “The ability to translate a word from print to speech, usually by employing knowledge of sound-symbol correspondence; also, the act of deciphering a new word by sounding it out.” Decoding combined with comprehension results in reading fluency. Unfortunately, comprehension can rarely occur if meaning is not made from the words being read, and inconsistencies in English make decoding from a general set of rules and guidelines rather challenging. Nonetheless, there are patterns worth studying and The Wilson Reading System, which is based in Orton-Gillingham, introduces decoding with syllable types for helping students to decode multisyllabic words.

Decoding with syllable types (6) can be named by the acronym CLOVER:

(C) Closed Syllables

Only one vowel and ends in a consonant, which results in a short vowel sound.

Ex: ask, truck, on

(L) Consonant-L-E Syllables

Consonant is followed by “le”. The vowel sound in these syllables is the schwa sound occurring before the l.

Ex: -ble, -cle, -dle

(O) Open Syllables

Only one vowel that occurs at the end of the syllable, which results in a long vowel sound.

Ex: no, he, I

(V) Vowel Combination Syllables

Contains cluster of two or three vowels or a vowel-consonant unit with sounds particular to that unit. When two vowels occur together, we often apply the rule, “when two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking.” Of course there are many exceptions, as in “does” and “friend”. A vowel-consonant unit often forms a diphthong, as in “boy”.

Ex: see, noise, toy

(E) Silent-E Syllables

Words that follow the pattern vowel/consonant/“E” which results in a long vowel sound for the first vowel and then the “E” remaining silent. With students, we often call this the “magic-E” syllable type.

Ex: ate, nice, those

(R) Vowel-R Syllables

Includes only one vowel followed by an r, or one vowel followed by an r followed by a silent e, or a vowel combination followed by an r. We often refer to these types as “Bossy ‘R’” syllables.

Ex: car, care, ire

With an understanding of the importance of phonics in reading instruction, Linnea Ehri and Irene Gaskins created the Benchmark Word Identification Program. Through their testing and research, they found four (4) ideal ways for readers to approach new words, and decoding with syllable types is certainly on the list.

Semantic guessing – using context
Letter/sounds decoding – sounding out
Analogy – comparison to other words
By sight – memorization connecting letters to memorized word sounds

These approaches have been successful with all types of learners, but especially successful with struggling readers. All students benefit from explicit instruction and practice with each of these approaches as part of a balanced literacy program. Decoding with syllable types is something that most young readers enjoy, too!

By David Dickerman, Reading Specialist

Typeface Invented to Aid Readers with Dyslexia

January 6, 2015 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

For readers with dyslexia, a common symptom is the rotation and transposition of letters. A lowercase b is sometimes mistaken as a lowercase d. This problem does not happen when using uppercase versions of the same letters, because an uppercase B does not resemble an uppercase D visually. Lowercase p is sometimes seen as a lowercase q. Also, dyslexics can rotate the letters vertically, so a p can become a d or a b.

In 2014, Dutch designer Christian Boer invented a new typeface for readers with dyslexia called Dyslexie that adapts to the problems listed above by making the letters of the dyslexic alphabet unique. The letters are designed to be heavier at the bottom, to prevent readers with dyslexia and writers with dyslexia from flipping the letters vertically. Since the letters are wider at the bottom, it’s more difficult to misinterpret a letter that is wide at the top–a dyslexic knows immediately that the letter is upside down.

Other tweaks include making letters like i and j (often switched for dyslexics) have been altered so that j appears with a slight tilt while i remains perpendicular. There’s more to the science behind Dyslexie’s design, which Christian Boer covers in detail (with examples and images) in the TED talk below:

Typeface for Readers with Dyslexia:

You can purchase this typeface for readers with dyslexia as a font for your personal computer (it’s free!).
Written by: Editorial Team, My Learning Springboard, Inc.

Dyslexia in the General Education Classroom

January 5, 2015 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

By Kelli Sandman-Hurley, Ed.D.
Original Source: Edutopia
Originally posted October 23, 2014

The following passage is about dyslexia. I want you to assume that I will be asking you a comprehension question or two when you are done. You have one minute. Go!

The bottob line it thit it doet exitt, no bitter whit nibe teotle give it (i.e. ttecific leirning ditibility, etc). In fict, iccording to Tilly Thiywitz (2003) itt trevilence it ictuilly one in five children, which it twenty tercent.

How was that? Did you stumble on some words? Did you skip words and or substitute with “whatever” or “something?” Based on experience, I am going to guess this was not easy for you. I guess that if I asked you to read this in front of your peers, who are prone to judgment, you would feel anxious. I am also going to guess that if I asked you to tell me what you learned from the passage, you wouldn’t be able to recall any important information.

You just experienced dyslexia for one minute. During that minute, the passage slowed you down and forced you to pronounce words that didn’t seem to make any sense and weren’t familiar. You knew they were wrong, but you read them anyway. And how about that time factor? Did you feel pressed for time? If you were in a classroom full of your peers and I asked you to read this aloud and then asked comprehension questions, would your heart rate go up? Would you suddenly have to use the restroom? Or perhaps you’d need to go to the nurse with a stomachache? This is dyslexia.

What can a general education teacher do to help?

Understand Dyslexia
Let’s debunk a few of the myths and misconceptions right now. Dyslexia is not:

Seeing letters or words backward (In fact, reversing letters and words is developmentally normal through the first grade.)
Outgrown
A result of laziness or lack of motivation
A visual issue.

It is often said that dyslexia is an “umbrella term” when, in fact, it has a very specific definition. The International Dyslexia Organization says:

It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction. Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge. Most students with dyslexia will receive the reading and writing help they need outside of the general education classroom, but there are many things a general education teacher can do to help students with dyslexia not only avoid situations, but thrive in your classroom.

Here is a short video from TED-Ed that explains dyslexia in just four minutes:

Understand the Role of Accommodations

Now that you have a better understanding of what dyslexia is and is not, it is important to know how you can help a student with dyslexia in the general education classroom. The best way, aside from the actual intervention, is to provide and understand the accommodations that he or she needs to be successful. Remember, these students are capable of learning, and many are intellectually gifted — their academic struggles are unexpected in relation to their innate ability to learn.

It cannot be overstated that students with dyslexia are capable of learning to read and write when given the appropriate intervention. This intervention should be structured and multisensory. It should be an explicit instruction of the underlying structure of English, and it should be informed by linguistics.

For many of these students, accommodations in the classroom can be the difference between academic success and academic failure and frustration. Below is a list of common and helpful accommodations:

Books on audio: These should be introduced as soon as a reading deficit is suspected, and implemented as early as kindergarten. The idea is to make sure that the intellectually capable student is not missing the chance to read good literature and the grade-level content he or she is capable of understanding in a format other than reading. Learning Ally and Bookshare are reputable resources.
Do not require the student to read aloud, unless he or she volunteers or had the opportunity to practice.
Provide notes ahead of time or allow the student to record the lecture. The Livescribe Pen is a fantastic tool.
Allow the student to verbally respond to short-answer and essay questions as well as dictate longer passages. Dyslexia affects writing as much, if not more, than reading. Their struggle with writing can often mask their actual thoughts.
Do not mark off for spelling — grade written assignments based on content only.
Remove time limits from testing and other timed situations.
Give multiple opportunities for success. If students who struggle in reading and writing are better at science, math, artistic, or physical activities, you can motivate them by showcasing their talents in other areas. It may the one thing a teacher does to save those students’ interest in school.

Dyslexia is real, occurring in up to 20 percent of the population. That means there is a student in every classroom, in every neighborhood, and in every U.S. school. It also means that every classroom teacher has the opportunity to positively change the life of a student with dyslexia by taking the time to understand what it is and provide accommodations for accessing information that student is capable of learning through alternate formats.

Do you know that teacher? Are you that teacher?