Student Accommodations and Teacher Resource update

A colleague made a comment about the increasing number of students seeking testing for learning style differences. The issues of over-testing, undiagnosed learning style differences keep coming up, but I don't think we've actually examined the real problem.

These tests are, first of all, quite expensive. A full psychoeducational assessment runs $1500 to $2000, and there's no guarantee that anything useful will learned. Being informed that instructions should be repeated, and that the student would benefit from the use of a computer, (or that when confused they will become anxious) seems like a painfully expensive way to state the obvious. On the other hand, a student may discover that they learn more effectively if they use visual imagery rather than auditory cues. Incredibly hard-working assistants and specialists can then help and guide the student what techniques, tricks, and tools will be the best for them. Adjudications, such as extra-time, to a reader for tests, or being exempt from learning a second language, now fall into place. It's an expensive hoop, to gain access to resources that should be available to everyone.

It's been bothering me a lot this week, but given that our government is more concerned with giving people placebos perhaps I shouldn't be surprised this problem hasn't been seriously tackled yet.

Lastly, the teaching resources I have come across this week.

100 ways to use ICT in the classroom - Interactive whiteboards, google docs, & pocket video camera.

Awesome stories - Stories and biographies that link to primary sources.

Blood typing "game" - Reviews ABO and Rh blood typing.

Science flash animations.

Article on students using interactive white boards.

Online tool for creating graphs and charts.

Smart board revolution - resources of interactive white boards.

Tutorials for smart boards.

Easily created games for practicing vocab or spelling.

Even more Smart Board resources. The link takes you to some math resources, but on the main page there are resources for many areas.

Wordle - create a quick summary of important terms for any piece of work. Paste in any block of text, and a picture of the words, with each word enlarged in proportion to how often it occurs.

Cheers,

Ron Neufeld
Canada's Best Boarding School