Hi Everyone,
I teach middle school LD and DH students. I am the lang. arts teacher in a resource room. Most of my students have no idea what it means to be LD or DH. They don’t know what an IEP is. All they know is they’re in a sp. ed. class and the other kids sometimes call them stupid. I feel it’s my responsibility to teach them about having a learning disability and what they can do to be successful. Does anyone teach this type of concept in their classroom? What kind of lessons do you teach? Is there a book on the subject? Can anyone recommend some short stories about other people with learning disabilities or maybe a film? What’s the best way to attack this delicate situation? I don’t want to hurt their feelings but I do want them to be aware. And I want them to be able to state to others what their needs are to ensure their success and to require that these needs be met. I hope I worded this right and that someone can lend a hand.
Thanks,
Laura
here's a great program!!!
First of all, as a parent, I thank you for being so attuned to this need. This is sooooo important and I am so impressed that you would be willing to take this on yourself. Best of luck to you!!!
On Mel Levine’s website www.allkindsofminds.org, under “programs and products”, scroll down toward the bottom and you will find “The Mind that’s Mine” program. Here’s what the site says:
A program developed by All Kinds of Minds in collaboration with the Schwab Foundation for Learning
Materials created and written by Mel Levine M.D., Dr. Carl Swartz Ph.D., and Melissa Wakely Ph.D.
The Mind That’s Mine curriculum enables students to find out how their minds work, what their current strengths are, and what they can do to make their minds work even better!
This curriculum focuses on how students learn, how they learn to learn, and how their different abilities enable them to acquire the skills they need to succeed. Different students have different kinds of minds, unique patterns of strengths and weaknesses, and individual affinities. This program encourages students to recognize, tolerate, and respect individual differences in learning and behavior. Designed for upper elementary classrooms, this program helps students understand various brain functions while developing strategies to improve performance.
The Mind That’s Mine may be especially helpful with students who harbor learning difficulties. The program can help them improve self-concept and correct misconceptions about their capacity to do well. Developed and pilot tested in 5th grade classrooms with over 400 students, The Mind That’s Mine has been designed to integrate into existing curriculums allowing maximum flexibility for educators.
What’s Included
When you purchase The Mind That’s Mine as a complete kit, you will receive:
1 Student Text
1 Teacher’s Manual
1 Student Video 1 Teacher Video
1 Poster of the Brain
The Mind That’s Mine may be purchased as a complete kit and as individual pieces. The complete kit provides the essential components for teaching students about their kinds of minds. Additional student texts can be purchased depending on the size of the class. The book All Kinds of Minds is also recommended to supplement activities described in the Teacher’s Manual
Material Descriptions
“The Mind that’s Mine has been a wonderful part of my teaching experience because I learn as much as my students.”
Natasha Lortie, Charles Armstrong School Belmot, CA
Student Text: This text teaches students about the critical components of learning. Topics include:
Thinking About Thinking
Paying Attention
Remembering: Your Mind’s Storage System
Language: Your Mind’s Special Information Code
Solving Problems and Thinking Up Ideas
Skill Building: How Your Mind Learns to Do Things
How Your Mind Helps You Behave Appropriately
The Mind That’s Mine
Read the first chapter of the Student Text.
Teacher’s Manual: This manual follows the content of the Student Text offering teaching strategies, lesson plans, home and classroom activities, and guidance. Many stimulating activities supplement the exploration into the functions of the mind.
All Kinds of Minds (book): Written by Dr. Levine, this book describes a fictitious group of students who are experiencing different kinds of learning (and behavior) problems and how they come to realize and manage these difficulties. The student text often refers to the characters in All Kinds of Minds to clarify and illustrate some of the concepts.
Read the first chapter of this book.
Student Video: In this video, Dr. Levine takes students on a tour of his home, Sanctuary Farm, where they meet a variety of animals and discuss the topics of The Mind That’s Mine. Teachers are encouraged to view the sections of this tape with their class as an introduction to each chapter.
Teacher Video: In this video Dr. Levine discusses the philosophy and purpose of The Mind That’s Mine.
Brain Poster: This colorful illustration depicts the different parts of the human brain and outlines their functions.
Re: Teaching students about LD
As a special education teacher myself I know the stigma that surrounds students with disabilities. I teach younger students, so I’m very careful about what I tell them. Yet, I still help them understand that they are not “STUPID” as many of them are led to believe. I tell them about other people who have had learning disabilities and have achieved, such as Einstein. I’m also quick to point out that having a LD automatically means that you have an average to above average intelligence.
Check the Internet for resources. In North Carolina there is a lending library through students with disabilities parent organization that has a lending library. Use as much biblotherapy as possible – try to find adolescent literature that deals with students who have disabilities. Speak with your school counselor or psychologist to find out more.
A couple of great books are Emergence: Labeled Autistic, by Temple Grandin and A Lesson Before Dying, by Ernest J. Gaines. These may be over your students’ heads, but would be great pleasure reading for an adult.
Re: Teaching students about LD
I do teach this lesson in my class. One thing that I do is open up that class with a journal topic that genrally asks why they think they are in special education and if they could would they be in all regular ed. classes. Give them about ten minutes to write down thier ideas and then go into group discussion. Have them discuss why they are in those types of classes. Clear up any misconceptions about what it means to be learning disabled and I generally discuss how many people statistically have learning disablities and how many learning disabled students are gifted. It is important that you stress that learning disabled students have average to above average IQ’s. Then I go over celebrities with learning disablity and read the story “On Being Bright, Seventeen, and Unable to Read.” We talk about similarites and differences of the story and their lives. Then for home work I’ll assign a quiz that has students match celebrities with disablietes with thier profiles. You can find a the quiz and some other good information at this website. http://beach.huensd.k12.ca.us/pages/hlteach.html
Re: Teaching students about LD
I do teach this lesson in my class. One thing that I do is open up that class with a journal topic that genrally asks why they think they are in special education and if they could would they be in all regular ed. classes. Give them about ten minutes to write down thier ideas and then go into group discussion. Have them discuss why they are in those types of classes. Clear up any misconceptions about what it means to be learning disabled and I generally discuss how many people statistically have learning disablities and how many learning disabled students are gifted. It is important that you stress that learning disabled students have average to above average IQ’s. Then I go over celebrities with learning disablity and read the story “On Being Bright, Seventeen, and Unable to Read.” We talk about similarites and differences of the story and their lives. Then for home work I’ll assign a quiz that has students match celebrities with disablietes with thier profiles. You can find a the quiz and some other good information at this website. http://beach.huensd.k12.ca.us/pages/hlteach.html
EPS Publishing in Cambridge, MA has Mel Levine’s “All Kinds of Minds.” Very nice for teaching students about LD. Others, too, but that’s all I can think of right now.