SN 502 Teaching Students with Learning Disabilities

Welcome to the Seminar Dr. Phyllis Schiffer-Simon Seminar Agenda Course Update Unit 5 Seminar Topic: Teaching Note Taking to Learning Disabled Students Q & A

Major Assignments & Weeks Due Reading Strategy Instructional Plan – Week 2 Test-Taking Strategy Instructional Plan – Week 4 Research Analysis – Week 6 Final Project – Comprehensive Report on Mike Simmons Week 7

Research Analysis Assignment Effective teachers regularly read and analyze the most current research in their content areas. This assignment is designed to help you identify key components of a research study. Choose one of the two articles given. Read the article and complete the Research Analysis Assignment with the outline provided. Your Research Analysis Assignment paper, which should be no more than four pages in length, must follow this outline:

Research Analysis Research Problem: What are the research questions or what is the hypothesis being tested? Literature Review: How would you characterize the general field of knowledge in which this research study is situated? List three key points from the literature. Cite at least one study used by the author to make each of the three points. Research Design: Describe the research design (experimental, co-relational, descriptive, etc). Describe the method(s) of data collection and analysis.

Research Analysis Findings: Summarize and describe the outcomes of the research. Limitations: What are the limitations of this research? Can the outcomes be generalized or transferred to groups outside of this study? Implications for Practice: Discuss ways in which you can incorporate findings from this study into your own professional practice. REFER TO THE GRADING RUBRIC FOR MORE INFORMATION

Teaching Note Taking Taking class notes is an art -- an art that many students with learning disabilities fail to master. Often these kids are unable to identify important information, write fast to keep up with the lecture, or make sense out of notes afterward. These students' notes are often composed of scribbles, single words, and drawings that don't appear to relate to the content being covered. Note taking is a necessary skill for success in middle school, high school and college, but it's a skill that many students have not mastered.

Teaching Note Taking For students with learning disabilities, the lack of note- taking skills is particularly severe. Many students with learning disabilities who are mainstreamed in regular classes miss more than 50 percent of the main ideas in lectures, according to Belinda Lazarus, associate professor of special education. These students often lack the comprehension, motor and sustained-attention skills to take effective notes or to study them. As a result, they perform poorly on exams.

Teaching Note Taking Strategic note-taking helps students organize information and link new with prior knowledge during lectures. This increases students' participation in the learning process and improves their retention of important information. Guided notes facilitate note taking for students with learning disabilities. Guided notes contain the main ideas and the related concepts of lectures as well as blank spaces for students to fill in during lectures. Key terms, phrases and definitions also may be included in the guided notes.

Teaching Note Taking Other note taking strategies include: Column-Style Note Taking helps students organize information that they hear into two different columns. The student should label the left column "Main Ideas" and the right column "Notes.” Webbing - a great strategy for students who prefer a more visual technique for taking notes. Many students who are dyslexic like this technique as it uses their ability to visualize. The process of listening in class and taking well-written notes can be an anxiety-filled activity. Students will be required to take more and more complex notes as they progress through school. Learning these techniques for shorthand and different styles of note taking can ease this process and help students develop confidence in their own classroom abilities.

Teaching Note Taking To use this strategy, students first draw a circle in the center of their page. Inside that circle, they write the topic of the lecture (for example, World War I). Next, they draw a line branching out of the center circle. On the line, they write the main idea, of the lecture (for example, Causes of World War I). They then draw bubbles branching out of that line containing important details which describe that main idea. This continues including all ideas. The process of listening in class and taking well-written notes can be an anxiety-filled activity. Learning specific techniques can help students develop confidence in their own classroom abilities.

Seminar 5 Topic Come to the Seminar prepared to discuss the following: Max’s teacher presents notes much differently than any other teacher Max has had—in fact, he doesn’t present any notes at all. He simply stands in front of the class and lectures. He doesn’t write notes on the board, he doesn’t provide copies of his notes, and he doesn’t use transparencies. This makes Max deeply anxious. He has no idea what he should write down, what’s in the book, or what he’s missing when he does try to write something down.

Seminar 5 Topic Max leaves class frustrated and exhausted. He vows to do better the next day, but he finds it’s more of the same. He quickly falls behind and he cannot decipher his notes. Using your text and resources relating to note-taking, select the most important note-taking strategy for improving Max’s note-taking skills. What do you suggest and why???

Wrap Up Questions and Answers