West Bend considers crowding solutions

West Bend considers crowding solutions School Board to discuss Plan B after failure of building referendumBy DON BEHM
dbehm@journalsentinel.comPosted: Nov. 9, 2007

West Bend - Building classrooms atop a school swimming pool, shifting an entire grade of students from one school to another, creating split shifts of students in some schools and using additional trailers for elementary classrooms are among the short-term options being considered by school district officials after Tuesday's defeat of a $119.3 million school building referendum.

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Helping Special Education Students Move Beyond Graduation Day

Washington

Graduating from high school is typically a moment of great joy for young people and their parents, but for students with disabilities it is sometimes described in dark terms.

"It can feel like sinking into an abyss," said Cathy Healy, the mother of an adult son with Down Syndrome, who recently completed his studies at an Alexandria, Va., high school.

During their public school years, children with disabilities are entitled to a menu of special services, such as music or occupational therapy, extra reading help and door-to-door transportation. The law also requires they be given an Individualized Education Program, a blueprint tailored to their needs with involvement from educators and parents.

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Comments make a difference

I’m traveling back to Miss Neville’s class in the morning. I was getting ready to post on the class blog and got sidetracked by comments. What blogger can resist reading comments? On the class blog the JHH fifth grade bloggers are welcoming these kids to the world of blogging. It is powerful. What I love is that they are firing away with questions- questions addressed to the group! I always encourage my groups to end up a blog post with a thought provoking question. Encourage the conversations. I saw good questions from this group. Angel asks “Why do you want to blog with your kids and why?” He gets right to the point. Great questions all around from this sharp little group.Once again I was sidetracked as I started reading their posts. I had to make a few comments.

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MicroCommenting

Just a brief on a development from the folks at Future of the Book. They’ve created a new WordPress theme that allows for comments to be left on each paragraph, not simply at the end of the post. Huge potential there from a teaching writing standpoint and from a focusing the conversation standpoint. If you want to see it in action, check out McKenzie Wark’s book “GAM3R 7H30RY” and you’ll get a great idea of how it works.

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Podcasts, proofing and kids!

I just finished the first round with students where I used podcasts to help them proofread their writing on their blogs. I wanted to share the process.

The students wrote stories about photographs from Scotland. These photographs were the ones that Chris so kindly let me use. They were transferred from her Flickr pictures to a wiki. The students wrote their first draft and inserted the pictures. Their drafts needed lots of work. I mean lots of work. Once I get over my initial dismay at their lack of writing skills (which I am firmly convinced would be oh so much better if we gave them time to write - another story for another day), I just roll up my sleeves and decide the best place to start.

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