3-part LD series in the Toronto Star

The Toronto Star is printing a 3-part series on LD, in particular of those students with learning disability issues that are not in your face. This is the story of my son. As parents, when we talked to the school and they said “Nah, he is just little behind” or “He is not a priority on anyone’s radar”. 

Working for the system, I understand that there are students whose needs are huge, but to have my son’s needs not addressed does not lead to “student success”.  We paid for the private assessment and presented the school with the evidence and that started the ball rolling very very slowly. 

Has the school helped him?  Well they give him extra time to write tests and exams, and he has a quiet room to go to work without distraction, but does it improve teacher classroom practices, did it provide remedial instruction, probably not. He is a teen and that comes with its own set of attitude issues; I often wonder if we’ve done it too late to be helpful.

The first article was in yesterday’s Star, and is titled Learning Problems Not Always Easy to Identify , and today’s is Map of Mind at Work, both by Andrea Gordon. They are available on line at the Toronto Star Parent Central web page.

Rowan

New books for school leaders

Here are some new titles recently received:

• Coaching: approaches  & perspectives
• Making learning whole: How seven principles of teaching can transform education (book uses a baseball metaphor)
• Making meetings works: How to get started, get going, and get it done.
• The principal as data-driven leader*
• The principal as early literacy leader*
• The principal as instructional leader in literacy*
• The principal as instructional leader: A handbook for supervisors (2nd ed)
• The principal as mathematics leader*
• The principal as professional learning community leader*

* 2009 series of books from the Ontario Principals’ Council

Contact us if you want to borrow any of them.

Rowan

New Books on Bullying

We have two new titles about bullying, both full of practical information. They are:

• Bullying beyond the schoolyard:  Preventing and responding to cyberbullying
• How to stop bullying and social aggression: Elementary grade lessons and activities that teach empathy, friendship and respect.

Contact the library to borrow.

Rowan