Well the 2009-200 school year is behind me and what a year it was. I moved to the sixth grade wing as we moved the children on IEP's into general education classes. Our whole district is moving to the RTI modal. This means that all kids will be taught by content area teachers with the support of special education teachers and educational assistants. I will say that the six grade teachers at my school are some of the best teachers I have ever seen. Their compassion and dedication shows in the success of their students. These teachers have not ever really work with assistant, but they treated us with respect and kindness the entire year. At times they even solicited our opinions and ideas. At my school we level the kids, low middle and high. They all learn from the same curriculum, but at different speeds and depths. Our state test scores in math and reading comprehension showed improvement, as did he scored for reading fluency. Overall this was a good year at my school.

Across town, at another middle school, my son struggled. Although the test score at that school were also up, my son did not meet for the first time in math. He also had a hard time with behaviors. Both schools are using RTI modals and both schools are showing academic growth. My concern is in the way behaviors are handled. At my school we spend a lot of time talking to the kids. We try to save punishment for things that matter. When a child does receive a punishment we move on. I find my son's school overly punitive. He got in a fight and got suspended. OK, I get that. I even supported it because he needed to change his behavior. But that wasn't the end. Because of this one fight he had to miss the end of the year field trip which was four weeks down the line.I feel like he was double punished for I incident and it left him feeling badly about himself. That wasn't the only problem with the sixth grade. There were teacher who didn't understand hi, a 504 plan that wasn't followed and a band teacher with medical problems who missed large chunks of school. Overall I would have to say the sixth grade was not a good year for my son, but it is over now and we are hoping for a better seventh grade.

I can't believe it has been four weeks sense I have written in this blog. So many things I should have written on, but didn't. Last night was the first summer class for my masters program. It seems that there is going to be a lot of work. I really enjoyed the class and look forward to spending my summer with the other people in my co-hort. My favorite part of the class was a video about learning disabilities. The video was made by F. A. T. City and stars Richard D Lavoie. The video depicts Richard leading a workshop about kids with learning disabilities. The members of the workshop include many different professionals and even a couple of kids, one who has a learning disability. The main reason I liked the video was because for the first time I felt like someone understood what it feels like to have a learning disability. The group had fun, but I believe they really got a good look at how it feels to have a learning disability. The pacing, the pressure, the processing and the anxiety these people felt in the workshop is how it really feels to a child with learning disabilities. Although I have the opportunity to work with some great teachers, I have also seen teachers who still believe that children need to be pushed harder. Many people still believe learning disabilities are just an excuse for poor work and laziness. Kids with mild learning disabilities such as dyslexia are still falling through the cracks. We don't have the money or services to give them the extra help they need, but we expect them to preform at the level of the peers who don't have any disabilities. We tell them to work harder and to focus more, but they are working their hardest and are trying to focus. Helping people understand learning disabilities is my passion. I am hoping that once I have my masters degree I can start making a difference for LD kids by educating teacher.