The research continues, but the project is wrapping up. I gave my "professional presentation" at staff meeting Monday, since several people would be out of town next week. The comments were all extremely positive. Not that I really expected different, but it's very intimidating talking to people who have spent many more years and hours with dyslexia about dyslexia. Anyway, I'm hopeful this may turn into an actual component of our tutoring services...which may lead to more hours. *fingers crossed*
Even though the blog is "done" and has been graded, I had to share something that happened with Student 2 yesterday (11-1-12). He came in so excited and shared a story he wrote for an assignment. His class is studying Edgar Allen Poe and he wrote a story similar to "The Cask of Amontillado." Not only was he excited to share it with me, he even said he did prewriting for it. As in, ON HIS OWN WITHOUT SOMEONE MAKING HIM!!!!!! For this student, it's HUGE. This is the student who, on his initial interviews, said he hated writing and never wanted to do it. He has discovered Inspiration, an iPad app that allows students to organize thoughts for writing in a variety of ways. And it's interesting. He also wanted to do his Current Events assignment (and there was no shortage of topics to choose this week) and was showing me several features. He had fun going between outline format and thought web. He had a pretty complete outline with minimal guidance from me and then saved the outline, e-mailed it to himself, and opened it as an editable document to flesh out a finished draft. Needless to say, Inspiration is the latest app I downloaded :)
I may have listed my findings and supported them with data evidence, but how to you explain what happened in that office yesterday? To realize you really have broken through a barrier? Not only have you found effective instructional practices that led to positive student changes, but you've actually managed to make a reluctant writer excited in the process. Chills!
