Reflections at Year’s End

1. Reflections at Year’s End Learning and Counseling Services for All Students Kenneth W. James, Ph.D.

2. What has the year been like? • Participated in all divisions/schools/levels • Conferred with teachers, administrators, parents and students regarding their experiences • Worked with students in various situations, in classrooms and other Lab activities • Referred students and families for evaluations • Led staffing conferences for children in all four schools • Visited students on leaves-of-absence at various agencies to determine readiness to return to Lab • Reviewed procedures and practices in use with students who have learning differences • Served on committees which address instructional concerns Kenneth W. James, Ph.D.

3. What have I learned? • Students with learning differences are a resource for the entire school • Sensitivity to these students’ resources and needs enhances instruction and care for all students • Once we gain insight into how one student learns, we automatically have insight into how other students learn • Labels can be misleading • Helping students adapt—to assimilate new information and accommodate to new paradigms of understanding—enriches the program at all levels

4. Students with Learning Differences as a Resource for the Community Students with learning differences • Enhance awareness of how learning takes place • Provide opportunities to develop alternative ways of embodying content • Facilitate exploration of different means of providing evidence that learning has taken place • Contribute to diversity within the student body and the community of the Laboratory Schools

5. A Heightened Awareness of the Interdependence of the Dimensions of Teaching and Learning

6. Continuity of Care • Four schools—unified mission • Providing a facilitating environment • Adapting to developmental changes • Promoting connections between all concerned • Parents and families • Teachers • Counselors and Learning Specialists • Administrators

7. The Dimensions of Support

8. Content

9. Content Questions • What content is constitutive or criterial to the discipline? • What is essential to learn/know/do? • What is the scope and sequence of content? • How is content scaffolded? • How is learning facilitated through the scaffolding of content? • What alternative means of scaffolding can be used to accomplish the same goals in terms of scope and sequence of constitutive content? • For whom would these alternative means be beneficial? • How could these alternative means improve instruction generally?

10. Process Feedback/Self-Monitoring/Affective Presence

11. Process Questions • Input/Integration/Output • What modes of input are critical for this subject/discipline? • What levels of processing are expected in this subject/discipline? • What forms of output/expression are necessary to demonstrate mastery of the subject/discipline? • How does the learner organize the approach to particular tasks? • How does the learner deal with failure and frustration? • How does the learner understand and express social and emotional (largely non-verbal) signals/symbols?

12. Context

13. Context • Issues of Space • Static conditions • Proximity/Distance • Density (Human and Other) • Dynamic conditions • Connections between locations • Transitions • Issues of Time • Sequence • Rate • Issues of Relationships • Working alone • Dyadic • Small Group • Class as a whole

14. Not Just for Students with Learning Differences • All of these areas are useful for exploring the school experiences of any student. • The Learning and Counseling Departments are in service to the general educational program at the Lab Schools. • All students can avail themselves of the services of Learning and Counseling • All faculty can consult with the Learning and Counseling departments regarding any student • The goal of the Learning and Counseling services does not differ for students with learning differences and students without apparent learning differences • This goal is to empower our students to affirm:

15. I am a person who • Can explore new things with confidence and trust • Understands my strengths and my needs • Has a community of friends • Can build strong and respectful emotional connections with significant others • Contributes to the common welfare • Handles failure and frustration in a healthy way • Seeks assistance when it is needed • Gives assistance when it is needed • Feels that my life is worthwhile