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"content": "\u003cp>Talk about a storybook ending.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Author Jamil Jan Kochai searched for more than a decade for Susan Lung — the second-grade teacher who had changed his life over 20 years earlier. And on Saturday night, in one of those “life is better than fiction” twists, the two were finally reunited at one of his book-reading events.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I pretty much learned how to read and write in English because of her, and if it wasn’t for Mrs. Lung, I don’t know what would have happened to me,” Kochai, who still finds it difficult to call his former teacher by her first name, told NPR.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel like everything that I’ve done up to this point — all the success that I’ve had, the fact that I’m a novelist today — it all started with Mrs. Lung all the way back in 1999, when I was 7 years old,” he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kochai is the author of \u003cem>99 Nights in Logar\u003c/em>, a finalist for the Pen/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel. He is currently promoting his second book, \u003cem>The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories. \u003c/em>His work has been published and praised in many of the nation’s most esteemed publications. But for much of his early life, he could hardly speak English.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The writer was born in a refugee camp for Afghans in Peshawar, Pakistan, and his family moved to California when he was just a year old. At home, they spoke mostly Pashto and some Farsi, so by the time he reached first grade, Kochai said, he was at a total loss.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a result, he said, “I associated school and learning with punishment and with exclusion.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He fell further behind during the summer of 1999, when the family spent several months in Afghanistan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I fell in love with my parents’ home village in Logar, but pretty much everything that I learned in first grade, I ended up forgetting by the time the summer was over,” Kochai explained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_59719\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 720px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-59719 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/08/kochai-2nd-grade-7562cbbcd349f4f4f22faba3d4a974f787787a78.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of author Jamil Jan Kochai as a second grader. \" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/08/kochai-2nd-grade-7562cbbcd349f4f4f22faba3d4a974f787787a78.jpg 720w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/08/kochai-2nd-grade-7562cbbcd349f4f4f22faba3d4a974f787787a78-160x120.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Author Jamil Jan Kochai in a photo for a class assignment he made in teacher Susan Lung’s class in 1999. (Jamil Jan Kochai)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>The magic of Mrs. Lung — and all the devoted teachers out there\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Then came Mrs. Lung, who quickly realized that Kochai was deeply struggling at Alyce Norman Elementary School, both academically and socially.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I could see he was sharp as a tack, but it was hard for him,” Lung told NPR.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Not only did he have to deal with forgetting all the English that he knew, but he had to deal with the kids who couldn’t understand him.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The two got to work, meeting for one-on-one lessons nearly every day after school. By the end of the school year, Kochai said, he was winning reading-comprehension competitions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thinking back on the experience, Lung said it’s not an especially unique situation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are many thousands of teachers doing the same thing all over, and they’re doing it for the love of it. Not for any kind of kudos but because we have a passion for it,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lung added: “It’s just incredible to see their literacy grow by leaps and bounds. To see when they’re able to communicate with their little friends, which I think is a big part of learning English or any other language.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The problem with not being on a first-name basis with your elementary school teachers\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Lung and Kochai lost touch at the end of their year together. Kochai’s father got a job in another city and the boy moved on, albeit with a voracious new love of reading and writing. By the time he reached high school, Kochai’s parents encouraged him to find his former teacher to thank her. But despite his efforts, he failed to track her down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Part of it was that I didn’t know her first name. She was always just Mrs. Lung to me, so when I called places to ask about her, they couldn’t find any records of her,” he said, laughing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Kochai kept trying through college and afterward. Still, he came up empty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, while promoting his first novel, he wrote an essay for Literary Hub magazine touching on the transformative impact that Lung had on his life. Lung’s neurosurgeon happened to read it, and during her next visit, the physician asked the now-retired educator, “Did you ever teach at Alyce Norman Elementary School?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was Lung’s husband who ultimately found Kochai. “He found me on Facebook and reached out to me out of the blue,” Kochai said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They made plans for a phone call that same night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I finally got the chance after all these years to express to her how much I still thought of her and how much she meant to me,” Kochai said, adding that he also managed to get both of his parents on the call. “She was just the same Mrs. Lung. Just as sweet and kind and warm as ever. And we were all tearing up. It was a really emotional, lovely night,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was the height of the coronavirus pandemic, and they promised to meet in person as soon as things returned to normal. But as life does, Kochai said, one thing after another seemed to get in the way, and the reunion never materialized.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Reunited and it feels so good\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“Again, it was my husband who had the idea, to go to the reading on Saturday,” Lung said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lung’s husband had seen a Facebook post about Kochai’s new book and suggested they make the drive to a reading in Davis, California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I had no idea they were going to be there,” Kochai said, sounding absolutely delighted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know how I didn’t see her before, but Mrs. Lung was sitting in the front row. I mean, it had been 20 to 22 years since the last time I’d seen her,” he reasoned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They hugged and he gushed, and she asked him to sign her copy of his first novel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And I got to leave a little note for her explaining how much she meant to me. And it was a really lovely evening,” Kochai added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They exchanged numbers again, and now they’ve made a new plan. “We’re going to have a big family dinner next week!” Kochai said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, Lung has some homework: “I am part of the way through his first book and I just got his second book at the reading, so I’ll be reading that when I’m finished.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=It+took+20+years+for+this+author+to+reunite+with+the+teacher+who+changed+his+life&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The writer was born in a refugee camp for Afghans in Peshawar, Pakistan, and his family moved to California when he was just a year old. At home, they spoke mostly Pashto and some Farsi, so by the time he reached first grade, Kochai said, he was at a total loss.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a result, he said, “I associated school and learning with punishment and with exclusion.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He fell further behind during the summer of 1999, when the family spent several months in Afghanistan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I fell in love with my parents’ home village in Logar, but pretty much everything that I learned in first grade, I ended up forgetting by the time the summer was over,” Kochai explained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_59719\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 720px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-59719 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/08/kochai-2nd-grade-7562cbbcd349f4f4f22faba3d4a974f787787a78.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of author Jamil Jan Kochai as a second grader. \" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/08/kochai-2nd-grade-7562cbbcd349f4f4f22faba3d4a974f787787a78.jpg 720w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/08/kochai-2nd-grade-7562cbbcd349f4f4f22faba3d4a974f787787a78-160x120.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Author Jamil Jan Kochai in a photo for a class assignment he made in teacher Susan Lung’s class in 1999. (Jamil Jan Kochai)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>The magic of Mrs. Lung — and all the devoted teachers out there\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Then came Mrs. Lung, who quickly realized that Kochai was deeply struggling at Alyce Norman Elementary School, both academically and socially.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I could see he was sharp as a tack, but it was hard for him,” Lung told NPR.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Not only did he have to deal with forgetting all the English that he knew, but he had to deal with the kids who couldn’t understand him.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The two got to work, meeting for one-on-one lessons nearly every day after school. By the end of the school year, Kochai said, he was winning reading-comprehension competitions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thinking back on the experience, Lung said it’s not an especially unique situation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are many thousands of teachers doing the same thing all over, and they’re doing it for the love of it. Not for any kind of kudos but because we have a passion for it,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lung added: “It’s just incredible to see their literacy grow by leaps and bounds. To see when they’re able to communicate with their little friends, which I think is a big part of learning English or any other language.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The problem with not being on a first-name basis with your elementary school teachers\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Lung and Kochai lost touch at the end of their year together. Kochai’s father got a job in another city and the boy moved on, albeit with a voracious new love of reading and writing. By the time he reached high school, Kochai’s parents encouraged him to find his former teacher to thank her. But despite his efforts, he failed to track her down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Part of it was that I didn’t know her first name. She was always just Mrs. Lung to me, so when I called places to ask about her, they couldn’t find any records of her,” he said, laughing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Kochai kept trying through college and afterward. Still, he came up empty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, while promoting his first novel, he wrote an essay for Literary Hub magazine touching on the transformative impact that Lung had on his life. Lung’s neurosurgeon happened to read it, and during her next visit, the physician asked the now-retired educator, “Did you ever teach at Alyce Norman Elementary School?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was Lung’s husband who ultimately found Kochai. “He found me on Facebook and reached out to me out of the blue,” Kochai said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They made plans for a phone call that same night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I finally got the chance after all these years to express to her how much I still thought of her and how much she meant to me,” Kochai said, adding that he also managed to get both of his parents on the call. “She was just the same Mrs. Lung. Just as sweet and kind and warm as ever. And we were all tearing up. It was a really emotional, lovely night,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was the height of the coronavirus pandemic, and they promised to meet in person as soon as things returned to normal. But as life does, Kochai said, one thing after another seemed to get in the way, and the reunion never materialized.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Reunited and it feels so good\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“Again, it was my husband who had the idea, to go to the reading on Saturday,” Lung said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lung’s husband had seen a Facebook post about Kochai’s new book and suggested they make the drive to a reading in Davis, California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I had no idea they were going to be there,” Kochai said, sounding absolutely delighted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know how I didn’t see her before, but Mrs. Lung was sitting in the front row. I mean, it had been 20 to 22 years since the last time I’d seen her,” he reasoned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They hugged and he gushed, and she asked him to sign her copy of his first novel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And I got to leave a little note for her explaining how much she meant to me. And it was a really lovely evening,” Kochai added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They exchanged numbers again, and now they’ve made a new plan. “We’re going to have a big family dinner next week!” Kochai said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, Lung has some homework: “I am part of the way through his first book and I just got his second book at the reading, so I’ll be reading that when I’m finished.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=It+took+20+years+for+this+author+to+reunite+with+the+teacher+who+changed+his+life&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "These second-graders helped shelter pups find their fur-ever homes",
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"content": "\u003cp>Sleigh Ride is a chubby, blue-gray pitbull, and she'd been hanging around Richmond Animal Care and Control's shelter for quite awhile. But a letter from a second-grader — written on the dog's behalf — may have been the ticket home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Do you want to adopt me?\" the letter read. \"You can snuggle with me! I promise that I will be a good dog. You can even sleep with me if you want!\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Within about 10 days of posting the letter alongside the kennel, someone adopted Sleigh Ride into a fur-ever home, said Christie Chipps Peters, director of Richmond Animal Care and Control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_59286\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-59286 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/04/students-write-ddf790f3ecaf643733717edf8b1ba3f2c592daf5-scaled-e1649404782563.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students write the letters. \u003ccite>(St. Michael's Episcopal School/RACC)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The letter came from a student in Kensey Jones' writing class at St. Michael's Episcopal School in Richmond, Va. It was part of a persuasive writing assignment — Jones' brainchild — that asked students to write letters in the voice of one of 24 animals — 23 dogs and one cat — at the shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In each letter, the young writers persuaded readers to adopt an assigned pet, from the point of view of the animal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, the students' work has been effective. After posting the letters outside each kennel, only four dogs remain: Pebble, Yosemite, Kotey and I'll Tumble For Ya.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_59283\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 910px\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-59283 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/04/dog-adopted_custom-33ab0e4ceeb84666688a1e3a03372c5443e5c05d.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"910\" height=\"970\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/04/dog-adopted_custom-33ab0e4ceeb84666688a1e3a03372c5443e5c05d.jpg 910w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/04/dog-adopted_custom-33ab0e4ceeb84666688a1e3a03372c5443e5c05d-800x853.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/04/dog-adopted_custom-33ab0e4ceeb84666688a1e3a03372c5443e5c05d-160x171.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/04/dog-adopted_custom-33ab0e4ceeb84666688a1e3a03372c5443e5c05d-768x819.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 910px) 100vw, 910px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This dog was adopted after the persuasive writing assignment. \u003ccite>(St. Michael's Episcopal School/RACC)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\"It was just a miraculous marketing tool to help people find those pets and fall in love with them with the stories that the kids wrote, and then take that pet home with them,\" Peters told NPR.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Peters was compiling the dogs to include on the list, she stuck with the ones who are harder to adopt, like ones who had health or behavioral challenges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ordinarily, people might walk past these animals without taking a second look, but the letters and matching illustrations encouraged people to slow down, Peters said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sunday Special, a tan and white pitbull (who was aptly picked up on a Sunday), also found his home after a second-grader wrote a letter on his behalf. He doesn't always show well, Peters said, and was very afraid of people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But one student wrote a compelling letter in his voice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_59284\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-59284\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/04/story-sunday-special-dog-0469d10150d4abca06c1aafcb1686495ab67be82-e1649404889949.jpe\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A student's letter on behalf of Sunday Special. \u003ccite>(St. Michael's Episcopal School/RACC)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\"Hello, my name is Sunday Special,\" the letter began. \"I would love to be adopted. If you do adopt me, I hope I will brighten up your Sundays like the sun! You'll be my Sunday Special and I hope I'll be yours!\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pup was able to find a home, and Peters is certain the letter was a factor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"His little story, I'm telling you, is the reason that he got adopted,\" Peters said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The students have been enthusiastic throughout the process, Jones tells NPR. It probably helps that Peters brought in Snow, a white pitbull, for a visit with the students. The kids were \"so excited and happy and jumping out of their skin\" when they met the well-mannered fella, Peters said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_59287\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-59287\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/04/puppy-snow-at-stm-1b280696d7e411d2ddf4e83d258cb7a95a948465-scaled-e1649404915473.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1439\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students meet Snow, the pitbull. \u003ccite>(Nena Meurlin/St. Michael's Episcopal School/RACC)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Even though the writing took place in early February, students still ask about the animals they wrote about.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Has I'll Tumble For Ya been adopted yet?\" Jones recalls one student asking before the day's lesson had even started.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jones says she's watched her students develop an eagerness to write, even beyond this project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"They are just so excited to use their writing, whether it's to persuade, to inform, to do some research,\" Jones said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jones, who volunteers at the shelter, said she hopes the students learn that \"they can do anything,\" even if they're only 7 or 8 years old. She hopes that other teachers will also partner with their local shelters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Make that impact for not only the children, but the dogs that are awaiting their forever home,\" Jones said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=These+second-graders+helped+shelter+pups+find+their+fur-ever+homes&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Sleigh Ride is a chubby, blue-gray pitbull, and she'd been hanging around Richmond Animal Care and Control's shelter for quite awhile. But a letter from a second-grader — written on the dog's behalf — may have been the ticket home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Do you want to adopt me?\" the letter read. \"You can snuggle with me! I promise that I will be a good dog. You can even sleep with me if you want!\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Within about 10 days of posting the letter alongside the kennel, someone adopted Sleigh Ride into a fur-ever home, said Christie Chipps Peters, director of Richmond Animal Care and Control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_59286\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-59286 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/04/students-write-ddf790f3ecaf643733717edf8b1ba3f2c592daf5-scaled-e1649404782563.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students write the letters. \u003ccite>(St. Michael's Episcopal School/RACC)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The letter came from a student in Kensey Jones' writing class at St. Michael's Episcopal School in Richmond, Va. It was part of a persuasive writing assignment — Jones' brainchild — that asked students to write letters in the voice of one of 24 animals — 23 dogs and one cat — at the shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In each letter, the young writers persuaded readers to adopt an assigned pet, from the point of view of the animal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, the students' work has been effective. After posting the letters outside each kennel, only four dogs remain: Pebble, Yosemite, Kotey and I'll Tumble For Ya.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_59283\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 910px\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-59283 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/04/dog-adopted_custom-33ab0e4ceeb84666688a1e3a03372c5443e5c05d.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"910\" height=\"970\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/04/dog-adopted_custom-33ab0e4ceeb84666688a1e3a03372c5443e5c05d.jpg 910w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/04/dog-adopted_custom-33ab0e4ceeb84666688a1e3a03372c5443e5c05d-800x853.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/04/dog-adopted_custom-33ab0e4ceeb84666688a1e3a03372c5443e5c05d-160x171.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/04/dog-adopted_custom-33ab0e4ceeb84666688a1e3a03372c5443e5c05d-768x819.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 910px) 100vw, 910px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This dog was adopted after the persuasive writing assignment. \u003ccite>(St. Michael's Episcopal School/RACC)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\"It was just a miraculous marketing tool to help people find those pets and fall in love with them with the stories that the kids wrote, and then take that pet home with them,\" Peters told NPR.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Peters was compiling the dogs to include on the list, she stuck with the ones who are harder to adopt, like ones who had health or behavioral challenges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ordinarily, people might walk past these animals without taking a second look, but the letters and matching illustrations encouraged people to slow down, Peters said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sunday Special, a tan and white pitbull (who was aptly picked up on a Sunday), also found his home after a second-grader wrote a letter on his behalf. He doesn't always show well, Peters said, and was very afraid of people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But one student wrote a compelling letter in his voice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_59284\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-59284\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/04/story-sunday-special-dog-0469d10150d4abca06c1aafcb1686495ab67be82-e1649404889949.jpe\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A student's letter on behalf of Sunday Special. \u003ccite>(St. Michael's Episcopal School/RACC)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\"Hello, my name is Sunday Special,\" the letter began. \"I would love to be adopted. If you do adopt me, I hope I will brighten up your Sundays like the sun! You'll be my Sunday Special and I hope I'll be yours!\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pup was able to find a home, and Peters is certain the letter was a factor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"His little story, I'm telling you, is the reason that he got adopted,\" Peters said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The students have been enthusiastic throughout the process, Jones tells NPR. It probably helps that Peters brought in Snow, a white pitbull, for a visit with the students. The kids were \"so excited and happy and jumping out of their skin\" when they met the well-mannered fella, Peters said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_59287\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-59287\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/04/puppy-snow-at-stm-1b280696d7e411d2ddf4e83d258cb7a95a948465-scaled-e1649404915473.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1439\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students meet Snow, the pitbull. \u003ccite>(Nena Meurlin/St. Michael's Episcopal School/RACC)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Even though the writing took place in early February, students still ask about the animals they wrote about.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Has I'll Tumble For Ya been adopted yet?\" Jones recalls one student asking before the day's lesson had even started.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jones says she's watched her students develop an eagerness to write, even beyond this project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"They are just so excited to use their writing, whether it's to persuade, to inform, to do some research,\" Jones said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jones, who volunteers at the shelter, said she hopes the students learn that \"they can do anything,\" even if they're only 7 or 8 years old. She hopes that other teachers will also partner with their local shelters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Make that impact for not only the children, but the dogs that are awaiting their forever home,\" Jones said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=These+second-graders+helped+shelter+pups+find+their+fur-ever+homes&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Creativity can be elusive — whether you feel the pressure to make something \"good\" or can't find time for your artistic endeavors – it can be hard to dedicate yourself to a creative practice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://juliacameronlive.com/about/\">Julia Cameron\u003c/a>, the author of the bestselling book \u003cem>The Artist's Way\u003c/em>, has spent her career teaching \"creative unblocking.\" In her new book, \u003ca href=\"https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250809377/seekingwisdom\">\u003cem>Seeking Wisdom: a spiritual path to creative connection\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, Cameron combines the creative practices of \u003cem>The Artist's Way\u003c/em>, with a new intentional practice – prayer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cameron says that spirituality and prayer can deepen our creativity and vice versa. \"I have found that if I teach people to work on their creativity, their spirituality wakes up. And if I try teaching about spirituality, their creativity wakes up.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These tips can help you commit to and deepen both your creative and spiritual practices.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Creative Practice #1: \"Morning Pages\"\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>This is the fundamental tool Cameron suggests for unblocking creativity. It \"brings clarity, direction, and productivity to every area of our lives,\" says Cameron. Here's how they work:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First thing in the morning (Cameron says ideally no more than 45 minutes after waking), write three pages by hand about anything. Seriously, anything. The point is that you don't stop writing. If you're bored and can't think of what to write, write that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Morning Pages serve as a kind of 'brain drain'\" says Cameron, \"that allows you to release the worries, fears, and distractions standing between you and your day.\" Morning Pages are a low-pressure way to express yourself. As Cameron says, \"there's no wrong way to do Morning Pages.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just don't share your writing with anyone – these pages are meant to be a space where you can vent and share free of judgment, so don't censor yourself. It's OK if they turn into a grocery list, a rant at your sister or a poem.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Creative Practice #2: \"Artist Date\"\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>You don't have to consider yourself an artist to go on an Artist Date. Cameron describes it as a \"once-a-week, solo adventure that you take just for fun.\" Cameron's students say they \"find themselves befriending themselves\" on these dates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Try and do something that delights you on your Artist Date: Eat at a new restaurant, peruse a bookstore, go to the beach or a movie. Your Artist Date doesn't need to be expensive – one of Cameron's favorite outings is to go visit bunnies at a pet store. The main point here is fun – do something fun and frivolous.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Creative Practice #3: Walks\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Walks can help you \"commune with your own thoughts,\" says Cameron. Twice a week, take a solo, twenty-minute walk. Leave your phone at home. Don't run an errand on your way or bring the dog or a friend with you. Go alone and just walk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Walking isn't just a creative practice, it's a spiritual practice as well. \"For centuries, spiritual seekers have walked — on quests, on pilgrimages, through labyrinths,\" says Cameron. Walking can be a way to connect to the world around you and to your higher power (however you define that).\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Creative Practice #4: Prayer\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Before you close this tab, know that Cameron defines prayer loosely. She's not mandating who you pray to or trying to define God for you. She just wants you to connect with a creative energy outside yourself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prayer will look, feel and sound different for all of us but it doesn't matter how it comes out – ultimately praying brings a kind of freedom, says Cameron. She suggests a few prayer practices for seeking wisdom:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Prayers of petition:\u003c/strong> This is what she calls the \"Santa Clause\" prayer. \"You're asking for something, and you're hoping that the higher power will deliver it.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cameron recommends being super honest when praying, but also to remember that we have a limited point of view. \"You need to remind yourself that God is far-seeing ... and may have something better in store for you than what you yourself had planned.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Prayers of guidance: \u003c/strong>Once a day, write down a question that you have about your life and \"listen, and write out what comes back,\" she says. \"The point is to be willing to ask, and then be open to receiving. The answers that you hear may surprise you.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, maybe you are not sure what form your creativity should take. You could ask: what should I do or make with my creative desire? See what answer arises.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Prayers of gratitude: \u003c/strong>Talk about what you're grateful for. \"It might be, 'I'm grateful for my curly hair. I'm grateful for my dog.'\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This practice, Cameron says, can transform pessimism into optimism, which she believes is a boon for creativity. \"We tend to believe in the image of a suffering artist. And that creativity is born out of pain. And what I have found is that creativity is born out of happiness, which is a radical step to take.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The podcast portion of this story was produced by Clare Marie Schneider, with engineering support from Daniel Shukhin. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>We'd love to hear from you. If you have a good life hack, leave us a voicemail at \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"tel:2022169823\">\u003cem>202-216-9823\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> or email us at \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"mailto:LifeKit@npr.org\">\u003cem>LifeKit@npr.org\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. Your tip could appear in an upcoming episode.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>If you love Life Kit and want more, \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/newsletter/life-kit\">\u003cem>subscribe to our newsletter\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=How+to+make+creativity+part+of+your+daily+routine+&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Julia Cameron, author of \u003cem>The Artist's Way\u003c/em> and architect of the famous creative practice \"Morning Pages,\" has spent her career teaching \"creative unblocking.\"In her new book, \u003cem>Seeking Wisdom: a spiritual path to creative connection\u003c/em>, she combines the creative practices of \u003cem>The Artist's Way\u003c/em>, with a new intentional practice – prayer. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Creativity can be elusive — whether you feel the pressure to make something \"good\" or can't find time for your artistic endeavors – it can be hard to dedicate yourself to a creative practice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://juliacameronlive.com/about/\">Julia Cameron\u003c/a>, the author of the bestselling book \u003cem>The Artist's Way\u003c/em>, has spent her career teaching \"creative unblocking.\" In her new book, \u003ca href=\"https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250809377/seekingwisdom\">\u003cem>Seeking Wisdom: a spiritual path to creative connection\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, Cameron combines the creative practices of \u003cem>The Artist's Way\u003c/em>, with a new intentional practice – prayer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cameron says that spirituality and prayer can deepen our creativity and vice versa. \"I have found that if I teach people to work on their creativity, their spirituality wakes up. And if I try teaching about spirituality, their creativity wakes up.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These tips can help you commit to and deepen both your creative and spiritual practices.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Creative Practice #1: \"Morning Pages\"\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>This is the fundamental tool Cameron suggests for unblocking creativity. It \"brings clarity, direction, and productivity to every area of our lives,\" says Cameron. Here's how they work:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First thing in the morning (Cameron says ideally no more than 45 minutes after waking), write three pages by hand about anything. Seriously, anything. The point is that you don't stop writing. If you're bored and can't think of what to write, write that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Morning Pages serve as a kind of 'brain drain'\" says Cameron, \"that allows you to release the worries, fears, and distractions standing between you and your day.\" Morning Pages are a low-pressure way to express yourself. As Cameron says, \"there's no wrong way to do Morning Pages.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just don't share your writing with anyone – these pages are meant to be a space where you can vent and share free of judgment, so don't censor yourself. It's OK if they turn into a grocery list, a rant at your sister or a poem.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Creative Practice #2: \"Artist Date\"\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>You don't have to consider yourself an artist to go on an Artist Date. Cameron describes it as a \"once-a-week, solo adventure that you take just for fun.\" Cameron's students say they \"find themselves befriending themselves\" on these dates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Try and do something that delights you on your Artist Date: Eat at a new restaurant, peruse a bookstore, go to the beach or a movie. Your Artist Date doesn't need to be expensive – one of Cameron's favorite outings is to go visit bunnies at a pet store. The main point here is fun – do something fun and frivolous.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Creative Practice #3: Walks\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Walks can help you \"commune with your own thoughts,\" says Cameron. Twice a week, take a solo, twenty-minute walk. Leave your phone at home. Don't run an errand on your way or bring the dog or a friend with you. Go alone and just walk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Walking isn't just a creative practice, it's a spiritual practice as well. \"For centuries, spiritual seekers have walked — on quests, on pilgrimages, through labyrinths,\" says Cameron. Walking can be a way to connect to the world around you and to your higher power (however you define that).\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Creative Practice #4: Prayer\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Before you close this tab, know that Cameron defines prayer loosely. She's not mandating who you pray to or trying to define God for you. She just wants you to connect with a creative energy outside yourself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prayer will look, feel and sound different for all of us but it doesn't matter how it comes out – ultimately praying brings a kind of freedom, says Cameron. She suggests a few prayer practices for seeking wisdom:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Prayers of petition:\u003c/strong> This is what she calls the \"Santa Clause\" prayer. \"You're asking for something, and you're hoping that the higher power will deliver it.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cameron recommends being super honest when praying, but also to remember that we have a limited point of view. \"You need to remind yourself that God is far-seeing ... and may have something better in store for you than what you yourself had planned.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Prayers of guidance: \u003c/strong>Once a day, write down a question that you have about your life and \"listen, and write out what comes back,\" she says. \"The point is to be willing to ask, and then be open to receiving. The answers that you hear may surprise you.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, maybe you are not sure what form your creativity should take. You could ask: what should I do or make with my creative desire? See what answer arises.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Prayers of gratitude: \u003c/strong>Talk about what you're grateful for. \"It might be, 'I'm grateful for my curly hair. I'm grateful for my dog.'\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This practice, Cameron says, can transform pessimism into optimism, which she believes is a boon for creativity. \"We tend to believe in the image of a suffering artist. And that creativity is born out of pain. And what I have found is that creativity is born out of happiness, which is a radical step to take.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The podcast portion of this story was produced by Clare Marie Schneider, with engineering support from Daniel Shukhin. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>We'd love to hear from you. If you have a good life hack, leave us a voicemail at \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"tel:2022169823\">\u003cem>202-216-9823\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> or email us at \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"mailto:LifeKit@npr.org\">\u003cem>LifeKit@npr.org\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. Your tip could appear in an upcoming episode.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>If you love Life Kit and want more, \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/newsletter/life-kit\">\u003cem>subscribe to our newsletter\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=How+to+make+creativity+part+of+your+daily+routine+&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Listening to learn: Why ‘Ear Hustle’ stories about prison life are so engaging to students",
"headTitle": "Listening to learn: Why ‘Ear Hustle’ stories about prison life are so engaging to students | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When the podcast Ear Hustle first launched in 2017, Nigel Poor and Earlonne Woods explored the largely invisible stories inside San Quentin State Prison. While the word “prison” might make one think of felonies, violence and hardened criminals, any listener could clearly hear that the heart of the podcast is about humanity, early life choices and confronting mistakes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.earhustlesq.com/episodes/2017/6/14/cellies\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">their first episode “Cellies”\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is about seeking a person to safely share one’s limited space. Other episodes cover topics like parents working through challenging conditions to be \u003ca href=\"https://www.earhustlesq.com/episodes/2018/4/25/thick-glass\">present in their children’s lives\u003c/a> and\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> nurturers who care for \u003ca href=\"https://www.earhustlesq.com/episodes/2017/7/12/looking-out\">unusual pets in a medium security facility\u003c/a>\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Podcast fans also got to hear incarcerated people reflect on what their lives were like growing up long before they ended up in San Quentin, including stories about their relationships with family and community members. Listeners, including teachers, heard this connection and reached out to Ear Hustle’s creators to share. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“We got a lot of letters from teachers and their students talking about what they learned from the episode,” said Woods. He met Poor, a visual artist and educator, while serving a 31-years-to-life sentence at San Quentin. He served \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2018/11/22/670313799/earlonne-woods-co-host-of-ear-hustle-podcast-gets-prison-sentence-commuted\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">21 years before having his sentence commuted\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by the governor in 2018. Educators were drawn to using Ear Hustle episodes as springboards for multimodal activities in their classrooms. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And now there is\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://sites.prh.com/thisisearhustle\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> “This is Ear Hustle: Unflinching Stories of Everyday Prison Life,”\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> their new book about uncovering and amplifying stories about prison life and how they came together to co-host the first ever podcast produced within a prison. They also write about their experiences in school, how it shaped their lives and how it informs what they do today. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“I was one of [those] kids that learned to read way later,” said Woods. “I was the class clown to avoid being in the situations of reading, being in the situations of math, so I would just act out.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Similarly, Poor writes about how she had dyslexia and undiagnosed learning disabilities that made school difficult even though she was naturally curious. “I’ve carried that with me. That idea of being told that I wasn’t smart, that I couldn’t do things, that I was bothersome because teachers had to explain things to me over and over again,” she said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With a podcast that is already rich with activities for young learners, “This is Ear Hustle” provides more accounts from incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people that students can explore in the classroom.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>How podcasts build writing skills\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Benjamin Bush, a Kentucky-based high school English teacher, started using Ear Hustle in his class because he was looking for a new way to engage his students. “The biggest problem that I think that it addresses is apathy. Getting someone to just start working on something is the hardest,” said Bush. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ear Hustle drew in his learners because it allowed them to listen to voices other than his. They could hear from a wide range of people featured on the podcast and relate to their experiences. “We got to know the backgrounds of their lives and the things that they had struggled with through poverty and trauma, which affects a lot of our kids,” he said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After each episode, Bush’s students did a related writing assignment. “It allowed me to reimagine what a text is in a classroom and how multimedia exists in a classroom in the same way that a novel or a play would.” For example,\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.earhustlesq.com/episodes/2017/6/14/cellies\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> “Cellies”\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> examines the size of a typical prison cell (Woods’ was five feet by ten feet at San Quentin) and how to negotiate the space with a cellmate. “We all have roommates at some point in our lives,” writes Woods in his book. “We also wanted the subject to be something that everybody could relate to—whether they were in prison or in society.” In class, Bush and his students used rulers to measure out the size of a cell and did creative writing about what it would feel like to inhabit the limited space with another person. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For another assignment, Bush brought in additional articles about solitary confinement, sentencing guidelines and parole rules for students to fuel their classroom conversations about prison systems. Later, students could choose to write a persuasive argument piece about one of the issues they talked about. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After listening to\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.earhustlesq.com/episodes/2017/8/09/catch-a-kite\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> “Catch a Kite,”\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> an episode about receiving letters, students had the opportunity to write a letter to someone in the podcast. In one letter, a student talks about how he identifies with how his letter recipient needed to commit crimes to support his family. Another student wrote about how \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.earhustlesq.com/episodes/2018/4/25/thick-glass\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“Thick Glass,” Ear Hustle’s episode about parenting\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, helped her understand dynamics within her own family. “Her father had been in and out of prison,” Bush said. “She wrote in her letter that Ear Hustle allowed her to envision her father as a good father. She was able to see him as redeemable in a way that maybe she hadn’t before.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n\u003cp lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Little Jaylen's beautiful letter. Hear his letter at the end of our most recent episode \"Thick Glass\": \u003ca href=\"https://t.co/uecEBskphM\">https://t.co/uecEBskphM\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://t.co/IZVr1rPSS7\">pic.twitter.com/IZVr1rPSS7\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— Ear Hustle Podcast (@earhustlesq) \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/earhustlesq/status/991359292174413824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 1, 2018\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\">\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Connection and a sense of not being alone in hard situations are key feelings that Woods hopes to leave with young people who listen to Ear Hustle’s stories. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He also thinks these connections help young people become better learners.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> “You can benefit from someone’s story,” he said. “You can have a different insight on something that will help you navigate through your life.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>Kinetic learning and listening\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ear Hustle co-host Nigel Poor has brought the podcast into her photography classes at California State University, Sacramento, saying its focus on storytelling primes students to slow down and build important skills in observing. “I use it to talk about storytelling and compassionate listening and building empathy, which I think are tools anybody needs no matter what they’re studying.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=By0d5G4yRzM\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For her class, Ear Hustle is the basis of a kinetic learning experience to help students pay attention to other invisible stories. She’ll tell students to go for a walk outside and find something discarded on the ground that draws their attention. Picking up abandoned bits and pieces is part of Poor’s art practice, and when she first started volunteering at San Quentin, she would collect things from the prison’s parking lot. In the book, she describes the lot as her “hunting ground.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In class, she’ll invite students to bring back their found object and share a story they’ve created about it. “It sounds weird at first, but it gets people to connect with their creativity and the associations that they make with objects and experiences. And that’s, to me, where stories start.” She’ll then move into playing clips from Ear Hustle and discussing what people hear in them and how she and Earlonne put episodes together.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“There’s so much [emphasis] put on the end result,” said Poor about education. “Listening and thinking is actually a valid activity. So I like to talk about that, and I like to talk about ways to pull stories out of people and give people the confidence to talk about themselves.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>Using hands-on learning to understand systems\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Danielle Devencenzi, assistant principal at St. Ignatius College Prep high school in San Francisco, begins her criminal justice class by looking at major legislation that shaped the U.S. justice system such as California’s Three Strikes Sentencing Law, the 1994 Crime Bill and landmark US Supreme Court cases. “Twelve years ago, I started to take my students to San Quentin to really understand the social justice issues facing our prison system in California, specifically mass incarceration,” she said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/MsDevencenzi/status/961419775250350080\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hearing firsthand from incarcerated people and seeing the environment adds more depth to the books and articles they discuss as part of the class, according to Devencenzi. “I’m a firm believer that if you don’t really see what’s happening and really talk to the people who are impacted by our systems, then you can’t really be an informed agent of change.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Devencenzi gives each of her students a notebook that they’ll use to write down their reactions, observations and notes from conversations with the people they meet on their tour of the prison. In a debrief, after visiting the prison, Devencenzi has students circle up their desks to share one thing from their notebook while she takes notes that she’ll later send to San Quentin. “They always talk about the humanity of the guys and how brave they are to tell their story in front of a bunch of complete strangers,” she said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When Ear Hustle first came out, her class was able to see the recording studio and meet some of the people featured in the episodes during their visits to San Quentin. “The podcast just became humanized when they met Curtis,” said Devencenzi about connecting with Curtis Roberts, who shared his story in “\u003ca href=\"https://www.earhustlesq.com/episodes/2017/9/27/left-behind\">Left Behind\u003c/a>.” Like Woods, Roberts had his sentence commuted in 2018. “It was just a month later when Curtis actually came to my classroom and visited my students again after they had met him in the prison yard,” said Devencenzi. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n\u003cp lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Curtis Roberts who served a 29 year prison sentence comes to \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/StIgnatius?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@StIgnatius\u003c/a> to speak with criminal justice students who just visited San Quentin. Check out his \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/earhustlesq?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@earhustlesq\u003c/a> episode called Left Behind \u003ca href=\"https://t.co/MkNenCgs0Z\">pic.twitter.com/MkNenCgs0Z\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— Danielle Devencenzi (@MsDevencenzi) \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MsDevencenzi/status/1201586814026428418?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 2, 2019\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\">\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As a culminating project, students in Devencenzi’s criminal justice class create a podcast based on in-depth interviews. Students explore their communities looking for trends and topics that – like their favorite episodes of Ear Hustle – require a little digging to uncover. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Woods and Poor have dreams of creating an entire Ear Hustle curriculum that includes the expanded stories and deeper dives from “This is Ear Hustle.” At Woods’ request, Poor stands up to show that she’s wearing a black one-piece jumpsuit as part of her work for an episode \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.earhustlesq.com/challenge\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">about a 30-day Ear Hustle challenge. \u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“We’re asking listeners to come on this journey with us where we are eating the food that’s eaten in prison during the same time and wearing three select outfits,” said Poor. “Not because we think we can replicate life in prison, but as a way to just build awareness and empathy about some of the things you give up when you go to prison.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They think the Ear Hustle challenge, which draws on themes surfaced in the “Prison 101” chapter from “This is Ear Hustle” and an episode from season two called “The Workaround,” would be a worthwhile activity for high school students.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While stories from behind prison walls may seem to be an unlikely place to find education materials, Ear Hustle shows that there are several entry points into learning where storytelling is concerned. “There’s learning through reading. There’s learning through experiencing. People who don’t necessarily think they’re educators actually can be educators,” said Poor. “I would love for that to be a lesson of ‘This is Ear Hustle’: that voices really matter and that there’s surprising stories everywhere that are worthy of being heard.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>MindShift is part of KQED, a non-profit NPR and PBS member station in San Francisco, CA. The text of this specific article is available to republish for noncommercial purposes under a Creative Commons \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">CC BY-NC-ND 4.0\u003c/a> license, thanks to support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Many rich multimodal learning activities have come from using Ear Hustle, a podcast created by Earlonne Woods and Nigel Poor, in the classroom. Now, teachers can use their new book This is Ear Hustle to further unlock the power of storytelling.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When the podcast Ear Hustle first launched in 2017, Nigel Poor and Earlonne Woods explored the largely invisible stories inside San Quentin State Prison. While the word “prison” might make one think of felonies, violence and hardened criminals, any listener could clearly hear that the heart of the podcast is about humanity, early life choices and confronting mistakes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.earhustlesq.com/episodes/2017/6/14/cellies\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">their first episode “Cellies”\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is about seeking a person to safely share one’s limited space. Other episodes cover topics like parents working through challenging conditions to be \u003ca href=\"https://www.earhustlesq.com/episodes/2018/4/25/thick-glass\">present in their children’s lives\u003c/a> and\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> nurturers who care for \u003ca href=\"https://www.earhustlesq.com/episodes/2017/7/12/looking-out\">unusual pets in a medium security facility\u003c/a>\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Podcast fans also got to hear incarcerated people reflect on what their lives were like growing up long before they ended up in San Quentin, including stories about their relationships with family and community members. Listeners, including teachers, heard this connection and reached out to Ear Hustle’s creators to share. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“We got a lot of letters from teachers and their students talking about what they learned from the episode,” said Woods. He met Poor, a visual artist and educator, while serving a 31-years-to-life sentence at San Quentin. He served \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2018/11/22/670313799/earlonne-woods-co-host-of-ear-hustle-podcast-gets-prison-sentence-commuted\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">21 years before having his sentence commuted\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by the governor in 2018. Educators were drawn to using Ear Hustle episodes as springboards for multimodal activities in their classrooms. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And now there is\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://sites.prh.com/thisisearhustle\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> “This is Ear Hustle: Unflinching Stories of Everyday Prison Life,”\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> their new book about uncovering and amplifying stories about prison life and how they came together to co-host the first ever podcast produced within a prison. They also write about their experiences in school, how it shaped their lives and how it informs what they do today. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“I was one of [those] kids that learned to read way later,” said Woods. “I was the class clown to avoid being in the situations of reading, being in the situations of math, so I would just act out.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Similarly, Poor writes about how she had dyslexia and undiagnosed learning disabilities that made school difficult even though she was naturally curious. “I’ve carried that with me. That idea of being told that I wasn’t smart, that I couldn’t do things, that I was bothersome because teachers had to explain things to me over and over again,” she said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With a podcast that is already rich with activities for young learners, “This is Ear Hustle” provides more accounts from incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people that students can explore in the classroom.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>How podcasts build writing skills\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Benjamin Bush, a Kentucky-based high school English teacher, started using Ear Hustle in his class because he was looking for a new way to engage his students. “The biggest problem that I think that it addresses is apathy. Getting someone to just start working on something is the hardest,” said Bush. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ear Hustle drew in his learners because it allowed them to listen to voices other than his. They could hear from a wide range of people featured on the podcast and relate to their experiences. “We got to know the backgrounds of their lives and the things that they had struggled with through poverty and trauma, which affects a lot of our kids,” he said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After each episode, Bush’s students did a related writing assignment. “It allowed me to reimagine what a text is in a classroom and how multimedia exists in a classroom in the same way that a novel or a play would.” For example,\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.earhustlesq.com/episodes/2017/6/14/cellies\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> “Cellies”\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> examines the size of a typical prison cell (Woods’ was five feet by ten feet at San Quentin) and how to negotiate the space with a cellmate. “We all have roommates at some point in our lives,” writes Woods in his book. “We also wanted the subject to be something that everybody could relate to—whether they were in prison or in society.” In class, Bush and his students used rulers to measure out the size of a cell and did creative writing about what it would feel like to inhabit the limited space with another person. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For another assignment, Bush brought in additional articles about solitary confinement, sentencing guidelines and parole rules for students to fuel their classroom conversations about prison systems. Later, students could choose to write a persuasive argument piece about one of the issues they talked about. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After listening to\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.earhustlesq.com/episodes/2017/8/09/catch-a-kite\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> “Catch a Kite,”\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> an episode about receiving letters, students had the opportunity to write a letter to someone in the podcast. In one letter, a student talks about how he identifies with how his letter recipient needed to commit crimes to support his family. Another student wrote about how \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.earhustlesq.com/episodes/2018/4/25/thick-glass\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“Thick Glass,” Ear Hustle’s episode about parenting\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, helped her understand dynamics within her own family. “Her father had been in and out of prison,” Bush said. “She wrote in her letter that Ear Hustle allowed her to envision her father as a good father. She was able to see him as redeemable in a way that maybe she hadn’t before.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n\u003cp lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Little Jaylen's beautiful letter. Hear his letter at the end of our most recent episode \"Thick Glass\": \u003ca href=\"https://t.co/uecEBskphM\">https://t.co/uecEBskphM\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://t.co/IZVr1rPSS7\">pic.twitter.com/IZVr1rPSS7\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— Ear Hustle Podcast (@earhustlesq) \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/earhustlesq/status/991359292174413824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 1, 2018\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\">\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Connection and a sense of not being alone in hard situations are key feelings that Woods hopes to leave with young people who listen to Ear Hustle’s stories. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He also thinks these connections help young people become better learners.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> “You can benefit from someone’s story,” he said. “You can have a different insight on something that will help you navigate through your life.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>Kinetic learning and listening\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ear Hustle co-host Nigel Poor has brought the podcast into her photography classes at California State University, Sacramento, saying its focus on storytelling primes students to slow down and build important skills in observing. “I use it to talk about storytelling and compassionate listening and building empathy, which I think are tools anybody needs no matter what they’re studying.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/By0d5G4yRzM'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/By0d5G4yRzM'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For her class, Ear Hustle is the basis of a kinetic learning experience to help students pay attention to other invisible stories. She’ll tell students to go for a walk outside and find something discarded on the ground that draws their attention. Picking up abandoned bits and pieces is part of Poor’s art practice, and when she first started volunteering at San Quentin, she would collect things from the prison’s parking lot. In the book, she describes the lot as her “hunting ground.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In class, she’ll invite students to bring back their found object and share a story they’ve created about it. “It sounds weird at first, but it gets people to connect with their creativity and the associations that they make with objects and experiences. And that’s, to me, where stories start.” She’ll then move into playing clips from Ear Hustle and discussing what people hear in them and how she and Earlonne put episodes together.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“There’s so much [emphasis] put on the end result,” said Poor about education. “Listening and thinking is actually a valid activity. So I like to talk about that, and I like to talk about ways to pull stories out of people and give people the confidence to talk about themselves.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>Using hands-on learning to understand systems\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Danielle Devencenzi, assistant principal at St. Ignatius College Prep high school in San Francisco, begins her criminal justice class by looking at major legislation that shaped the U.S. justice system such as California’s Three Strikes Sentencing Law, the 1994 Crime Bill and landmark US Supreme Court cases. “Twelve years ago, I started to take my students to San Quentin to really understand the social justice issues facing our prison system in California, specifically mass incarceration,” she said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hearing firsthand from incarcerated people and seeing the environment adds more depth to the books and articles they discuss as part of the class, according to Devencenzi. “I’m a firm believer that if you don’t really see what’s happening and really talk to the people who are impacted by our systems, then you can’t really be an informed agent of change.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Devencenzi gives each of her students a notebook that they’ll use to write down their reactions, observations and notes from conversations with the people they meet on their tour of the prison. In a debrief, after visiting the prison, Devencenzi has students circle up their desks to share one thing from their notebook while she takes notes that she’ll later send to San Quentin. “They always talk about the humanity of the guys and how brave they are to tell their story in front of a bunch of complete strangers,” she said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When Ear Hustle first came out, her class was able to see the recording studio and meet some of the people featured in the episodes during their visits to San Quentin. “The podcast just became humanized when they met Curtis,” said Devencenzi about connecting with Curtis Roberts, who shared his story in “\u003ca href=\"https://www.earhustlesq.com/episodes/2017/9/27/left-behind\">Left Behind\u003c/a>.” Like Woods, Roberts had his sentence commuted in 2018. “It was just a month later when Curtis actually came to my classroom and visited my students again after they had met him in the prison yard,” said Devencenzi. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n\u003cp lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Curtis Roberts who served a 29 year prison sentence comes to \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/StIgnatius?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@StIgnatius\u003c/a> to speak with criminal justice students who just visited San Quentin. Check out his \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/earhustlesq?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@earhustlesq\u003c/a> episode called Left Behind \u003ca href=\"https://t.co/MkNenCgs0Z\">pic.twitter.com/MkNenCgs0Z\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— Danielle Devencenzi (@MsDevencenzi) \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MsDevencenzi/status/1201586814026428418?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 2, 2019\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\">\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As a culminating project, students in Devencenzi’s criminal justice class create a podcast based on in-depth interviews. Students explore their communities looking for trends and topics that – like their favorite episodes of Ear Hustle – require a little digging to uncover. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Woods and Poor have dreams of creating an entire Ear Hustle curriculum that includes the expanded stories and deeper dives from “This is Ear Hustle.” At Woods’ request, Poor stands up to show that she’s wearing a black one-piece jumpsuit as part of her work for an episode \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.earhustlesq.com/challenge\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">about a 30-day Ear Hustle challenge. \u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“We’re asking listeners to come on this journey with us where we are eating the food that’s eaten in prison during the same time and wearing three select outfits,” said Poor. “Not because we think we can replicate life in prison, but as a way to just build awareness and empathy about some of the things you give up when you go to prison.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They think the Ear Hustle challenge, which draws on themes surfaced in the “Prison 101” chapter from “This is Ear Hustle” and an episode from season two called “The Workaround,” would be a worthwhile activity for high school students.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While stories from behind prison walls may seem to be an unlikely place to find education materials, Ear Hustle shows that there are several entry points into learning where storytelling is concerned. “There’s learning through reading. There’s learning through experiencing. People who don’t necessarily think they’re educators actually can be educators,” said Poor. “I would love for that to be a lesson of ‘This is Ear Hustle’: that voices really matter and that there’s surprising stories everywhere that are worthy of being heard.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>MindShift is part of KQED, a non-profit NPR and PBS member station in San Francisco, CA. The text of this specific article is available to republish for noncommercial purposes under a Creative Commons \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">CC BY-NC-ND 4.0\u003c/a> license, thanks to support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">During in-person instruction, Vikram Nahal would correct \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.lwtears.com/blog/how-to-hold-pencil-grip\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">console grips\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in his role as a Resource Specialist Program (RSP) teacher in Northern California. Learning console grips helps students develop the hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills necessary to correctly form shapes on a page. He could provide grip tools for pencils or guide students’ hands with his own, familiarizing them with the strokes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">During virtual education, he relied on reference materials and parent assistance when available. An adult in the room could help demonstrate grips, steer hands and inform Nahal when additional resources were needed.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Despite the difficulties of offering support remotely, Nahal found that virtual learning allowed him to experiment with new technologies that supported his students with learning disabilities. Speech-to-text\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">technology allowed them to more easily transfer their ideas onto the page. This especially helped his students with ADHD and processing-related disabilities, such as auditory processing disorder or working memory deficits.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Speech-to-text tools also saved time, which is helpful for students who might forget their ideas once they try to write or students who struggle with getting any words on the page at all, feeling unable to transfer their thoughts. For some, this was because of the intimidation of writing academically, with spelling and grammar anxieties prohibiting them from starting. For others, the time taken to write out initial thoughts caused them to forget later conclusions and analyses, given the lack of immediacy in writing.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“Coming into the distance learning, I was really worried about these kids. But what I found was through using the speech-to-text feature, they were able to get their ideas on paper. They didn’t have that physical transfer where they had to go and write it out and lose what they were thinking about in the process. And they really evolved as writers,” said Nahal.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The process of vocalizing their ideas and watching their words simultaneously appear on the screen relieved much of the stress around writing. Students could watch their thoughts fill a page, proving for some that they were capable of doing so. They could then go through and revise their grammar and ideas, correcting anywhere the technology misheard them and getting practice editing their own writing.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The initial skill required of students wasn’t spelling or grammar, but the ability to transfer their ideas to the page. Natalie Conway is a teacher who works with students with disabilities in grades Kindergarten through 3rd at a statewide online charter school in Oregon. She has been teaching online for seven years. She said that specifically identifying which standard is being assessed, and providing accommodations for the standards not presently up to bat, can help make school more accessible for all students.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“Those accommodations are going to benefit kids who are unidentified (in disability) and who just would enjoy learning that way,” said Conway. “So if you make it available to everyone, it’s not stigmatizing to anyone. And students are going to self-select what’s going to work for them. They know themselves, too, especially the older they get.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Writing is Rewriting\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nahal eventually transitioned his students off speech-to-text, encouraging them to write phonetically in a subsequent phase but with the same initial indifference to spelling and grammar encouraged by a first draft from speech-to-text. Then, once the ideas were on the page, Nahal and his students could comb through their work, updating spelling and modifying their language to meet academic conventions. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“Through the process of correcting their work and typing, they’ve become better writers,” he said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He spotlighted spell check as a simple way students could see that they misspelled words, with the automatic underline quickly notifying students of a mistake. That helped make editing for spelling and grammar less difficult online. Speech-to-text technology accelerated his students’ writing skills during virtual learning. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“These gains would have not happened had we been in person. I mean, it would have happened, but not so rapidly in my estimation,” Nahal said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Voice Practice \u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Conway spotlighted speech-to-text technology as liberating for kids with writing disabilities and fine motor needs. Beyond writing homework assignments, the technology can also be used for quick in-class responses. If a teacher asks all students to put an answer in the virtual class’ chatbox, for instance, a student who might not feel confident in their ability to write their thoughts can use transcription software to still participate. And for chat boxes with microphone transcription enabled, they can participate even more quickly. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“It’s giving students independence, instead of having to have a scribe all the time or having to have someone read to them all the time,” said Kathleen Kane Parkinson, a diverse learner teacher in Chicago. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the past, many students would only be able to practice their pronunciations in a classroom setting. Now, this technology and related technologies allow for pronunciation practice to be incorporated into at-home work. Some teachers, like Parkinson, may choose to continue using some form of voice-recognition software for out-of-class assignments moving forward. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Parkinson mentioned, however, that the technology does not yet fully accommodate students with speech and language impairments. The transcription of their speech may not accurately reflect what students said into their microphones, which can cause confusion and frustration. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Repeated Read Alouds\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The related but inverse technology of text-to-speech, also known as read-aloud technology,\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">helped Nahal’s students improve their reading skills. The process of hearing text read aloud ensured that words or lines weren’t skipped, improving comprehension. Students could also highlight new words to hear pronunciations or learn definitions, strengthening vocabularies.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For students who might not feel confident reading grade-level material, or who process information better when listening, read-along features for books and articles can be pivotal. Students with attention deficits might benefit from the ability to pause a story to process or take notes, and then press play to resume reading without losing their place.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“[For] kids who might have working memory deficits or trouble recalling information, the ability to listen to something over and over or listen to it as they read it, following along — that can be really powerful,” Conway said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jodi Dezale, a speech language pathologist at Jefferson Community School in Minneapolis pointed to online books as a key resource brought about during virtual learning. The read-along audio feature provided students the autonomy to read books on their own. Tie-in videos from publishers like Scholastic gave students an additional level of engagement for books, encouraging new modes of interaction with familiar images and stories. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“One of the tools that we use to build comprehension is repeated readings of the same thing. So getting comfortable with seeing something in different ways and using it multiple times was very helpful,” said Dezale.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Accessibility Opportunities\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Engagement with both audible and visual modes of learning can also be achieved through closed captioning in class video software. Offered on both Google Meet and Zoom, closed captioning can have benefits for all students. It can make virtual classrooms that don’t have sign language translators more accessible for students who are deaf and hard of hearing. Students with unimpaired hearing can also utilize captions as a secondary cue for their minds, allowing for another way to perceive the material. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“You’re pairing verbal input with visual input and it’s just more likely to stick in your brain and make sense to you,” Conway said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Access to technology is an equity issue. Students gained technological skills during virtual learning that they might not have otherwise gleaned. Many schools engaged with new learning and accessibility tools they didn’t have the bandwidth or funding to try during in-person learning.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Increased familiarity with online platforms and technologies may lessen the digital divide between the schools that had embedded technology before the pandemic and those that newly engaged with modes of digital education over the past year. This offered more students digital skills that may be needed after graduation. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“They’ve got to be computer literate,” Nahal said. “It’s a literacy issue for me.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Teachers who work with students with disabilities specifically can supply their students with tools and methods of enabling accessibility technologies that they can take with them into general education classes.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“When they’re in, say, a humanities class or a science class, that’s where those tools are going to come in handy. And it’s a matter of teaching them how to use the tools,” Parkinson said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This not only makes education more accessible, it encourages students to take agency in their learning, spurring\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">greater independence.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For teachers who work with students with disabilities, the instantaneous nature of online assignments’ feedback saves time. Sandra Zickrick works with middle schoolers with disabilities. She shared that before virtual education, she would take each student aside to assess their skills and\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">determine where additional support was needed. Now, she can have all of her students complete simultaneous virtual assessments and immediately receive the results, allowing her to spend more class time providing specific support or doing activities with the entire class.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beyond the new technologies learned, a number of students with disabilities preferred learning online. For some, doing school from home induced less social anxiety, which led to increased academic confidence.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Attending school from home was less optimal for many students, with many facing challenges of family distractions, Wi-Fi connection issues or an inability to find a quiet place to work. Yet some\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">students were better able to concentrate on schoolwork at home, whether from reduced distractions in virtual school compared to social classroom settings, or from decreased social stress. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Online education can allow for greater control over a student’s environment, which can limit external distractors or overbearing external stimuli, benefiting some students with autism, ADD and ADHD. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“A lot of the physical distractors that happened in a building, that happened in a physical classroom, aren’t the same at home,” Conway said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Conway also pointed to the ability for students to revisit lectures, to rewind, rewatch and take their time, as another accessibility tool. The more methods teachers offer for students to access the material and demonstrate that they’ve learned it, the more accessible school becomes for all students.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When students can select how to best prove their knowledge — be it in an essay, video, PowerPoint, Google Doc or other tool — they not only take agency in their learning, but can unlock new creativity. This creativity will be an asset in higher education and in the workforce, Conway said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“They now have skills to communicate in a variety of ways, collaborate with other kids and be creative and think critically about what they’re doing and how they’re doing it,” she said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The specific tools and technologies a school may take on during virtual education may depend on the school’s location, technology team and budget. Yet the fact that more students received technological devices and more schools explored assistive technologies during virtual education helped in the movement to make education more accessible.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“I think the biggest takeaway of this online experience is just that there are things out there for free that we can use,” Conway said. “The sky’s the limit and you just need to Google whatever it is you want.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>MindShift is part of KQED, a non-profit NPR and PBS member station in San Francisco, CA. The text of this specific article is available to republish for noncommercial purposes under a Creative Commons \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">CC BY-NC-ND 4.0\u003c/a> license, thanks to support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">During in-person instruction, Vikram Nahal would correct \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.lwtears.com/blog/how-to-hold-pencil-grip\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">console grips\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in his role as a Resource Specialist Program (RSP) teacher in Northern California. Learning console grips helps students develop the hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills necessary to correctly form shapes on a page. He could provide grip tools for pencils or guide students’ hands with his own, familiarizing them with the strokes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">During virtual education, he relied on reference materials and parent assistance when available. An adult in the room could help demonstrate grips, steer hands and inform Nahal when additional resources were needed.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Despite the difficulties of offering support remotely, Nahal found that virtual learning allowed him to experiment with new technologies that supported his students with learning disabilities. Speech-to-text\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">technology allowed them to more easily transfer their ideas onto the page. This especially helped his students with ADHD and processing-related disabilities, such as auditory processing disorder or working memory deficits.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Speech-to-text tools also saved time, which is helpful for students who might forget their ideas once they try to write or students who struggle with getting any words on the page at all, feeling unable to transfer their thoughts. For some, this was because of the intimidation of writing academically, with spelling and grammar anxieties prohibiting them from starting. For others, the time taken to write out initial thoughts caused them to forget later conclusions and analyses, given the lack of immediacy in writing.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“Coming into the distance learning, I was really worried about these kids. But what I found was through using the speech-to-text feature, they were able to get their ideas on paper. They didn’t have that physical transfer where they had to go and write it out and lose what they were thinking about in the process. And they really evolved as writers,” said Nahal.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The process of vocalizing their ideas and watching their words simultaneously appear on the screen relieved much of the stress around writing. Students could watch their thoughts fill a page, proving for some that they were capable of doing so. They could then go through and revise their grammar and ideas, correcting anywhere the technology misheard them and getting practice editing their own writing.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The initial skill required of students wasn’t spelling or grammar, but the ability to transfer their ideas to the page. Natalie Conway is a teacher who works with students with disabilities in grades Kindergarten through 3rd at a statewide online charter school in Oregon. She has been teaching online for seven years. She said that specifically identifying which standard is being assessed, and providing accommodations for the standards not presently up to bat, can help make school more accessible for all students.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“Those accommodations are going to benefit kids who are unidentified (in disability) and who just would enjoy learning that way,” said Conway. “So if you make it available to everyone, it’s not stigmatizing to anyone. And students are going to self-select what’s going to work for them. They know themselves, too, especially the older they get.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Writing is Rewriting\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nahal eventually transitioned his students off speech-to-text, encouraging them to write phonetically in a subsequent phase but with the same initial indifference to spelling and grammar encouraged by a first draft from speech-to-text. Then, once the ideas were on the page, Nahal and his students could comb through their work, updating spelling and modifying their language to meet academic conventions. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“Through the process of correcting their work and typing, they’ve become better writers,” he said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He spotlighted spell check as a simple way students could see that they misspelled words, with the automatic underline quickly notifying students of a mistake. That helped make editing for spelling and grammar less difficult online. Speech-to-text technology accelerated his students’ writing skills during virtual learning. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“These gains would have not happened had we been in person. I mean, it would have happened, but not so rapidly in my estimation,” Nahal said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Voice Practice \u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Conway spotlighted speech-to-text technology as liberating for kids with writing disabilities and fine motor needs. Beyond writing homework assignments, the technology can also be used for quick in-class responses. If a teacher asks all students to put an answer in the virtual class’ chatbox, for instance, a student who might not feel confident in their ability to write their thoughts can use transcription software to still participate. And for chat boxes with microphone transcription enabled, they can participate even more quickly. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“It’s giving students independence, instead of having to have a scribe all the time or having to have someone read to them all the time,” said Kathleen Kane Parkinson, a diverse learner teacher in Chicago. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the past, many students would only be able to practice their pronunciations in a classroom setting. Now, this technology and related technologies allow for pronunciation practice to be incorporated into at-home work. Some teachers, like Parkinson, may choose to continue using some form of voice-recognition software for out-of-class assignments moving forward. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Parkinson mentioned, however, that the technology does not yet fully accommodate students with speech and language impairments. The transcription of their speech may not accurately reflect what students said into their microphones, which can cause confusion and frustration. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Repeated Read Alouds\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The related but inverse technology of text-to-speech, also known as read-aloud technology,\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">helped Nahal’s students improve their reading skills. The process of hearing text read aloud ensured that words or lines weren’t skipped, improving comprehension. Students could also highlight new words to hear pronunciations or learn definitions, strengthening vocabularies.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For students who might not feel confident reading grade-level material, or who process information better when listening, read-along features for books and articles can be pivotal. Students with attention deficits might benefit from the ability to pause a story to process or take notes, and then press play to resume reading without losing their place.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“[For] kids who might have working memory deficits or trouble recalling information, the ability to listen to something over and over or listen to it as they read it, following along — that can be really powerful,” Conway said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jodi Dezale, a speech language pathologist at Jefferson Community School in Minneapolis pointed to online books as a key resource brought about during virtual learning. The read-along audio feature provided students the autonomy to read books on their own. Tie-in videos from publishers like Scholastic gave students an additional level of engagement for books, encouraging new modes of interaction with familiar images and stories. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“One of the tools that we use to build comprehension is repeated readings of the same thing. So getting comfortable with seeing something in different ways and using it multiple times was very helpful,” said Dezale.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Accessibility Opportunities\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Engagement with both audible and visual modes of learning can also be achieved through closed captioning in class video software. Offered on both Google Meet and Zoom, closed captioning can have benefits for all students. It can make virtual classrooms that don’t have sign language translators more accessible for students who are deaf and hard of hearing. Students with unimpaired hearing can also utilize captions as a secondary cue for their minds, allowing for another way to perceive the material. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“You’re pairing verbal input with visual input and it’s just more likely to stick in your brain and make sense to you,” Conway said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Access to technology is an equity issue. Students gained technological skills during virtual learning that they might not have otherwise gleaned. Many schools engaged with new learning and accessibility tools they didn’t have the bandwidth or funding to try during in-person learning.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Increased familiarity with online platforms and technologies may lessen the digital divide between the schools that had embedded technology before the pandemic and those that newly engaged with modes of digital education over the past year. This offered more students digital skills that may be needed after graduation. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“They’ve got to be computer literate,” Nahal said. “It’s a literacy issue for me.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Teachers who work with students with disabilities specifically can supply their students with tools and methods of enabling accessibility technologies that they can take with them into general education classes.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“When they’re in, say, a humanities class or a science class, that’s where those tools are going to come in handy. And it’s a matter of teaching them how to use the tools,” Parkinson said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This not only makes education more accessible, it encourages students to take agency in their learning, spurring\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">greater independence.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For teachers who work with students with disabilities, the instantaneous nature of online assignments’ feedback saves time. Sandra Zickrick works with middle schoolers with disabilities. She shared that before virtual education, she would take each student aside to assess their skills and\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">determine where additional support was needed. Now, she can have all of her students complete simultaneous virtual assessments and immediately receive the results, allowing her to spend more class time providing specific support or doing activities with the entire class.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beyond the new technologies learned, a number of students with disabilities preferred learning online. For some, doing school from home induced less social anxiety, which led to increased academic confidence.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Attending school from home was less optimal for many students, with many facing challenges of family distractions, Wi-Fi connection issues or an inability to find a quiet place to work. Yet some\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">students were better able to concentrate on schoolwork at home, whether from reduced distractions in virtual school compared to social classroom settings, or from decreased social stress. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Online education can allow for greater control over a student’s environment, which can limit external distractors or overbearing external stimuli, benefiting some students with autism, ADD and ADHD. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“A lot of the physical distractors that happened in a building, that happened in a physical classroom, aren’t the same at home,” Conway said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Conway also pointed to the ability for students to revisit lectures, to rewind, rewatch and take their time, as another accessibility tool. The more methods teachers offer for students to access the material and demonstrate that they’ve learned it, the more accessible school becomes for all students.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When students can select how to best prove their knowledge — be it in an essay, video, PowerPoint, Google Doc or other tool — they not only take agency in their learning, but can unlock new creativity. This creativity will be an asset in higher education and in the workforce, Conway said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“They now have skills to communicate in a variety of ways, collaborate with other kids and be creative and think critically about what they’re doing and how they’re doing it,” she said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The specific tools and technologies a school may take on during virtual education may depend on the school’s location, technology team and budget. Yet the fact that more students received technological devices and more schools explored assistive technologies during virtual education helped in the movement to make education more accessible.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“I think the biggest takeaway of this online experience is just that there are things out there for free that we can use,” Conway said. “The sky’s the limit and you just need to Google whatever it is you want.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>MindShift is part of KQED, a non-profit NPR and PBS member station in San Francisco, CA. The text of this specific article is available to republish for noncommercial purposes under a Creative Commons \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">CC BY-NC-ND 4.0\u003c/a> license, thanks to support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "When Learning How to Write Starts Virtually, Here’s What’s Helpful to Know",
"headTitle": "When Learning How to Write Starts Virtually, Here’s What’s Helpful to Know | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This school year, kindergarteners learned how to turn on and off their web cameras and mute buttons alongside spelling and reading fundamentals. Separated by distance and screens, kindergarten teachers soon faced the additional challenge of teaching their 5- and 6-year-old students to write on pieces of paper that instructors couldn’t directly see. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So kindergarten teacher Lynn Marie Glick began having her students tilt their computer screens, pointing cameras down to their work, so she could watch as they label drawings of stuffed animals, pets or family members with letters formed by colored pencils, markers and crayons. She pinned the screens of students on Zoom who wanted to share their work with their class.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-57792\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2021/05/Glick-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"703\" height=\"392\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2021/05/Glick-1.png 703w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2021/05/Glick-1-160x89.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 703px) 100vw, 703px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When it was time to submit their assignments, her students uploaded photos of handwritten work to the online platform \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://web.seesaw.me/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Seesaw\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Sometimes, they would use the platform to type the class “snap words”: high-frequency words they learned to recognize “at a snap,” like \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">at\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">with\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. They also had the option to use Seesaw’s draw feature to write words with their mouse or trackpad — though Glick said that work tended to be less legible.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“That’s a totally separate skill, right?” said Glick of trying to handwrite on a device. “If you’ve got to put your finger on a mouse or your mouse trackpad and then you have to try to manipulate your finger around to draw something, there’s that disconnect between the mouse pad and the mouse and the computer. Whereas when you’re writing with a paper and pencil, I think the connection is much closer.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The act of physically writing builds fine motor skills, which is important for future academic success. Early development of motor skills – as utilized in motor coordination, executive function and visuospatial skills – are necessary for future academic achievement, according to a 2016 \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/cdep.12168\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">report\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To help kids who don’t get this kind of practice at home, early grade curriculum should structure activities purposefully aimed at developing motor skills, along with executive function, socio-emotional skills and general knowledge, which is what kids use to make sense of the world. That’s according to one of the paper’s authors, \u003ca href=\"https://education.virginia.edu/faculty-research/centers-labs-projects/research-labs/foundations-cognition-and-learning-lab\">David Grissmer\u003c/a>, a research professor at the University of Virginia.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“These are the four kind of building-block skills that are needed for kids to do well in school,” said Grissmer. “If they develop these skills during early childhood and have a good developmental path for these skills by the time they start school, they are much more likely to do better in school.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Courtney Miller’s son is in kindergarten at Glen Cove Elementary in Vallejo, California. His school provided a touchscreen device for class assignments, which eased his online navigation and reduced some of the initial technical challenges he faced on a traditional laptop. While he typically used a pencil and paper during class, he would use the touchscreen to complete homework, including assignments that involve tracing letters on screen, though the tracing assignments can glitch. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“When you’re doing spelling and you’re tracing words on a touchscreen, sometimes it can get a little finicky and it doesn’t work,” said Miller. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In her virtual kindergarten classroom, Glick helped her students remember each letter by telling a story about how to write it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“‘B’ is made with a dive-down letter. So you dive down,” Glick said as she deepened her voice. “Then you swim up and then over. That kind of language helps imprint the formation of the letter in their brains.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This was Glick’s sixth year of teaching kindergarten. Compared with previous years, her students’ mastery of writing their letters seemed to take more time — a potential effect of both decreased instruction time and the missing in-person assistance and observation of a classroom. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“It’s really hard to see how the kids are actually forming the letters and how they’re holding their pencils,” Glick said. “I’m imagining that the first grade teachers will be having a lot of interesting console grips.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>Supporting Parents is Supporting Kids\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">During in-person instruction, Vikram Nahal would directly correct \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.lwtears.com/blog/how-to-hold-pencil-grip\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">console grips\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in his role as a Resource Specialist Program (RSP) teacher in Northern California. He could provide grip tools for pencils or guide students’ hands with his own. During virtual education, he relied on reference materials and parent assistance \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-10-13/covid-19-tutor-demand-cant-afford-one\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">when available\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to demonstrate grips, steer hands and inform him when additional resources were needed — all to ensure his students’ mastery of literacy building blocks.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And due to virtual learning, many students gained technological skills that they might not have otherwise gleaned. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“They’ve got to be computer literate. It’s a literacy issue for me,” Nahal said, noting that access to technology is an equity concern.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At Miller’s school, the technical support and distance learning workshops help parents with technology. Glen Cove Elementary teachers offer daily office hours and Vallejo City Unified School District offers a weekly parent hour for tech-related advice and questions.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Writing Means Reading and Listening\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Vera Ahiyya, a kindergarten teacher in Brooklyn, New York, learned through educators on social media that many publishing houses relaxed their permission requirements for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/55694/how-online-book-read-alouds-can-help-students-literacy-and-connection-during-social-distancing\">online recording\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/55694/how-online-book-read-alouds-can-help-students-literacy-and-connection-during-social-distancing\">s\u003c/a> of children’s books during the pandemic. In spring 2020, Ahiyya and her colleagues took turns uploading videos of themselves reading children’s books to their school’s web drive. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ahiyya could also attach questions relating to certain time stamps. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These pre-recorded videos provided narration uninterrupted with their frames displaying well-lit, close-up pages. Students could take their time, pause and rewatch videos, something that they couldn’t do, or couldn’t do as easily, during read-alouds in person. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Parents told her they appreciated the online library provided by the collected videos.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“It can be a great way for students who might have processing delays, who might have visual or auditory processing needs. They can get a second chance, a second go at experiencing the book,” said Ahiyya. “Online, they can kind of stop and take their time and really enjoy the book for what it is as they need it to be.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.researchgate.net/publication/5373247_Reading_aloud_to_children_The_evidence\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Multiple\u003c/span>\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"http://reading.uoregon.edu/big_ideas/pa/pa_what.php\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">studies\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> have found that the act of reading to young kids is beneficial for early language and literacy skills development. Some \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.worldcat.org/title/overcoming-dyslexia-a-new-and-complete-science-based-program-for-reading-problems-at-any-level/oclc/827481539\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">research\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> indicates that children with stronger reading abilities also possessed strong phonological processing.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Strong readers tend to be more able to listen to and manipulate phonemes – the individual units of sound – and that further improves reading skills, which in turn strengthens phonological processing in a cyclical process.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2015/study-says-reading-aloud-to-children-more-than-talking-builds-literacy/82045\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">reading aloud\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to children is more effective than casual conversation when it comes to developing \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1086296X15627528\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">vocabularies\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Words that aren’t among the 5,000 most common English words are two to three times more likely than caretaker-child conversations to appear in picture books, meaning that books are more likely to have words children might not hear in their daily lives. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Despite having made progress online, when Ahiyya’s class moved back to in-person learning, she decided she wanted to decrease technology use and move back to analogue learning. She emphasized tactile and creative activities they couldn’t do, or couldn’t do as easily, during virtual learning. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“We also wanted to give them time to create and build mobility in their fingers, in their hands, in a way that they hadn’t been able to do when they were learning remotely,” Ahiyya said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>MindShift is part of KQED, a non-profit NPR and PBS member station in San Francisco, CA. The text of this specific article is available to republish for noncommercial purposes under a Creative Commons \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">CC BY-NC-ND 4.0\u003c/a> license, thanks to support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This school year, kindergarteners learned how to turn on and off their web cameras and mute buttons alongside spelling and reading fundamentals. Separated by distance and screens, kindergarten teachers soon faced the additional challenge of teaching their 5- and 6-year-old students to write on pieces of paper that instructors couldn’t directly see. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So kindergarten teacher Lynn Marie Glick began having her students tilt their computer screens, pointing cameras down to their work, so she could watch as they label drawings of stuffed animals, pets or family members with letters formed by colored pencils, markers and crayons. She pinned the screens of students on Zoom who wanted to share their work with their class.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-57792\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2021/05/Glick-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"703\" height=\"392\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2021/05/Glick-1.png 703w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2021/05/Glick-1-160x89.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 703px) 100vw, 703px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When it was time to submit their assignments, her students uploaded photos of handwritten work to the online platform \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://web.seesaw.me/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Seesaw\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Sometimes, they would use the platform to type the class “snap words”: high-frequency words they learned to recognize “at a snap,” like \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">at\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">with\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. They also had the option to use Seesaw’s draw feature to write words with their mouse or trackpad — though Glick said that work tended to be less legible.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“That’s a totally separate skill, right?” said Glick of trying to handwrite on a device. “If you’ve got to put your finger on a mouse or your mouse trackpad and then you have to try to manipulate your finger around to draw something, there’s that disconnect between the mouse pad and the mouse and the computer. Whereas when you’re writing with a paper and pencil, I think the connection is much closer.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The act of physically writing builds fine motor skills, which is important for future academic success. Early development of motor skills – as utilized in motor coordination, executive function and visuospatial skills – are necessary for future academic achievement, according to a 2016 \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/cdep.12168\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">report\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To help kids who don’t get this kind of practice at home, early grade curriculum should structure activities purposefully aimed at developing motor skills, along with executive function, socio-emotional skills and general knowledge, which is what kids use to make sense of the world. That’s according to one of the paper’s authors, \u003ca href=\"https://education.virginia.edu/faculty-research/centers-labs-projects/research-labs/foundations-cognition-and-learning-lab\">David Grissmer\u003c/a>, a research professor at the University of Virginia.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“These are the four kind of building-block skills that are needed for kids to do well in school,” said Grissmer. “If they develop these skills during early childhood and have a good developmental path for these skills by the time they start school, they are much more likely to do better in school.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Courtney Miller’s son is in kindergarten at Glen Cove Elementary in Vallejo, California. His school provided a touchscreen device for class assignments, which eased his online navigation and reduced some of the initial technical challenges he faced on a traditional laptop. While he typically used a pencil and paper during class, he would use the touchscreen to complete homework, including assignments that involve tracing letters on screen, though the tracing assignments can glitch. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“When you’re doing spelling and you’re tracing words on a touchscreen, sometimes it can get a little finicky and it doesn’t work,” said Miller. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In her virtual kindergarten classroom, Glick helped her students remember each letter by telling a story about how to write it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“‘B’ is made with a dive-down letter. So you dive down,” Glick said as she deepened her voice. “Then you swim up and then over. That kind of language helps imprint the formation of the letter in their brains.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This was Glick’s sixth year of teaching kindergarten. Compared with previous years, her students’ mastery of writing their letters seemed to take more time — a potential effect of both decreased instruction time and the missing in-person assistance and observation of a classroom. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“It’s really hard to see how the kids are actually forming the letters and how they’re holding their pencils,” Glick said. “I’m imagining that the first grade teachers will be having a lot of interesting console grips.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>Supporting Parents is Supporting Kids\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">During in-person instruction, Vikram Nahal would directly correct \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.lwtears.com/blog/how-to-hold-pencil-grip\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">console grips\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in his role as a Resource Specialist Program (RSP) teacher in Northern California. He could provide grip tools for pencils or guide students’ hands with his own. During virtual education, he relied on reference materials and parent assistance \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-10-13/covid-19-tutor-demand-cant-afford-one\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">when available\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to demonstrate grips, steer hands and inform him when additional resources were needed — all to ensure his students’ mastery of literacy building blocks.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And due to virtual learning, many students gained technological skills that they might not have otherwise gleaned. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“They’ve got to be computer literate. It’s a literacy issue for me,” Nahal said, noting that access to technology is an equity concern.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At Miller’s school, the technical support and distance learning workshops help parents with technology. Glen Cove Elementary teachers offer daily office hours and Vallejo City Unified School District offers a weekly parent hour for tech-related advice and questions.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Writing Means Reading and Listening\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Vera Ahiyya, a kindergarten teacher in Brooklyn, New York, learned through educators on social media that many publishing houses relaxed their permission requirements for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/55694/how-online-book-read-alouds-can-help-students-literacy-and-connection-during-social-distancing\">online recording\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/55694/how-online-book-read-alouds-can-help-students-literacy-and-connection-during-social-distancing\">s\u003c/a> of children’s books during the pandemic. In spring 2020, Ahiyya and her colleagues took turns uploading videos of themselves reading children’s books to their school’s web drive. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ahiyya could also attach questions relating to certain time stamps. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These pre-recorded videos provided narration uninterrupted with their frames displaying well-lit, close-up pages. Students could take their time, pause and rewatch videos, something that they couldn’t do, or couldn’t do as easily, during read-alouds in person. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Parents told her they appreciated the online library provided by the collected videos.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“It can be a great way for students who might have processing delays, who might have visual or auditory processing needs. They can get a second chance, a second go at experiencing the book,” said Ahiyya. “Online, they can kind of stop and take their time and really enjoy the book for what it is as they need it to be.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.researchgate.net/publication/5373247_Reading_aloud_to_children_The_evidence\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Multiple\u003c/span>\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"http://reading.uoregon.edu/big_ideas/pa/pa_what.php\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">studies\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> have found that the act of reading to young kids is beneficial for early language and literacy skills development. Some \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.worldcat.org/title/overcoming-dyslexia-a-new-and-complete-science-based-program-for-reading-problems-at-any-level/oclc/827481539\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">research\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> indicates that children with stronger reading abilities also possessed strong phonological processing.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Strong readers tend to be more able to listen to and manipulate phonemes – the individual units of sound – and that further improves reading skills, which in turn strengthens phonological processing in a cyclical process.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2015/study-says-reading-aloud-to-children-more-than-talking-builds-literacy/82045\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">reading aloud\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to children is more effective than casual conversation when it comes to developing \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1086296X15627528\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">vocabularies\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Words that aren’t among the 5,000 most common English words are two to three times more likely than caretaker-child conversations to appear in picture books, meaning that books are more likely to have words children might not hear in their daily lives. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Despite having made progress online, when Ahiyya’s class moved back to in-person learning, she decided she wanted to decrease technology use and move back to analogue learning. She emphasized tactile and creative activities they couldn’t do, or couldn’t do as easily, during virtual learning. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“We also wanted to give them time to create and build mobility in their fingers, in their hands, in a way that they hadn’t been able to do when they were learning remotely,” Ahiyya said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "When Everything is a Bit Much, Writing in a Journal Can Help",
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"content": "\u003cp>The term \"journaling\" encompasses a lot of different things: the list of birds you've seen in your neighborhood; the descriptions of sights you saw on your last vacation; the notes you jotted down about the dream you had last night. But the general, tried and true \u003cem>everything is a bit much in my life right now, and I have to write it down\u003c/em> type of journaling can really help when, well, everything is a bit much.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/psychology/faculty/pennebak\">James Pennebaker\u003c/a>, a professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, has spent decades studying \"expressive writing.\" Basically, Pennebaker says, if you find yourself ruminating on something, \"set aside some time to write about it for anywhere from five to 20 minutes a day, for one day, two days, maybe as many as five days.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Expressive writing is associated with improvements in \u003ca href=\"https://www.researchgate.net/publication/247746777_Writing_about_the_Perceived_Benefits_of_Traumatic_Events_Implications_for_Physical_Health\">physical health\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S016503271100749X?via%3Dihub\">improvements in markers of mental health\u003c/a>, and improvements in \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3372832/\">immune function\u003c/a>. It's also been shown to improve \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11561925/\">working memory\u003c/a> in college students, says Pennebaker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Don't worry if you're not exactly sure where to start. Journaling is actually perfect for those times when you can't pin down \u003cem>what\u003c/em> you're feeling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It's that great first step to opening up and learning who you are and what you believe in and how you feel and how you see and understand the world,\" says \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMxAJdzHHd6q71-3GAumSkg\">Rashawnda James\u003c/a>, a licensed therapist, YouTuber and a big advocate of journaling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These four tips will help you get started:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-56935\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2020/11/lk_journaling_harlan-1-2-copy_wide-5efebb97bd86749d59ffbee90160e943a1e6864a-scaled-e1604469587740.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>1. Journal whenever you want, for however long you want to.\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>You don't need to create a rigid routine around journaling. Try starting small. \"I would say start with five minutes. Set the timer on your phone,\" recommends James.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pennebaker only practices expressive writing when something specific is bothering him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Don't feel the need to force it either — if you don't feel like journaling, don't! Once the practice becomes yet another thing on your to-do list, it becomes less helpful. \"When it's for you, then you can really see the benefits,\" explains James.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>2. Medium doesn't matter — the key is to articulate your thoughts.\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Your journal doesn't need to be anything fancy. Don't be intimidated by beautifully illustrated \u003ca href=\"https://bulletjournal.com/blogs/bulletjournalist/beautifully-organized\">bullet journals\u003c/a> — a dirty napkin and a crayon work too!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Technically, you don't even have to write. Pennebaker has done informal \u003ca href=\"https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/db2d/f68bf19a6450ca201684b951d1dca065b191.pdf\">studies\u003c/a> where people write with their fingers in the air. The critical thing, he says, is \"That you translate this experience into words.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you don't like to write, James recommends keeping a voice memo journal. \"Just talk out loud, because some people are verbal processors,\" she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>3. Let yourself write about anything. Remember, what you write is for you and you alone.\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Getting started can be overwhelming. The thoughts and ideas flowing out of you may feel uncomfortable. The key to unpacking an issue through expressive writing, Pennebaker says, is letting your feelings connect the dots for you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>\"Sit down and explore your deepest thoughts and feelings about this issue ... You might tie it to other issues, for example: how does it relate to your childhood? Your relationship with other people in your life right now?\"\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Pennebaker says you can write about the same topic every day, or you can opt to write for something completely different each time you sit down. \"The only rule I have is once you start writing, write continuously,\" he says. \"Don't worry about spelling or grammar. It's not going to be read by your high school English teacher!\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Staring at a blank page? Freely exploring your emotions might be harder for folks who were raised in a culture that doesn't reward \u003cem>feeling \u003c/em>your feelings. Rashawnda James notes, \"If you weren't ... encouraged or given the verbiage as a child to say, 'I feel such and such,' then writing it down is going to be like ...'What?! I'm supposed to do this? I can't even say it out loud! How am I supposed to write it?!\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In these cases, James uses \u003ca href=\"https://thechalkboardmag.com/the-feelings-circle-chart-emotional-communication#sl=1\">feeling charts\u003c/a>. Feeling charts can help you identify what you're feeling by presenting you with a cluster of emotions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From there, you can try prompts like, \"I feel ______ about ...\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As you learn how to tie what you're feeling to a certain word, \"it becomes easier to express it and write it down,\" James says.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cimg class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-56937\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2020/11/lk_journaling_harlan-1-copy_slide-e40664af6104cb7c88df15028b90ac8c6176ab64-scaled-e1604469670550.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\">\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch3>4. Look for reflections and different perspectives, not solutions or fixes.\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>A journal isn't a friend or a therapist or counselor — it's not going to fix your problems. But it \u003cem>will \u003c/em>help you find out more about yourself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pennebaker recommends not going into it with hard or high expectations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"You know, it's kind of like when you're in a new town and you see a street that looks interesting. The best way to approach it is, 'Huh? I'll go down this street and see what I find.' But if you say, 'I'm just going to look for shoes size eight and nothing else,' you're going to miss everything that's on the street.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you're looking for some writing prompts to get you started, you can try some of these from James:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>What is something you're most grateful for?\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>What is the biggest risk you've taken in life?\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>If there was something you could tell your younger self, what would that be?\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>What do you feel like your life is missing for you to smile more?\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The audio portion of this story was produced by \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/people/747369843/audrey-nguyen\">\u003cem>Audrey Nguyen\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>, who also adapted the piece for digital. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>For more Life Kit, subscribe to our \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/newsletter/life-kit\">\u003cem>weekly newsletter\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Have a journaling habit? From dream journals to gratitude journals to morning pages — we'd love to hear what's worked for you! Send us a note at lifekit@npr.org or leave us a voicemail at \u003c/em>202.216.9823.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This Life Kit page and podcast episode were originally published in June 2020. You can \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/how-to-make-journaling-work-for-you/id1461493560?i=1000479198004\">\u003cem>listen to the original audio here\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Feeling+Lots+Of....Feelings%3F+Journaling+Can+Help+&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The term \"journaling\" encompasses a lot of different things: the list of birds you've seen in your neighborhood; the descriptions of sights you saw on your last vacation; the notes you jotted down about the dream you had last night. But the general, tried and true \u003cem>everything is a bit much in my life right now, and I have to write it down\u003c/em> type of journaling can really help when, well, everything is a bit much.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/psychology/faculty/pennebak\">James Pennebaker\u003c/a>, a professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, has spent decades studying \"expressive writing.\" Basically, Pennebaker says, if you find yourself ruminating on something, \"set aside some time to write about it for anywhere from five to 20 minutes a day, for one day, two days, maybe as many as five days.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Expressive writing is associated with improvements in \u003ca href=\"https://www.researchgate.net/publication/247746777_Writing_about_the_Perceived_Benefits_of_Traumatic_Events_Implications_for_Physical_Health\">physical health\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S016503271100749X?via%3Dihub\">improvements in markers of mental health\u003c/a>, and improvements in \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3372832/\">immune function\u003c/a>. It's also been shown to improve \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11561925/\">working memory\u003c/a> in college students, says Pennebaker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Don't worry if you're not exactly sure where to start. Journaling is actually perfect for those times when you can't pin down \u003cem>what\u003c/em> you're feeling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It's that great first step to opening up and learning who you are and what you believe in and how you feel and how you see and understand the world,\" says \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMxAJdzHHd6q71-3GAumSkg\">Rashawnda James\u003c/a>, a licensed therapist, YouTuber and a big advocate of journaling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These four tips will help you get started:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-56935\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2020/11/lk_journaling_harlan-1-2-copy_wide-5efebb97bd86749d59ffbee90160e943a1e6864a-scaled-e1604469587740.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>1. Journal whenever you want, for however long you want to.\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>You don't need to create a rigid routine around journaling. Try starting small. \"I would say start with five minutes. Set the timer on your phone,\" recommends James.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pennebaker only practices expressive writing when something specific is bothering him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Don't feel the need to force it either — if you don't feel like journaling, don't! Once the practice becomes yet another thing on your to-do list, it becomes less helpful. \"When it's for you, then you can really see the benefits,\" explains James.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>2. Medium doesn't matter — the key is to articulate your thoughts.\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Your journal doesn't need to be anything fancy. Don't be intimidated by beautifully illustrated \u003ca href=\"https://bulletjournal.com/blogs/bulletjournalist/beautifully-organized\">bullet journals\u003c/a> — a dirty napkin and a crayon work too!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Technically, you don't even have to write. Pennebaker has done informal \u003ca href=\"https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/db2d/f68bf19a6450ca201684b951d1dca065b191.pdf\">studies\u003c/a> where people write with their fingers in the air. The critical thing, he says, is \"That you translate this experience into words.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you don't like to write, James recommends keeping a voice memo journal. \"Just talk out loud, because some people are verbal processors,\" she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>3. Let yourself write about anything. Remember, what you write is for you and you alone.\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Getting started can be overwhelming. The thoughts and ideas flowing out of you may feel uncomfortable. The key to unpacking an issue through expressive writing, Pennebaker says, is letting your feelings connect the dots for you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>\"Sit down and explore your deepest thoughts and feelings about this issue ... You might tie it to other issues, for example: how does it relate to your childhood? Your relationship with other people in your life right now?\"\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Pennebaker says you can write about the same topic every day, or you can opt to write for something completely different each time you sit down. \"The only rule I have is once you start writing, write continuously,\" he says. \"Don't worry about spelling or grammar. It's not going to be read by your high school English teacher!\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Staring at a blank page? Freely exploring your emotions might be harder for folks who were raised in a culture that doesn't reward \u003cem>feeling \u003c/em>your feelings. Rashawnda James notes, \"If you weren't ... encouraged or given the verbiage as a child to say, 'I feel such and such,' then writing it down is going to be like ...'What?! I'm supposed to do this? I can't even say it out loud! How am I supposed to write it?!\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In these cases, James uses \u003ca href=\"https://thechalkboardmag.com/the-feelings-circle-chart-emotional-communication#sl=1\">feeling charts\u003c/a>. Feeling charts can help you identify what you're feeling by presenting you with a cluster of emotions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From there, you can try prompts like, \"I feel ______ about ...\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As you learn how to tie what you're feeling to a certain word, \"it becomes easier to express it and write it down,\" James says.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cimg class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-56937\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2020/11/lk_journaling_harlan-1-copy_slide-e40664af6104cb7c88df15028b90ac8c6176ab64-scaled-e1604469670550.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\">\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch3>4. Look for reflections and different perspectives, not solutions or fixes.\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>A journal isn't a friend or a therapist or counselor — it's not going to fix your problems. But it \u003cem>will \u003c/em>help you find out more about yourself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pennebaker recommends not going into it with hard or high expectations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"You know, it's kind of like when you're in a new town and you see a street that looks interesting. The best way to approach it is, 'Huh? I'll go down this street and see what I find.' But if you say, 'I'm just going to look for shoes size eight and nothing else,' you're going to miss everything that's on the street.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you're looking for some writing prompts to get you started, you can try some of these from James:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>What is something you're most grateful for?\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>What is the biggest risk you've taken in life?\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>If there was something you could tell your younger self, what would that be?\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>What do you feel like your life is missing for you to smile more?\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The audio portion of this story was produced by \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/people/747369843/audrey-nguyen\">\u003cem>Audrey Nguyen\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>, who also adapted the piece for digital. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>For more Life Kit, subscribe to our \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/newsletter/life-kit\">\u003cem>weekly newsletter\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Have a journaling habit? From dream journals to gratitude journals to morning pages — we'd love to hear what's worked for you! Send us a note at lifekit@npr.org or leave us a voicemail at \u003c/em>202.216.9823.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This Life Kit page and podcast episode were originally published in June 2020. You can \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/how-to-make-journaling-work-for-you/id1461493560?i=1000479198004\">\u003cem>listen to the original audio here\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Feeling+Lots+Of....Feelings%3F+Journaling+Can+Help+&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp class=\"p1\">Staring at a blank page can be daunting for anyone with a writing assignment. As one writes, there are all kinds of rules to adhere to: grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. In school, writing can feel like a chore if it’s part of a class assignment or a topic the student doesn’t care about. But for those who have experienced the thrill of writing fan fiction, there’s a certain flow that can feel liberating.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">“I’ve had several students over the years who’ve come to me with the fan fiction that they’ve written that’s in the hundreds of pages,” said \u003ca href=\"https://juliaetorres.blog/about/\">Julia Torres\u003c/a>, a teacher-librarian in Denver Public Schools. “I had one student, his name was Arturo, and he had written several novels’ worth of fan fiction. And they want you to read it as their teacher because they want your feedback.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Fan fiction is a type of writing that builds upon or takes liberties with existing stories. Writers can create alternate endings for stories, create parallel worlds, develop side characters more deeply or cross over characters from different stories. Some of the most popular fan fic subjects are \u003ca href=\"https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Harry%20Potter%20-%20J*d*%20K*d*%20Rowling/works\">Harry Potter\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Sherlock%20Holmes%20*a*%20Related%20Fandoms/works\">Sherlock Holmes\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Marvel/works\">Marvel\u003c/a> comics. There’s also fan fiction about real people, like members of the K-pop band \u003ca href=\"https://archiveofourown.org/tags/%EB%B0%A9%ED%83%84%EC%86%8C%EB%85%84%EB%8B%A8%20%7C%20Bangtan%20Boys%20%7C%20BTS/works\">BTS\u003c/a>. Fan fiction can be challenging because writers have to be knowledgable about what existing characters would do or how their worlds operate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The imagined worlds that I have read are free of a lot of the oppressive structures that we have in the real world,” said Torres. “So that’s a place where our students escape from all of that, and they might do that through their favorite fantasy characters.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Fan fic can also enhance existing stories by \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/books/la-ca-jc-fob-roshani-chokshi-20180411-story.html\">adding characters\u003c/a> students don’t see, like Black, Indigenous and People of Color.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"p1\">\u003cb>Reading Fan Fiction \u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“The main thing I love about fan fiction is that it’s so inclusive,” said \u003ca href=\"https://mtvernonlibrary.weebly.com/\">Julie Stivers\u003c/a>, librarian at Mt. Vernon Middle School in North Carolina. She said fan fiction can provide students with stories they might not be getting as part of the curriculum, either because they’re not represented in the books or they just aren’t interesting. “We’re about 90 percent BIPOC students [at school] and I want my collection to be 90 percent BIPOC.” She said there’s greater motivation for students to read when they’re provided with stories that build upon interests they already have.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“If you’re a student who doesn’t read a lot, I can probably find a fan fic story for you,” said Stivers. “Let’s say you love manga and anime, there’s literally hundreds of thousands of stories you can find online. It’s another access point for literacy for kids.”*\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">As a librarian, Stivers will read in advance anything she recommends to students in order to monitor for what’s age appropriate. And in the era of distance learning, she said reading fan fic can be far more accessible than waiting for a physical book; it’s a lot easier to print out pages of fan fic for students to read instead of waiting for a physical book to arrive or wait for it be returned by the patron. Fan fic can also be written by fandoms quickly, whereas authors might take several years to write a book.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"p1\">\u003cb>Teaching Fan Fiction\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">“When I was in high school, I did not enjoy reading,” said Andrew Tucker, an English teacher at \u003c/span>\u003cspan class=\"s2\">Manchester Valley High School in Maryland. It wasn’t until his Shakespeare teacher showed him that a love of literature has the same value as a love for movies, video games or comic books. He learned how to analyze stories and think about characters beyond the typical literary canon and tap into what he loved to read, watch and play growing up. As a kid, Tucker loved Star Wars, Batman, Godzilla and Dragon Ball Z. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">You can see stories everywhere — in books, movies and games. And one type of story Tucker teaches his students is the \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfcenter.ku.edu/Workshop-stuff/Joseph-Campbell-Hero-Journey.htm\">Hero’s Journey\u003c/a>. It’s a framework for telling stories that was popularized by Joseph Campbell in the 1950s but dates back to ancient mythology. One of the most visible modern examples of the Hero’s Journey is in the movie Star Wars. When Tucker teaches a unit on Beowulf fan fiction, he’ll start by showing students a clip from Star Wars to show how Luke Skywalker answers the call to adventure and crosses the threshold – key elements to the Hero’s Journey. Then, students write from the perspective of someone who is not a main Beowulf character – the mother of the monster Grendel. Tucker advises students to make up any details they want, but they can’t contradict anything that’s in the original poem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p6\">“I even had a student say one time, ‘Are we essentially writing Grendel fan fiction?’ I said, ‘Yes, you are. But you’re showing me that you understand, A, how to write a narrative, and B, that you can write from a different point of view.’\u003cspan class=\"s4\">”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p9\">Tucker’s excitement about stories caught the attention of Kirstie Troutman, a school colleague. Her son, Drew, is passionate about writing, so she hired Tucker as a tutor to help him explore fan fiction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p6\">“If your child was into sports, you’d search for the teams that could build those skills and the coaches,” said Troutman. “[Writing] is where my son’s interest is, so I found the coach to match him with his interest.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"p9\">\u003cspan class=\"s5\">\u003cb>Fan Fiction and Learning\u003c/b>\u003c/span>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp class=\"p9\">When Tanner Higgin was a junior high school student, he wasn’t motivated to do homework. He would do the bare minimum to stay on a college-bound path. But when he discovered a Star Wars fan fiction community through an America Online hub, his world and word count expanded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p6\">“It was a tremendous amount of of writing,” said Higgin of his contributions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p9\">The Star Wars community was designed as a massive role-playing game. It involved writing dialogue and storylines for characters, creating challenges and organizing the members of the community. Higgin started writing for Han Solo but ultimately got recruited to write for the Imperial forces and bring order to an unruly group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p6\">“The Imperial side of this community was constantly facing mutinies,” recalled Higgin. “There was always someone looking to grab power and usurp power so you needed a lot of management to keep those things in check.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p9\">Higgin’s organizational skills gained him attention in the group and he was asked to take on more management roles. This meant holding regular meetings, sending official emails and creating rules and regulations for the community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p6\">“I ended up getting promoted and was one of the leaders for a time and really found myself extending my leadership skills,” said Higgin. All of the Star Wars fan fiction writing and community organizing skills were crucial developmental experiences he didn’t appreciate until he was a school teacher trying to motivate his own students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p6\">“This was really my introduction to the idea that you could take something you love and put your own spin on it, and most importantly, work with other people to build a shared world and –sort of like improvisational theater – play off of the contributions of other people and really try and think from the perspective of a character and act how that character would respond to other people,” said Higgin, who is Director of Education Editorial Strategy at \u003ca href=\"https://www.tannerhiggin.com/about/\">Common Sense\u003c/a>. “It was really a kind of mind-blowing, mind-expanding way of thinking about what art is.”\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"p9\">\u003cspan class=\"s5\">\u003cb>Fan Fic community \u003c/b>\u003c/span>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp class=\"p9\">One unique element of fan fiction is the community that coalesces in support of writers. The feedback writers get in fan fiction communities helps them get better.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p9\">Professor \u003ca href=\"https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.2304/elea.2006.3.2.170\">Rebecca Black\u003c/a> learned about how helpful fan fiction communities can be when she studied English Language Learners who write fan fiction. These students felt insecure about their language skills in school, but \u003ca href=\"https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.2304/elea.2006.3.2.170\">developed confidence by practicing writing in fan fic\u003c/a> forums and getting feedback.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p6\">“They really represented themselves as ‘I’m not a good writer,’ ‘I’m not very good in English,’ ‘I hate English class,’ ‘I hate school,’ but they would spend hours and hours writing these stories online that people were reading and giving them feedback on,” said Black, professor of informatics at UC Irvine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p9\">Engaging in online forums might feel risky for parents of adolescents, but Black says that the community is mostly focused on writing. It’s also a place where teens can role-play some of the issues they’re dealing with through characters in their stories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">\u003cspan class=\"s4\">“\u003c/span>\u003cspan class=\"s2\">I’ve been part of sites where people were very strong in their critique of writing and feedback,” said Black, “but never just sort of wanton abuse that I think a lot of parents worry about.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p9\">However, fan fiction isn’t without its critics. Fan fiction is getting more visibility for its sexual reputation with the popularity of sexual storylines, the HBO show “Euphoria” and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npd.com/wps/portal/npd/us/news/press-releases/2019/fifty-shades-of-grey-was-the-best-selling-book-of-the-decade-in-the-us-the-npd-group-says/\">best-selling book of the decade\u003c/a>, “50 Shades of Gray.” For those reasons – in addition to time constraints and testing requirements – teachers have mostly kept their distance from deep fan fiction. However, that doesn’t mean teens will stay away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p9\">For students who are interested in writing fan fiction, teacher-librarian Julia Torres recommends the tools at \u003ca href=\"https://nanowrimo.org/\">NaNoWriMo\u003c/a> that can help people get into the writer’s habit. As for reading fan fiction, \u003ca href=\"https://www.fanfiction.net/\">fanfiction.net\u003c/a> has a ratings system for what’s appropriate, like what you see in movies, and teens flock to \u003ca href=\"https://archiveofourown.org/\">Archive of Our Own\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Please, give your students the freedom to read it without having to prove to you that it fits some sort of adult guidelines,” said Torres, “because being able to indulge in a reading life that is free of restrictions is something that we don’t really often allow kids to do. And there’s a reason for their curiosity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p9\">\u003cem>*An earlier version of this story misquoted the number of stories. We regret this error. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp class=\"p1\">Staring at a blank page can be daunting for anyone with a writing assignment. As one writes, there are all kinds of rules to adhere to: grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. In school, writing can feel like a chore if it’s part of a class assignment or a topic the student doesn’t care about. But for those who have experienced the thrill of writing fan fiction, there’s a certain flow that can feel liberating.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">“I’ve had several students over the years who’ve come to me with the fan fiction that they’ve written that’s in the hundreds of pages,” said \u003ca href=\"https://juliaetorres.blog/about/\">Julia Torres\u003c/a>, a teacher-librarian in Denver Public Schools. “I had one student, his name was Arturo, and he had written several novels’ worth of fan fiction. And they want you to read it as their teacher because they want your feedback.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Fan fiction is a type of writing that builds upon or takes liberties with existing stories. Writers can create alternate endings for stories, create parallel worlds, develop side characters more deeply or cross over characters from different stories. Some of the most popular fan fic subjects are \u003ca href=\"https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Harry%20Potter%20-%20J*d*%20K*d*%20Rowling/works\">Harry Potter\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Sherlock%20Holmes%20*a*%20Related%20Fandoms/works\">Sherlock Holmes\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Marvel/works\">Marvel\u003c/a> comics. There’s also fan fiction about real people, like members of the K-pop band \u003ca href=\"https://archiveofourown.org/tags/%EB%B0%A9%ED%83%84%EC%86%8C%EB%85%84%EB%8B%A8%20%7C%20Bangtan%20Boys%20%7C%20BTS/works\">BTS\u003c/a>. Fan fiction can be challenging because writers have to be knowledgable about what existing characters would do or how their worlds operate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The imagined worlds that I have read are free of a lot of the oppressive structures that we have in the real world,” said Torres. “So that’s a place where our students escape from all of that, and they might do that through their favorite fantasy characters.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Fan fic can also enhance existing stories by \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/books/la-ca-jc-fob-roshani-chokshi-20180411-story.html\">adding characters\u003c/a> students don’t see, like Black, Indigenous and People of Color.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"p1\">\u003cb>Reading Fan Fiction \u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“The main thing I love about fan fiction is that it’s so inclusive,” said \u003ca href=\"https://mtvernonlibrary.weebly.com/\">Julie Stivers\u003c/a>, librarian at Mt. Vernon Middle School in North Carolina. She said fan fiction can provide students with stories they might not be getting as part of the curriculum, either because they’re not represented in the books or they just aren’t interesting. “We’re about 90 percent BIPOC students [at school] and I want my collection to be 90 percent BIPOC.” She said there’s greater motivation for students to read when they’re provided with stories that build upon interests they already have.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“If you’re a student who doesn’t read a lot, I can probably find a fan fic story for you,” said Stivers. “Let’s say you love manga and anime, there’s literally hundreds of thousands of stories you can find online. It’s another access point for literacy for kids.”*\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">As a librarian, Stivers will read in advance anything she recommends to students in order to monitor for what’s age appropriate. And in the era of distance learning, she said reading fan fic can be far more accessible than waiting for a physical book; it’s a lot easier to print out pages of fan fic for students to read instead of waiting for a physical book to arrive or wait for it be returned by the patron. Fan fic can also be written by fandoms quickly, whereas authors might take several years to write a book.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"p1\">\u003cb>Teaching Fan Fiction\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">“When I was in high school, I did not enjoy reading,” said Andrew Tucker, an English teacher at \u003c/span>\u003cspan class=\"s2\">Manchester Valley High School in Maryland. It wasn’t until his Shakespeare teacher showed him that a love of literature has the same value as a love for movies, video games or comic books. He learned how to analyze stories and think about characters beyond the typical literary canon and tap into what he loved to read, watch and play growing up. As a kid, Tucker loved Star Wars, Batman, Godzilla and Dragon Ball Z. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">You can see stories everywhere — in books, movies and games. And one type of story Tucker teaches his students is the \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfcenter.ku.edu/Workshop-stuff/Joseph-Campbell-Hero-Journey.htm\">Hero’s Journey\u003c/a>. It’s a framework for telling stories that was popularized by Joseph Campbell in the 1950s but dates back to ancient mythology. One of the most visible modern examples of the Hero’s Journey is in the movie Star Wars. When Tucker teaches a unit on Beowulf fan fiction, he’ll start by showing students a clip from Star Wars to show how Luke Skywalker answers the call to adventure and crosses the threshold – key elements to the Hero’s Journey. Then, students write from the perspective of someone who is not a main Beowulf character – the mother of the monster Grendel. Tucker advises students to make up any details they want, but they can’t contradict anything that’s in the original poem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p6\">“I even had a student say one time, ‘Are we essentially writing Grendel fan fiction?’ I said, ‘Yes, you are. But you’re showing me that you understand, A, how to write a narrative, and B, that you can write from a different point of view.’\u003cspan class=\"s4\">”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p9\">Tucker’s excitement about stories caught the attention of Kirstie Troutman, a school colleague. Her son, Drew, is passionate about writing, so she hired Tucker as a tutor to help him explore fan fiction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p6\">“If your child was into sports, you’d search for the teams that could build those skills and the coaches,” said Troutman. “[Writing] is where my son’s interest is, so I found the coach to match him with his interest.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"p9\">\u003cspan class=\"s5\">\u003cb>Fan Fiction and Learning\u003c/b>\u003c/span>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp class=\"p9\">When Tanner Higgin was a junior high school student, he wasn’t motivated to do homework. He would do the bare minimum to stay on a college-bound path. But when he discovered a Star Wars fan fiction community through an America Online hub, his world and word count expanded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p6\">“It was a tremendous amount of of writing,” said Higgin of his contributions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p9\">The Star Wars community was designed as a massive role-playing game. It involved writing dialogue and storylines for characters, creating challenges and organizing the members of the community. Higgin started writing for Han Solo but ultimately got recruited to write for the Imperial forces and bring order to an unruly group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p6\">“The Imperial side of this community was constantly facing mutinies,” recalled Higgin. “There was always someone looking to grab power and usurp power so you needed a lot of management to keep those things in check.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p9\">Higgin’s organizational skills gained him attention in the group and he was asked to take on more management roles. This meant holding regular meetings, sending official emails and creating rules and regulations for the community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p6\">“I ended up getting promoted and was one of the leaders for a time and really found myself extending my leadership skills,” said Higgin. All of the Star Wars fan fiction writing and community organizing skills were crucial developmental experiences he didn’t appreciate until he was a school teacher trying to motivate his own students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p6\">“This was really my introduction to the idea that you could take something you love and put your own spin on it, and most importantly, work with other people to build a shared world and –sort of like improvisational theater – play off of the contributions of other people and really try and think from the perspective of a character and act how that character would respond to other people,” said Higgin, who is Director of Education Editorial Strategy at \u003ca href=\"https://www.tannerhiggin.com/about/\">Common Sense\u003c/a>. “It was really a kind of mind-blowing, mind-expanding way of thinking about what art is.”\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"p9\">\u003cspan class=\"s5\">\u003cb>Fan Fic community \u003c/b>\u003c/span>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp class=\"p9\">One unique element of fan fiction is the community that coalesces in support of writers. The feedback writers get in fan fiction communities helps them get better.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p9\">Professor \u003ca href=\"https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.2304/elea.2006.3.2.170\">Rebecca Black\u003c/a> learned about how helpful fan fiction communities can be when she studied English Language Learners who write fan fiction. These students felt insecure about their language skills in school, but \u003ca href=\"https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.2304/elea.2006.3.2.170\">developed confidence by practicing writing in fan fic\u003c/a> forums and getting feedback.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p6\">“They really represented themselves as ‘I’m not a good writer,’ ‘I’m not very good in English,’ ‘I hate English class,’ ‘I hate school,’ but they would spend hours and hours writing these stories online that people were reading and giving them feedback on,” said Black, professor of informatics at UC Irvine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p9\">Engaging in online forums might feel risky for parents of adolescents, but Black says that the community is mostly focused on writing. It’s also a place where teens can role-play some of the issues they’re dealing with through characters in their stories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">\u003cspan class=\"s4\">“\u003c/span>\u003cspan class=\"s2\">I’ve been part of sites where people were very strong in their critique of writing and feedback,” said Black, “but never just sort of wanton abuse that I think a lot of parents worry about.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p9\">However, fan fiction isn’t without its critics. Fan fiction is getting more visibility for its sexual reputation with the popularity of sexual storylines, the HBO show “Euphoria” and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npd.com/wps/portal/npd/us/news/press-releases/2019/fifty-shades-of-grey-was-the-best-selling-book-of-the-decade-in-the-us-the-npd-group-says/\">best-selling book of the decade\u003c/a>, “50 Shades of Gray.” For those reasons – in addition to time constraints and testing requirements – teachers have mostly kept their distance from deep fan fiction. However, that doesn’t mean teens will stay away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p9\">For students who are interested in writing fan fiction, teacher-librarian Julia Torres recommends the tools at \u003ca href=\"https://nanowrimo.org/\">NaNoWriMo\u003c/a> that can help people get into the writer’s habit. As for reading fan fiction, \u003ca href=\"https://www.fanfiction.net/\">fanfiction.net\u003c/a> has a ratings system for what’s appropriate, like what you see in movies, and teens flock to \u003ca href=\"https://archiveofourown.org/\">Archive of Our Own\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Please, give your students the freedom to read it without having to prove to you that it fits some sort of adult guidelines,” said Torres, “because being able to indulge in a reading life that is free of restrictions is something that we don’t really often allow kids to do. And there’s a reason for their curiosity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"disqusTitle": "Learning with Dyslexia and Creating a Path to Success",
"title": "Learning with Dyslexia and Creating a Path to Success",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This is chapter six of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/54743/the-mindshift-guide-to-understanding-dyslexia\">MindShift Guide to Understanding Dyslexia\u003c/a>. You can find the remaining chapters and a complete \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">printable\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">PDF\u003c/a> of the entire guide by clicking \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the large bulk of schoolwork involves reading and writing, dyslexics often experience anxiety around schooling, especially when called on to read aloud or expected to read or write large amounts of material. Many report feeling low self-esteem and believing that they are unintelligent or will never have the skills to succeed. Even when the proper diagnosis is handed down and intervention works, school life continues to be difficult for dyslexics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Further, discussion of the complex idea of dyslexia’s hidden gifts or special talents can give students the idea that academic work—heavy in reading and writing—simply isn’t for them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s not the case, says Dr. Sheryl Rimrodt-Frierson, who runs the pediatric clinic at the Vanderbilt Kennedy Reading Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She says that when she identifies kids as dyslexic, she doesn’t want them to close off their options. “I don’t want kids to sell themselves short about going to college,” she says. “So I will make sure that they know there are plenty of people out there who have done plenty—academic work, medical school, law school. I want them to understand that there’s a world of possibilities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For many dyslexics, the road to academic and career success isn’t off-limits but more about taking a different path.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>VOICES OF DYSLEXIA: FOUR DIFFERENT PATHS TO SUCCESS\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The spread of information and advocacy is increasing awareness around dyslexia, and many who have experienced reading struggles are beginning to find their way through school—and life beyond it—more easily.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here are the stories of four dyslexic adults who found success in different ways. \u003cstrong>Notice how the themes of this guide have played out in their lives\u003c/strong>—by managing their anxiety and passing on their learning to support others with dyslexia to succeed; by advocating for themselves; by perfecting the art of listening; and by finding creative forms of self-expression.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>DONNA GARGETT, SOCIAL WORKER, HEAD OF A NONPROFIT SUPPORTING DYSLEXICS, AGE 41\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When Donna Gargett was growing up in California in the 1980s, she remembers watching an episode of the television show “The Cosby Show” where the character Theo realizes he has dyslexia. Gargett thought to herself, “that’s me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now 41, Gargett is a social worker and head of a nonprofit that recruits and trains tutors in the Orton-Gillingham teaching method to help dyslexics in and around Jacksonville, North Carolina, where she lives. But even though she’s learned to manage her dyslexia over time, memories of reading and writing in school bring back anxiety. She often thinks about how she knew she had the same condition that Theo had, even though she wasn’t identified as dyslexic until college.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In grade school and high school, Gargett always felt “less than.” She struggled so much, once she even asked her parents if she was mentally disabled and they were hiding it from her. In elementary school, “I didn’t understand what was going on,” she says. “I was trying as hard as I could and still wasn’t getting it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Years of failure in school caused Gargett extreme anxiety, and she says it made her introverted. She spent most classes trying not to make eye contact with the teacher, hoping she wouldn’t be called on and instead would just “melt away.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Gargett found some relief once she reached college. “I found college to be much easier, knowing there wasn’t any reading out loud anymore was a huge relief for me personally,” she says. In college, she could record lectures and go home and listen to them over and over if she needed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gargett still finds it extremely stressful to read aloud, and avoids it at all costs, even in her work as an adult. Even though she finds it extremely rewarding to work with people who need help, the paperwork involved in social work case management is time-consuming and causes stress. She admits that she still makes a lot of mistakes, spells poorly, and takes a lot of time and energy to make sure documents are legible and correct.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when both Gargett’s daughters, who are six and eight, were identified as dyslexic (the condition has a genetic component and tends to run in families), she knew she had to do something to try and change the stigma and provide an environment for them that didn’t contain so much anxiety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s how she got started helping tutors get certified in Orton-Gillingham near her home. The tutors are able to help the students who are just like she once was—afraid that there was something wrong with them. The nonprofit, Blank Canvass, has spread to include Eastern North Carolina. Gargett is hoping that she’s breaking the stigma of dyslexia and dispelling the anxiety that haunted her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Parents come to me now, knowing that something is wrong, but they can’t put their finger on it,” Gargett says. “Because of my own personal story, and now as a parent, I can help guide these parents through the process. Self-esteem is the root of a lot of the problems caused by dyslexia, and [with the nonprofit] we are striving to build students’ individual strengths.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>MACKENZIE FANATICO, SENIOR AT ANGELO STATE UNIVERSITY\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Mackenzie Fanatico remembers her early elementary years as “chaotic,” because all her friends could read, and she couldn’t. She believed there was something wrong with her, that she was “stupid,” until a third grade teacher at her public school in Philadelphia asked her mother whether Mackenzie had ever been tested for dyslexia. She finally got tested and was diagnosed with dyslexia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it wasn’t until the fifth grade, after she’d endured a long illness and her family moved to the suburbs outside of Dallas, Texas, when she finally learned to read. There, an in-home tutor came to her house as she recovered, and Fanatico finally received the one-on-one attention she needed to learn to read.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even as her reading got stronger through middle and high school, Fanatico still required so much extra time to complete the same amount of work as other students, she realized that if she was going to succeed at all, she had to start talking to her teachers about what she needed to complete assignments and take tests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’d explain what was happening inside her dyslexic brain, and that she needed help taking notes by using a computer with voice-to-text and recording lectures so she could listen to them later. She needed lenience on hand-written tests, too, because she knew she would “butcher the spelling.” By forming relationships with her teachers, Fanatico did well in high school and made it to college.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now a senior at Angelo State University in the West Texas town San Angelo, she has used the same strategy to succeed in college—by forming relationships with her professors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I still need a whole lot of repetition,” Fanatico says. “My friends might study two hours for a class, but it takes me four or six hours to be able to ‘get’ the same material.” She often arrived an hour early to her college math class to go over work with her professor. Then she’d also spend an additional two or three hours afterward with professors as well, if possible, to go over homework. Teacher relationships, she says, have become a vital part of her learning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fanatico also developed a close relationship with the learning disability center staff on campus, who helped her write a list of accommodations she could give to professors. Her college accommodations include permission to record lectures, take notes on a computer, lenience on spelling, and permission to use a special blue overlay on top of papers that helps her see letters and words more clearly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those relationships have helped her succeed: Fanatico earned straight A’s in both fall and spring semesters of her sophomore year of college. She plans to graduate with a degree in special education, hoping to form those special relationships with kids who struggle in school the way she did.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>ERIC MCGEHEARTY, ENTREPRENEUR, AGE 41\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Eric McGehearty says he has never once read a book with his eyes. Though the forty-year-old entrepreneur was identified as dyslexic when he was only five years old, the Dallas, Texas, native says all the books he has ever finished, he read by listening to audiobooks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McGehearty says he figured out early that, for him, listening was the key to learning. He used audio books and listening techniques to complete his schoolwork, and eventually graduate from high school as class valedictorian.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Audio books were a big piece of my success as a student,” he says. “Through Learning Ally, I’ve been listening to audio books a couple of hours a day, every day, for 35 years. I am a very good ‘ear reader’.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like many dyslexics, elementary school was difficult for McGehearty, and he called himself at that time a “depressed and unhappy little kid.” By middle school, he was beginning to catch on to how to learn, and by high school, he says, everything clicked— he began asking for what he needed from his teachers so he could get the material.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He says that unlike many dyslexics, recording lectures didn’t help his learning nearly as much as focused listening did. Through a lot of trial and error, he developed a ‘listening system’ that ensured he would remember what the teacher was saying. He did it by always participating in the conversation the teacher was having.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If I speak it, I will remember it. In college, when the professor would get to the main idea, about every five to ten minutes I would ask a question, reframing the information in a way so that I would remember it,” he says. “I’d boil it down to the essential point. If the professor agreed, then I knew that I learned it.” McGehearty says that he raised his hand constantly in class so he could ask the questions essential to his learning, and some students teased him, accusing him of showing off. But he didn’t care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’d say, no, I’m actually trying to learn today.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>NATHAN SPOON, POET AND TEACHER, AGE 45\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Poet Nathan Spoon recalls always loving books and has special memories of sitting on his father’s lap in rural Tennessee, listening to his father read the Bible as he followed along.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though he read constantly and loved his books so much he kept them in a special place in his room, he knew that something wasn’t quite right—his reading was slow and “the letters always seem to wiggle on the page.” School was difficult, and he had to repeat fifth grade. According to Spoon, his high school education was ‘saved’ by his high grades in art that pulled up his GPA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spoon wasn’t diagnosed with dyslexia, autism, and ADHD until recently, when he was 44 years old. But his reading difficulties had never stopped him from devouring tons of reading material, which he’s not afraid to read slowly and often reads aloud to himself, which seems to help. And the difficulties never kept him from the poetry he’s been writing— he calls it ‘making language collages’—since he was seventeen, publishing in well-heeled journals and anthologies. He classifies his poetry as experimental, and instead of seeing his trouble with phonemes as a hindrance, he uses them like notes in constructing a piece of music.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The poetic form, Spoon says, especially modern and postmodern poetry, are perfect forms for dyslexics to work in, since they’re not bound by the rules of grammar or even syntax. In poetry, expressing emotions and the sound of the words provide the pleasure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Poetry is magical in that kind of way,” he says. “If a person writes two plus two equals green, then two plus two equals blue is a different kind of feeling.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spoon says his success in writing poetry, a field that requires so much reading and writing, comes from an extreme willingness to fail and defy stereotypes. “I think there are all kinds of ways to approach the learning process. Getting into poetry, there’s this notion that the autistic person can’t understand poetry, that they’re too literal and will miss the nuance. There may be some truth to that—but there’s also truth to the notion that there are all kinds of ways to write poetry.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recently, he also began writing for academia to explore the topics of poetry and neurodiversity, and how slow processing might benefit comprehension.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For both McGehearty and Spoon, there’s a theme having to do with the importance of art education—both say that \u003cstrong>art classes saved their schooling experience in more than one way. \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Spoon, when art became available at his rural Tennessee school, he found something he could excel in, and the A’s he received in art helped to boost his GPA. “My academic performance was always very mixed, and I always did the absolute worst in math,” he says. “I graduated with a C-minus GPA only because I made A-pluses in art.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For McGehearty, his passion for art began with a fifth grade art teacher who he still remembers by name, Ms. Mary Dallas. McGehearty had just broken his right arm and he was unable to write because of the cast, but Dallas told him about artists who had great physical disabilities who learned to paint with their mouths, or their feet. These artists learned to express themselves despite their physical disability, Dallas told him, and he should try it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every day, I went to that art class and made art with a different part of my body,” he says. “I made some of the coolest stuff. It didn’t look that great, but it was so much fun. And it was the greatest lesson to me, because I couldn’t read. And just because I couldn’t read didn’t mean that I couldn’t be successful in a different way.” That defining moment in McGehearty’s life changed his perspective, and he decided that he would become an artist. He took Ms. Dallas’s art class for the next four years and can’t thank her enough for her willingness to allow the open expression of his creativity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Art was a safe place for me,” he says. “I didn’t have to read.” McGehearty eventually earned a graduate degree in art and worked professionally as an artist for a decade before launching his own startup marketing company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These four lives bring into high relief the main points of this guide:\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>SCHOOL IS CHALLENGING FOR THOSE WITH DYSLEXIA AND THEIR SELF-ESTEEM SUFFERS\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>• For Nathan, “the letters always seem to wiggle on the page,” and school was so difficult he had to repeat fifth grade.\u003cbr>\n• Donna felt extreme anxiety and became more introverted, trying not to get her teacher’s attention for fear she’d have to read aloud.\u003cbr>\n• Mackenzie believed that she was “stupid” and even with reading support, knew she had to put in a lot of extra time just to keep up.\u003cbr>\n• Eric called himself a “depressed and unhappy little kid” in elementary school.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>EARLY DETECTION OF DYSLEXIA CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>• Eric was diagnosed at five years of age. Although his elementary school years were difficult, he was able to discover ways to help himself learn effectively as early as middle school.\u003cbr>\n• “The Cosby Show” helped Donna recognize that she was not alone in her challenges.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>RELATIONSHIPS ARE IMPORTANT BETWEEN STUDENTS, TEACHERS AND PARENTS\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>• Mackenzie got the one-on-one tutoring she needed as a child to learn to read.\u003cbr>\n• She developed relationships with her teachers and professors, creating a list and explaining what she needed to be successful.\u003cbr>\n• Mackenzie also got personal accommodations, such as lenience on spelling and extra time with her teachers to review her homework.\u003cbr>\n• Eric’s teachers accommodated his need to verbally communicate his understanding of lecture material by asking frequent questions.\u003cbr>\n• Donna’s daughters inherited dyslexia, so she has worked to provide learning environments without the stigma she felt as a child. • Donna now trains teachers and supports parents through the process of getting help for their children.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>FINDING PLEASURE IN BOOKS, STORIES AND INFORMATION IS POSSIBLE FOR DYSLEXICS\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>• Nathan never lost his love for books that he learned from his father, and difficulties didn’t stop him from “devouring tons of reading material” in his own way.\u003cbr>\n• Eric found a way to read by listening all he needed to graduate at the top of his high school class.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>TECHNOLOGY CAN SUPPORT DYSLEXICS IN THEIR LEARNING AND ACADEMIC SUCCESS\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>• Self-advocacy allowed Mackenzie to get the technological accommodations, such as voice-to-text note-taking, lecture recordings, and blue overlays for reading texts.\u003cbr>\n• Eric’s teachers understood that he would be listening to all written material via audiobooks.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>CREATIVE EXPRESSION HELPS DYSLEXICS USE THE POWER OF THEIR RIGHT BRAINS WELL\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>• As a poet, Nathan has found a good match between the way his brain loves to use words and writing poems—his “language collages,” in which he can loosen the rules of grammar and syntax.\u003cbr>\n• Eric found art as early as fifth grade as a way he could “go with the grain” of his brain in expressing himself visually.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>THOSE WITH DYSLEXIA OFTEN “GIVE BACK” TO SUPPORT OTHER DYSLEXICS TO REACH THEIR POTENTIAL THROUGH ACTION AND ROLE-MODELING.\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>• Donna has created a non-profit called Blank Canvass which supports parents and trains teachers in the Orton-Gillingham method, which gives learners with dyslexia the one-on-one, intensive attention many have found effective.\u003cbr>\n• Nathan has begun doing academic writing about the relationship between poetry and brains that exhibit neurodiversity, such as those with dyslexia.\u003cbr>\n• Mackenzie intends to get her degree in special education, so that she can support other children who learn differently.\u003cbr>\n• Eric has found success as both an artist and an entrepreneur.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These stories offer a window into the complex inner and outer worlds of people with dyslexia, and each story proves that what Sheryl Rimrodt-Frierson said can indeed be true: \"No one with dyslexia needs to sell themselves short, because there is a world of possibilities.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>ADDITIONAL RESOURCES\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zafiGBrFkRM\">“What is dyslexia”\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zafiGBrFkRM\">TED-Ed video by Kelli Sandman-Hurley\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/Big-Picture-Richard-Branson/dp/B00GGESYV6\">HBO The Big Picture: Rethinking Dyslexia\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/series/503544816/unlocking-dyslexia\">Unlocking Dyslexia by NPR\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"https://www.understood.org/en\">Understood.org\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"https://dyslexiaida.org/\">DyslexiaIDA.org\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"https://learningally.org/\">LearningAlly.org\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"http://www.decodingdyslexia.net/\">Decoding Dyslexia\u003c/a> – Grassroots Parent-Led Movement for Dyslexia\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"https://www.nessy.com/us/\">Nessy.com\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"https://www.dyslegia.com/\">Dyslegia.com\u003c/a> – dyslexia laws from state to state\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/\">Dyslexic Advantage\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"http://literatenation.org/\">Literate Nation\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This is chapter six of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/54743/the-mindshift-guide-to-understanding-dyslexia\">MindShift Guide to Understanding Dyslexia\u003c/a>. You can find the remaining chapters and a complete \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">printable\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">PDF\u003c/a> of the entire guide by clicking \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This is chapter six of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/54743/the-mindshift-guide-to-understanding-dyslexia\">MindShift Guide to Understanding Dyslexia\u003c/a>. You can find the remaining chapters and a complete \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">printable\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">PDF\u003c/a> of the entire guide by clicking \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the large bulk of schoolwork involves reading and writing, dyslexics often experience anxiety around schooling, especially when called on to read aloud or expected to read or write large amounts of material. Many report feeling low self-esteem and believing that they are unintelligent or will never have the skills to succeed. Even when the proper diagnosis is handed down and intervention works, school life continues to be difficult for dyslexics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Further, discussion of the complex idea of dyslexia’s hidden gifts or special talents can give students the idea that academic work—heavy in reading and writing—simply isn’t for them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s not the case, says Dr. Sheryl Rimrodt-Frierson, who runs the pediatric clinic at the Vanderbilt Kennedy Reading Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She says that when she identifies kids as dyslexic, she doesn’t want them to close off their options. “I don’t want kids to sell themselves short about going to college,” she says. “So I will make sure that they know there are plenty of people out there who have done plenty—academic work, medical school, law school. I want them to understand that there’s a world of possibilities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For many dyslexics, the road to academic and career success isn’t off-limits but more about taking a different path.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>VOICES OF DYSLEXIA: FOUR DIFFERENT PATHS TO SUCCESS\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The spread of information and advocacy is increasing awareness around dyslexia, and many who have experienced reading struggles are beginning to find their way through school—and life beyond it—more easily.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here are the stories of four dyslexic adults who found success in different ways. \u003cstrong>Notice how the themes of this guide have played out in their lives\u003c/strong>—by managing their anxiety and passing on their learning to support others with dyslexia to succeed; by advocating for themselves; by perfecting the art of listening; and by finding creative forms of self-expression.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>DONNA GARGETT, SOCIAL WORKER, HEAD OF A NONPROFIT SUPPORTING DYSLEXICS, AGE 41\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When Donna Gargett was growing up in California in the 1980s, she remembers watching an episode of the television show “The Cosby Show” where the character Theo realizes he has dyslexia. Gargett thought to herself, “that’s me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now 41, Gargett is a social worker and head of a nonprofit that recruits and trains tutors in the Orton-Gillingham teaching method to help dyslexics in and around Jacksonville, North Carolina, where she lives. But even though she’s learned to manage her dyslexia over time, memories of reading and writing in school bring back anxiety. She often thinks about how she knew she had the same condition that Theo had, even though she wasn’t identified as dyslexic until college.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In grade school and high school, Gargett always felt “less than.” She struggled so much, once she even asked her parents if she was mentally disabled and they were hiding it from her. In elementary school, “I didn’t understand what was going on,” she says. “I was trying as hard as I could and still wasn’t getting it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Years of failure in school caused Gargett extreme anxiety, and she says it made her introverted. She spent most classes trying not to make eye contact with the teacher, hoping she wouldn’t be called on and instead would just “melt away.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Gargett found some relief once she reached college. “I found college to be much easier, knowing there wasn’t any reading out loud anymore was a huge relief for me personally,” she says. In college, she could record lectures and go home and listen to them over and over if she needed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gargett still finds it extremely stressful to read aloud, and avoids it at all costs, even in her work as an adult. Even though she finds it extremely rewarding to work with people who need help, the paperwork involved in social work case management is time-consuming and causes stress. She admits that she still makes a lot of mistakes, spells poorly, and takes a lot of time and energy to make sure documents are legible and correct.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when both Gargett’s daughters, who are six and eight, were identified as dyslexic (the condition has a genetic component and tends to run in families), she knew she had to do something to try and change the stigma and provide an environment for them that didn’t contain so much anxiety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s how she got started helping tutors get certified in Orton-Gillingham near her home. The tutors are able to help the students who are just like she once was—afraid that there was something wrong with them. The nonprofit, Blank Canvass, has spread to include Eastern North Carolina. Gargett is hoping that she’s breaking the stigma of dyslexia and dispelling the anxiety that haunted her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Parents come to me now, knowing that something is wrong, but they can’t put their finger on it,” Gargett says. “Because of my own personal story, and now as a parent, I can help guide these parents through the process. Self-esteem is the root of a lot of the problems caused by dyslexia, and [with the nonprofit] we are striving to build students’ individual strengths.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>MACKENZIE FANATICO, SENIOR AT ANGELO STATE UNIVERSITY\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Mackenzie Fanatico remembers her early elementary years as “chaotic,” because all her friends could read, and she couldn’t. She believed there was something wrong with her, that she was “stupid,” until a third grade teacher at her public school in Philadelphia asked her mother whether Mackenzie had ever been tested for dyslexia. She finally got tested and was diagnosed with dyslexia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it wasn’t until the fifth grade, after she’d endured a long illness and her family moved to the suburbs outside of Dallas, Texas, when she finally learned to read. There, an in-home tutor came to her house as she recovered, and Fanatico finally received the one-on-one attention she needed to learn to read.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even as her reading got stronger through middle and high school, Fanatico still required so much extra time to complete the same amount of work as other students, she realized that if she was going to succeed at all, she had to start talking to her teachers about what she needed to complete assignments and take tests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’d explain what was happening inside her dyslexic brain, and that she needed help taking notes by using a computer with voice-to-text and recording lectures so she could listen to them later. She needed lenience on hand-written tests, too, because she knew she would “butcher the spelling.” By forming relationships with her teachers, Fanatico did well in high school and made it to college.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now a senior at Angelo State University in the West Texas town San Angelo, she has used the same strategy to succeed in college—by forming relationships with her professors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I still need a whole lot of repetition,” Fanatico says. “My friends might study two hours for a class, but it takes me four or six hours to be able to ‘get’ the same material.” She often arrived an hour early to her college math class to go over work with her professor. Then she’d also spend an additional two or three hours afterward with professors as well, if possible, to go over homework. Teacher relationships, she says, have become a vital part of her learning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fanatico also developed a close relationship with the learning disability center staff on campus, who helped her write a list of accommodations she could give to professors. Her college accommodations include permission to record lectures, take notes on a computer, lenience on spelling, and permission to use a special blue overlay on top of papers that helps her see letters and words more clearly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those relationships have helped her succeed: Fanatico earned straight A’s in both fall and spring semesters of her sophomore year of college. She plans to graduate with a degree in special education, hoping to form those special relationships with kids who struggle in school the way she did.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>ERIC MCGEHEARTY, ENTREPRENEUR, AGE 41\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Eric McGehearty says he has never once read a book with his eyes. Though the forty-year-old entrepreneur was identified as dyslexic when he was only five years old, the Dallas, Texas, native says all the books he has ever finished, he read by listening to audiobooks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McGehearty says he figured out early that, for him, listening was the key to learning. He used audio books and listening techniques to complete his schoolwork, and eventually graduate from high school as class valedictorian.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Audio books were a big piece of my success as a student,” he says. “Through Learning Ally, I’ve been listening to audio books a couple of hours a day, every day, for 35 years. I am a very good ‘ear reader’.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like many dyslexics, elementary school was difficult for McGehearty, and he called himself at that time a “depressed and unhappy little kid.” By middle school, he was beginning to catch on to how to learn, and by high school, he says, everything clicked— he began asking for what he needed from his teachers so he could get the material.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He says that unlike many dyslexics, recording lectures didn’t help his learning nearly as much as focused listening did. Through a lot of trial and error, he developed a ‘listening system’ that ensured he would remember what the teacher was saying. He did it by always participating in the conversation the teacher was having.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If I speak it, I will remember it. In college, when the professor would get to the main idea, about every five to ten minutes I would ask a question, reframing the information in a way so that I would remember it,” he says. “I’d boil it down to the essential point. If the professor agreed, then I knew that I learned it.” McGehearty says that he raised his hand constantly in class so he could ask the questions essential to his learning, and some students teased him, accusing him of showing off. But he didn’t care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’d say, no, I’m actually trying to learn today.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>NATHAN SPOON, POET AND TEACHER, AGE 45\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Poet Nathan Spoon recalls always loving books and has special memories of sitting on his father’s lap in rural Tennessee, listening to his father read the Bible as he followed along.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though he read constantly and loved his books so much he kept them in a special place in his room, he knew that something wasn’t quite right—his reading was slow and “the letters always seem to wiggle on the page.” School was difficult, and he had to repeat fifth grade. According to Spoon, his high school education was ‘saved’ by his high grades in art that pulled up his GPA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spoon wasn’t diagnosed with dyslexia, autism, and ADHD until recently, when he was 44 years old. But his reading difficulties had never stopped him from devouring tons of reading material, which he’s not afraid to read slowly and often reads aloud to himself, which seems to help. And the difficulties never kept him from the poetry he’s been writing— he calls it ‘making language collages’—since he was seventeen, publishing in well-heeled journals and anthologies. He classifies his poetry as experimental, and instead of seeing his trouble with phonemes as a hindrance, he uses them like notes in constructing a piece of music.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The poetic form, Spoon says, especially modern and postmodern poetry, are perfect forms for dyslexics to work in, since they’re not bound by the rules of grammar or even syntax. In poetry, expressing emotions and the sound of the words provide the pleasure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Poetry is magical in that kind of way,” he says. “If a person writes two plus two equals green, then two plus two equals blue is a different kind of feeling.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spoon says his success in writing poetry, a field that requires so much reading and writing, comes from an extreme willingness to fail and defy stereotypes. “I think there are all kinds of ways to approach the learning process. Getting into poetry, there’s this notion that the autistic person can’t understand poetry, that they’re too literal and will miss the nuance. There may be some truth to that—but there’s also truth to the notion that there are all kinds of ways to write poetry.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recently, he also began writing for academia to explore the topics of poetry and neurodiversity, and how slow processing might benefit comprehension.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For both McGehearty and Spoon, there’s a theme having to do with the importance of art education—both say that \u003cstrong>art classes saved their schooling experience in more than one way. \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Spoon, when art became available at his rural Tennessee school, he found something he could excel in, and the A’s he received in art helped to boost his GPA. “My academic performance was always very mixed, and I always did the absolute worst in math,” he says. “I graduated with a C-minus GPA only because I made A-pluses in art.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For McGehearty, his passion for art began with a fifth grade art teacher who he still remembers by name, Ms. Mary Dallas. McGehearty had just broken his right arm and he was unable to write because of the cast, but Dallas told him about artists who had great physical disabilities who learned to paint with their mouths, or their feet. These artists learned to express themselves despite their physical disability, Dallas told him, and he should try it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every day, I went to that art class and made art with a different part of my body,” he says. “I made some of the coolest stuff. It didn’t look that great, but it was so much fun. And it was the greatest lesson to me, because I couldn’t read. And just because I couldn’t read didn’t mean that I couldn’t be successful in a different way.” That defining moment in McGehearty’s life changed his perspective, and he decided that he would become an artist. He took Ms. Dallas’s art class for the next four years and can’t thank her enough for her willingness to allow the open expression of his creativity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Art was a safe place for me,” he says. “I didn’t have to read.” McGehearty eventually earned a graduate degree in art and worked professionally as an artist for a decade before launching his own startup marketing company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These four lives bring into high relief the main points of this guide:\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>SCHOOL IS CHALLENGING FOR THOSE WITH DYSLEXIA AND THEIR SELF-ESTEEM SUFFERS\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>• For Nathan, “the letters always seem to wiggle on the page,” and school was so difficult he had to repeat fifth grade.\u003cbr>\n• Donna felt extreme anxiety and became more introverted, trying not to get her teacher’s attention for fear she’d have to read aloud.\u003cbr>\n• Mackenzie believed that she was “stupid” and even with reading support, knew she had to put in a lot of extra time just to keep up.\u003cbr>\n• Eric called himself a “depressed and unhappy little kid” in elementary school.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>EARLY DETECTION OF DYSLEXIA CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>• Eric was diagnosed at five years of age. Although his elementary school years were difficult, he was able to discover ways to help himself learn effectively as early as middle school.\u003cbr>\n• “The Cosby Show” helped Donna recognize that she was not alone in her challenges.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>RELATIONSHIPS ARE IMPORTANT BETWEEN STUDENTS, TEACHERS AND PARENTS\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>• Mackenzie got the one-on-one tutoring she needed as a child to learn to read.\u003cbr>\n• She developed relationships with her teachers and professors, creating a list and explaining what she needed to be successful.\u003cbr>\n• Mackenzie also got personal accommodations, such as lenience on spelling and extra time with her teachers to review her homework.\u003cbr>\n• Eric’s teachers accommodated his need to verbally communicate his understanding of lecture material by asking frequent questions.\u003cbr>\n• Donna’s daughters inherited dyslexia, so she has worked to provide learning environments without the stigma she felt as a child. • Donna now trains teachers and supports parents through the process of getting help for their children.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>FINDING PLEASURE IN BOOKS, STORIES AND INFORMATION IS POSSIBLE FOR DYSLEXICS\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>• Nathan never lost his love for books that he learned from his father, and difficulties didn’t stop him from “devouring tons of reading material” in his own way.\u003cbr>\n• Eric found a way to read by listening all he needed to graduate at the top of his high school class.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>TECHNOLOGY CAN SUPPORT DYSLEXICS IN THEIR LEARNING AND ACADEMIC SUCCESS\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>• Self-advocacy allowed Mackenzie to get the technological accommodations, such as voice-to-text note-taking, lecture recordings, and blue overlays for reading texts.\u003cbr>\n• Eric’s teachers understood that he would be listening to all written material via audiobooks.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>CREATIVE EXPRESSION HELPS DYSLEXICS USE THE POWER OF THEIR RIGHT BRAINS WELL\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>• As a poet, Nathan has found a good match between the way his brain loves to use words and writing poems—his “language collages,” in which he can loosen the rules of grammar and syntax.\u003cbr>\n• Eric found art as early as fifth grade as a way he could “go with the grain” of his brain in expressing himself visually.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>THOSE WITH DYSLEXIA OFTEN “GIVE BACK” TO SUPPORT OTHER DYSLEXICS TO REACH THEIR POTENTIAL THROUGH ACTION AND ROLE-MODELING.\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>• Donna has created a non-profit called Blank Canvass which supports parents and trains teachers in the Orton-Gillingham method, which gives learners with dyslexia the one-on-one, intensive attention many have found effective.\u003cbr>\n• Nathan has begun doing academic writing about the relationship between poetry and brains that exhibit neurodiversity, such as those with dyslexia.\u003cbr>\n• Mackenzie intends to get her degree in special education, so that she can support other children who learn differently.\u003cbr>\n• Eric has found success as both an artist and an entrepreneur.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These stories offer a window into the complex inner and outer worlds of people with dyslexia, and each story proves that what Sheryl Rimrodt-Frierson said can indeed be true: \"No one with dyslexia needs to sell themselves short, because there is a world of possibilities.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>ADDITIONAL RESOURCES\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zafiGBrFkRM\">“What is dyslexia”\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zafiGBrFkRM\">TED-Ed video by Kelli Sandman-Hurley\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/Big-Picture-Richard-Branson/dp/B00GGESYV6\">HBO The Big Picture: Rethinking Dyslexia\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/series/503544816/unlocking-dyslexia\">Unlocking Dyslexia by NPR\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"https://www.understood.org/en\">Understood.org\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"https://dyslexiaida.org/\">DyslexiaIDA.org\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"https://learningally.org/\">LearningAlly.org\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"http://www.decodingdyslexia.net/\">Decoding Dyslexia\u003c/a> – Grassroots Parent-Led Movement for Dyslexia\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"https://www.nessy.com/us/\">Nessy.com\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"https://www.dyslegia.com/\">Dyslegia.com\u003c/a> – dyslexia laws from state to state\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/\">Dyslexic Advantage\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"http://literatenation.org/\">Literate Nation\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This is chapter six of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/54743/the-mindshift-guide-to-understanding-dyslexia\">MindShift Guide to Understanding Dyslexia\u003c/a>. You can find the remaining chapters and a complete \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">printable\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">PDF\u003c/a> of the entire guide by clicking \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This is chapter three of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/54743/the-mindshift-guide-to-understanding-dyslexia\">MindShift Guide to Understanding Dyslexia\u003c/a>. You can find the remaining chapters and a complete \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">printable\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">PDF\u003c/a> of the entire guide by clicking \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Children who cannot read and can’t figure out why can face unbearable difficulty in classrooms. There are students who know something is wrong but can’t say what and may assume that adults might not believe them. When faced with homework, such kids will fidget, distract, cry or rage, or act out when it’s their turn to read in front of the class. Some students decide that it’s better to end up in the principal’s office than face another humiliating failure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sometimes it’s the classroom teacher who recognizes and identifies a student who is struggling. But because some misconceptions about dyslexia persist and often permeate \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/41997/who-helps-kids-with-dyslexia-gain-reading-fluency\">teacher training programs\u003c/a>, it’s not uncommon that highly educated and hard-working teachers haven’t been given the proper training to address the struggles of dyslexic readers.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT DYSLEXIA: THE STUMBLING BLOCK\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>As we’ve seen, dyslexia isn’t a disease. It’s not a visual problem nor is it related to low intelligence. Yet these are persistent misconceptions about dyslexia that often keep students who experience biologically-based reading difficulties—a different brain that requires extra attention and special intervention—from getting the help they need.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reading expert Mark Seidenberg, author of Language at the Speed of Sight, says there’s a large gap between beliefs about how reading works and what research says, and that gap is what works to keep kids from getting the proper interventions in a timely manner. In that gap are two persistent reading misconceptions/myths:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Misconception #1: Kids’ reading problems are connected to vision.\u003c/strong> Dyslexia is a language-based disorder, not a visual one. Vision is involved with reading, but the first signs of trouble for many dyslexics often show up in their speech.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As discussed before, though it seems counterintuitive, reading problems are most often connected to\u003cstrong> matching letters to sounds\u003c/strong>, not “flipping” letters backwards or other vision issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Misconception #2: Reading is more like a sophisticated guessing game,\u003c/strong> in which students use what they already know about the topic and about language in general to guess at printed words instead of sounding them out. “This theory was sold for decades,” Seidenberg says, “that the best readers are those who spend the least amount of effort on the actual text. That you only have to sample the text and use the things you know to guess most the words. By this theory, good reading is more like skimming.” Research shows otherwise, however: to achieve fluency and understanding, good readers sound out each word individually and then put the words together to form coherent sentences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Correcting these misconceptions about reading can go a long way for teachers in spotting possible struggling readers early.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>NEXT STEPS\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Universal screening for every child does help flag children who may be at risk for developing dyslexia, says Seidenberg. But what happens next is much more important—getting the child the help they need.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After a child has been identified as having a phonological or comprehension challenge, classroom teachers have an opportunity to get the student the help they need—but only if the teacher knows what to do. According to Seidenberg, one of the most important next steps for educators is to \u003cstrong>step outside the classroom to get the at-risk student the intense intervention needed from a trained reading specialist\u003c/strong>— realizing that educators can’t handle serious reading issues alone. It is not realistic for a single classroom teacher to be able to address the needs of an entire class as well as the specialized needs of children who need lots of individualized attention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The end of this section includes a brief overview of a research backed intervention that educators should know about, one that can teach nearly all dyslexics to read.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But one other step teachers can take in the classroom is to learn more about the techniques used to \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2659758/\">minimize reading differences early\u003c/a>. For teachers who have diagnosed dyslexics in class, there are strategies to help students get the most out of class time, even when reading and writing is a struggle. Strategies include\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• allowing more time for assignments and tests\u003cbr>\n• supporting vocabulary development\u003cbr>\n• avoiding contests or prizes for amount of material read instead of time spent reading\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But these ideas are only the tip of the iceberg, as the needs of dyslexic students change throughout school years. Check out these expert resources for a more robust understanding of teaching strategies for dyslexic students:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• A Dyslexic Child in the Classroom, \u003ca href=\"https://www.dyslexia.com/about-dyslexia/understanding-dyslexia/guide-for-classroom-teachers/\">Davis Dyslexia Association International\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Knowledge and Practice Standards for Teachers of Reading, \u003ca href=\"https://dyslexiaida.org/\">International Dyslexia Association\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Dyslexia Strategies for Teachers, \u003ca href=\"http://dyslexiahelp.umich.edu/professionals/dyslexia-school/strategies-for-teachers\">University of Michigan Dyslexia Center\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Information on Dyslexia for Teachers, \u003ca href=\"http://dyslexia.yale.edu/resources/educators/\">Yale Center of Dyslexia and Creativity\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Eight Things Every Teacher Should Know about Dyslexia, \u003ca href=\"https://www.weareteachers.com/8-things-every-teacher-should-know-about-dyslexia/\">We Are Teachers\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Understanding Dyslexia Online Course for Educators, \u003ca href=\"https://mindplay.com/teacher-programs/understanding-dyslexia/\">MindPlay\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• \u003ca href=\"https://www.understood.org/en\">Understood.org\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A RESEARCH-BACKED INTERVENTION THAT TEACHES DYSLEXICS TO READ\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Fortunately, scientific research supports a specific kind of reading intervention that can teach nearly all dyslexics to read: \u003cstrong>structured literacy\u003c/strong>. Although it often appears under different brand names, like Orton-Gillingham, Wilson, SPIRE or others, structured literacy is a blanket term for the evidence-based, multisensory and explicit reading instruction that is based on six specific language areas determined by the International Dyslexia Association.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The method is often more repetitive and intensified for students with dyslexia, but the tenets of structured literacy—which have a strong basis in phonics and word structure—benefit all readers. In structured literacy, students\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Begin with phonics, learning the most basic units of sound and how those sounds make up words\u003cbr>\n• Learn word structure and how word structure guides spelling and pronunciation\u003cbr>\n• Then learn word syntax (the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language) and comprehension\u003cbr>\n• And most importantly, students review key concepts many times while also adding new material\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the International Dyslexia Association, the core of structured literacy instruction, which accounts for its success, is that it is\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>1. Explicit and focused on direct instruction\u003cbr>\n2. Systematic and cumulative, following a logical sequence that builds on previous concepts, and\u003cbr>\n3. Diagnostic and individualized, based on a student’s particular needs\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This is chapter three of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/54743/the-mindshift-guide-to-understanding-dyslexia\">MindShift Guide to Understanding Dyslexia\u003c/a>. You can find the remaining chapters and a complete \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">printable\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">PDF\u003c/a> of the entire guide by clicking \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This is chapter three of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/54743/the-mindshift-guide-to-understanding-dyslexia\">MindShift Guide to Understanding Dyslexia\u003c/a>. You can find the remaining chapters and a complete \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">printable\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">PDF\u003c/a> of the entire guide by clicking \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Children who cannot read and can’t figure out why can face unbearable difficulty in classrooms. There are students who know something is wrong but can’t say what and may assume that adults might not believe them. When faced with homework, such kids will fidget, distract, cry or rage, or act out when it’s their turn to read in front of the class. Some students decide that it’s better to end up in the principal’s office than face another humiliating failure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sometimes it’s the classroom teacher who recognizes and identifies a student who is struggling. But because some misconceptions about dyslexia persist and often permeate \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/41997/who-helps-kids-with-dyslexia-gain-reading-fluency\">teacher training programs\u003c/a>, it’s not uncommon that highly educated and hard-working teachers haven’t been given the proper training to address the struggles of dyslexic readers.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT DYSLEXIA: THE STUMBLING BLOCK\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>As we’ve seen, dyslexia isn’t a disease. It’s not a visual problem nor is it related to low intelligence. Yet these are persistent misconceptions about dyslexia that often keep students who experience biologically-based reading difficulties—a different brain that requires extra attention and special intervention—from getting the help they need.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reading expert Mark Seidenberg, author of Language at the Speed of Sight, says there’s a large gap between beliefs about how reading works and what research says, and that gap is what works to keep kids from getting the proper interventions in a timely manner. In that gap are two persistent reading misconceptions/myths:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Misconception #1: Kids’ reading problems are connected to vision.\u003c/strong> Dyslexia is a language-based disorder, not a visual one. Vision is involved with reading, but the first signs of trouble for many dyslexics often show up in their speech.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As discussed before, though it seems counterintuitive, reading problems are most often connected to\u003cstrong> matching letters to sounds\u003c/strong>, not “flipping” letters backwards or other vision issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Misconception #2: Reading is more like a sophisticated guessing game,\u003c/strong> in which students use what they already know about the topic and about language in general to guess at printed words instead of sounding them out. “This theory was sold for decades,” Seidenberg says, “that the best readers are those who spend the least amount of effort on the actual text. That you only have to sample the text and use the things you know to guess most the words. By this theory, good reading is more like skimming.” Research shows otherwise, however: to achieve fluency and understanding, good readers sound out each word individually and then put the words together to form coherent sentences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Correcting these misconceptions about reading can go a long way for teachers in spotting possible struggling readers early.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>NEXT STEPS\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Universal screening for every child does help flag children who may be at risk for developing dyslexia, says Seidenberg. But what happens next is much more important—getting the child the help they need.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After a child has been identified as having a phonological or comprehension challenge, classroom teachers have an opportunity to get the student the help they need—but only if the teacher knows what to do. According to Seidenberg, one of the most important next steps for educators is to \u003cstrong>step outside the classroom to get the at-risk student the intense intervention needed from a trained reading specialist\u003c/strong>— realizing that educators can’t handle serious reading issues alone. It is not realistic for a single classroom teacher to be able to address the needs of an entire class as well as the specialized needs of children who need lots of individualized attention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The end of this section includes a brief overview of a research backed intervention that educators should know about, one that can teach nearly all dyslexics to read.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But one other step teachers can take in the classroom is to learn more about the techniques used to \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2659758/\">minimize reading differences early\u003c/a>. For teachers who have diagnosed dyslexics in class, there are strategies to help students get the most out of class time, even when reading and writing is a struggle. Strategies include\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• allowing more time for assignments and tests\u003cbr>\n• supporting vocabulary development\u003cbr>\n• avoiding contests or prizes for amount of material read instead of time spent reading\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But these ideas are only the tip of the iceberg, as the needs of dyslexic students change throughout school years. Check out these expert resources for a more robust understanding of teaching strategies for dyslexic students:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• A Dyslexic Child in the Classroom, \u003ca href=\"https://www.dyslexia.com/about-dyslexia/understanding-dyslexia/guide-for-classroom-teachers/\">Davis Dyslexia Association International\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Knowledge and Practice Standards for Teachers of Reading, \u003ca href=\"https://dyslexiaida.org/\">International Dyslexia Association\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Dyslexia Strategies for Teachers, \u003ca href=\"http://dyslexiahelp.umich.edu/professionals/dyslexia-school/strategies-for-teachers\">University of Michigan Dyslexia Center\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Information on Dyslexia for Teachers, \u003ca href=\"http://dyslexia.yale.edu/resources/educators/\">Yale Center of Dyslexia and Creativity\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Eight Things Every Teacher Should Know about Dyslexia, \u003ca href=\"https://www.weareteachers.com/8-things-every-teacher-should-know-about-dyslexia/\">We Are Teachers\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Understanding Dyslexia Online Course for Educators, \u003ca href=\"https://mindplay.com/teacher-programs/understanding-dyslexia/\">MindPlay\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• \u003ca href=\"https://www.understood.org/en\">Understood.org\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A RESEARCH-BACKED INTERVENTION THAT TEACHES DYSLEXICS TO READ\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Fortunately, scientific research supports a specific kind of reading intervention that can teach nearly all dyslexics to read: \u003cstrong>structured literacy\u003c/strong>. Although it often appears under different brand names, like Orton-Gillingham, Wilson, SPIRE or others, structured literacy is a blanket term for the evidence-based, multisensory and explicit reading instruction that is based on six specific language areas determined by the International Dyslexia Association.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The method is often more repetitive and intensified for students with dyslexia, but the tenets of structured literacy—which have a strong basis in phonics and word structure—benefit all readers. In structured literacy, students\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Begin with phonics, learning the most basic units of sound and how those sounds make up words\u003cbr>\n• Learn word structure and how word structure guides spelling and pronunciation\u003cbr>\n• Then learn word syntax (the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language) and comprehension\u003cbr>\n• And most importantly, students review key concepts many times while also adding new material\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the International Dyslexia Association, the core of structured literacy instruction, which accounts for its success, is that it is\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>1. Explicit and focused on direct instruction\u003cbr>\n2. Systematic and cumulative, following a logical sequence that builds on previous concepts, and\u003cbr>\n3. Diagnostic and individualized, based on a student’s particular needs\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This is chapter three of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/54743/the-mindshift-guide-to-understanding-dyslexia\">MindShift Guide to Understanding Dyslexia\u003c/a>. You can find the remaining chapters and a complete \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">printable\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">PDF\u003c/a> of the entire guide by clicking \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This is chapter one of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/54743/the-mindshift-guide-to-understanding-dyslexia\">MindShift Guide to Understanding Dyslexia\u003c/a>. You can find the remaining chapters and a complete \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">printable\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">PDF\u003c/a> of the entire guide by clicking \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a frame of reference, the act of reading is a human invention that’s only a few thousand years old. In Europe and the United States, mass literacy—meaning more than 50 percent of the population knows how to read—has only been around for about 150 years. In other areas of the world, such as most of Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, it’s much more recent.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>THE READING BRAIN\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Because the human brain doesn’t come already wired to read, there is no “reading center” of the brain and there are no “reading genes.” As Proust and the Squid author Maryanne Wolf writes, each individual brain must learn how to read on its own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In learning to read, the brain performs an amazing feat: it creates a specialized circuit that’s just for reading, forging a new circuit by combining parts of the brain that were originally designed to serve other functions, such as retrieving names. This new “reading circuit” combines processes from different areas of the brain and then runs at a speed so fast it’s nearly automatic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But not all brains forge a flowing reading circuit easily. This is the case with dyslexia. Rather than being a disease or a medical condition (the common misperception), dyslexia is a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/41845/understanding-dyslexia-and-the-reading-brain-in-kids\">different brain organization\u003c/a>—one in which the brain’s reading circuit has been disrupted or re-routed in at least one way, and sometimes in two or three ways. This re-routing slows down critical parts of the reading process:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>attaching the right sound to a letter happens more slowly and\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>forming words or sentences takes longer, then comprehending what was just read also takes longer\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Dyslexia can additionally\u003ca href=\"http://dyslexia.yale.edu/resources/educators/instruction/math-memory-challenges/\"> affect memory\u003c/a>, especially working memory, making it harder for students to remember what they just read, or directions and learning sequences. It’s important to note that dyslexia is NOT caused by visual problems, and it isn’t the flipping of letters, or reading letters backwards, or mispronouncing words—and it’s not related to motivation or intelligence. It’s merely the result of a brain with a different organization that makes reading and writing more difficult.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>READING CIRCUIT ISSUES\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In the dyslexic brain, the reading circuit can be interrupted in several areas and cause problematic development. Because each brain is unique, there isn’t a singular form of dyslexia, but there are common issues:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>ISSUE #1: Phonemic Awareness\u003c/strong> — identifying individual units of sound is a major challenge in the dyslexic brain. There are 44 sounds, or phonemes, in the English language. The main problem for kids with dyslexia is the ability to notice and work with all the sounds, and then be able to match those sounds to the right letters. In younger children, this is why not being able to rhyme words is an important early sign of dyslexia—often dyslexic kids don’t recognize the ways two rhyming words sound alike. English is an irregular language so there are many different combinations of letters that match to phonemes, making reading and spelling really hard for kids with challenges working with and remembering speech sounds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>ISSUE #2: Fluency, or getting the reading circuit to work together quickly\u003c/strong>, is the second-biggest issue. Even when children can process all the phonemes, they can still have trouble associating the sounds with the right letters, perhaps due to the right hemisphere’s control over the left hemisphere-centered language processing. This makes reading even the simplest words very slow, and then automaticity doesn’t develop properly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>ISSUE #3: Comprehension\u003c/strong> is the third (but no less crucial) issue in reading. Once letters and sounds are matched together, some children will have trouble putting the words together to form sentences and meaning. Often, this kind of dyslexia doesn’t show up until children are older, around third grade and up, when there is a switch from learning to read to reading to learn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For dyslexics, the work of reading is slow and laborious, so often otherwise bright and intelligent students who haven’t received proper intervention never become fluent readers. Many dyslexic students can get by for years by memorizing words without actually reading them, but by the third or fourth grade, when learning switches from learning to read to reading to learn, struggling students can’t read fast enough to keep up. They often experience repeated failure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet, with explicit and systematic specialized instruction specifically for the different brain structure, the reading circuit can be re-trained to work toward fluidity. But first, students, parents, and teachers must understand that the dyslexic’s brain isn’t “broken” or deficient, just organized in a different way.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>DO DYSLEXICS HAVE SPECIAL TALENTS?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Special \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/42064/dyslexia-and-the-wider-world-of-creativity-and-talent\">gifts and talents\u003c/a> can emerge from dyslexic brains, and whether this happens because of the unique setup of the dyslexic brain or in spite of it continues to be an ongoing subject of research and discussion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dyslexics quickly learn that very successful people, some considered geniuses in their field, like Pablo Picasso, Thomas Edison, Steven Spielberg, Octavia Spencer, Erin Brockovich and Nobel Prize-winner Elizabeth Blackburn, also struggled to read and write, and it didn’t affect their ability to achieve.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Does the dyslexic brain connote certain talents or even an advantage over a more typical reading brain? Some experts and writers like Malcolm Gladwell even call dyslexia an \u003ca href=\"https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/\">advantage\u003c/a> or a \u003ca href=\"https://www.forbes.com/sites/knowledgewharton/2013/12/05/272013/#1ea0ee9a470d\">desirable disadvantage\u003c/a>—a disadvantage that ends up being at least partly responsible for a person’s success.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the research behind whether or not dyslexia is an actual advantage, or whether special talents emerge from dyslexic brains, is complex—it’s difficult to tease out causes and correlations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s certainly possible that some dyslexics have special abilities in areas not related to reading, just as other kids could have special abilities in one or two areas but struggle in other areas,” says research scientist and speech-language pathologist Peggy McCardle, former branch chief at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), U.S. National Institutes of Health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We know that there are gifted children in the world, and that some of them are dyslexic. What we don’t know —and to date there is no real evidence of this—is whether the dyslexia and the giftedness or talent are connected, or just happened to co-occur in that person. People are looking at ways to study that, with good research designs and solid methods, but so far it has not been done.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A FINE LINE\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For practitioners who work with dyslexic students, it’s often a fine line between encouraging students to use their nonreading talents to succeed, and for not short-changing themselves on what they are able to do.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dr. Sheryl Rimrodt-Frierson, who runs the pediatric clinic at the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center Reading Clinic, says that reading and writing are still vital skills that need to be addressed, and she’s cautious about dyslexic kids selling themselves short when it comes to academic work. “I will make sure they know there are plenty of good people out there who have done plenty—academic work, medical school, law school.” Rimrodt-Frierson says that kids need to understand there is a world of possibilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As cognitive neuroscientist Maryanne Wolf writes in her book Proust and the Squid, “The single most important implication of research in dyslexia is not ensuring that we don’t derail the development of a future Leonardo or Edison; it is making sure that we do not miss the potential of any child. Not all children with dyslexia have extraordinary talents, but every one of them has a unique potential that all too often goes unrealized because we don’t know how to tap it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This is chapter one of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/54743/the-mindshift-guide-to-understanding-dyslexia\">MindShift Guide to Understanding Dyslexia\u003c/a>. You can find the remaining chapters and a complete \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">printable\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">PDF\u003c/a> of the entire guide by clicking \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This is chapter one of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/54743/the-mindshift-guide-to-understanding-dyslexia\">MindShift Guide to Understanding Dyslexia\u003c/a>. You can find the remaining chapters and a complete \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">printable\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">PDF\u003c/a> of the entire guide by clicking \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a frame of reference, the act of reading is a human invention that’s only a few thousand years old. In Europe and the United States, mass literacy—meaning more than 50 percent of the population knows how to read—has only been around for about 150 years. In other areas of the world, such as most of Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, it’s much more recent.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>THE READING BRAIN\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Because the human brain doesn’t come already wired to read, there is no “reading center” of the brain and there are no “reading genes.” As Proust and the Squid author Maryanne Wolf writes, each individual brain must learn how to read on its own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In learning to read, the brain performs an amazing feat: it creates a specialized circuit that’s just for reading, forging a new circuit by combining parts of the brain that were originally designed to serve other functions, such as retrieving names. This new “reading circuit” combines processes from different areas of the brain and then runs at a speed so fast it’s nearly automatic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But not all brains forge a flowing reading circuit easily. This is the case with dyslexia. Rather than being a disease or a medical condition (the common misperception), dyslexia is a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/41845/understanding-dyslexia-and-the-reading-brain-in-kids\">different brain organization\u003c/a>—one in which the brain’s reading circuit has been disrupted or re-routed in at least one way, and sometimes in two or three ways. This re-routing slows down critical parts of the reading process:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>attaching the right sound to a letter happens more slowly and\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>forming words or sentences takes longer, then comprehending what was just read also takes longer\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Dyslexia can additionally\u003ca href=\"http://dyslexia.yale.edu/resources/educators/instruction/math-memory-challenges/\"> affect memory\u003c/a>, especially working memory, making it harder for students to remember what they just read, or directions and learning sequences. It’s important to note that dyslexia is NOT caused by visual problems, and it isn’t the flipping of letters, or reading letters backwards, or mispronouncing words—and it’s not related to motivation or intelligence. It’s merely the result of a brain with a different organization that makes reading and writing more difficult.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>READING CIRCUIT ISSUES\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In the dyslexic brain, the reading circuit can be interrupted in several areas and cause problematic development. Because each brain is unique, there isn’t a singular form of dyslexia, but there are common issues:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>ISSUE #1: Phonemic Awareness\u003c/strong> — identifying individual units of sound is a major challenge in the dyslexic brain. There are 44 sounds, or phonemes, in the English language. The main problem for kids with dyslexia is the ability to notice and work with all the sounds, and then be able to match those sounds to the right letters. In younger children, this is why not being able to rhyme words is an important early sign of dyslexia—often dyslexic kids don’t recognize the ways two rhyming words sound alike. English is an irregular language so there are many different combinations of letters that match to phonemes, making reading and spelling really hard for kids with challenges working with and remembering speech sounds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>ISSUE #2: Fluency, or getting the reading circuit to work together quickly\u003c/strong>, is the second-biggest issue. Even when children can process all the phonemes, they can still have trouble associating the sounds with the right letters, perhaps due to the right hemisphere’s control over the left hemisphere-centered language processing. This makes reading even the simplest words very slow, and then automaticity doesn’t develop properly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>ISSUE #3: Comprehension\u003c/strong> is the third (but no less crucial) issue in reading. Once letters and sounds are matched together, some children will have trouble putting the words together to form sentences and meaning. Often, this kind of dyslexia doesn’t show up until children are older, around third grade and up, when there is a switch from learning to read to reading to learn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For dyslexics, the work of reading is slow and laborious, so often otherwise bright and intelligent students who haven’t received proper intervention never become fluent readers. Many dyslexic students can get by for years by memorizing words without actually reading them, but by the third or fourth grade, when learning switches from learning to read to reading to learn, struggling students can’t read fast enough to keep up. They often experience repeated failure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet, with explicit and systematic specialized instruction specifically for the different brain structure, the reading circuit can be re-trained to work toward fluidity. But first, students, parents, and teachers must understand that the dyslexic’s brain isn’t “broken” or deficient, just organized in a different way.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>DO DYSLEXICS HAVE SPECIAL TALENTS?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Special \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/42064/dyslexia-and-the-wider-world-of-creativity-and-talent\">gifts and talents\u003c/a> can emerge from dyslexic brains, and whether this happens because of the unique setup of the dyslexic brain or in spite of it continues to be an ongoing subject of research and discussion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dyslexics quickly learn that very successful people, some considered geniuses in their field, like Pablo Picasso, Thomas Edison, Steven Spielberg, Octavia Spencer, Erin Brockovich and Nobel Prize-winner Elizabeth Blackburn, also struggled to read and write, and it didn’t affect their ability to achieve.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Does the dyslexic brain connote certain talents or even an advantage over a more typical reading brain? Some experts and writers like Malcolm Gladwell even call dyslexia an \u003ca href=\"https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/\">advantage\u003c/a> or a \u003ca href=\"https://www.forbes.com/sites/knowledgewharton/2013/12/05/272013/#1ea0ee9a470d\">desirable disadvantage\u003c/a>—a disadvantage that ends up being at least partly responsible for a person’s success.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the research behind whether or not dyslexia is an actual advantage, or whether special talents emerge from dyslexic brains, is complex—it’s difficult to tease out causes and correlations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s certainly possible that some dyslexics have special abilities in areas not related to reading, just as other kids could have special abilities in one or two areas but struggle in other areas,” says research scientist and speech-language pathologist Peggy McCardle, former branch chief at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), U.S. National Institutes of Health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We know that there are gifted children in the world, and that some of them are dyslexic. What we don’t know —and to date there is no real evidence of this—is whether the dyslexia and the giftedness or talent are connected, or just happened to co-occur in that person. People are looking at ways to study that, with good research designs and solid methods, but so far it has not been done.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A FINE LINE\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For practitioners who work with dyslexic students, it’s often a fine line between encouraging students to use their nonreading talents to succeed, and for not short-changing themselves on what they are able to do.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dr. Sheryl Rimrodt-Frierson, who runs the pediatric clinic at the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center Reading Clinic, says that reading and writing are still vital skills that need to be addressed, and she’s cautious about dyslexic kids selling themselves short when it comes to academic work. “I will make sure they know there are plenty of good people out there who have done plenty—academic work, medical school, law school.” Rimrodt-Frierson says that kids need to understand there is a world of possibilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As cognitive neuroscientist Maryanne Wolf writes in her book Proust and the Squid, “The single most important implication of research in dyslexia is not ensuring that we don’t derail the development of a future Leonardo or Edison; it is making sure that we do not miss the potential of any child. Not all children with dyslexia have extraordinary talents, but every one of them has a unique potential that all too often goes unrealized because we don’t know how to tap it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp class=\"p1\">\u003cem>This is the introduction of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/54743/the-mindshift-guide-to-understanding-dyslexia\">MindShift Guide to Understanding Dyslexia\u003c/a>. You can find the remaining chapters and a complete \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">printable\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">PDF\u003c/a> of the entire guide by clicking \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stubborn. Not working to potential. Lazy. Unintelligent. For many students sitting in classrooms right now struggling to read, they have already heard these words, or thought them about themselves. Yet no matter how hard they try, when these same students look at the page of a book or worksheet, the letters seem to move around and shift. Was the word \u003cem>pit\u003c/em> or \u003cem>tap\u003c/em>? \u003cem>Their\u003c/em> or \u003cem>through\u003c/em>? For others, words come together so slowly to form coherent sentences, the first test question is barely answered when the rest of the class is nearly finished.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is the daily given for students with \u003cstrong>dyslexia\u003c/strong>, a biological, brain-based reading condition connected to speech and language that makes reading words and sentences extremely difficult.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Experts estimate that anywhere between 5 and 20 percent of school children have a form of dyslexia. Dyslexia is, in fact, the root of 80 percent of all learning disabilities, and yet in many families, schools, and even businesses, it’s still profoundly misunderstood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dyslexia shows up most often inside schools, where most children learn to read. But because of the complex intersection of individual brains, scientific research, state legislation, district requirements and teacher education, there’s no universal understanding of how to recognize and identify dyslexia, screen for it, and aid students who struggle to read because of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Due to the host of identifying and diagnosing issues, many kids slog through school not knowing they have a learning difference, and an estimated \u003ca href=\"https://www.austinlearningsolutions.com/blog/38-dyslexia-facts-and-statistics.html\">40 million\u003c/a> American adults suffer from dyslexia, though experts guess only 2 million are aware of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet, understanding, recognizing, and providing intervention for students with dyslexia has never been more important than right now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ours is an age of rapid acceleration of technological, demographic, and economic changes that are overturning industries and cultures. And until dyslexia-supportive technologies (discussed in Chapter 5) are fully accepted, embraced, and utilized in workplace environments, being able to read and write will continue to be a crucial skillset for success not only in school but also in life beyond school:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>As more and more jobs rely on computers, workers need basic literacy skills even to do such work as operating and repairing machinery.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>As more \u003ca href=\"https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2017/05/03/the-future-of-jobs-and-jobs-training/\">learning systems migrate online\u003c/a>, workers who must learn new skills to keep their current positions will need sufficient literacy to use systems that may not be dyslexia-supportive.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>CEOs and experts have said that higher-order thinking skills like creativity, problem-solving and critical thinking are now critical to success—and absent supportive technologies. Such higher order skills will still require the involvement of visual reading comprehension.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>And for those who don’t have the benefit of early intervention? Many face a lifetime of debilitating consequences: statistically, students who can’t read at grade level by third grade are \u003ca href=\"https://www.aecf.org/resources/early-warning-why-reading-by-the-end-of-third-grade-matters/\">four times more likely\u003c/a> not to finish high school; one in five students with a learning disability will drop out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dropping out of high school, coupled with reading disability, especially for poorer students, can be a cocktail of negative effects. Nearly half of incarcerated adults don’t have a high school diploma, and 60 percent of the prison population is functionally illiterate. According to a study performed on inmates in Texas, about 48 percent of inmates have dyslexia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, at the most basic level, dyslexics are more vulnerable to mental illness—an \u003ca href=\"https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15017419.2013.781953\">estimated 60 percent\u003c/a> of dyslexic children and adolescents also have a mental or emotional disorder, most commonly ADHD, depression, and anxiety—and have a higher incidence of \u003ca href=\"https://www.news-medical.net/news/20170621/Study-finds-high-prevalence-of-suicide-attempts-among-women-with-learning-disabilities.aspx\">suicide attempts\u003c/a>. Understanding dyslexia can enable people to find the help and support they need. You can learn more about how some individuals learned about their dyslexia and how they successfully advocated for help in Chapter 6, “Possibilities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>WHAT YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT DYSLEXIA \u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>We’ve discussed the overarching and compelling WHY, now let’s discuss some broad strokes of WHAT:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Dyslexia occurs in every language and in children from every background, regardless of race or socioeconomic status.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Many dyslexics become successful adults, whether it’s because of their different brain, or in spite of it. Having a learning difference doesn’t doom a student to failure. Dyslexics are doctors, lawyers, professors and business people as well as artists, musicians, nurses and firefighters.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>For years, state special education laws refused to use the word “dyslexia,” though it’s not entirely clear why.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Experts have pointed out that dyslexia was once thought (wrongly) to be a medical condition, and others have said that dyslexia was often left out of laws because the “treatment” is both expensive and needs a specially trained teacher to administer correctly.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Dyslexia awareness and understanding is growing, thanks in large part to passionate activism on the part of frustrated parents and teachers who are moving schools and districts toward change.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>The awareness and activism is slowly changing the omission of dyslexia from law: \u003ca href=\"https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/dyslexia-laws-2018/\">thirty-nine states\u003c/a> have passed dyslexia laws surrounding learning disabilities in the past few years, slowly making their way down into districts.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>The state of California, along with Tennessee and a few others, have in the past couple of years issued first-ever specific guidance for schools and educators on how to assess and provide resources for those diagnosed with dyslexia.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>There is no “cure” for dyslexia. But when reliable, research based interventions are methodically applied, students can go on to read, they can be academically successful, and they can go on to live fulfilling lives doing whatever they choose.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>But the earlier parents and teachers can recognize the signs of dyslexia and get help, the faster those students can halt feelings of failure and begin on the path to success.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This is the introduction of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/54743/the-mindshift-guide-to-understanding-dyslexia\">MindShift Guide to Understanding Dyslexia\u003c/a>. You can find the remaining chapters and a complete \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">printable\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">PDF\u003c/a> of the entire guide by clicking \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp class=\"p1\">\u003cem>This is the introduction of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/54743/the-mindshift-guide-to-understanding-dyslexia\">MindShift Guide to Understanding Dyslexia\u003c/a>. You can find the remaining chapters and a complete \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">printable\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">PDF\u003c/a> of the entire guide by clicking \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stubborn. Not working to potential. Lazy. Unintelligent. For many students sitting in classrooms right now struggling to read, they have already heard these words, or thought them about themselves. Yet no matter how hard they try, when these same students look at the page of a book or worksheet, the letters seem to move around and shift. Was the word \u003cem>pit\u003c/em> or \u003cem>tap\u003c/em>? \u003cem>Their\u003c/em> or \u003cem>through\u003c/em>? For others, words come together so slowly to form coherent sentences, the first test question is barely answered when the rest of the class is nearly finished.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is the daily given for students with \u003cstrong>dyslexia\u003c/strong>, a biological, brain-based reading condition connected to speech and language that makes reading words and sentences extremely difficult.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Experts estimate that anywhere between 5 and 20 percent of school children have a form of dyslexia. Dyslexia is, in fact, the root of 80 percent of all learning disabilities, and yet in many families, schools, and even businesses, it’s still profoundly misunderstood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dyslexia shows up most often inside schools, where most children learn to read. But because of the complex intersection of individual brains, scientific research, state legislation, district requirements and teacher education, there’s no universal understanding of how to recognize and identify dyslexia, screen for it, and aid students who struggle to read because of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Due to the host of identifying and diagnosing issues, many kids slog through school not knowing they have a learning difference, and an estimated \u003ca href=\"https://www.austinlearningsolutions.com/blog/38-dyslexia-facts-and-statistics.html\">40 million\u003c/a> American adults suffer from dyslexia, though experts guess only 2 million are aware of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet, understanding, recognizing, and providing intervention for students with dyslexia has never been more important than right now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ours is an age of rapid acceleration of technological, demographic, and economic changes that are overturning industries and cultures. And until dyslexia-supportive technologies (discussed in Chapter 5) are fully accepted, embraced, and utilized in workplace environments, being able to read and write will continue to be a crucial skillset for success not only in school but also in life beyond school:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>As more and more jobs rely on computers, workers need basic literacy skills even to do such work as operating and repairing machinery.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>As more \u003ca href=\"https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2017/05/03/the-future-of-jobs-and-jobs-training/\">learning systems migrate online\u003c/a>, workers who must learn new skills to keep their current positions will need sufficient literacy to use systems that may not be dyslexia-supportive.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>CEOs and experts have said that higher-order thinking skills like creativity, problem-solving and critical thinking are now critical to success—and absent supportive technologies. Such higher order skills will still require the involvement of visual reading comprehension.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>And for those who don’t have the benefit of early intervention? Many face a lifetime of debilitating consequences: statistically, students who can’t read at grade level by third grade are \u003ca href=\"https://www.aecf.org/resources/early-warning-why-reading-by-the-end-of-third-grade-matters/\">four times more likely\u003c/a> not to finish high school; one in five students with a learning disability will drop out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dropping out of high school, coupled with reading disability, especially for poorer students, can be a cocktail of negative effects. Nearly half of incarcerated adults don’t have a high school diploma, and 60 percent of the prison population is functionally illiterate. According to a study performed on inmates in Texas, about 48 percent of inmates have dyslexia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, at the most basic level, dyslexics are more vulnerable to mental illness—an \u003ca href=\"https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15017419.2013.781953\">estimated 60 percent\u003c/a> of dyslexic children and adolescents also have a mental or emotional disorder, most commonly ADHD, depression, and anxiety—and have a higher incidence of \u003ca href=\"https://www.news-medical.net/news/20170621/Study-finds-high-prevalence-of-suicide-attempts-among-women-with-learning-disabilities.aspx\">suicide attempts\u003c/a>. Understanding dyslexia can enable people to find the help and support they need. You can learn more about how some individuals learned about their dyslexia and how they successfully advocated for help in Chapter 6, “Possibilities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>WHAT YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT DYSLEXIA \u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>We’ve discussed the overarching and compelling WHY, now let’s discuss some broad strokes of WHAT:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Dyslexia occurs in every language and in children from every background, regardless of race or socioeconomic status.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Many dyslexics become successful adults, whether it’s because of their different brain, or in spite of it. Having a learning difference doesn’t doom a student to failure. 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You can find the remaining chapters and a complete \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">printable\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">PDF\u003c/a> of the entire guide by clicking \u003ca href=\"https://kqed-org-assets.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mindshift-Guide-to-Understanding-Dyslexia.pdf\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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},
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"info": "KQED’s statewide radio news program providing daily coverage of issues, trends and public policy decisions.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareport",
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"order": 8
},
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"info": "Every week, The California Report Magazine takes you on a road trip for the ears: to visit the places and meet the people who make California unique. The in-depth storytelling podcast from the California Report.",
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},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
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"order": 1
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"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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"order": 9
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"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
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"id": "fresh-air",
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"hidden-brain": {
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"source": "NPR"
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"how-i-built-this": {
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"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
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"hyphenacion": {
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"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"jerrybrown": {
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"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
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"order": 18
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},
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"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
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"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
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"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"masters-of-scale": {
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"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"source": "WaitWhat"
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"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
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