Reading Remediation Applications -November 5th

Having the opportunity to use applications ourselves is a nice way to introduce remedial options for our students. Although I work in a high school setting, I found there were still programs presented that would be useful for a number of students I work with. In thinking about the elements that need to be in place for AT to be successful, I do think that one element I would be cautious of for some of these programs is the age of the student and whether or not the graphics and tasks would be appropriate.

I have had conversations with teachers at the high school level about the time frame in which we think about concept in context versus the understanding individual terms of reference and then trying to piece words together to make meaning...

I know I am not making this very clear so I will try again..I feel that at the high school level as we prepare students for life after school, the focus needs to be on understanding the idea behind a paragraph that a student may encounter vs. spending large amounts of time reading individual words and understanding them, piecing sentences together and then determining the meaning of that paragraph. I think that prior knowledge and word recognition are key... I was sitting in class wondering where that shift takes place for students? Is it a high school thing or is it more determined based on the needs of the individual student. Somehow I think it must be a combination of the two. If that is the case, these remediation tools will have mixed applications at various levels but obviously many that we reviewed seemed to have a younger appeal and context.