What is Dyslexia?

I recently attended a conference in Australia on Dyslexia. The keynote speaker was Dr Craig Wright, a cognitive psychologist. He spoke about Dyslexia and what we can do as educators to help learners with this difficulty.  So what is Dyslexia?  'Dys' means poor and 'lexia' means words. So Dyslexia means poor with single words. To translate, I like to refer to Dyslexia as having difficulty reading words on a page. The main difficulty with Dyslexic students is that they have difficulty reading single words on a page. So, if you are going to test these types of students for automaticity using single word tests such as the BURT Word Test, then don't be surprised when they perform poorly.  It's actually easier for Dyslexics to read words in context.

Pattern Interrupt

I subscribe to a newsletter from D. Trinidad Hunt. some of my staff have attended her PD's and have found them very useful and very practical. She often talks about Pattern Interrupt which is basically when you do something to interrupt the normal pattern of the brain. This could be the way you behave, the way you talk-just do something you  would not normally do . This allows new patterns of behaviour to emerge from old situations.
Here is a link to her latest article:

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DTrinidadHunt/~3/7Qy-wEBsz6U/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email

Types of Bullying-Harassment

Bullyproof Your Child For Life: Protect Your Child from Teasing, Taunting, and Bullying for Good
The last type of bullying to be discussed is 'Harassment'.
This type is generally about race, gender, nationality etc and is usually quite frequent. Some examples of this type of bullying may include the following:

• pulling at clothing etc
• looking under the toilet door
• use of intimidating and offensive language
• stalking and following
• making unwelcome advances or requests of a sexual nature

Bullying is a game when some children abuse their power. The target or the person that is being bullied can stop getting hurt by blocking the bullying. This can be by removing oneself  or by becoming detached.
So, how does the game of bullying work? Well, there are some rules to this game. I will follow up on these rules in my next blog. In the meantime, I have a selection of recommended books to purchase from Amazon that may help you. Please visit my astore at http://astore.amazon.com/theliteracyblog-20

Types of Bullying - physical

Bullying and Me: Schoolyard StoriesThis type of bullying involves the attack of someone who is weaker. This doesn't just happen in a school setting, it occurs in the workplace as well. It can be directly aggressive such as hitting, kicking, spitting or indirect such as by gesture, suggestions, stalking and defacing or hiding of property. So if you notice a family member coming home with ripped clothes for example, stay alert and mindful of their behaviour as this type of bullying could be happening. Some specific examples of physical bullying include:

• pushing, kicking, hitting, bumping, hair pulling, tripping
• pulling the chair out just as someone is about to sit down
• flicking water, paper etc
• locking them in a cupboard or the toilets
• throwing belongings around the room
• interfering with someones belongings in their locker or desk
• damaging clothes
• stealing their lunch or things from their desk or bag

I'm feeling distressed just at the thought of this type of behaviour. Do you have any thoughts? As always, your thoughts and comments are most welcome.

The Literacy Blog: Bullying - no way!

The Literacy Blog: Bullying - no way!: "Trinidad Hunt posted this information on bullying on her blog today. I have copied it here for you to read. It's compelling stuff. 'How many..."

Bullying - no way!

Trinidad Hunt posted this information on bullying on her blog today. I have copied it here for you to read. It's compelling stuff.
"How many students must we lose before we raise our heads and confront the elephant in the room? And how long will we wait before we shake off the torpor and rise to the challenge before us?
In the last six weeks the United States alone lost four young people to the torments and taunting of their peers.

• Seth Walsh a thirteen year old from California hung himself from a tree in the families’ back yard. He was taunted for being gay.
• Asher Brown a thirteen year old from Texas shot himself in the head. He was taunted by four other students for being gay.
• Billy Lucas, a fifteen year old from Greensburg, Indiana hanged himself in his grandmother’s barn. His tormenters questioned his sexual orientation.
• Tyler Clementi a freshman at Rutgers University jumped from the George Washington Bridge. His roommate streamed a live video of him in an intimate encounter with another male student.

And these are the only ones that reached the headlines. And this is only the U. S.. But I would venture to say that this is only the tip of the iceberg worldwide.
How many more must we lose? How long will we wait?
For these parents, we have already lost too many and we have already waited too long."

As always, I would love your response to this topic. Please feel free to comment below.
Cheers
Christine

Puzzles

If you have time and would like to do some brain teasers for a bit of fun, click on the link below.

http://www.world4teachers.com/puzzles-of-the-day.html

The Literacy Blog: Types of Bullying-exclusion

The Literacy Blog: Types of Bullying-exclusion: "The second type of bullying I will highlight here is 'exclusion'. This form of bullying can be expressed openly in front of others (you can'..."

Types of Bullying-exclusion

The second type of bullying I will highlight here is 'exclusion'. This form of bullying can be expressed openly in front of others (you can't sit here) or discreetly (rolling of the eyes). With this type of bullying, the bully often manipulates the group. The group members can be referred to as bystanders. That is, they stand by and do nothing to help the person that is being bullied because they know that if they do intervene, they might be next.  This just builds the social power of the bully. This is a very sad state of affairs and teachers need to be aware of this type of bullying and encourage bystanders to not support this behaviour. It could simply be by encouraging the bystander to just  move away from the group when the bully is using this type of bullying behaviour.

Bullying - No way!