Questions about HASL conference, Part II

Continuing from the previous post, here are some more questions from HASL participants, along with my thoughts about them. Comments and tips welcome in the comments!

Are we addressing special populations (mental, physical handicapped students) in Common Core standards?

Short answer: No. Sadly, this idea of special populations barely came up in the release of the standards. In early documentation, decisionmaking on differentiation was left to local implementation, though I could not find that original document after the site was redesigned.

You might find this CCSS document “Application to Students with Disabilities” illuminating.

Additionally, there is this vague paragraph on the CCSS Math home page:

The Standards set grade-specific standards but do not define the intervention methods or materials necessary to support students who are well below or well above grade-level expectations. It is also beyond the scope of the Standards to define the full range of supports appropriate for English language learners and for students with special needs. At the same time, all students must have the opportunity to learn and meet the same high standards if they are to access the knowledge and skills necessary in their post-school lives. The Standards should be read as allowing for the widest possible range of students to participate fully from the outset, along with appropriate accommodations to ensure maximum participation of students with special education needs. For example, for students with disabilities reading should allow for use of Braille, screen reader technology, or other assistive devices, while writing should include the use of a scribe, computer, or speech-to-text technology. In a similar vein, speaking and listening should be interpreted broadly to include sign language. No set of grade-specific standards can fully reflect the great variety in abilities, needs, learning rates, and achievement levels of students in any given classroom. However, the Standards do provide clear signposts along the way to the goal of college and career readiness for all students.

As you can see, these focus more on physical disabilities (e.g., blindness, deafness) that can be overcome by translation than on cognitive disabilities. Check the CCSS resources page for more possible avenues for answers.

Bottom line: CCSS acknowledges that modifications may be needed for gifted or struggling learners but doesn’t state what those modifications are. Check with your special ed teachers and administrators and ask what is in place in your state/district/building to support these learners. And fasten your seat belt: I predict turbulence ahead.

How often do you update your blog? Is this a cumbersome task?

I was the inaugural blogger for School Library Monthly and blogged there weekly for about five years (Professor Rebecca Morris is now SLM’s blogger).  That got me into a rhythm. Even when I left that position because my time was becoming limited, I found that I missed it.

While I don’t always have time to keep up that pace now that I blog for myself, I still find it useful to “check in” with myself by blogging periodically, and I selfishly rely on my blog to remind me of what I was working on and thinking about over the course of a year.

For example, I notice that I blog a lot more when I’m between semesters, maybe because I’m processing ideas and issues in the field with my students and colleagues during that time?

I blog when I have something to write about that I think has usefulness beyond my own little corner of the world. Sometimes, I compose from scratch, and sometimes I respond to an important reading.

If I haven’t blogged in a while, it’s a chance to ask myself some questions about why:

• Have I been busy engaging with projects so that I’ve been busy doing but not reflecting? (Often the case.)
• Have I not been engaged and therefore have nothing to say? (Rarely.)
• Am I wrestling with myself about something that I’m not ready to share publicly? (A lot of the time.)
• Am I working on projects for which non-disclosure agreements or group trust dynamics preclude me from airing my thinking publicly? (Sometimes. Plus, I don’t like airing dirty laundry online.)
• Am I just being lazy? (Yeah, sometimes I’d rather just watch a marathon of House of Cards.)

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I also take advantage of WordPress’s ability to schedule posts in advance. So if you have a school blog, it totally pays to pre-write posts for holidays, upcoming events, etc. That keeps your blog pretty fresh even if you wrote much of it in September. I’m saddened when I see someone’s blog URL in the signature line of their email and then realize their last post was in 2009. Currency matters for information professionals!

Hope that’s handy. Check the previous post for more questions, and stay tuned for the big questions … resources for learning more about inquiry is one big one!