Saturday Bridges to Learning Conference 2010

Well to start off I was on line all day, fortunately able to watch all the sessions except 'Action Research', not sure how I missed that I did not even see it on the time table. It looked like a few presenters changed at the last minute. It is amazing to see the amount of information that we need to know about supporting our students. Congrats to you Barb Welsford, your presentation was wonderful and you looked great. The most impressive part of your presentation was the student successes, that must be a wonderful accomplishment to see the fruits of your efforts. Once again you reinforced the importance of the team all being on the same page and that training is a key component to the success of the client.

I also recognized that your daughter Lindsay is working and supporting students and it was nice to put a face to a name, and to note that she was a bit pregnant in the testimonial. Before I became a teacher I was an entrepreneur and I know how important the testimonial can be toward future success. It appears that if you are aware of what is available to support your particular students then you need to find a resolution, whatever that may take. I sense that sometimes this can have a rocky beginning, but the success can be measured by creating the independent learner, and that helps solidify the importance of inclusion.

I will say that the exhibitors certainly had valuable information to share with the participants of this conference and I am sure that it was awesome to be able to see what is up and coming in the AT software and hardware industry. It is an industry all on its own, that certainly could benefit more students than the ones that are already identified and assist them in achieving success as they are faced with more and more challenges in school.

I did pick up that training the team is a crucial part of the overall success and how difficult that can be sometimes when all participants are struggling with the frustration of the lack of resources and support for their child. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed with all this knowledge and yet I can see the benefits and success from the children that are properly supported. For me I believe that all children deserve the right to become independent learners and did not realize the magnitude of that statement, yet you have shown through your commitment to the AT in the South Shore that it is possible. I know that we are blessed to have an instructor that can talk the talk and walk the walk, that is the best wisdom you can share, your experience, thank you.

It is also important to recognize that most technology is attainable and affordable we just need to find the right solution and people to help us motivate the team and implement the process. It seemed that most of the presenters talked about motivation, knowledge and support in order to find a workable solution for all parties concerned. Then you can look at the growth and development of the students on an ongoing basis to continually assess the needs and make sure that the solution can and will grow with the development of the child.

When I was started watching Kevin Johnson he was talking about Daisy files, that did not make a lot of sense to me until I saw him demonstrate Read Out Loud. He helped me realize that there is a lo classrroms t of software available tha Kevein t can be easily accessed through the internet and most of the hand held devices available are capable. His presentation reminded me of what we have been learning about Kesi, yet he said the training for his product would take about 30 minutes, and I know that for people that are not used to using this technology, it would take longer than that. None the less it is amazing to see the tolls that are available to students that will allow they to be independent learners, I could easily see a need for these products in all our classrooms to ensure that every student is being properly supported.

Literacy is my passion and I was on side with Dr Erickson when she was talking about the literacy scores and the problem with listening, reading and fluency in literacy and how we seem to overlook the basis skill and look toward graduation and forget that if a grade twelve students does not have functional literacy skills that the certificate of graduation can be meaningless.
I know I jumped from one thing to another I just wanted to add that piece because Kevin Johnston did talk about listening comprehension which is something we test for in our, its more reading and writing comprehension, synthesizing and inferencing not listening.