SHELLEY WEAR Nicoma Park Middle School Dyslexic Advantage Team
Shelley Wear, a long-time volunteer on our Dyslexic Advantage editorial team shared these pandemic hacks for her classroom.
Thanks Shelley!
“The struggle is real to make sure students understand what you are saying with a mask on. I purchased a personal amplifier (small box with microphone headset) and it has been a game changer for my classroom. Students are much more attentive and I believe it has really helped.
I am also using a multisensory approach to decoding, teaching Visual Phonics.
The paras have overheard students talking about how fun it is when kids are in the hallways and think no one is listening. I am relieved, because I have limited access to middle school materials to teach decoding and a large percentage of my LD students are struggling with sound to symbol recognition.
Using Visual Phonics gives me a kinesthetic way to show them what each sound looks like as it’s being formed in the mouth. It’s a bit unorthodox, but I have found that a greater number of students make progress in decoding with this in my tool bag. It gives me a simultaneous visual /kinesthetic/ aural way to communicate to students how to fix errors in reading throughout the year. It’s so much better than a red pen…and personally meets the student right where they are.”
Visual Phonics was originally developed for the hearing-impaired.
Personal Amplifier
