: Some of the difference in our responses may be due to a difference in
: what we think a “lab report” is.No, that’s not it. I thought about this for a while and I think this is it. We agree that neither you nor I know how to teach a dysorthorgraphic child to be not dysorthographic. The “science” that is education does not yet know how to teach spelling to a dysorthographic child.So, what is our response to that? In my school, teachers insist the work of our dysorthographic kids must be properly spelled. In part, I think that basically insists the child teach themself. How can they teach what we cannot? And where is the professional accountability in that?My kids have been through my school, many of them from pre-k on. If my school has failed to teach them to spell (however good the reason) how is it right that we then turn to them and penalize them for not having every word spelled right?Insisting that their papers be correctly spelled does not, I think, teach them good communication skills. Good communication skills would include the teaching of spelling and the accompanying ability to spell. By putting our responsiblity onto Spellcheck, we’re not “teaching” good communication skills. We’re just insisting that the kids pretend they have good communication skills when they really don’t. We’re asking them to help us keep our blinders on.You say you can teach the child to identify resources available to compensate for the challenge. What resources exactly? How many are there? Let’s list them. Well, there’s Spellcheck (which doesn’t work well for the dysorthographic kids because their spelling so far off the mark Spellcheck can’t even guess at the word) What else? My list would end there but I would celebrate that yours might not. To me, the phrases such as “student will employ strategies” “student will utilize available resources” often sound good in writing but I most often find that emperor has on no clothes.But if you really have resource(s) that genuinely help the dysorthographic student in the absence of our ability to actually teach them to spell, I’d love to know about them. But let’s understand. Don’t list Spellcheck and even if we would, that would a single resource, not the plural resources. And don’t go to the voice activated writing programs. They don’t yet work well. Don’t tell dysorthographic students to look the word up in a dictionary because if you can’t spell the word, you can’t look it up.I sincerely look forward to a list of available resource(s) to help the dysorthographic student that I may not have considered.In my experience, most
: chemistry teachers assign a several-page report due 3-5 school
: days after the lab period. If teachers in your school expect lab
: reports in less time, that might be asking too much of a
: dysorthographic student.: I stand by my statement that “[y]ou’re doing students a
: disservice if you send them out of your [chemistry] class without
: expecting them to communicate clearly and well in standard written
: English.” I think that in a chemistry class you need to hold
: ALL students to high standards, and that includes their written
: communication. You may have to provide some students with
: different resources in order to meet those standards.: For instance, you might expect that dysorthographic student to go
: over a rough draft with you the day before the final report is
: due. You might expect him or her to meet with a peer tutor or
: other resource person to help with proofreading. YES, this student
: will take longer than other students. That doesn’t mean that
: you’re discriminating against the student by requiring him or her
: to turn in quality work. It might mean that student has to make
: some choices about his or her activities outside of the classroom.: No, I can’t teach a dysorthographic student to spell, but I CAN teach
: him or her to identify resources available to compensate for that
: challenge, to learn how to use those resources, and to schedule
: his or her time in order to get their work done well and on time.
: That is a far greater service than giving credit for work that
: would not be acceptable anyplace outside of your classroom.