Teacher Development Work Shop

Duration 3 hours

EDUC 6021/4201 Education, Culture and Diversity

Grace Ball

Workshop Timetable (9:00am 12:00pm)
9:00am
9.00-9:20

9.20-9:45

9.45-10:15

10.15-10:35
10.35-10:55

10.55-11:35

11.35-11:50

11.50-12:00

Welcome and introduction to the topic

Dyslexia and background knowledge
-What it means to have Dyslexia? Includes video (5 mins)
-Signs of Dyslexia
-How prevalent is it in the classroom?
-How it is identified and formally assessed?

Understanding the challenges of Dyslexia
-Workshop activity 1
-Activity discussion

Looking at teaching resources
-Resources for the classroom (4 main resources)
-How are they helpful and supportive, what are the costs?
-Not always relying on technology
-Where can we find and access more resources?

Tea Break
The Power of Dyslexia
-Motivational tools - Includes Video (6 mins)
-Famous Dyslexics
-Strengths of a Dyslexic student

Supports in our faculties
-Workshop activity 2 Brainstorming and Discussion
-Whole group discussion
-School policy and creating resources

Conclusion
-Key messages
-Question time

Thank you and finish
-Pack up
-Gathering emails for those that need copies of todays presentation

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Teacher Training Workshop

Dyslexia Information Sheet

What is Dyslexia?

The word dyslexia comes from the Greek language and means difficulty with words. (Australian Dyslexia Association
Inc. 2014)

Dyslexia is a learning difficulty difference that affects a students ability to read and write. Although the student may
receive the same instructions as the child sat next to them, they will display signs of struggle. Although they still show the
ability to learn well, they just have trouble with language learning. Dyslexia is strongly hereditary and is associated with
neurological origin and can range from mild to severe. Therefore it is important to treat each student with individuality as
no two dyslexic students are the same.

What are the signs displayed?

Preliminary signs
Lack of vocabulary growth in early stages
Issues sounding out letters when reading and writing
Trouble decoding single words
Poor spelling
Lack of fluency when reading or recognising words

These signs should alert a teacher to a learning difficulty, it is evident that a student with dyslexia will have less of a chance
of completing their schooling to their best ability if they are not detected and supported throughout. Non-detection may
impact a students chances to show their true academic ability and result in secondary signs such as:

Secondary signs
Poor motivation
Low self esteem (thinking they are a failure)
Attention issues and behaviour disruption in the classroom

What is it like to be in their shoes?

Students that are affected by Dyslexia often have problems tracking words on a page. The following images give an insight
into what its like to be behind their eyes.

Figure 1: What it is like to read text trough the eyes of a dyslexic student (Dyslexia-Australia, 2015)

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How are students identified?

Dyslexia can be detected in the early years of school when the child displays an unexplained issue with reading and
writing. However children can move through school unidentified until teenage years or even through to adulthood.
Therefore it becomes important that teachers are aware of the effects and signs of Dyslexia for early detection. This can
help prevent the onset of secondary issues occurring as mentioned before.

If a teacher or parent has raised concerns of Dyslexia we can look at working with associated groups for deeper
assessment of the students in a confidential manner.

The Australian Dyslexia Association has two main steps:
1 Pre assessment screening, a researched based assessment to rule out sensory involvement that may affect the student,
this is undertaken by a medical specialist. This testing avoids the over assessment of students and high cost. This is
exclusive to ADA
2- Functional and Descriptive Assessment This assessment is evidence based and identifies the individual more
accurately to support and inclusive classroom approach.

Areas of success

It would be wrong to assume that Dyslexia is a stopping point for a students learning abilities. Individuals can show much
higher learning skills in areas such as problem solving, generating ideas, kinaesthetic construction and logical thinking.
Many dyslexia individuals have gone on to do great things with their ability to compensate in other areas for learning.

Figure 2: Jamie Oliver, globally recognised, successful chef, businessman and a face for dyslexia

Resources for more information

Australian Dyslexia Association: {http://dyslexiaassociation.org.au}

Dyslexia Support Services and Educational Resources: {http://dyslexiasupportservices.com.au}

Dyslexia-Australia: {http://www.dyslexia-australia.com.au}

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Teacher Training Workshop

Dyslexia Workshop Activities

Activity 1
Purpose: Understanding how it feels to be dyslexic and find a vocabulary without knowing every letter of the alphabet

Materials Needed
- Letters written on paper (A, E, I, O, U, S, T)
- Container to jumble the letters up in

Understanding dyslexia?
Choose a partner to explain your weekend hobbies to. Try to be a detailed as possible when you explain. You should aim to
talk for 2 minutes. Does this sound easy enough?

Heres the catch: You are NOT allowed to use words containing a certain letter (pick a random letter from the hat). Once
complete, swap and repeat with your partner.

Discussion Questions
- Did you manage to tell your partner what you wanted to?
- How easily did you find words to use?
- How fluently could you talk? For example if you were a student and a teacher asked
you a question in class could you answer it quickly?
- How did you feel during the activity?

What can we do with this information?
During this activity we should be able to gain a sense of empathy for a dyslexic student, understanding the difficulty of
fluency and searching for words in a limited vocabulary.

Activity 2
Purpose: Building a bank of ideas for supporting dyslexic student

Materials needed
- Poster paper or white boards
- Coloured pens

How can we support dyslexia in our facilities?
Working in our faculties you will need to brainstorm ideas to help support dyslexia difficulties in your subject areas. These
ideas can be drawn up in a mind-map or some sort of visual aid that works best for your discussion group.

Focus questions for discussion within faculties:

- What are your current standards (practical write ups, essays, note taking from the board)?
- What could we do to achieve the learning outcomes while supporting dyslexic students (more posters, hands on
activities)?
- How can we vary the written and reading components to our classes without avoiding
them?

Discussion as a whole group
- Lets here from each faculties a summary of ideas (2 mins a faculty)
- What were the common ideas among faculties
- Can we cross-link faculties to help each other i.e. can Maths help English?
- What can we implement within a school community school policy?

What can we do with this information?
With this information we can gather the common and top ideas for classroom support. These ideas could be collaborated
in to a teaching resource specific to the school and schools focus. The posters created could be displayed in the offices. But
at very least this activity should allow teachers to open up some new ideas toward supporting dyslexia in the classroom.
As well as creating a bank of ideas within a faculty and creating a sense of team work for supporting students.
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Teacher Training Workshop

Dyslexia Resources
Classroom Resource 1 Style Guide
When presenting text to students with Dyslexia it needs to be simple and readable for their learning needs. Whether the
text is on a handout sheet, PowerPoint or in a textbook it need to be readable.

Media Paper should be thick enough that the text isnt coming through from other side. Therefore newspaper may have
to be photocopies and not read from original source as they are thin and transparent.

Font Size 12 +, plain font, not stylish and hard to read, Black on white, DONT USE ALL CAPITALS

Headings Should be clear, underlined or bolded

Text - short sentence with purpose, using pictures next to text and without abbreviations

More information on style guides can be found at:
http://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/common/ckeditor/filemanager/userfiles/About_Us/policies/Dyslexia_Style_Guide.pdf

Classroom Resource 2 Mobile Devices

Mobile devices such as I pads and tablets can benefit a dyslexic student in their ability to read. Most of these devices now
have a built in text-to-speech application that allows reader to follow along to words as they are highlighted and read
aloud, helping visually see the words and recognise them. The devices can prove costly but if available for use could be a
priceless tool for your students learning

Students with a mobile devices can:
- Listen to podcast and talk-to text books, instead of reading big chunks of text
- Type up work instead of hand written work
- Access many learning apps such as Dyslexia Quest or Spellosaurous


More information can be found at: http://dyslexia.yale.edu/2014TabletComparison.html

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Classroom Resource 3 Concept Maps

It is essential we dont completely reply on online tools or technology to support
our students. Therefore simple classroom activities like a concept map can be
used. The idea of a concept map is to help break down a bigger task that may
initially overwhelm a dyslexic student.

Concept Map They provide a skeleton of ideas, breaking up the big idea into
smaller sections. The map can act as a visual aid when drawn up, developing the
stronger areas of thought and minimising the weaker areas. It uses key words and
is free from grammatical errors, as it is a drafting strategy. The idea of a concept
map would be taught through scaffolding strategies so the student learns how to
use it to their best advantage.

Story Board The Storyboard is an example of another type of concept map tailored to story writing, although this strategy
could be manipulated to other subject areas. Again this would have to be scaffolded through other leading activities.

More information can be found at: http://cmc.ihmc.us/cmc2008papers/cmc2008-p223.pdf

Classroom Resource 4 Dragon Naturally Speaking

Dragon Naturally Speaking is a program developed to allow the student to use his or her own
voice to get text on paper. The program needs to be trained to the users voice over several
beginning session, once trained it will listen to the students voice and type the text as they
speak. It has proved to be 99% accur,ate and faster than the student typing it up. To avoid
frustration the Dragon can read back, transcribed text to ensure that the material is truly
what the user intended to say (Naturally Speaking Dragon, 2015). This use of technology can
be used both at school and home, allowing the student to keep achieving without the
constant assistance of teachers or parents, providing a sense of independence.

Although this program costs approximately $99-$130 it could be extremely beneficial to a
struggling student. Aimed towards secondary school students and above.

Teacher Resources

There are many teaching resources online that can provide background information, assessment plans and many more
classroom ideas. Here is a list of the most helpful ones that I have discovered and can be a quick reference guide for you.

Australian Dyslexia Association

URL: http://dyslexiaassociation.org.au

Dyslexia Australia
URL: http://www.dyslexia-australia.com.au.

Dyslexia International
URL: http://www.dyslexia-international.org/our-approach/.

Dyslexia Daily
URL: https://www.dyslexiadaily.com


Yale Centre for Dyslexia and Creativity
URL: http://dyslexia.yale.edu/index.html

Dyslexia Victoria Online
URL: https://dyslexiavictoria.com.au

Plus m any m ore
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Reference & Resource list

Australian Dyslexia Association, 2015. [Accessed 25 October 2015]
URL: http://dyslexiaassociation.org.au

Department of Education, Training and Employment Resources, 2014. [Accessed 25 October 2015]
URL:http://www.dyslexiaassociation.org.au/uploads/ADA%20Resource%20June%202014%20The
%20Department%20of%20Education.pdf
Dragon Naturally Speaking, 2015. [Accessed 1st November 2015].
URL: http://www.nuance.com/for-business/by-industry/education/dragon-education-
solutions/index.htm

Dyslexia Daily, 2015. [Accessed 1st November 2015].
URL: https://www.dyslexiadaily.com

Dyslexia Support Services and Educational Resources, 2015. [Accessed 25 October 2015]
URL: http://dyslexiasupportservices.com.au

Dyslexia Symptoms & Assessment 2015. [Accessed 25 October 2015]
URL: http://www.dyslexia-australia.com.au.

Jamie Oliver, The Power Of Dyslexia, 2015. [Accessed 25 October 2015].
URL: http://www.thepowerofdyslexia.com/jamie-oliver/.

Lami, G. (2008) Dyslexia and Concept Maps: An Indispensable Tool for Learning, 3rd Edition.
[Accessed 1st November 2015]
URL: http://cmc.ihmc.us/cmc2008papers/cmc2008-p223.pdf

Our Approach, Dyslexia International. 2015. [Accessed 25 October 2015]
URL: http://www.dyslexia-international.org/our-approach/.

Rants & Raves by Dyslexia, Victoria Online, 2015. [Accessed 1st November 2015].
URL: https://dyslexiavictoria.wordpress.com/2010/09/25/how-a-teacher-can-help-a-dyslexic-
student-learn-effectively-in-the-classroom/

What is dyslexia? - Kelli Sandman-Hurley, 2013. [Accessed 1st November 2015].
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zafiGBrFkRM

Yale Centre for Dyslexia and Creativity, 2015. [Accessed 1st November 2015].
URL: http://dyslexia.yale.edu/index.html

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PowerPoint Presentation

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Brainstorm your thoughts and preconceptions on what Dyslexia means?

Short video on the background to Dyslexia (5 Mins)


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Elaborating on the video as to what Dyslexia is and how a student obtains this learning difficulty.

Dyslexia is likely to occur in your everyday classroom and continue to be present in your teachings.
These facts show us that we need to keep doing more in our professional developments to support
these students.


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These are some of the signs displayed in a Dyslexic student. Remembering some students compensate
their dyslexia with string skills in other areas.

Has anyone experienced these signs in a student?
What are some of the indicators to these signs, for example is poor spelling an indication to lack of
vocabulary?

This is a comparison of how a reading task would be interpreted by a dyslexic and non-dyslexic
student. It clearly shows the pattern the eyes follow over text.

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If you think you notice signs of Dyslexia in one of your students and it is becoming more of an issue in
their studies, there are ways to officially assess a child to get a formal answer. But remember a
student doesnt need a formal diagnosis to be supported in the classroom.

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Activity 1 Refer to activity handout sheet.

Chance to discuss how we felt during the activity. Does this give us a sense of empathy with a dyslexic
student? Would you be overwhelmed in class if the teacher asked you a questions you can answer in
your head, but cant get the verbal words out.

How frustrated would you get?

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What are some ways we present text and work to students? PowerPoints, Prezi, Worksheets?

Understanding that a Dyslexic student may struggle with certain styles of text will help us present our
resources in a way that all student can read and relate to. These are some key points to remember.
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This is an example of how bigger font can be easier to read. There are fewer words to each line of the
bigger font and the overall sentence looks less daunting.

Many of our classrooms now involve technology, these can be beneficial for accessing many helpful
apps and programs, such as text-to-speech.

Refer to Resources handout sheet.
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Dyslexia Quest is one example of an I pad app that assist a Dyslexic student with vocabulary and
memory games. There are many more available on the Apple app store.

Refer to Resources hand out sheet for more information on concept maps.



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This is an example of concept mapping for English students story writing, breaking up a big ideas and
narrowing down to a plot, characters and a story line.

Dragon Naturally Speaking is a great tool aim toward Secondary School students.

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Refer to Resource handout sheet

Some quotes from students that have used Dragon Naturally Speaking.

Using Dyslexia as a motivational tool.
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This is a video of Dyslexic people that have had great success in many areas. Some of these famous
people may surprise to learn they were considered failures.

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Double complexity of Dyslexic students, these are some of the strengths we can use to support their
studies.

Using famous idols to help motive those students that may be struggling with their identify of
Dyslexia. Showing them that others have never let it get in the way of them and there are successors
in every degree of life.

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Activity 2 Refer to activities handout sheet.

Once we have completed the faculty discussion, gather as a whole group and collaborate the top ideas.
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Concluding the workshops with key point. Allowing enough time for question time.

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