Additional scaffolding for WWS1 (physical organization problem)

[kbutton]

Background: 2e ADHD, dyslexia (mild), dyscalculia (mild), vision problems, hypermobility/coordination problems, remediated auditory processing issues, etc.

So, my disorganized kiddo is capable of WWS 1 work from a "ready for the cognitive task" perspective, but he has some major organizational challenges as well as visual ones that are making this book difficult. I'd like some suggestions for scaffolding the physical organization aspects of it, including visual prompts for organization. I will list some of what I am thinking of doing, and I would love to have people add on to that or offer alternatives. My older son sort of used this text with a tutor, so I am familiar with the gist of it, but I have not worked through it entirely with a student yet and don't want to "mess up" something that is coming later in the book. Thankfully, there is an appendix with topoii in it so that if I want him to add customized notes to it, I can do that without messing up the way she has it organized.

I need it to be more visually obvious what he's supposed to do in each section of the notebook and in the assignments--without headings or summary areas, the book is "too conversational" for a kid who is already challenged to know where his pencil is and what side of the paper to write on and cannot find particular words, phrases, etc. while skimming for the directions. It's also...not confusing but maybe seriously distracting?...for him to have directions given multiple times in a conversational way throughout the text rather than having a section that lists "Today's assignment." I am going to highlight stuff, but I would choose completely different page layouts if I could, and un-embed directions. The text is just visually crowded--even the fact that one day will stop mid-page, and the next day starts right after that makes it so hard to sort information into mental categories or to retain things in visual memory (and he has actually a somewhat visually-oriented kid for his vision challenges). (I tend to remember where information is located on a page and even what it looks like, which is a big memory aid, but this text is like a big blurry spot in my brain after reading it.)

As for the actual vision challenges, he has accommodation issues that cannot be remedied by VT (pathological change to the tissues involved in holding the eye lens, which makes focusing on fine details sometimes challenging). He has "incomplete visual development" that makes his visual processing lag a bit, so tasks like visually scanning text and pre-reading are difficult with the ways the pages in this book are physically laid out and assembled.

Physically, my son doesn't do things efficiently at all. He has coordination issues, etc.

• He struggles with three-ring binders. Every.single.page will have ripped holes, often within minutes of starting to write on them (I do have strategies to help, but eventually the pages go back into the binder and they rip). This won't likely get better, and it means he's not going to have a particularly nice reference when he's done with all of this if we use the default method of organization. 
• Where to put the pages--it makes no sense to him to not have the work be chronological, and I don't think she always tells the student where to put the papers. So, the contrast between every.single.thing being written out in one regard (to the point he loses "where" that information was), but other things aren't noted at all is very frustrating. 
• He has no concept of front and back of a sheet of notebook paper, nor of top and bottom! If it doesn't already have print on it, he'll orient pages every which way. Until a few weeks ago, he was still putting shirts on backwards about half the time. Buttons aren't always lined up. (We try...)
• Too many parts and pieces mean things falling on the floor, pages dumped all over, etc.
• He doesn't notate pages the same each time--sometimes, he'll label them W1D2 and other times D2W1 to indicate which days he's on. Sigh. Some of this is straight out ADHD, but the more the physical stuff is hard and the visual stuff is hard, then the less processing he has left to compensate for ADHD.

I do plan to make him some reference sheets from things in the book. I am just not sure how to organize them without making a third piece of organization to navigate in addition to the text and the binder.

Waiting for some of this stuff to get better is not intellectually appropriate, and he makes this kind of progress at a snail's pace. It used to be so much worse!!!

There are so many good curriculum options out there that just need a big overhaul in layout without being chopped up and overly busy, lol! (Jay Wile's biology makes me want to stab my eyes out.)

[Miss Tick]

I'm going through the book with my ydd this year, so it is my 2nd time through. However, none of my dc have the challenges you describe, so I'll list some ideas and thoughts, but obviously disregard anything that is not useful for you.

Highlighting sounds smart

I seem to remember Lewelma making a poster for one of her ds with the topoi on it. This might be more helpful later when the student has to choose topoi to use for writing their own papers.

The topoi section is the one my students have referred back to more than any other. In the third book I made them a table of contents for the topoi section so they could see all the choices in one place. It also encouraged keeping them in order.

Which side of the paper to write on was a struggle here, too. I would try to keep that separate from the writing program.

We had our first discussion this week about what section to put the paper into. That will be ongoing to the end.

Once a writing assignment is "finished" I encourage my dc to spend a moment going through to remove any rough drafts and only keep the final copy.

I'm encouraging ydd to work ahead on easier days because as the series moves on we will run into "days" that can't be finished in one day, sometimes it takes even longer.

I encourage my dc to ask questions when they have them because the teacher guide has a lot of helps and they shouldn't get frustrated. I would much rather the course be a discussion than a challenge.

 

 

 

[Ausmumof3]

My kids have similar issues with this.  They miss stuff they were supposed to do.  For organising the stuff I got those lined books divided into sections and they were easier for my kids to manage.

[kbutton]

1 minute ago, Ausmumof3 said:

My kids have similar issues with this.  They miss stuff they were supposed to do.  For organising the stuff I got those lined books divided into sections and they were easier for my kids to manage.

Something like this? https://www.amazon.com/Five-Star-Notebook-Subject-Selected/dp/B001E8XL9Y/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2W0LK0BW0LS7H&dchild=1&keywords=5+subject+notebook&qid=1602025822&sprefix=5+subjec%2Caps%2C521&sr=8-3

[Ausmumof3]

13 minutes ago, kbutton said:

Something like this? https://www.amazon.com/Five-Star-Notebook-Subject-Selected/dp/B001E8XL9Y/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2W0LK0BW0LS7H&dchild=1&keywords=5+subject+notebook&qid=1602025822&sprefix=5+subjec%2Caps%2C521&sr=8-3

Yes similar to that.  

[Noreen Claire]

DS11 has just started using WWS1, so I don't have a lot to offer. But, we do have the 'ripped holes' issue with loose leaf, so we've bought reinforced pages, like these: https://www.amazon.com/Five-Star-Punched-Reinforced-15000/dp/B01BLVAP0G/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=lined+colored+reinforced+loose+leaf&qid=1602026644&sr=8-2

For organization, could you get three different packs of paper (I know, that's spendy), break them into two piles each (for six total), and highlight across the top of each pile a different color? That way, he can start each exercise by determining what he's doing, what section it will need to go into when finished, writing it on the matching paper, and then putting it in the correct spot the binder? 

[wendyroo]

My oldest is going through WWS 1.  He struggles with a lot of executive function, ASD, ADHD, disorganization, writing phobia issues.

I am taking organizational skills entirely out of the WWS picture by being in charge of them myself.  Obviously they are very important skills, and DS needs to work on them over time, but writing is already so anxiety-provoking that I am choosing not to heap more stress on that subject.

I bought the student book as a pdf specifically so that I could feed it to him one piece at a time.  I look at each week and decide how I am going to chunk it.  Lately, most of the assignments have been reading on day 1, discussing and writing short answers on day 2, a large amount of writing on day 3, and an easy grammar/usage/definition assignment on day 4.  DS likes working in a block schedule (so writing is not hanging over his head every day), so I print out exactly what he will need to complete days 1, 2 and 4, staple them each individually, label them in big letters at the top, and highlight the explicit directions.  It normally takes DS an hour or less to complete those three "days" in one block.

I prepare the heavy-writing assignment in the same way, and it is done in another block on another day.  That assignment typically takes f.o.r.e.v.e.r, but we arrange DS's schedule such that he has very little else to do that day, and nothing else arduous.

DS completes all assignments digitally.  I pre-make and label Google Docs for each assignment that will require one.  All DS has to do is find the doc that matches the day and week label I wrote on the assignment he is working on and type his work there.  At the end of the week I go through and sort the docs into folders.  I also update our "master" Google Doc table of contents. 

Each week just looks like:

Week 26
Day 1 - Read The Bowman
Day 2 - Focus: The idea story
Day 3 - Brief Literary Essay
Day 4 - Literary Terms & Essay Chart

And all of the underlined terms are links to his work/terms/charts/etc.  So clicking on Brief Literary Essay takes him right to the essay he wrote.  Clicking on Literary Terms takes him to a document where I copy and paste all of his literary terms.  I also highlight in the table of contents anything I suspect DS may need to reference.  So, links to the various topoi are all highlighted one color and links to terms and charts are highlighted another.

This has been working well for us so far.  I hope that by the end of WWS 3, DS will have taken over a bit more of the organizational tasks, but I am viewing that as a marathon, not a sprint.

[kbutton]

All of these are really good ideas! This gives me several directions to go and perhaps even combine, and it definitely confirms my feel that more scaffolding with me pre-preparing things is the right thing.

He does manage multi-step assignments when things are laid out more clearly (Notgrass for instance, which has a daily checklist). It's not without some difficulties, but it mostly goes quite well. 

I feel like WWS maybe expects the students to intuit the organization from being step-by-step and incremental, but we're more big picture people, lol! These organizational ideas help with the big picture.

[PeterPan]

I highlighted the important points, which had the bonus of helping her realize what was important. No paper, only typing. 

[theelfqueen]

Ok instead of the binder how about color coded pocket folders (get coordinating highlighters and sticky notes) . On each lesson determine which folder the work goes in. Use that color highlighter on the page for highlighting directions and affix a color coded post it with your personal direction list.