Appendix 1: Classroom Accommodations

Some of these strategies are things that you probably already do in your classroom--they benefit all kinds of learners. Some also require fairly simple additional accommodations for students who do not do well in standard classroom environments. I have geared these suggestions toward CO150/250; I have not included information about testing students, since we generally do not test students in our composition classes. However, Attachment 14 offers some advice for students facing a testing situation.

At the start of the semester:

Let the class know that you will allow them to use tape recorder to record the class
Encourage (or require) the use of a wordprocesser, spellcheck
Let your students know about the Writing Center (give it a good ‘pump’)
Pick a reader that includes study questions
At the beginning of the semester, provide a clearly written schedule of the class, your expectations, a time line, and the required readings for the class. Go through this whole class plan/policy verbally in class
Make the student is aware of other campus support services and the kinds of resources at their disposal, such as

- textbooks recorded on tape

- student notetakers

Classroom activities/set-up:

Provide written copies or detailed outlines of lectures or points made in class
Be willing to break the class itself up into shorter activities (in other words, change gears once or twice to re-stimulate attention spans)
Speak clearly, slowly, and with expression
When giving a lecture or an assignment, offer the students several forms of the material. You might refer to an outline on an overhead as you speak, and also provide written copies of the assignments/materials (in other words, provide both verbal and written versions)
Speak facing the class
Avoid calling on students without warning
Explain technical or new vocabulary
Start the class by reviewing the last class and giving an overview of what you are going to cover today. Then, at the end of the class, review the main points you covered
When a student asks a question that requires you to repeat something you already said or was already in the reading you assigned, repeat the information patiently

Assignments:

Break tasks into smaller parts, or help the student do this
Provide students with examples of satisfactory and unsatisfactory work, with explicit reasons and criteria
Leave space for notes on handouts so that they are easy to read, and so that students can write notes on the margins
Try to allow students with LD both written and verbal feedback on assignments
Allow for alternative measures; in other words, if a student has an extreme difficulty with collaborative work, allow her to work alone, etc. If you have noticed that a student has particular success with one type of activity, you might encourage the student to use this more often
Provide students with a few prompts or questions that will guide their reading of a new text
If you assign a reading, be sure to cover it in class; talk about the main points, and ask the students for their responses to the assigned questions/prompts. One effective device is to have them respond to the readings in journals or on notecards.
Provide an LD student with more time on an assignment, but give her an enforced due date ("whenever you want to turn it in" will not work with many students who have trouble organizing their time).