| The Whittier School Resource Center, with Jay Cowen
and Krysten Mack as its teachers, services first,
second, third, and fourth grade special education
students. This is an individualized, cross graded
program, adapted from the Communications Workshop model,
a nationally validated program developed by Dr. Joseph
A. Bukovec and Dr. John E. Cowen.
This model program was first implemented at the Town
House in 1971 for secondary level students, grades 7-12.
It is a cross graded reading program that produces
significant gains in the performance of special
education students. It is designed to improve the
quality of basic skills instruction for children
receiving supplemental instruction at Whittier.
Communication Workshop has created a desirable
organizational change in the traditional Supplemental
program. Every student's program is designed to
reflect their personal interests and needs.
Students are provided the freedom to learn in an
informal, relaxed atmosphere. This "human"
approach, combined with the program's well designed
motivation strategies, intervention strategies, and
classroom monitoring systems, creates a subtle yet
effective structure providing accountability for student
and teacher. The result is that these special
education elementary children learn to become more self
reliant and the teachers are less prone to spoon feed
these students in an effort to promote independent
learning and self discipline.
The essential elements which support The
Communications Workshop are :
• Personal,
Human Philosophy
| The humanistic approach of The
Communications Workshop is based upon
respect for the student as an individual and
the teacher's role as facilitator of
learning in a family-like atmosphere that
fosters personal pride and a positive
response to the academic setting.
Student responsibility for his/her own
academic program nurtures self-motivation
and self-discipline. |
• Program
Monitoring System
| The Program Monitoring System permits
the rapid collection and succinct posting of
a wide range of data relative to each
student's individual program, providing
information regarding the quantity, quality,
and level of work completed. The
system signals the need for teacher
intervention and permits the early detection
and correction of imbalances in students'
individualized programs. |
•
Student Motivation Strategies
| Communications Workshop motivation
strategies enable the teachers to create
and sustain student interest. They
are used to modify negative or
inconsistent behavior through personally
planned interactions. |
•
Intervention Strategies
| Strategies of intervention enable
teachers to encourage active student
involvement in their personal academic
programs and the avoidance of
unproductive "non-academic" activities
by fostering more positive, personal,
teacher/student relationships.
These strategies may be used to guide
teacher-student interactions in order to
achieve desired academic results.
|
•
Functional Vocabulary and Spelling System
| Vocabulary and spelling skills are
developed functionally. Unfamiliar
words drawn from students' actual
in-class reading are recorded and
reviewed regularly until mastery of
pronunciation, meaning, spelling, and
proper usage have been demonstrated.
|
•
Functional, Retrieval Word Attack System
| A unique functional approach to word
attack is used to reinforces decoding
skills, using a variety of materials in
and out of sequence. Key words are
selected and reinforced via brief
word-family drills. |
|
