A Kid in Need of Special Help: Education at its Worst

Hi All,

Here's a nasty 'education' story for you.

I need to tell you about my nephew, Spencer. He's a great kid...very sweet, gentle, and of course, we love him to bits. Spencer is a kid who struggles with school. It has never been easy for him. He is what I would call an "at risk" kid, but I'm not a doctor or a psychologist, so take that as you please. Spencer lives with his dad and younger brother, with very limited resources.
Spencer started high school this year. His high school is a good 50 minute walk from his house. It is far enough to be extremely discouraging for a young 14 year old boy who finds school a challenge to begin with. Add a heavy backpack, a busy highway, and a good Canadian winter, and we're not just talking about "a healthy walk" anymore.
Since August, my brother has been asking the school to provide bus service to pick up Spencer. He has to walk right by the bus stop on the way to school! The school is refusing. Let me show you a few things here.

The route, according to Google Maps, is 3.2 km from home to school: a 40 minute walk by their estimate, but 45 - 50 minutes in reality.

Here is a clip from the most recent letter received by my brother.

So, lemme get this straight... Spencer lives 3.2 km from school, according to Google Maps. The board has decided that he lives "under 3.2kms from the school and within the school's non transportation zone", according to ???
AND the BEST PART is that RATHER than let the kid on the bus which he has to walk by, they have decided to MOVE THE BUS STOP!!!!   Wow! That is just plain SPITEFUL!

Meanwhile, on FB,

They won't even call back to discuss it. Those of us who care about this boy are writing letters to the school asking for a bus ride for Spencer. It shouldn't be this difficult to get a needy kid on a bus.
I'd really like to hook you up with a link to send letters with us. I'm afraid of being sued. These are seriously not nice people.
I guess I'm so shocked because the teachers that I know are beautiful, caring, dedicated people who genuinely care about the kids they teach. Why would one school choose to do the absolute worst possible thing they can think of against one kid who needs help? I don't get it.

Thanks for reading.

***Update***
Want to help? Sign our petition. Thanks for caring!
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/put-spencer-mcintyre-on-the-bus.html

Beginners' Dictionary

I teach beginners. Not your average "false beginners" who just need to remember things they already learned, but REAL "start at the beginning" beginners.

In class, I teach ABC's (they still mix up 'c and s', and 'u and y', basic printing (stay on the lines, make them all the same size, capitals are different from small letters), basic phonics...Dolch wordlist, basic vocabulary (nouns and verbs of things in your life), simple tenses, question words (and they cannot remember the difference between Who and How), subject pronouns (I, You, He, She, It.....).  I mean it's REALLY beginner level! I have never been able to find an online dictionary simple enough for them. There are some great online dictionaries out there, but my students who cannot distinguish "he" from "you" are just lost at sea when faced with a real dictionary.

Here's an example of what's going on around here.

Student's homework: write a few words OR draw a picture of:  Dentist  (I'm hoping to get something like "doctor for teeth"). That would make sense to a beginner.

What they actually wrote:

"One who is skilled in and licensed to practice the prevention"
"Vixed teeth"
"dent doctor"
"someone whose job is to treat people"
"dentist for us eliminate tootheche"
"good job"
"doctor teeth"
"------"

Some of them have clearly looked at and copied parts of dictionary references without fully understanding what they are copying. Some of them have the basic idea of doctor, treatment, toothache, some are trying to fake it, and some have just given up. I wished that I could direct them to a simple online dictionary and show them how to find things when they aren't sure. But looking online I find these:


noun
a person who is qualified to treat diseases and other conditions that affect the teeth and gums, especially the repair and extraction of teeth and the insertion of artificial ones

:his mouth is still sore from his visit to the dentist’s

a leather dentist’s chair

from: http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/dentist?q=dentist

• 
  

den·tist   [den-tist] Show IPA
noun
a person whose profession is dentistry.
from:http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/dentist?s=t

And:

den·tist noun \ˈden-təst\
Definition of DENTIST
: one who is skilled in and licensed to practice the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases, injuries, and malformations of the teeth, jaws, and mouth and who makes and inserts false teeth
from: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dentist  

None of these is any help at all to beginners.

Tonight I found this:

den·tist

 

pronunciation:

den tihst 

part of speech:	noun
definition:	a doctor who takes care of the teeth and mouth.

from: http://www.wordsmyth.net/?level=1&ent=dentist

....which is super cool because you can click for pronunciation, AND you click on the pictures to blow them up! Look how simple that is! This might be my new favourite site! A quick check of other vocab shows mostly simple simple explanations and pictures (see also: firefighter, actor, chef...)
This is what I've been dreaming of for years! Why didn't anybody tell me?


So I just wanted to tell you, if you're out there with beginners, and tearing your hair out at definitions like this:


"Musician: the crime of deliberately kiling (sic) someone"


www.wordsmyth.net              It may not be perfect, but it's a really good start! So excited!!

(This is not a paid advertisement. I'm just really happy to find something manageable for my students!)