Reflection on Autism Conference

English Department Adjunct Rochelle Sayler attend a conference on Autism with Julia Hanawalt of The Center for Student Success. Below is Rochelle's reflection on the conference.

By Rochelle Sayler.


What is Autism? How does it impact my teaching? These questions and many more were answered during the “Inclusion and Social Skills for Autism Spectrum Disorders” conference I recently attended. This conference was sponsored by Spectrum Training Systems, an organization dedicated to inform educators and the public about Autism. Special speakers at the conference were Dr. Paula Kluth a special educator, author and educational policy specialist, and Dr. Jed Baker a clinical psychologist, current director of the Social Skills Training Project and a behavioral consultant for New Jersey School systems. Both speakers gave poignant examples, vivid stories, and practical advice for dealing with special needs students.

What is Autism? The clinical definition of Autism states an impairment in social interaction and communication, and restricted, repetitive and stereotyped patterns in behavior, interest and activities. However, Dr. Kluth dislikes the definition and prefers to describe people with Autism as having “unique and highly individualized skills and abilities; communication differences and complexities; and often have expertise or deep interest in one or several topics, including a fascination with objects.” She emphasizes the perspective that all students bring their own exceptional talents and abilities to our classrooms.

How does this impact my teaching? Throughout the two day conference, Dr. Kluth and Dr. Baker emphasized various principals to guide teachers in tailoring their classrooms for every student. The following are a few I found inspiring and applicable:

• Know your students. What are their interests? What are they passionate about? Maybe they like Italian food, or reality TV shows. Connecting with students is about much more than knowing their name; it’s about knowing them and showing them you care.
• Invest in interest. How can you incorporate students’ interests with assignments? Maybe that means becoming extremely creative and thinking outside the box. However, student will appreciate your effort and probably enjoy working on the assignment. Everyone enjoys exploring and experimenting with their passions.
• Teach first, then correct. Ever want to dismiss the student who didn’t finish the assignment, again? Search for the teachable moment first. Why is completing a task important for the student’s future? Explain how it benefits the student both now and in the future; then, administer the discipline. Seek to teach.
• Be unrealistic. As Helen Keller was pressed to do more than merely use a fork at the dinner table, so must teachers nag, push, and prod students to become more than they ever dreamed.

Teachers must “ignite the fire of intelligent” as Dr. Kluth avowed, and not forget that “we can change the world!” And Dr. Baker concluded the conference by imparting his final words of wisdom: have fun.

More or less?

By David DeBaker

I have been teaching English 210 Introduction to Film for three years now. The class is great fun to teach, but I have been struggling with how to best help my students learn the terms and ideas they need to know. My main issue has been with how much information I give them. Most of the students in this class are not looking for a career in the movies so I know that I don’t need to turn them into moviemakers, I need to meet the ADOs of the class and help them look at movies in a new way. This leads me to a constant struggle of how much do I teach them. How much about movies do they need to know?

One of the sections that have always been a struggle for me is a chapter that contains 15 different elements of something called Mise en Scene. Mise en Scene is a collection of ways to analyze the visuals in a particular scene. My goal with each lesson, and in particular Mise en Scene, is to give them the terms and tools they need to speak and write about what they are seeing on screen.

In the past two years I have gone over all fifteen elements and spent a short amount of time on each one. The students always felt frustrated and rushed and they felt like they weren’t getting it. And their papers reflected that.

So, this year I decided to spend more time on just a few of the elements instead of covering all 15 and it went much better. I picked what I thought were the five most important elements and went over them more in depth. They seemed to understand it more and to make connections to the other elements quicker. There was a stronger feeling of confidence from them.

The realization I had from doing all this is that before I gave them less, I was certain that I had to give them all fifteen elements, but after my experiment I realized that maybe less is more.

What I am trying to figure out is what are the steps they need to reach their goal of being able to analyze a movie. This issue is no different than me trying to figure out the steps I need to have them take to write a paper and I would imagine that some of you have similar issues with how much information to give your students.

I’d be curious to know how some of you deal with this idea of how much to teach your students about a typical concept? Have any of you been experimenting with how much to give them and what steps to take along the way? Any success or horror stories?