Aligning Outcomes, Assessment and Activities
Bringing Technology Support to the Dyslexia Therapy Space
In line with my innovation plan, I have used Fink's 3 column table to design a technology enhanced dyslexia therapy course plan. This would run along side the typical multi-sensory, state mandated programs that schools already use and would further students learning by allowing them to have additional repetitions and add to the valuable instruction they are receiving. Fink's six categories allowed me to think about the therapy table in a different way and categorize the crucial learning that is already taking place in classrooms across the world. By thinking through the foundational knowledge, application, integration, human dimension, caring, and learning how to learn needed, the three column table has helped develop goals, activities, and outcomes to ensure strong student learning (Fink, 2003.).
Learning Environment & Situational Factors to Consider
Specific Context of the Teaching/Learning Situation
Small Groups
(4-6 Students)
Age: 2nd - 6th Grade
Daily / 45 minutes
In Person Meetings
Student 1:1 Chromebooks
Newline Interactive Whiteboard
The Texas Dyslexia Handbook has guidelines for who qualifies and who may deliver the curriculum. Curriculum is Orton-Gillingham based and multi-sensory and delivered with fidelity. TEA has a list of suggested curriculums and my district uses Take Flight: A Comprehensive Intervention for Students with Dyslexia. Therapists are able to make therapeutic decisions as long as there is data and research to back up what they are doing. Therefore, doing something such as reinforcing learning with technology would be welcomed and encouraged.
General Context of the Learning Situation
Nature of the Subject
Dyslexia therapy (DT) is mainly practical, focusing on interventions and strategies that are known to work based on years of research. However, some of it can be theoretical because it is based on how dyslexia impacts the brain. DT is mainly convergent because it is focused on finding solutions for helping those who have dyslexia. There is some debate on which programs are the best, how to incorporate technology (and the research on this), the research is ongoing on the physical understandings and causes of dyslexia and there are questions and debates on when it is best to diagnose and start intervention.
There will be a wide variety of learners in my classes. The area is typically that of a higher socio-economic background, combined with our bilingual program which brings learners from all over the district. Students who have been in DT for awhile typically recognize how much it helps them and enjoy time spent in class, while students who are at the beginning of the program may be nervous and do not understand how the strategies will help them learn. Dyslexia comes on a spectrum and effects each child differently so some may be twice exceptional with both dyslexia and GT, while others may have multiple comorbidities such as ADHD.
Characteristics of the Learners
Characteristics of the Teacher
The teacher needs to be a CALT/CALP or working towards this certification. They also need to believe that technology can aid our DT students and be willing to apply it to their daily routines when appropriate. They need to have been trained on the new application from my innovation plan or be willing to and be familiar with other technology tools. They always presume competence of dyslexic kiddos and love to bring out their creativity and other ways of doing things. The teacher is not afraid to take a risk with technology and is interested in trying new programs and applications.
My Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG):
Learners will participate in researched based, multi-sensory, Dyslexia Therapy with added technology components, such as the application developed by my innovation plan, to enrich and add to their classroom experience. While there are components of their program that must be implemented with fidelity, there are activities that can be added and will most definitely enrich their experience through gamification and technology use (Firdaus, Syafrizal, & Nulhakim, 2024). Practicing skills in another way that appeals to the student are simply adding more repetitions which are beneficial to dyslexic students (Montgomery et al., 2013, p. 6).
This goal is to focus on adding extra repetitions that can be done with technology and pull on the strength of the collective when possible (Thomas & Brown, 2011).
​Foundational Knowledge:​
What key information (e.g., facts, terms, formulae, concepts, principles, relationships, etc.) is/are important for students to understand and remember in the future?
Students will take key foundational skills learned and remember how to apply them once they leave the DT classroom.
What key ideas (or perspectives) are important for students to understand in this course?
Even once they “graduate” DT, they still have the technology available to practice and get more repetitions and practice the skills.​
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Application Goals:
What kinds of thinking are important for students to learn?
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Critical thinking, in which students analyze and evaluate
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Creative thinking, in which students imagine and create
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Practical thinking, in which students solve problems and make decisions
In this course the practical thinking is the most important due to the nature of the end goal of applying foundational knowledge and getting them to use technology to practice and aid their dyslexia therapy. While as a teacher I want them to be applying critical thinking and creative thinking, our learning outcomes here fall strictly to the explicit learning goals of decoding and using technology to enhance and increase repetitions.
Integration Goals:
What connections (similarities and interactions) should students recognize and make among ideas within this course?
Students should apply the foundational skills to their spelling and dictation sections of dyslexia therapy.
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Among the information, ideas, and perspectives in this course and those in other courses or areas?
Students should apply these skills to their outside classwork and synthesize the foundational and application skills to non-dyslexia therapy work.
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Among material in this course and the students' own personal, social, and/or work life?
Reading is a lifetime skill, so students will always need to be applying the skills they learned in DT to the world around them.
Human Dimensions Goals:
What could or should students learn about themselves?
Students should learn how to be self evaluating and aware of their own strengths and weaknesses.
What could or should students learn about understanding others and/or interacting with them?
Students should learn that their strengths may match up with someone else’s weaknesses and that together they can help each other become stronger learners.
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Caring Goals:
What changes/values do you hope students will adopt?
Feelings?
Students will adopt a level of a Growth Mindset and that they can change their brains if they are invested in their dyslexia therapy.
Interests?
Students will become interested in things that help them achieve in their education. Is it technology? Is it building relationships with others? Is it a certain type of book that brings them joy?
Values?
Students will learn the value of dyslexia therapy and the gift that reading truly is.
"Learning-How-to-Learn" Goals:
What would you like for students to learn about:
How to be good students in a course like this?
To be a good student in a course like this student simply just have to try and attempt what is asked of them.
How to learn about this particular subject?
In this particular subject it is helpful to be aware of what they are learning easily and what they are not understanding so easily and communicate that to their teacher.
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How to become a self-directed learner of this subject, i.e., having a learning agenda of what they need/want to learn, and a plan for learning it?
Students can take ownership of their learning by simply following the directions of their therapist and by doing the tasks and homework asked of them. DT is easy to be successful in if you make an effort.
A year (or more) after this course is over, I want and hope that students will continue to utilize technology to gain extra repetitions in dyslexia therapy.