kitchen table math, the sequel: aloha from Seattle

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

aloha from Seattle

I'm here in Seattle, attending Morningside Academy's Summer Institute, and ---- wow.

We should just turn the entire K-12 system over to Morningside.

Seriously.
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11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Or not:
"Morningside is not a school for children with significant emotional problems, behavioral problems, or developmental delays."

July 17, 2012 at 9:33 AM
palisadesk said...

Nevertheless, many of the techniques developed at Morningside work well with students in those categories. I've used them with such students, and some Morningside teacher alumni have gone out and founded successful schools for children with precisely such issues. The Sept-June Morningside school targets LD and ADHD-type kids in particular, but the Teacher Academy program takes a broader view.

Catherine, I figured you'd say "Wow" or something similar. I felt the same way.

Only wish I had gone there 15 years ago rather than five years ago.

July 17, 2012 at 10:10 AM
FedUpMom said...

I am thoroughly skeptical of the ability of "experts" to determine whether a child's problem is emotional or academic.

Our Younger Daughter was refused admission to a LD school on the grounds that her problems were "emotional and behavioral, not academic." After a year of a great deal of academic work on our parts, guess what -- no more emotional or behavioral problems on her part.

It turned out that her emotional problems were caused by underlying academic problems. Basically, she wasn't learning how to read, which caused anxiety, which caused bad behavior.

July 17, 2012 at 10:43 AM
M&M said...

My daughter is learning disabled from a stroke at birth. This is her 3rd VERY SUCCESSFUL summer at Morningside Academy. When she started, she had completed 5th grade and was testing at 2nd Grade 0 month for writing. This year at the end of 7th grade, she tested 6th grade 6th month on most of her writing EXCEPT on the essay portion, which she scored 9TH grade!!! When she started Morningside academy, she couldn't construct a paragraph, let alone an essay. This year she is in their Study Skills class and loving it. I have taken many of their ideas about fluency and applied them to my math tutoring and math class business (I teach homeschooling math classes at co-ops) with much success.

I TOTALLY agree with Catherine. I wish our local schools would take a page from Morningside Academy. We are local;you would think they would, especially after the big flap in Seattle about the horrid math curriculum that parents did not like.

Marna
www.kirklandmasterymath.com

July 18, 2012 at 9:45 AM
Catherine Johnson said...

Anonymous - One of the funny (in the sense of amusing) things about the Institute was that of the 21 teachers attending the Institute, only 1 that I know of (me) is actually teaching a general ed population.

Everyone else is teaching autistic kids (usually inside specialized autism programs, not in inclusive or mainstreamed settings).

(There were two women from Toronto who are setting up a tutoring business. I don't know whether they are teaching inside a school system now.)

July 24, 2012 at 5:16 PM
Catherine Johnson said...

There are kids with autism in the school. They're all high-functioning, but they do have autism.

July 24, 2012 at 5:17 PM
Catherine Johnson said...

Only wish I had gone there 15 years ago rather than five years ago.

You and me both.

I desperately needed this for Andrew & Jimmy, and for Chris, too.

They've got the magic.

July 24, 2012 at 5:18 PM
palisadesk said...

That's an interesting change from the summer I was there -- almost all the teachers were general ed teachers, there was one from a private school that uses the Arrowsmith program. A bunch were from Indian reservations in South Dakota and I think Montana , some from the Yukon, another bunch from New Orleans (the Recovery District), and from Philadelphia (the public school district). There were at least a half dozen administrators, too (from N.O. and Philly)

So was most of your training about teaching kids with autism? The summer I went it was all about accelerating learning in general ed. I imagine many principles would be similar regardless.

July 24, 2012 at 5:26 PM
Catherine Johnson said...

Kent was a little nonplussed by the composition of the class, I must say. He's not an autism guy, and his institute was probably 100% autism people, including me, when you count my two autistic kids. (Though, again, I don't know what kinds of kids the two women from Toronto teach.)

Kent had to keep saying things like, "I don't really know too much about autism..."

July 24, 2012 at 5:29 PM
Catherine Johnson said...

I wish our local schools would take a page from Morningside Academy. We are local;you would think they would

On the weekend, I walked over to the Space Needle and discovered that the Gates Foundation borders Seattle Center, which puts it just 5 or 6 blocks away from Morningside.

I would have gone over and picketed Gates if I'd had a pal to go with.

YOU'RE 5 BLOCKS AWAY FROM MORNINGSIDE ACADEMY AND YOU STILL HAVEN'T FIGURED IT OUT?

July 24, 2012 at 5:31 PM
Catherine Johnson said...

The summer I went it was all about accelerating learning in general ed.

That's what it was about ----

July 24, 2012 at 5:42 PM

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