How would you like an engaging, effective way to help your Special Ed and At Risk students improve test scores, improve attendance, graduate, and achieve more?
Here are four ways TEL.A.VISION is doing just that:
1) Eric Paquette, a ninth-grade writing teacher with a large special education population, is using the Tel.A.Vision program for the first time this year to generate a higher level of interest, motivation, and achievement among his students. He was quoted in a recent article in THE Journal entitled “Web-Based Hope,”
“It gives them a vision of what their life can be,” Paquette says. “I’ve found that Tel.A.Vision has really increased their focus. It’s the most engaged unit that I’ve worked with them on.”
2) Joey has Attention Deficit Disorder. His teacher says it is impossible to get him to do anything. On a Friday, the instructor says Monday the class will start their vision videos. Before starting on Monday, Joey raises his hand and says, “Teacher I have already created three vision videos, can I show one to the class?” He does, gets a standing ovation and becomes the teacher’s assistant.
3) A low performing reading class of eighth graders who the teacher says, “Don’t read, don’t write and don’t participate” complete vision videos. The teacher says, “We were blown away by what they were able to do.” The videos are shared with all of the teachers in the school and the students are recognized in the hallways and classrooms for their work.
4) The Divas are a mentoring group for At Risk young women of color. Twenty-two Divas show up on three Saturdays to complete TEL.A.VISION videos. During the second session, one of the girls says that before starting her TEL.A.VISION, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to return to school the next year. Now she says, “I not only want to return to school but want to be the valedictorian…how do you spell that?”
Mrs. Kane from Lake Elmo Elementary School in Lake Elmo, Minn. ”I can not think of any other activity I could have done to get to know my students better than to have them create and share a TEL.A.VISION video.”
TEL.A.VISION personal vision videos will decrease the number of Special Education and At Risk dropouts by giving students a tool to create a new way of thinking positively about their futures, giving them more hope and more social and emotional support. As has been said many times, “Whether students believe they can or they believe they can’t, they’re right.”
TEL.A.VISION has created an extensive curriculum for Special Education teachers under the direction of Dr. Christy Chambers, past president of CASE (Council of Adminstrators of Special Education) and past superintendent of Special Education District of McHenry County, Woodstock, IL. This curriculum will show you how to incorporate student vision videos in their IEPs, use vision videos to plan for transitions, and create visions for the coming year.