Stories of Children’s Lives Changed

LSEM > stories
Jul
06
Recognizing Success

As the school year comes to an end, teachers always evaluate the goals they set for their students and celebrate their achievements. Successes are shared with parents and plans can be made for the upcoming year. A teacher expects to see growth in her students and is excited to praise them for their hard work […]

Posted in: Wow Story,
Jun
15
Graduation Gratitude

                        We had 8th graduation last night. These two were my students for the past years. Look what they wrote in the Graduation Issue of Connect, our school publication. I am so proud of both of them and touched with what they said! “Mrs. Roohan […]

Posted in: Wow Story,
Jun
08
Carryover Success

I began seeing a student in the middle of last year. Mom was very concerned that her son would not do well seeing me because he didn’t want to be seen as different. I took her feelings into consideration and tried to make seeing me fun. He warmed up to me immediately. I taught him […]

Posted in: Wow Story,
May
25
Learning and Teaching

This has been an incredible year so far, and I am very glad I said “yes” to this position. My vision statement for the year was to educate myself about dyscalculia and how to teach a student who has this disability, never dreaming that I would be doing more than that. This has become “on […]

Posted in: Wow Story,
May
18
Coolness!

  2nd grader using her tools to study. She is using her colored reading strip and Inspiration Maps on the iPad. This is her first time using Inspiration Maps. COOLNESS because she is attending and engaged in her learning. She says “I’m good at using technology!” ~written by Cathy Roohan, LSEM teacher in First Lutheran […]

Posted in: Wow Story,
May
11
A Path of Improvement

I had a new student start with intervention after the fall conferences.  He needed help with both reading comprehension and math.  We began addressing deficit skills in math and using study guides in literature to assist with comprehension.  After several stops and starts, he began to utilize strategies, materials, and resources with great success.  His […]

Posted in: Wow Story,
May
04
Learning Brings Confidence

I have so many great stories that my cup runneth over! This year, however, my WOW story would have to be about A. I have been working with A for two years. He had great difficulty with reading fluency and reading comprehension. His score for reading fluency was at the 25th percentile. His reading comprehension […]

Posted in: Wow Story,
Apr
27
Something That Works

Writing is not something that comes easy for many students on my caseload. It is even more difficult for one of my students who has dyslexia. She has brilliant ideas but getting those ides from her head to paper can be exhausting. We have started to implement many different accommodations to find what works best […]

Posted in: Wow Story,
Apr
20
From Fearful to Fearless

Math has a reputation for being the subject students either love or hate. It’s not uncommon to have students tell you that they hate math class because the work is just too difficult for them to understand. This year I started working with a student who struggled in math. She felt so lost in what […]

Posted in: Wow Story,
Apr
13
A Magical Moment

Towards the beginning of the school year, I began teaching my second grader (H.H.) addition.  We had been working on the concept of understanding and completing addition problems independently.  I tried everything I could think of: We used many manipulatives, blocks, a number line, our fingers, and even some physical activities such as hopping out […]

Posted in: Wow Story,