The Foundation of The Rosemont Method™

Why Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes? In 1986, about 100 years after Orton and Gillingham were born, Pat and Phyllis Lindamood and Nanci Bell created Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes, and in our opinion, it is the premiere reading intervention program that benefits our Falcons in multiple ways. For Rosemont, it wasn't just about finding a reading program and products to help our students with dyslexia, it was specifically about finding a reading program for dyslexia and other reading deficits that had a strong comprehension component to help all types of struggling readers. That's why we exclusively use Lindamood-Bell--the  added benefit of reading comprehension. When compared, Lindamood-Bell develops, "the imagery-language connection underlying the reading, comprehension, and math processes. Whereas programs like Orton-Gillingham focus on instructional strategies and expectancies related to phonetic processing, Lindamood-Bell programs stimulate the cognitive skills for reading fluency and language comprehension." 

Rosemont's Reading Specialist and Director of Intervention, Cristina deLamar, served as a clinician, consultant, and Associate Director at Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes. After that, she was a Division Director at one of the most highly regarded schools for dyslexia and reading skills acquisition in the nation.  Mrs. deLamar  works with our students individually, in small groups, and in the classrooms. Watching them make advances across grade levels per school year is inspiring not only to them but to us!

And as an added bonus, Lindamood-Bell has an outstanding math program for students with dyscalculia!

Hands-on and Inquiry-based learning are two catch-all phrases that have been in use for about 100 years. They can mean anything from coloring a picture related to a topic to completing a project. As a parent, you have to ask yourself how authentic are these experiences, and how do they advance my child's learning? Luckily, at Rosemont, we asked those questions for you and realized that Hands-on Learning  and Inquiry-based Learning  are not defined or effective enough to be representative of our methodology. Enter the 5E Instructional Model. The 5E Model is based on the constructivist theory of learning, which suggests that people construct knowledge and meaning from experiences. But that's just its jumping off point. 

The keys to the 5E Instructional Model are the 5Es: 

• Engage
• Explore
• Explain
• Elaborate
• Evaluate

The 5Es are taught as a cycle and engage students' curiosity and move them into higher order thinking processes and experiences. This structure is the foundation for all lessons taught at Rosemont. "The International Journal on New Trends in Education and Their Implications found the 5E learning cycle model positively affects student achievement and the permanence of knowledge." 

Differentiation in the classroom began in the 1600's in the one-room schoolhouse, so it isn't exactly the cutting-edge  teaching technique it's purported to be. In its most general sense, differentiation is teaching a benchmark to the whole group and then breaking down the activity and the assessment by skill set and then grouping students based on that skillset to complete the work. The room is almost always divided into three homogenous, ability-based groups--low, medium, and high--and the work they're given reflects their skill set. Doesn't sound so great now, does it? Especially if you're the student who's always in the "low" group, and believe us, no matter how it's packaged or named, the kids always know what group they're in. At Rosemont, we do differentiation the right way, which means we don't use that method at all. Of course we understand that students learn different concepts in different ways at different speeds, that's Teaching 101. But at Rosemont, we've replaced Differentiated Instruction with Universal Design for Learning (UDL). UDL is a framework for instruction that was perfected in 1990 (about 400 years after that one-room schoolhouse!) and reflects these basic principles:

• Provide multiple means of  engagement--address the WHY of learning.
• Provide multiple means of representation--address the WHAT of learning.
• Provide multiple means of action and expression -- address the HOW of learning.

Universal Design for Learning allows students to self-differentiate based upon the options and choices that the teacher provides, unlike Differentiated Instruction that is based upon the teacher creating instruction and groups based on perceived student levels. UDL engages students at their level without the punitive groupings of differentiation.

 The Rosemont Method™ was created to address specific learning quirks by incorporating multiple instructional models to improve student engagement and retention in a way no other methodology can. The brilliant Dianne Kraft and her masterful work defining "learning gates" is one program that we use to address any student who may require an intervention due to dysgraphia, attending and focus, and auditory processing. 

Twice Exceptional students (gifted with a glitch) especially thrive at Rosemont. Our curriculum is typical to advanced and is not modified in any way. Rosemont's lessons challenge Twice Exceptional students and engage them on an advanced academic level, and our unique methodology addresses individual "glitches." 

Starting in Kindergarten, each Rosemont student receives their own iPad. By 3rd grade our students receive their own laptop. Rosemont classrooms are powered by Google suite which includes Google Classrooms, however,  we use Savvas as our universal, book-based curriculum. Our teaching methods are based on constructivist theories, so there is plenty of engagement and learning through experience in the classrooms, but it is the 21st century, and our Falcons are prepared.  

Learn more about Universal Design for Learning here: https://udlguidelines.cast.org/ 

Learn more about The 5 Es here: https://lesley.edu/article/empowering-students-the-5e-model-explained 

Learn more about Dianne Craft here: https://diannecraft.org/ 

*Reminder: We are not a Lindamood-Bell Academy or tutoring center. We just think they're the best reading intervention program for our students, and we have a Reading Specialist who has specialized in this program for over a decade. Lindamood-Bell® is a servicemark of Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes ("LBLP"). LBLP in no way guarantees the quality of the materials or services that may be supplied by Rosemont Academy. Rosemont Academy is an independent private school and is not affiliated with Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes, Inc., Pat Lindamood, Phyllis Lindamood, or Nanci Bell. That having been said, Rosemont loves the program and we are proud to use its resources at Rosemont Academy.