Group items tagged

A learning disabled student …

Use these appropriate strategies with learning disabled students:

Present tests and reading materials in an oral format so the assessment is not unduly influenced by lack of reading ability.

“This is not going to be easy and it is going to take a lot of time and energy, but I want to do this and I know I can!”

What I do believe is that it will be increasingly important to maintain our own learning. 

I am truly surprised to see how many students from other states and countries are part of SLN. 

introduction post counted (which apparently it didn’t) that now I am behind.

I did that wrong too

Offer differentiated instruction. Be aware that you'll have students of differing abilities in your classroom. Don't make the mistake of crafting a single lesson for everybody—without taking into consideration the different ability levels.

Students should have multiple opportunities to set their own academic goals.

trust and respect

. While many of those scientists seek to discover general principles of learning, we all acknowledge that there are differences among students. Understanding these differences and applying that understanding in the classroom can improve everyone's education

First, whether we call it talent, ability, or intelligence, people vary in their capacity to learn different areas of content

Second, and often intertwined with ability, students differ in their interests. If a student loves the piano, or basketball, or chess, or the biology of frogs, that student will no doubt learn material related to that subject faster than another one who does not share that fascination.

"the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance, or in collaboration with more capable peers"

In the meantime, I've written a book, from which this article is drawn, about all that I've learned from my research. In my book, I focus on what I identify as seven myths, or widely held beliefs, that dominate our educational practice. I start with the myth that teaching facts prevents understanding, because this (along with my second myth, that teacher-led instruction is passive) is the foundation of all the other myths I discuss. These myths have a long pedigree and provide the theoretical justification for so much of what goes on in schools. Taken together, all seven myths actually damage the education of our pupils. But here, let's focus on facts and the role knowledge has in our understanding.

Why Is It a Myth? My aim here is not to criticize true conceptual understanding, genuine appreciation of significance, or higher-order skill development. All of these things are indeed the true aim of education. My argument is that facts and subject content are not opposed to such aims; instead, they are part of it. Rousseau, Dewey, and Freire were wrong to see facts as the enemy of understanding. All the scientific research of the last half-century proves them wrong. The modern bureaucrats and education experts who base policy and practice on their thinking are wrong too, and with less excuse, as they have been alive when evidence that refutes these ideas has been discovered. Rousseau was writing in the 18th century; Dewey at the turn of the 20th; Freire in the 1970s. Research from the second half of the 20th century tells us that their analyses of factual learning are based on fundamentally faulty premises.

If we want pupils to develop the skills of analysis and evaluation, they need to know things. Willingham puts it this way:23 Data from the last thirty years lead to a conclusion that is not scientifically challengeable: thinking well requires knowing facts, and that's true not just because you need something to think about. The very processes that teachers care about most—critical thinking processes such as reasoning and problem solving—are intimately intertwined with factual knowledge that is stored in long-term memory (not just found in the environment).

The House gave its assent Friday to $84 billion in federal funding to help keep the country competitive in the fields of scientific and technological innovatio

$40 billion over the five-year period for research and education programs,

needs