Group items tagged

Great article about how different states and communities reduced the achievement gap. It mentions Maryland, and states that MD provides extra instruction for students who are not on track to pass the High School Assessment. But I think it would be a lot more useful to provide extra instruction at lower grades to reduce the achievement gap early on.

I selected this article as it serves as a reminder that as educators we need to look at our instructional techniques and designs to figure out what we can do better in helping our students learn. Sometimes, we get so comfortable with a particular strategy, that we fail to see how it impacts student learning. This article is a reminder that we must vary instruction to promote student learning. Abstract: The problem of achievement gaps among different subgroups of students has been evident in education for many years. This manuscript revisits the work of renowned educator Benjamin S. Bloom, who saw reducing gaps in the achievement of various groups of students as a simple problem of reducing variation in student learning outcomes.

This article shows that through reflective teaching and coaching, diverse struggling readers can beneficiate from different strategies and will help to close instructional gaps.

I like the ideas presented here, they elaborate on the need for ELL students to have word association and phonetic instruction to further their understanding of content. This is particularly stressed in the elementary grades, however having a teaching coach for ELL learners in the higher grades could assist students that did not have phonetic instruction in the lower grades. One particular item of interest was the comment made that data results from assessment is not analyzed until later in the year and as a result does not benefit the students that took the assessment. Due to this the author stresses the need for collaboration of the teaching team to identify skills and strategies needed and subsequently develop ways to address the skill or strategy needed that will enhance learning.

Week 8: "Language plays an important part in math instruction, particularly for ELLs. This article offers some strategies for making language an integral part of math instruction and the tools and language ELLs need to master math." This article delves deeper into the importance of content vocabulary and content knowledge. Often, the foundation and basics of content areas are brushed over creating a gap for many learners. In mathematics, despite the universal language, there are barriers due to language and deficit in content-related knowledge. This article offers strategies to bridge the gap and increase content knowledge to supplement the learning taking place.

This is a Wikki that thoroughly provides strategies to close the instructional and learning gap around the skill of understanding the main idea of Informational Text. The 6.2 tab was very helpful when thinking about ELL, SPED, and multiple modality instructional considerations.

(Week 7: Benjamin, Cheney, and Gretchen) The journal article is accessible by the link above through the UMUC library services. The journal article discusses the ways that a classroom teacher can use Reading Recovery strategies within the guided reading small group instruction. Reading Recovery is an one on one intervention that is short term. The intervention provides one on one tutoring for first grade students. The article explains the effective strategies that Reading Recovery teachers use that can be implemented in small group instruction. The strategies that the article focuses on are fluency through rereading familiar texts, modeling fluent expectations, providing a strong book introduction, knowing when to prompt the students, and observing and analyzing. Teachers can use this article to understand different strategies in order to improve guided reading instruction such as using running records to help guide instruction. "Likewise, careful analysis of running records (formal or informal) helps teachers to further understand how students respond to difficult text."(Lipp & Helfrich, 2016) Teachers need to use running records as a way to locate the deficits in a students reading and plan lessons that will bridge that gap. Lipp and Helfrich(2016) also states that "interrupting a student who is reading must not be a lengthy process that breaks the flow of the story." It is important to explicitly and intentionally interrupt a student while reading with quick prompts that will help the student guide themselves to self corrections. References: Lipp, J. R., & Helfrich, S. R. (2016). Key Reading Recovery Strategies to Support Classroom Guided Reading Instruction. Reading Teacher, 69(6), 639-646. doi:10.1002/trtr.1442

Without comprehension, reading is a frustrating, pointless exercise in word calling. It is no exaggeration to say that how well students develop the ability to comprehend what they read has a profound effect on their entire lives.1 A major goal of reading comprehension instruction, therefore, is to help students develop the knowledge, skills, and experiences they must have if they are to become competent and enthusiastic readers.

(Week 8: Adiatu, Julie, and Heather) This journal article was found on Diigo by Heather, and is accessible through the link given above. The article was written by the Texas Education Agency, and explored a 1970 classroom study on a reading comprehension strategy taught by teachers where students had to complete an assignment by applying a specific skill mentioned by their teacher. Assessments showed the strategy did not enable comprehension. Following the 1970 study, cognitive scientists found that comprehension is not a skill application. Rather, comprehension is about constructing meaning, which involves interaction, strategy, and adaption. The article is useful to teachers because it suggests activities that teachers can use in the classroom to improve how students construct meaning. For example, having students think aloud as they read. This journal article is useful to our group because the teachers' artifacts are based on the reading comprehension and vocabulary gaps of their students, and the authors stress that teachers should strictly monitor the oral reading skills of students that are having reading comprehension difficulties. Reference What research tells us about reading, comprehension, and comprehension instruction. (2009, January 2). Retrieved from http://www.readingrockets.org/article/what-research-tells-us-about-reading-comprehension-and-comprehension-instruction

Front Row is a website and an iOS application designed for K-8 students. The application was originally designed to help close instructional gaps in mathematics. This adaptive learning software allows students to work at their own pace as they earn coins and move up levels in all 5 of the Common Core math domains. Later on Front Row added an ELA component that provides leveed texts and quizzes for students. All of the activities that students do through From Row generate data for parents and teachers. One of the features that Front Row also has is free and paid IBL's (Inquiry Based Lessons) for grades 1-8. I actually created a screencast on how I use IBL's in my own classroom.Check it out here -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qot1wzQTd5o

Front Row is a great software that helps teachers fill learning gaps! It is an application that students have their own accounts where they can individualize their learning. They learn at their own pace and are not pressured to stay up to speed as their peers. There is motivation involved in collecting gold coins, and there are videos for students that need extra support on a certain content if they are answering the questions incorrectly.I have used Front Row in my classrooms through blended learning and it has worked great!

This article focuses on strategies to improve classroom questioning practices to support the learning gaps of students. I see learning gaps related to questioning levels also directly connected to an instructional gap as it is the responsibility of the teacher to facilitate these learning opportunities and an environment that nurtures curiosity. This resource is applicable to all grade levels as it focuses on the value of each level of questions and the role of the instructor as it relates to responding to questions by students, also known as feedback. Feedback is an essential component of student questions and is best managed with a few key steps: appropriate wait times for responding by the students and the teacher, encouragement of student responses to peer questions, specific feedback, and increasing student questions (rather than teacher-developed questions).

PBS producer David Bolt explores ways to bridge the technology access gap.

PBS producer David Bolt explores ways to bridge the technology access gap.

You can't have a conversation about education reform without the words "achievement gap" coming in at some point, along with specific plans on how to close it. But are policymakers attempting to close it in an effective way? James Boutin, a veteran high school teacher just south of Seattle, Washington, answers in the following post.

How teachers are raising scores and student achievement by setting high expectations, frequent assessment and getting parents and families involved.

I really like the points that this article identifies in how teachers are closing the achievement gap. The main strategies that they are using are clearly helping students with their learning and understanding of the instruction. It is important to set high expectations for all students and to help students develop confidence in their learning. Through frequent assessment, we are able to monitor student growth and progress to identify what works for them and what needs to be improved. Parent involvement is also vital. Currently in my classroom, it is clear to me which parents are involved in their child's learning as it correlates to their child's performance. There needs to be a clear relationship and consistency between the two to maximize student success.

This research looked at students with and with out learning disabilities, receiving the same education as students with out disabilities. This has a big impact on my full inclusion classroom. Within the conclusion, the authors state that students with learning disabilities should receive more time on the curriculum to increase their achievement and lower the learning gaps between the students.

The NEA published this wonderful compilation of "research-based instructional strategies, school change activities, and family/school engagement efforts for closing the achievement gaps." Within its pages, the acronym C.A.R.E. - Culture, Abilities, Resilience, and Effort -- is referenced and connected to strategies for teachers to employ in order to make improvements in their classrooms. Teacher checklists, lesson plans, and student worksheets are included for each of these areas, which is great! The chapter on abilities is very interesting. It references the 8 different learning styles and challenges teachers to consider incorporating activities that touch on all. Overall, this booklet of sorts contains a lot of information that provokes much thought and reflection.

This research article describes how CRI is characterized by well-established best practices that ground the curriculum in the lives of its students, their families, and their communities in order to close the achievement gap.

This article focuses on closing the achievement gap with a focus on fluency. First, it discusses the wide range of readers many teachers receive in their classroom each year. Within these classrooms there are always students who are considered "struggling readers" and need extensive support that will help them to succeed. The article provides multiple ways teachers can work with these readers in order to close gaps. First, looking at student data and classroom instruction to determine what's going on with the student. Then, practicing and strengthening fluency skills. Willemina Mostert & Kathryn Glasswell mention four key components in building fluency skills; model good oral reading, provide oral support and assistance, offer many opportunities for practice, and encourage through paraphrasing. Additionally, they include four powerful practices for diverse learners.

Most teachers believe that students have a fear of word problems, but this article will have you second guessing that. The article will have teachers thinking that word problems should be used from the start of a lesson and not at the very end of a homework assignment. Students normally perform better on word problems then algebraic solving because they have context clues to help them solve the problem.

To sum up this article you can look at the following quote from it; And he warned that the tendency to wait before using word problems could exacerbate gaps for students who struggle with algebra early on, because they may not be exposed to many word problems at all. Students have a fear of word problems because they perceive that they are too hard before they even begin working on them. This combined with the gaps in the vocabulary knowledge are making word problems more difficult for them.

This is an article that explores the strategy of introducing word problems first during math instruction. As a math teacher, I tend to introduce concepts first then build up to applying those concepts to word problems. The strategy of introducing the word problems first acts to help students solve a problem using any method they are comfortable with, without getting bogged down with the math too soon and becoming unwillingly to solve it. This could address the SMART learning goal, by helping us to rethink the way in which students approach word problems.

As a language teacher, I found this article to be relatable because it discusses the ways in which teachers can close the achievement gap with students whose first language is not English. The article discusses achievement gaps and ways to combat them for ELL students.

This article appeared in the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education so at first I was worried that it would not be applicable; however, I quickly found that it is a fantastic resource for teachers of all ages. My goal is to learn more instructional strategies to facilitate an increase in the frequency of higher-level questioning that I use in the classroom to support the learning gaps that I have identified with my students. This article highlights very important concepts related to my search. I have learned that questioning strategies and using various levels should be done with appropriate timing, as it relates to the depth of instruction, to avoid confusion or discouraging students. It was also emphasized that all levels of questioning should be incorporated into learning situations, but suggested questioning methods to ensure that all levels are utilized. The article provides great detail about facilitating the Socratic method, Question Circles, and Student-generated questions. All of these methods will produce higher-level questioning opportunities to increase student exposure to critical thinking tasks. I would highly recommend this article for review for all levels of educators. I am now hoping to learn more about the Socratic method to incorporate this into my own classroom.