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This article compares Western teaching and learning with Asian (specifically Japan) learning/ Instruction. The author, Buchanan, touches on the methods used to differentiate such as for Gifted and Talented learners. Buchanan then gives suggestyions on improving teaching as a whole.

This brief article discusses the importance of Summer Programs to help lessen the learning gap that happens over the summer. It also mentions the challenges of creating and/or keeping these programs but shows how beneficial they can be.

This article had a very interesting view on summer programs. Every year during the annual review for IEP/504 meetings, the team will decide if a student qualifies for our extended school year (ESY) summer program. Students are only recommended if we determine there will be a great regression for a student during the break. Although many students would benefit from this, students in our autism program are mostly placed in ESY. This year, we are looking into having a "family night" where parents can learn about skills/strategies they can work on over the summer in order to help their student from regressing during the summer. While some parents may work with their child over the summer, the reality is those students who really need it, will not work over the summer. I am hoping more counties will create more programs to help all learners during the summer months.

This article mentions how much of student learning is forgotten over the summer because of the gap in the school year. This article also mentions the difference in socio-economic levels and how student from higher incomes are more likely to participate in summer activities that encourage learning. Whereas students from low incomes are often spending the summer at home with limited activities.

A study in using technology (among other things) to improve middle school math performance.

This KQED blog post provides information on current and past research that indicates how important movement and the use of our bodies are to learning. This research is called "embodied learning". The discussion on highly decorated classrooms is worth further exploration. This would be another great article for a text-based discussion in a PLC. The math and physics examples can be adapted for other content areas for use as instructional strategies.

(Week 9: Benjamin, Cheney, and Gretchen) This article is accessible through the link provided above. The main focus of this article is to inform educators of the positive effects movement can have on student learning. This article provides a series of studies where students were presented with different problems, mostly math, and encouraged to represent the problems with movement. Students who used physical movement to represent and solve mathematical problems demonstrated higher levels of success than their age-related peers who simply solved by reading a problem to themselves or aloud. This article is useful for all members of my team as it suggests methods for adapting physical movement to all content areas. Within this article it is suggested ""When students use their bodies in the learning process, it can have a big effect, even if it seems silly or unconnected to the learning goal at hand" (Schwartz, 2015). I think most teachers can find reassurance from this research-based article knowing that the implementation of movement doesn't have to fit directly with curriculum unit. The teachers within my specific team can use the practice of movement as an alternative method for instructing desired skills such as decoding strategies for reading or identifying/constructing numbers in base ten. Reference Schwartz, K. (2015, March 26). Why kids need to move, touch, and experience to learn. Retrieved from https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/39684/why-kids-need-to-move-touch-and-experience-to-learn

The article references stats that involve demographics pertaining to elementary reading and math. High school graduation rates and dropout rates amongst minorities in a californian community. The author looks at closing the achievement gap by getting parents involved and placing more emphasis on pre-K programs. The article states that when it comes to intervention, the way to look at it is, the earlier the better. The author provides suggestions to closing the gap.

There is no one way to use technology in the mathematics classroom, but I have always struggled with how to seamlessly move from a hard-copy activity to a technology based one. In order to improve students understanding of Algebra 1 concepts, I believe that they need to be provided with multiple ways to look at things. However, there does not always seem to be time to create other types of materials that are more visually appealing. The source below lists different ways that I could allow students to use technology to enhance their learning in and out of the classroom. I also appreciated knowing that some of the techniques that we currently use are considered "effective uses of technology" in the mathematics classroom i.e. collecting real-world data for in class work and taking pictures of real world objects. In the future, I would like to have a link of my Canvas page for students to find multiple tutorials for each concept that could a condensed version of the lesson from the day, along with other videos that would provide them with a new way to look at the information. With these resources students could be required to show that they viewed videos at home and it could help me to begin "flipping the classroom" and providing more enrichment and practice in the classroom for the students to solidify their understanding.

This article, by the Access Center, discusses how to implement differentiation effectively in the classroom. The method put forward states that one must access student readiness, determine student interest and identify learning styles to successfully differentiation. Multiple strategies are also presented for implementation in a math classroom setting.

For any elementary (or even secondary!) teachers, this is a great site with animated videos for math and science topics. They have tutorials on how to solve different math problems, and explanations on any science topics. You can always pause the video to have discourse when needed.

This website gives great definitions about various math topics at the middle and high school level. I am not a big fan of this page because it does not give good examples for students. However, I think it is a good teacher tool for getting the information to the students and gathering activities to do in the classroom. I will be using this in my WebQuest for students to research characteristics of a cube.

This site is useful for elementary and middle school teachers who want to enhance their math curriculum by using interactive learning games. The site is organized by grade level and content, so teachers can easily assign particular games for the students to play. Teachers can set score goals for students to ensure they master a topic.

This software is a game-based program that works on many areas in mathematics. the targeted grade levels are 1-5. I have used the software, and I found myself on it longer than expected. for the most part, I liked how the software is designed. I appreciate the gaming aspect of the software. It doesn't make you feel like you're just doing math work to do. I believe that the only thing that i wasn't to big on was that it doesn't really separate the different grade levels. They do breakdown the different math areas. Overall I would recommend this software.

In this blog post by Veteran Teacher, Susie Reilly, we learn about an online program called Matific. Through this blog, it is clear that Matific has left a mark on the students in her classroom with closing learning gaps that were specifically addressed within the program.

Free DreamBox K-8 math virtual manipulatives to use with any whiteboard bring math to life for students in large-or-small group instructional settings. This is a subscription based product the provides individualized activities for students. If your school doesn't have a subscription this site provides free teacher tools. It allows students to work on skills based on their level not the level of the class.

This artifact is a student handout of Bloom's Taxonomy for Science and Math. This table gives examples of different levels of questioning: Recalling information, understanding meaning, using learning in a new situation, ability to see parts and relationships, parts of information to create new whole, and judgement based on criteria.

This is a great resource for students to be able to work collaboratively to determine what they can do to make their writing better. The dimension I was focusing on was "impact on learning" from the protocol rubric. The SMART goal in our group is focused on students being able to complete a complex math assignment that requires multiple steps. Students also need to be able to explain their mathematics in written form to explain their thinking. This protocol of "praise, question, and suggestion" is a great resource that our students can use in order to make sure the writing aspect of their math makes sense and answers the question fully. I look forward to seeing the outcomes of utilizing this idea. Based on this, I would score the praise, question, suggestion tactic as a 3 or a 4.

(Week 8: Javon and Kim) I found this article on UMUC in the online Library. Traditionally, classrooms are not assessment-centered focus. Most often students take an assessment after learning specific content, but in an assessment-centered learning environment, the teacher and students have a road map for learning and is more positive. Author and Professor, Steven L. Turner, PhD., raises an article on creating an assessment-centered learning classroom. He does this by presenting PILOT -an acronym for an assessment strategy. PILOT Assessment Strategy P- Preassessment The purpose of Preassessment is to evaluate a student's knowledge about a particular subject that will be taught. Turner suggesting asking a series of questions to gain this information (i.e. "What is the student's current knowledge about this unit", "What students are interested in this topic?" etc.). Preassessment surfaces student thinking and information that helpful for teachers and those designing curriculum and assessments. I-Identify student strengths and areas of need (readiness) Identifying the areas where students are strong enables them to be more engaged in the topic. Students are also able to self-assess to identify where they presently are, become aware of their challenged areas, and what it will take for their progress. L-link differentiated classroom learning experiences to district standards and learning goals Linking the classroom learning experience to standards and benchmark testing have proven to be successful. Curriculum that links with the Common Core Standards - what students in K-12 should learn in language arts and math, strengthens foundational knowledge for students. O-offer multiple in-class assessment opportunities Offering multiple assessment methods allows the student to take control of their learning while putting them in the "driver's seat." Although this step could be time consuming it shows the student that the instructor cares and is conc

This article discusses academic vocabulary and how it can have an impact on the achievement gap.

This article discusses the relationship between achievement gaps and literacy gaps. As many students enter high school with low literacy skills, they become frustrated and struggle with the vocabulary needed to excel in math, science, social studies and other classes. As teachers, we need to help students to build the vocabulary needed to excel in all subject areas.

This article focuses on a potential root cause for the achievement gap, which the authors identified as the language and literacy gap. When students lack the language necessary to access the material in math, science, or other specialized classes; it can be difficult or overwhelming to try to bridge that gap in the classroom. Teachers need to do a better job of incorporating and explicitly teaching the academic language needed to be successful in the subject area in question. The process can start more general before leading to content specific "jargon," but the important thing is to expose students to the language frequently.

Animated Science, Health, Technology, Math, Social Studies, Arts & Music and English movies, quizzes, activity pages and school homework help for K-12 kids, aligned with state standards