Group items tagged

The first source I found appears to be useful for educators who may not be certified in ESOL, but have ELL students. It breaks down the different types of ELL learners and this could be important when planning and implementing activities. It also helps the teacher get to know the student better and show empathy and compassion. This article is related to "older" ELL students and our data is from a high school class, so therefore some of the solutions for success offered could help these students if implemented. I also like that it emphasizes teaching language through content. This is important because students might understand the general idea, but cannot make certain connections due to language barriers. Therefore, breaking through those barriers might be all the student need to make the connection desired. I also like that it provides questions with answers! This could be very helpful for our group!

I provided a description, but it is not showing in here. It said: This website is a resource for finding fiction and nonfiction books. It requires a paid subscription, but is not too expensive and can make your classroom library ten times as big. This would directly impact my smart learning goal: 80% of students will reach level K in reading (lowest grade-appropriate reading level for second grade) by the beginning of the December. These books use the same level system and the teacher can assign specific texts for students to read to aid in the fluency and comprehension skills.

Smart Target Learning Goal: By the end of the four week close reading intervention, 80% of students will be able to write a paragraph with less then 5 grammatical, spelling, and structural errors. Students will meet with the teacher three times a week for a 30min session. Planning Protocol Rubric Score: Rigor and Relevance:4 Reading A-Z provides a vast amount of reading support and resources for students. Activities on RAZ would be extremely useful in helping a teacher differentiate instruction in order to make the content accessible to learners of various levels of proficiency.

Addresses the potential of active learning with increased teacher feedback and interaction as a way to help close the achievement gap and involve more students in advanced level STEM classes. Focused on University level students, but an interesting read for teachers of all levels to consider how instruction may have a cultural bias.

This article highlights the realization of Seymour Papert that electronic devices could increase education in isolated geographical regions facing poverty. Although we don't have school districts living in isolation in the United States, we do have poverty stricken districts with little to no technology available to the students. Seymour Papert had a vision "of a digitally enhanced learning experience [helping] close some of the gap that exists among urban and rural, well-resourced and poor schools."

This article details how Open Educational Resources (OERs) have helped certain districts close the achievement gap, and it provides a list of "how-to's" for implementing OERs into the school system.

Seven suggestions for narrowing the gap before students reach third grade.

@ Jessica Carr

(Week 7: Jessica Carr, Sarah Donahey, and Mark Cook) This journal article is accessible through the link given above by accessing the UMUC library. This article discusses the need for vocabulary and comprehension instruction in the primary grades in order for long-term, adequate reading skills in elementary students. The authors examine research that have been done on primary grades in order to closely examine the reading skills that are needed for elementary-aged students. Reading outside of school, vocabulary, word-reading skills, conceptual knowledge, and comprehension strategies are the instructional approaches that the authors believe need to be taught in the primary grades in order for long-term goals to be met. Teachers can implement the instructional strategies being encouraged in this article, in their own practice. Teachers can also encourage reading outside of school for homework to help improve reading skills among their students. References: Block, K., M., & Duke, K., N. (2012). Improving reading in the primary grades. The Future of Children, 22(2), 55-72. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/23317411?seq=1&cid=pdf-reference#references_tab_contents

This article gives a brief overview of vocabulary development and then offers many different instructional strategies to teach vocabulary in the classroom. Strategies include interactive word walls, word mapping, and self-selected vocabulary among many others.

This article strongly correlates with my instructional focuses. After viewing the article, I was able to see the different levels of vocabulary comprehension as well as the interventions that can be used to assist and assess the student's levels of comprehension. This article is a great source for any reading/language arts educator.

Vocabulary plays a vital role in my class with ELL students. This resource contains criteria that will help monitor students vocabulary progress as well as give different strategies such as Self correction, Mapping, Graphic Morphemic Analysis, Interactive word Walls and more for ELL students and students with special needs. This resource aids my groups' SMART Target learning goals by providing strategies for comprehending academic vocabulary.

This article shows the success a group of schools have in teaching instruction when there is a purposeful, intimate focus on individual teachers. When teachers are given proper tools, instruction, and guidance, they will succeed in instructing students and therefore a greater percentage of students will have a better understanding of what is being taught.

Focused teacher development is needed to achieve student success! This is 100% true and this article talks about this in a great way. Great find!

I found this article helpful in the importance of providing individualized professional development to teachers so they are able to grow their practice around targeted skills students need to master.

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.

A 21-page study of Milton Public Schools addressing the achievement gap of special education students.

I find this interesting, considering we never question the tests. Teachers, Schools, Families, and School districts have been trying for years to close achievement gaps, yet the gap remains. I think it is time to stop discussing what we need to do and start looking at standardized tests as inappropriate.

This study suggests that policy makers need to re-examine how they view the educational gaps of students with disabilities, in that they are diverse in the range of disabilities that create these disparaties. Decision making to lessen the gap cannot look at a one size fits all solution when dealing with a heterogeneous sub-group.

This article discusses the effects of learning targets on all people in the school - students, teachers, principals and central-office administrators. It goes on to describe ways to create an effective learning target and the actions necessary order to do so. Furthermore, it outlines the process of learning targets. Effective learning targets are able to help close the achievement gap!

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 scholarly article identifies some strategies for improving the gaps between instruction and learning.

This article discuss the vast availability of technology and how using apps in the classroom can help close student learning gaps.

This article discusses how effective professional development has an impact on improving student learning. The author examines what "effective" professional development looks like and why it's important.