Group items tagged

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 attempts to explain reasons why students' writing suffers, why this has become a crisis in our society, and ideas about activities which teachers can have students complete in order to improve their writing quality. The article explains that most of the writing students are asked does not require them to revisit it or lacks depth. The writing activities suggested by the author, such as having students read aloud their work to peers or having students write rhetorical questions, will not only engage students but also require their careful thought and result in improved final drafts. Kristine and I are considering some of these ideas for our Data Action Plan. WEEK 9

In this article, Dean breaks down the writing process for teachers. This resource provides educators with a comprehensive instructional guide for writing. In order to best fit instruction for our students, writing needs to be individualized and differentiated. Instructional strategies that are effective are based on the students' needs.

(Week 4: Frances and Claudio) This article is accessible through the link given above by accessing the UMUC library. This presents information on how to improve writing skills of students in an English class as well as discuss the strategies on how to improve writing skills, common errors and mistakes that are made by students and the importance of setting writing goals to accomplish improvements. This article can be very resourceful from a SMART goal prospective because there are some measurable tactics that are identified for student writing improvement through classroom activities and projects that are designed by a teacher. It offers detailed improvement processes that are also measurable to help sort out the errors students acquire in their writing assignments but identify ways to work toward improvement. This article would be an asset to Group#4 because it offers activities that are time bound and give a more realistic approach to identifying the weakness of students through a more energetic process. McBride, S. (2000). "Why Are You so Worried about It?" Struggles and Solutions toward Helping Students Improve as Writers. The English Journal, 89(6), 45-52. doi:10.2307/821262

This is a document provided by the NEA on how schools can improve students reading achievement in school. I like this resource because it breaks down steps school can use from teachers, students and parents to improve reading. It starts by discussing literacy skills taught in kindergarten and goes into talking about text meaning for older students. Great resource!

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

This study gives insight into some common struggles students face when using graphing calculators. Knowing what obstacles a student may have can help you plan strategies to help your student prevent or overcome them.

Article discusses how teachers can use data to drive instruction.

This article follows a cohort of teacher candidates through their 4 years of undergraduate studies to help them develop their own personal beliefs about teaching which in turn helps the teachers to develop their practical theories on teaching. The article concludes that teachers must be reflective in their teaching in order to improve their instruction. They must be able to recognize what works and what does not and how to go about increasing their strategies to help students.

(Week 7: Amber, Angela, and Kenneth) This article is accessible through the link given above. The article discuss a research method that is based on student centered teaching rather than teacher centered teaching. The article displays the changes for a teacher design where the teacher leads every activity and shift the focus to the teacher become the facilitator. Instead of having large number in classes, small groups scenarios are shown to be more effective with students learning from their experiences rather than the teacher teaching all the knowledge and content. This shift looks as though it was a two year time span and shows some effective result where student centered teaching where student are active learners. Teachers can use this article to design and implement a different approach to teaching by empowering themselves to switch up the way they teach in the classroom. Instead of lecturing information, they should try to work with their student and create exercises where the student learn from each others and their experiences where the teachers are the facilitator. Barraket (2005) states that student centered approach promotes small group activities that will improve the response of pedagogical challenges of teaching social research methods (Barraket (2005). Reference Barraket, J. (2005). Teaching Research Method Using a Student-Centred Approach? Critical Reflections on Practice. Journal Of University Teaching And Learning Practice, 2(2), Retreived from http://www.eric.ed.gov.ezproxy.umuc.edu/contentdelivery/servlet/ERICServlet?accno=EJ1059434

The abstract included really says it all: "This reflective essay describes a teacher's development of a student-centered approach to teaching which bridges the gap between students' knowledge before and after a course. In 'mind the gap teaching,' students' prior knowledge leads the conversation and, in turn, the teaching, allowing them to integrate new information more effectively." The essay does a really great job of addressing the need for a lot of personal reflection as a teacher in an effort to improve instruction in the classroom.

I think this is a great article that shows the growth of a teacher throughout the years. The idea of calling the instructional gap between students knowledge as "mind the gap" speaks to the history nerd in me. I'd love to share this teachers journey with my fellow faculty members because we are making the switch in my school to a more student centered classroom, and we have a lot of skeptics. I think the section of benefits is the best, particularly the line about "the quality of comments" that students started sharing. It shows that the students are interested in what is going on in the classroom.

This article is a way to focus on student knowledge. Closing the gap between what is being taught and what is actually being retained by the students.

This article makes a very good argument for incorporating e-mail into the classroom to improve student writing. The author explains how students are often bored with traditional writing assignments and editing/revising sessions using Microsoft Word (even though this is technology, it is less interactive). The author explains how having a second party on the other end of the email who will be reading their work encourages students to carefully proofread and make edits/revisions as necessary on their own before sending the e-mails. Students were also more interesting in the authentic writing tasks that e-mail communication allowed (such as writing to professionals in their fields of study/interest and receiving real responses). The author gives a plethora of ideas for utilizing e-mail to improve student writing in various content classes, including Language Arts, Math, Foreign Language, and Social Studies. Kristine and I found this article and are hoping to work in this strategy/component into our Data Action Plan (although we previously did not list it as a strategy to help with our SMART goals). WEEK 7