Group items matching

in title, tags, annotations or url

(Week 8: Amber, Angela, and Kenneth) The journal article is accessible through the link given above by accessing the UMUC Library. The journal article discusses the draw on the accumulated research to provide a framework for differentiating instruction. REACH is used a mnemonic device and is the type of framework that two teachers have developed which includes a comprehensive inventory and several practical strategies for using it. Teacher can use differentiating instruction to fundamentally find different ways to teach students with diverse and behavioral needs. REACH is an acronym for a charted course of action for developing the use of differentiated instruction. It means and highlights each as follows: "(a) reflect on will and skill, (b) evaluate the curriculum, (c) analyze the learners, (d) craft research based lessons, and (e) hone in on the data." (Rock, Gregg, Ellis, & Gable, 2008). It literally gives you "a step by step approach to introducing strategies and procedures for student with disabilities or general student the cognitive access to achieve their educational outcomes." (Rock et al, 2008). Both participating teachers have various needs and both need different strategies to differentiate their lessons. References Rock, M. L., Gregg, M., Ellis, E., & Gable, R. A. (2008). REACH: A Framework for Differentiating Classroom Instruction. Preventing School Failure: Alternative Education for Children and Youth, 52(2), 31-47. doi:10.3200/psfl.52.2.31-47 Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=4&sid=0161de11-17f9-4ba4-86d0-eff88604e5e5%40sessionmgr4009

Two prominent methods for closing achievement gaps are discussed in this article: 1. increase district control over teaching and curriculum, and "minimum standard of instruction", 2. using teacher teams to develop curriculum and teaching methods. Because district control leads to set curriculum, methods, and assessments across schools, progress is easily measured. However, talented and creative teachers tend to feel less valued as educators, and more like tools of implementation. This could cause less effectiveness for having to fit lessons within such a strict construct. Teacher teams, or Professional Learning Networks, empower teachers for contributing to development of effective lessons. Educators tend to enjoy this approach, since it is more natural to teaching and learning, though it is difficult to measure what is being learned. Under district control, the focus can be on research based interventions, where measurement relies on teachers not straying from the mandated processes. Alternatively, it can focus on teacher learning, which would output teachers with similar goals, but who can draw from their own experience and knowledge. Mountain High School in Pleasantville, California, was divided into "learning communities" of around 80 students. Teachers were to serve as advisors, regularly contact families, collaborate with colleagues, and ELL and Special education students were divided amongst the communities. The teacher lack of experience with PDs showed, as they were more focused on student problems rather than ways to improve instruction. Teachers were also not used to contacting parents outside of problematic situations. It was also necessary to provide accommodations that help struggling students to strengthen the lacking skills that are preventing further growth. The proposed methods seemed sound, though implementation in the case study, was still problematic. The lack of success was potentially due to lack of understanding of what compris

(Week 9: Amber, Angela, And Kenneth) This article is accessible through the link given by accessing Diigo. This article discusses two methods for closing the achievement gap due to teacher collaboration. The article discusses how teachers can collectively have discussion that may identify and address the structural issues that are built into the school system. Teachers can use this article to begin to understand how their instructional practices can be hampered by systematic inequalities. The idea of all of this is for these "Collaborations to require and build trust, routines and skills for further collaboration efforts. This also means that the collaborators will need training in order to help them talk about issues of teaching and learning and critique each other's practice (Levine and Marcus, 2007). This would be useful for our practicing teacher because (1) They teach in different districts so there will be some disparities, (2) critiquing each other can be more helpful and a great learning experience. References Levine, T. H., & Marcus, A. S. (2007). Closing the achievement gap through teacher collaboration: facilitating multiple trajectories of teacher learning. Journal Of Advanced Academics, 19(1), 116-138. From http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ786607.pdf

This blog post was very eye opening and had me reflecting on my own classroom and teaching style throughout. Jennifer Gonzalez is a middle school teacher who recently read a book called "Culturally Responsive Teaching & The Brain" by Zaretta Hammond. Upon reading this book Jennifer talks about her experience with teaching students whose cultures, race, language, etc. did not match what schools teach and value. Additionally, she felt that she could have done a better job at teaching and reaching these students, who are typically labeled "at risk." Something I often feel. In feeling this way, in what she hopes will help her close the gap, Jennifer talks about the brain-based approach she read about. She touches on the Ready for Rigor Framework and the four separate practices that can help improve teaching. This blog post touched home for me as I taught a handful of ELL students this year and for some I felt like I did not do my best and I could have done better.

This site provided an article that looked into what the organization, Partners in School Innovations is doing to "not just close the achievement gap, but the teaching gap." Results from a survey are shared regarding average class sizes and the time spent teaching versus the time spent planning. The article provides a case study of a school that focused on instructional gaps and its results. This is a great read for administrators, policymakers and other stakeholders.

I realize this has more to do with achievement gaps than specific gaps within a single classroom, but it has been my experience that targeted instruction to support a few helps every learner in the room.

Abstract: 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.

When looking for information about learning and instructional gaps in language classes, I found this paper about encouraging communication with second language learners through creating information gaps. The concept is that students use language in authentic ways by answering questions that are open ended and relevant or by doing other activities that encourage communication and discussion rather than very set and inauthentic uses of language. As a language teacher, it gave me ideas for games or activities to do with my students as well as a reminder to use open-ended questioning in order to promote more diverse student responses. It seems a little dated based on the reference materials, but is still relevant in the modern World Language classroom.

@ 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 protocol helps students share their opinions by asking them to line up along a continuum based on their position on an issue.

Ericka Posey's Smart Target Learning Goal: By the end of April, 80% of the 10th grade LSN Government students will be able to analyze political cartoons and write accurate BCRs with 75% accuracy for historical content and meaning. This activity will assist my students achieve the goal as it gives students a verbal prompt, gives them a chance to analyze that prompt, take a stand and defend that stance with strong examples. The same skills used in the Take a Stand will assist my students in analyzing a political cartoon, take a stand on the written prompt and defend that prompt with evidence from the political cartoon. The only difference is in the Take A Stand everything is done verbally and in the analysis of the political cartoon and BCR is a written assignment.

My chosen dimension is student engagement, I would consider this activity to be highly engaged with a rating of 4 because of its participation requirement and discussion method among all students. The discussion tactic in this video forces students to share their various perspectives in an open environment. Also, the students can easily see each other's choice before going into detail about why they made that choice. The students learn to value different perspectives and methods from their peers. This tactic works with our SMART goal because it emphasizes critical thinking proof to resolve a real problem. This tactic allows students to know that it is not about having one right answer to the problem, but discovering many strategies and reasons to solve the problem. Also I like that students must use retained information to evaluate their decision and the decision of their peers.

Week 8- Fifteen years later, this article investigates recommendations provided by the National Research Council's seminal report:Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children. The article discusses which of these recommendations have been implemented in U.S classrooms over the past 15 years and which strategies have been avoided. The authors then share more recent research studies sharing strategies that may help teachers improve primary-grade reading. Authors: Nell K. Duke and Meghan K. Block

The article provides valuable insight into the impact that vocabulary instruction can have on reading comprehension. It is also noted that because reading instructional has changed over the years this too has contributed to comprehension and vocabulary development. It appears that the approach to reading instruction needs to be revisited to determine which strategies works the most effectively.

I loved this article. My school is currently focusing on Academic Language in our School Improvement Plan, we are also an IB school where students are to use Academic Language more often. I'm glad to see that many of our commonly used words are included in this list. I also love how they go through the examples of how to teach a new word. In middle school I feel these higher level vocabulary words are used more often than in primary ages.

(Week 8: Maia and Shawntel) This article is accessible through the UMUC library. The focus of this article was to introduce and explain the importance of strategies that motivate and engage students when learning how to solve word problems in algebra classrooms. The author argues that students show more engagement in algebra word problems when they are guided through problems that have real-life problems. The article provided data based on a study where students were given similar problems to solve with real-life and fictional problems. The students trended a preference to the real-life problems while also scoring higher on real-life problems. The authors state, "given a set of word problems covering a variety of application areas, students prefer problems which either generates intrigue or problems to which they can easily relate" (Premadasa and Bhatia, pg 15, 2013). Our group choose this article because of the current situation for the implementation process. The practicing teacher was met with a lot of resistance when introducing the new tactic. This supports our notice and wonder questions that students are not engaged and positive when approaching algebra word problems. The attitude of students directly impacts comprehension of word-problems. Therefore, we used a planning protocol to re-adjust the types of problems that were presented to the students. The practicing teacher found instructional videos that had current and real-life scenarios. Although it is still early in the implementation process, the teacher did notice an attitude change among the students as the proceeded with the material. Premadasa, K., & Bhatia, K. (2013). Real Life Applications in Mathematics: What Do Students Prefer?. International Journal For The Scholarship Of Teaching And Learning, 7(2), http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&sid=ef4d2731-303f-462b-ba77-64f1a21bc66e%40sessionmgr101

Meta-analysis was conducted on interventions used for mathematics with students with learning disabilities. There were four instructional components examine to determine their effectiveness and impact -- a) approached to instruction and/or curriculum design, b) formative assessment data and feedback to teachers, c) formative assessment data and feedback to students and d) peer-assisted mathematics instruction. The research indicates the positive impact of cognitive strategies and the direct instruction model for mathematics instruction. The information was beneficial. Direct instruction often used for reading instruction of students with disabilities so it only makes sense that is also works for math instruction. Research-based information helps me determine what instructional strategies and practices I will include in my classroom.

The authors of this study discuss an approach for solving word problems with equations.

This article is about alphabet knowledge in Pre-kindergarten and Kindergarten classroom. It went over different assessments to use to assess the proper way to demonstrate alphabet knowledge. This a great article to read. It talks about instructional approaches and how to shift to alphabet instruction that aligned with emphasis on assessments and differentiated instruction. I believe that would be good resources to help teach my students' letter sounds. This might also help me achieve my SMART target goal.

(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

At the New Mexico School for the Arts, they tried a variety of approaches for using data to improve student achievement, and didn't get it right at first. This article shares what they learned.

Here are some resources and practices to help teachers understand blended learning, an approach that combines face-to-face instruction with technology-mediated learning.

This article examines various methods for helping students with comprehension difficulties learn and acquire new content specific vocabulary. The primary focus of the article is on the importance of a multi strategy approach to help keep students engaged with vocabulary building activities.

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.

Differentiated instruction is a great way to help close learning gaps, and this article is a great read for teachers who may be skeptical about the process.

This article is interesting as it addresses many of the concerns that teachers might have about differentiation in the classroom. One of the myths is that whole class instruction saves time, however if students are falling behind and failing, it is not a successful approach. Learning how to effectively apply differentiation techniques in the classroom is beneficial for students.

This article talks about Bloom's belief that differentiated instructional approaches blended with varied amounts of time for completion for each student individually will lead to higher achievement among students. Bloom referred to this instructional variation and differentiation as mastery learning. Mastery learning can lead to higher academic achievement, increase in student confidence and increased engagement in classroom settings.