MEd Program Diigo Group

The research looks at academic gaps of low income communities. They looked at 3 factors, teacher performance, class abilities and classroom size. The researchers found that the better teaching practices significantly increased students scores, but the class abilities did not. They also found that class size was a factor. Although class size is important, teachers can not completely control that. However, this research shows that students fell into instructional gaps due to instruction that was not meeting teaching standards or not provided adequate instruction on the material.

This blog post gives statistics that prove that students using mobile learning have increased test scores to about 20%. This blog post focuses on developing countries and it really opened my eyes to the countries outside of the United States. I always know how lucky we are with all the resources we have here, this blog post reminded the importance to all students around the world with how technology can really help them.

ICT for learning may be a trendy and popular topic as a blog on this site last week discussed, but the fact remains that children from poorer households are less likely to have access to ICT both in and out-of-school. As a result, they take longer to adapt to using the technology or hone their...

This blog post really focuses on ways interactive learning can reduce the achievement gap with technology. When learning is steered away from memorization from the "drill and kill" method, students are able to become more interactive in what they are learning, rather than just memorizing. That is what our county has been stressing with the new Curriculum 2.0 in learning really why behind each concept or equation, rather than memorizing.

This blog post explains the biggest learning gaps come from students of different ethic/racial and socioeconomic backgrounds. This is a great blog post that lists different ways that technology can help reduce the learning gap in schools for those particular students. One way that I am familiar with was to individualize student learning to help students stay motivated. Technology can individualize student learning in so many ways.

I enjoyed reading this blog because it points out the different factors outside of school that affects achievement gaps. Technology is not always an option for these students at home but for the most part a student can get access to the Internet somewhere and if there are resources online for that student, this will help in closing the gap. Blended learning is becoming more popular and has a noticeable impact on students exposed to it.

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 Education Trust looks into school assignments as well as what the state standards for the grade requires. They are finding that often the assignments we are giving do not match the standards and are therefore creating instructional gaps. My favorite quote: " Students can do no better than the assignment they are given... and the instruction they receive."

Although lengthy, this is a worthwhile read about how using questions in certain ways can help to increase student reading comprehension levels.

This article focuses on the importance of teaching through questions rather than relying on answers.

I found this video interesting because I believe that the use of carousels can be integrated with Venebles notice and wonder strategies when looking at data.

A great read for teachers who have students with ADHD in their classroom! It covers basics, and specifics of how to handle these students, and how to get them to learn the most effectively they can in your classroom! Specific topics include keeping a positive environment and documenting everything the students complete in class.

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 is really a guide for anyone working with students to follow. It helps train us to ask better questions, and therefore help students to think at a higher level. great for parents and teachers!

This would definitely be an interesting way of teaching argument writing to my 9th grade classes. With this lesson, students analyze how an author creates an argument in several short documentaries.

This is a guide for teaching students about writing a claim and supporting it with evidence can work with any English 6-12 class. I haven't used this yet, but I would definitely try it!

This is a great resource for teaching students to analyze literature by applying the author's technique to their own writing.

This is a good protocol - with a blank template sheet - for planning & executing a data-based intervention in the classroom.

This study investigated the effects of input- and output-based instruction on the development of L2 knowledge of 129 third-semester college students learning English in Iran. I found this to be an interesting study because it addressed both kinds of instruction and acknowledged the ongoing debate about the importance of each method and its role in student learning of a second language. The study recognizes that input-based instruction needs to be more than exposure alone and include instructional intervention in order to be effective, and that output-based instruction involve meaningful output practice activities supported with feedback. Although the study does not claim that output in and of itself leads to L2 development due to the need for teacher feedback, it does suggest that output-based instruction is as effective as or can be even more effective than input-based instruction.

The National Science Teachers Association has put together a cache of NGSS-aligned science lessons, for brainstorming, looking ahead to emerging standards, or introducing into your classroom.

A set of high-level suggestions from Edutopia on how to combat the end-of-year slump students often go through.