Jim's Hints

Pair Error Correction With Reading Fluency Interventions. Students who are just learning to read or have delayed reading skills often benefit from having a more accomplished reader listen to their reading and correct any reading mistakes immediately. Make use of one of these error correction or word drill approaches whenever you use an intervention to promote reading fluency.

Attachments

• Sample progress-monitoring chart

References

• Bennett, K., & Cavanaugh, R. A. (1998). Effects of immediate  self-correction, delayed self-correction, and no correction on the  acquisition and maintenance of multiplication facts by a fourth-grade  student with learning disabilities. Journal of Applied Behavior  Analysis, 31, 303-306.
• Shimabukuro, S. M., Prater, M. A., Jenkins, A., &  Edelen-Smith, P. (1999). The effects of self-monitoring of academic  performance on students with learning disabilities and ADD/ADHD.  Education and Treatment of Children, 22, 397-414.

Jim's Hints

A-Plus Flashcard Maker. You can create math fact flashcards online. Customize your flashcards by type of number operation or even enter your own values to create individual flashcards.

Ask Dr. Math.. Dr. Math is an online math tutorial service, maintained by Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA. Students can browse a large archive of math questions and answers and post their own questions as well. This tutorial site never closes!

Cognitive Strategies in Math. This site presents several thinking strategies that students can learn to master math computation and applied math problems. It is sponsored by the Special Education Department, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Math Central. Billing itself as ‘an Internet service for mathematics students and teachers’, this site contains math teaching resources, a forum to post math questions, and a challenging ‘math problem of the month.’ Math Central is sponsored by the University of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. ||Re

Math Worksheet Generator. Sponsored by Intervention Central, this free site allows users to create math computation worksheets and answer keys for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Use the Worksheet Generator to make math worksheets to use with students who need to build fluency with math facts.

Numberfly: Early Math Fluency Probes. Numberfly is a free application from Intervention Central that allows educators to create CBM progress-monitoring probes of 3 types that assess students' developing numeracy skills: Quantity Discrimination, Missing Number, and Number Identification. This application also includes instructions for administering and scoring these early math assessments, as well as suggestions for using Early Math Fluency Probes in a school-wide RTI Universal Screening.

Teacher2Teacher. Sponsored by Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, Teacher2Teacher describes itself as “a resource for teachers and parents who have questions about teaching mathematics.” Participants can browse archived math teaching questions by level (elementary, secondary), pose their own teaching questions, and take part in on-line discussions on math instruction topics of interest.

References

• Hawkins, J., Skinner, C. H., & Oliver, R. (2005). The  effects of task demands and additive interspersal ratios on fifth-grade  students' mathematics accuracy. School Psychology Review, 34, 543-555.

Attachments

• Managing Test Anxiety: Tips for Students

Jim's Hints

Use Managing Test Anxiety as a Self-Study Reference. If you are pressed for time or teach older students who are fairly responsible and self-directed, you may decide just to pass out copies of the handout and have students read it on their own. (Remember, though, that you will probably see much better outcomes if you at least use the handout as a starting point for a classroom discussion about effective test-taking skills.)

Collect Classroom Ideas to Put Together Your Own Test-Tips Guide. If your students come up with lots of creative ideas about how to get ready for and take tests, consider giving the class a group assignment to type up the suggestions into their own handout. These ideas could then be shared with other classrooms!

References

• Boyd, R.T.C. (1988).  Improving your test-taking skills. ERIC Digest Number 101.  Retrieved 9 May 02  from: http://ericae.net/edo/ed302558.htm
• Hayes, J.R.,  (1989).  The complete problem solver.  Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
• Hopper, C.  (1998).  Practicing college study skills.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Attachments

• Student Writing Guide Sheet

Jim's Hints

Any child is likely to find the study and organization strategies outlined here to be useful. It is probably most cost-effective for you to set aside time at the start of the school year to teach the entire class how to use the Study-Skills package. You might also combine instruction in these organizational strategies with other key study skills (e.g., guided notes or text review techniques).

A couple of additional ideas to make the Study Skills package work for your class are to:

1. Use the Whole Package. While students may demonstrate improved study skills by adopting any one of the strategies outlined in this package, teachers and parents will see the greatest benefits if they incorporate all of the elements: assignment notebook, assignment calendar, and guidelines for formatting written work.

2. Introduce the Package to Parents. Because parents often play a very important role in getting their child to complete and turn in homework, you will probably want to introduce them to the package and point out how they can use. For example, you may suggest--in a note sent home with the student or at parent-teacher conferences-- that parents check the student's assignment folder nightlyfor papers sent home from school and sit down with their child at least once per week to review the school assignment calendar.

Jim's Hints

Dartmouth: Academic Skills. The Dartmouth Academic Skills Center offers no-nonsense tutorials in the basics of good study practices, including 'Managing Your Time', 'Reading Your Textbooks' and 'Where to Study/How to Study'

List of Calculators, Assessments, and Useful Tools. Although written for college students, this helpful page features links to math and science reference tables and calculators that middle and high school students will find useful!

Prentice Hall: Academic Skills. These tip-sheets cover the core areas of study skills, including effective reading, note-taking, and preparing for tests. They are well-written and to the point. This academic skills section is part of a larger website created by Prentice Hall Publishers with tips to help college students to achieve success.

Study Guides and Strategies. The Study Guides and Strategies web site is one of the most comprehensive of its kind on the web. The site contains brief tutorials in bullet format for easy and quick reading. It features a wide range of study- and learning-related topics such as reading, classroom participation, learning with others, and project management. The site is authored, maintained and supported by Joe Landsberger 'as an independent educational public service'

Virginia Tech: Study Skills Self-Help Information. Find tutorials on taking notes, managing the study environment, proofreading, writing papers and more. The site also features several self-guided 'online study skills workshops' on topics such as improving concentration and time management. The site is sponsored by the Cook Counseling Center at Virginia Polytechnic Institute.

References