Teacher Strategies to Promote Learning

Here are some teacher strategies that research indicates can be very effective in helping struggling learners to successfully master new academic skills:

Jim's Hints

As an instructor, you can use this 'checklist' of effective instructional practices in two important ways.

First, you can evaluate your group instruction to verify that it includes each of these key educational components.

Second, you can use these strategies as a starting point for making individual educational accommodations for children in your classroom with learning differences.

Reducing Problem Behaviors Through Good Academic Management: 10 Strategies

Students who are confrontational or non-compliant frequently have poor academic skills, a low sense of self-efficacy as learners, and a very negative attitude toward school (Sprick, et al., 2002)

References

  • Beyda, S.D., Zentall, S.S., & Ferko, D.J.K. (2002). The relationship between teacher practices and the task-appropriate and social behavior of students with behavioral disorders. Behavioral Disorders, 27, 236-255.
  • DuPaul, G.J., & Stoner, G. (2002). Interventions for attention problems. In M. Shinn, H.M. Walker, & G. Stoner (Eds.) Interventions for academic and behavioral problems II: Preventive and remedial approaches (pp. 913-938). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.
  • Gettinger, M., & Seibert, J.K. (2002). Best practices in increasing academic learning time. In A. Thomas (Ed.), Best practices in school psychology IV: Volume I (4th ed., pp. 773-787). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.
  • Heward, W.L. (1994). Three 'low-tech' strategies for increasing the frequency of active student response during group instruction. In R.Gardner III, D.M.Sainato, J.O.Cooper, T.E.Heron, W.L.Heward, J.Eshleman, & T.A.Grossi (Eds.), Behavior analysis in education: Focus on measurably superior instruction (pp. 283-320). Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole.
  • Heward, W.L. (2003). Ten faulty notions about teaching and learning that hinder the effectiveness of special education. Journal of Special Education, 36, 186-205.
  • Kern, L., Bambara, L., & Fogt, J. (2002). Class-wide curricular modifications to improve the behavior of students with emotional or behavioral disorders. Behavioral Disorders, 27, 317-326.
  • Mayer, G.R. (2000). Classroom management: A California resource guide. Los Angeles, CA: Los Angeles County Office of Education and California Department of Education.
  • Miller, K.A., Gunter, P.L., Venn, M.J., Hummel, J., & Wiley, L.P. (2003). Effects of curricular and materials modifications on academic performance and task engagement of three students with emotional or behavioral disorders. Behavioral Disorder, 28, 130-149.
  • Penno, D.A., Frank, A.R., & Wacker, D.P. (2000). Instructional accommodations for adolescent students with severe emotional or behavioral disorders. Behavioral Disorders, 25, 325-343.
  • Sprick, R.S., Borgmeier, C., & Nolet, V. (2002). Prevention and management of behavior problems in secondary schools. In M. Shinn, H.M. Walker, & G. Stoner (Eds.) Interventions for academic and behavioral problems II: Preventive and remedial approaches (pp. 373-401). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.

Introducing Academic Strategies to Students: A Direct-Instruction Approach

Teachers know how difficult it often is to get students to understand and use a new academic strategy. A number of roadblocks can prevent students from successfully applying strategies.

References

  • Baumann, J.F. (1984). The effectiveness of a direct instruction paradigm for teaching main idea comprehension. Reading Research Quarterly, 20, 93-108.
  • Carnine, D. (1994). Diverse learners and prevailing, emerging and research-based educational approaches and their tools. School Psychology Review, 23, 341-350.
  • Pressley, M., Johnson, C.J., Symons, S., McGoldrick, J.A., & Kurita, J.A. (1989). Strategies that improve children's memory and comprehension of text. The Elementary School Journal, 90(1), 3-32.
  • Schunk, D.H. & Rice, J.M. (1993). Strategy fading and progress feedback: Effects on self-efficacy and comprehension among students receiving remedial reading services. Journal of Special Education, 27, 257-276.

The Instructional Hierarchy: Linking Stages of Learning to Effective Instructional Techniques

When mastering new academic skills or strategies, the student learner typically advances through a predictable series of learning stages.

Help Signal

The time that students spend in the classroom actually working on academic subjects is sometimes referred to as 'engaged time.' During independent seatwork, difficult-to-teach students may not ha

Jim's Hints

Tailoring Help-Signals to Fit the Classroom. The help-signal intervention can be tailored to fit the circumstances of different classrooms. For example, you might:

  • train all students to use the help-signal as a classwide intervention.
  • select a 'secret' signal that for the student to use that is clearly observable to the teacher but is unlikely to draw the attention of other children. You might, for instance, pick a red folder to hold the student's alternative work and tell the student simply to pull out that folder and begin working from it whenever he or she needs instructor. help. Whenever you see the red folder open on the student's desk, you will know that the child needs help.
  • provide rewards to the student for following the help-signal routine and include mild negative consequences (e.g., temporary loss of a classroom privilege) if the student refuses to comply.

Group-Response Techniques

When students respond as a group to academic content, they are actively engaged and more likely to learn the material being taught.

References

  • Heward, W.L. (1996). Three low-tech strategies for increasing the frequency of active student response during group instruction. In R. Gardner III, D. M.Sainato, J.O.Cooper, T.E.Heron, W.L.Heward, J.W.Eshleman, & T.A.Grossi (Eds.) Behavior analysis in education: Focus on measurably superior instruction (pp.283-320). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.

Games, Contests & Puzzles: Entertaining Ideas for Educating Students

Teachers can take heart in the good news that students are likely to make meaningful progress toward instructional goals when they engage in regular drill, practice, and review of academic materi

References

  • Maguire, J. (1990). Hopscotch, hangman, hot potato, and ha, ha, ha: A rulebook of children's games. New York: Prentice Hall Press.
  • Thanks to school psychologist Kelly Malone for selecting graphics for this intervention write-up.

Instruction Strategies

Teachers are required to accommodate a wide range of student abilities in their classrooms.

Sentence Combining: Teaching Rules of Sentence Structure by Doing

Students with poor writing skills often write sentences that lack 'syntactic maturity' (Robinson & Howell, 2008).

References

  • Graham, S., & Perin, D. (2007). Writing next: Effective  strategies to improve writing of adolescents in middle and high schools -  A report to Carnegie Corporation of New York. Washington, DC Alliance  for Excellent Education.
  • Robinson, L. K., & Howell, K. W. (2008). Best practices in  curriculum-based evaluation & written expression. In A. Thomas &  J. Grimes (Eds.), Best practices in school psychology V (pp. 439-452).  Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.
  • Saddler, B. (2005). Sentence combining: A sentence-level writing intervention. The Reading Teacher, 58, 468-471.
  • Strong, W. (1986). Creative approaches to sentence combining.  Urbana, OL: ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skill &  National Council of Teachers of English.

School-Wide Strategies for Managing... WRITING

The act of writing contains its own inner tensions.

Jim's Hints

How To' Strategy Sheets on Writing Topics. You can find a library of well-written strategy sheets on advanced writing topics such as defining audience, reorganizing drafts, and making transitions between sections of a paper. The site is sponsored by the Writing Center at the University of North Carolina.

Articles on Writing Instruction. This page contains links to articles on such topics as helping children with disabilities to access skills required for effective writing, employing instruction in memory techniques to teach writing, and the uses of computer-assisted writing instruction. The page is sponsored by the Access Center.

College Writing Center Directory. Some of the best on-line resources for writing instruction and intervention come from college and university writing centers. This page from Purdue University's Writing Lab provides a directory of links to writing centers across the nation and in other parts of the world.

Writing Interventions: A Collaborative Project. Part of a larger collection of intervention ideas, this page contains practical suggestions to improve writing instruction. 'The CSSS Project' is a collaboration between the Illinois State University Departments of School Psychology and Special Education and the Peoria (IL) School District.

Writing Skills Checklist.This 'Writing Skills Checklist' from Intervention Central allows intervention teams to inventory the student's mastery of the components of good writing--including the physical production of writing, mechanics and conventions, content and preparation, and the production and revision of drafts. The checklist also provides intervention ideas to address identified writing problems.

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