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.

Integrated Writing Instruction

Students with writing disabilities typically find the act of writing to be both difficult and unrewarding.

Appropriate School Performance

Rewards are often central to effective school interventions.

Jim's Hints

When Choosing Rewards, Apply the '3 Tests': Choosing rewards to use as incentives for a student intervention may seem simple and straightforward. A reinforcer, however, probably will not be successful unless it passes three important tests:

  • Acceptability Test. Does the teacher approve of using the reinforcer with this child? Are parent(s) likely to approve the use of the reinforcer with their child?
  • Availability Test. Is the reinforcer typically available in a school setting? If not, can it be obtained with little inconvenience and at a cost affordable to staff or parents?
  • Motivation Test. Does the child find the reinforcer to be motivating?

Activities Classroom

Description: The st

Safe Playground

Almost all students love recess. But schools find that behavior and safety problems can often occur on the playground-for reasons that are easy to understand.

Jim's Hints

Encourage Fair Selection of Children for Teams. Some children with poor social skills or a limited number of friends may find themselves regularly excluded from play groups or selected last for teams. Playground monitor can take steps in organizing teams to be sure that all children have an equal chance to participate. For example, the monitor may randomize teams by lining up children by birthday or height, then have the line count off by 2's to create teams.

 

Help Monitors to Learn Student Names. One of the most powerful ways that playground monitors can gain positive influence over students is to learn their names! At the start of the school year, teachers can invite monitors into their classrooms to teach children rules to playground games. Not only would children love a lesson on games, but also the monitor can begin to learn children's identities and acquire status as a colleague and equal of the classroom teacher.

 

Teach Children To Play Cooperative Games. There is some evidence (e.g., Heck et al., 2001) that children engage less frequently in aggressive behavior when they are playing cooperative games (that is, games in which students are not directly competing with others) than when engaged in competitive games. In fact, the effect of reduced student aggression may persist for a time even after the cooperative games are over. Your school may want to invite physical education instructors or other school staff who know a range of cooperative games and activities to train playground monitors in their use.

Bullies: Turning Around Negative Behaviors

Bullying in school is usually a hidden problem.

References

  • Batsche, G.M., & Knoff, H.M. (1994). Bullies and their victims: Understanding a pervasive problem in the schools. School Psychology Review, 22, 165-174.
  • Olweus, D. (1993). Bullying in school: What we know and what we can do. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishers.
  • Snell, J.L., MacKenzie, E.P., & Frey, K.S. (2002). Bullying prevention in elementary schools: The importance of adult leadership, peer group support, and student social-emotional skills. In M.A. Shinn, H.M. Walker, & G.Stoner (Eds.) Interventions for academic and behavior problems: Preventive and remedial approaches. (2nd ed., pp.351-372). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.
  • US Department of Education (1998). Preventing bullying: A manual for schools and communities. Retrieved 3 April 2003 from: http://www.cde.ca.gov/spbranch/ssp/bullymanual.htm

Reading Practice

In this very simple but effective intervention, the student reads aloud while an accomplished reader follows along silently.

Jim's Hints

Train Parents to Use This Strategy. Assisted reading is an easy method to learn and gives students valuable practice that can really boost their reading fluency. You can train parents to read with their children on a regular basis using assisted reading practice.

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