Terminology
Terminology II
High Impact Strategies for Struggling Learners
Accommodations
Instructional Strategies
100
"a set of processes designed to improve, demonstrate, and inquire about student learning" (Mentkowski, M. qtd. in Palomba, C. A., and Banta, T. W. (1999).
What is Assessment
100
Students are asked to carry out a process, create a product and explain what they have learned as a result.
What is Authentic Assessment
100
This strategy first requires the teacher to demonstrate each step of a process, while the students follow along using a rubric or checklist. The next step is to ask the students to do a similar task while the teacher works with them, followed by working through the steps with a partner, and then finally alone.
What is Modeling
100
These types of accommodations maintain critical learning skills, but reduce work on less important items
What is Accommodations of Size
100
Helping learners connect to concepts about to be taught by using activities that relate to or determine the level of their existing knowledge.
What is Activating Prior Knowledge
200
"the systematic process of determining the merit, value, and worth of someone (the evaluee, such as a teacher, student, or employee) or something (the evaluand, such as a product, program, policy, procedure, or process)." (Evaluation Glossary (n.d.). Retrieved December 18, 2007, from Western Michigan University, The Evaluation Center Web site, emphasis added).
What is Evaluation
200
quick and insightful ways of checking not only the understanding but also attitudes and interests of students. Unlike diaries, these assessments allow the students to report on what they have learned, how they feel about the learning and how they see themselves making use of this material in their own lives. Struggling learners benefit from the focusing, reflecting and short writing practices required by this method.
What is Journal Assessment
200
This shows students how one idea is linked or is similar to another and how it relates to other ideas in a category. Graphic organizers are very helpful and powerful tools for this strategy.
What is Chunking
200
These Accommodations allow the same work to be learned: 1. Work in a group or pair. 2. Use an open-book test or oral exam. 3. Give students a concept web or outline of material from which they can learn. 4. Hold skill groups or tutoring sessions between typical classes. 5. Practice with a reading buddy or read along using a tape of the reading assignment. 6. Use a computer, spellchecker, calculator or number line. 7. Design a second version of the test to accommodate learning problems. 8. Dictate responses to a student scribe or to a tape recorder.
What are Accommodations of Support
200
Instruction which is meaningful to students. Focuses on higher order thinking, depth of knowledge, real-world applications, and social interactions.
What is Authentic Assessment
300
a teaching plan that organizes powerful and focused learning activities and assessments around the grade-level indicators and essential understandings.
What is A Standards-Based Teaching Plan for Diverse Learners
300
These questions can serve two critical purposes. They clarify and frame the essential learning points and, at the same time, engage a student’s mind by posing a thought-provoking question.
What is an Essential Question
300
This is one of the most debilitating problems of low achievers. The least effective way to build this in students is to ask them to “Look up the definitions and study them.” A better way is to: 1. Have the students say new words aloud multiple times; 2. Make guesses about word meanings by using context, prior experience and other clues; 3. Paraphrase the dictionary definition and give examples of what words mean; 4. Use the words in conversation and in writing
What is Vocabulary
300
These Accommodations allow the same skills and concepts to be learned: 1. Show students samples of other students’ quality work as models. 2. Reword texts and directions using simpler vocabulary and a limited number of concepts. 3. Have students paraphrase instructions or concepts in their own words before beginning. 4. Give notes or study guides for the lesson with key words missing and a word bank to help with spelling as they fill in the blanks. 5. Highlight the important words and concepts. 6. Use alternate materials with less detail or fewer steps.
What are Accommodations of Difficulty
300
Cooperative activity. The basic steps include: reading, meeting with expert groups, report back to main team, demonstrate knowledge through a test or report.
What is Jigsaw
400
quick informal surveys that tell what prior knowledge the students possess, what they are especially interested in, how they best learn and what skills they use well or still need. At times, the assessment is so cleverly folded into the lesson that students are not aware that the teacher is assessing all of these things. At other times, the teacher may ask students to rate themselves or take a short quiz on a set of skills or information needed for the next series of lessons.
What is Pre-Assessment
400
a scoring guideline that clearly outlines the criteria for judging the quality of work. Unlike checklists that judge only whether the criteria are present or missing, this provides a descriptive scale for various levels of performance
What is a Rubric
400
Limit practice to the smallest amount of content that has the greatest meaning. At first, do daily practices in short, intense periods. Practice intermittently, but regularly, after the skill is learned well. Distributed practice over longer periods of time consolidates learning in a form that is likely to be remembered.
What is Mental Rehearsal
400
These Accommodations allow the same work to be done successfully: 1. Do critical parts of assignment in school and finish at home or with a friend. 2. Allow several breaks as the work is being done. 3 Give additional practice or work time (more days, homework, study period). 4. Give some work early to prepare for the class (lesson on tape, parent pre-teach). 5. Give the same test, modify the time element and frequency of cues to help pace the student. 6. Give a step-by-step timeline or help the student create a pacing plan. 7. Ask students to set goals for how far they can get in four minutes, then another four.
What are Accommodations of Time
400
Students think individually, then pair (discuss with partner), then share ideas with class.
What is Think-Pair-Share
500
samples, tests, quizzes and portfolios that are used to decide if a student needs more or less instruction and practice. Some of these assessments will be graded and others will be sources of feedback.
What is a Checkpoint Assessment
500
1. Timelines that help students see sequences and relationships; 2. Webs that show relationships among concepts or parts of a story; 3. Visualization exercises that help students create clear mental images; 4. Plays, skits and pantomimes to clarify how pieces fit together; 5. Graphs, maps and charts that display data in a way that shows patterns; 6. Models, diagrams, puzzles, floor plans and flowcharts; 7. Drawings, illustrations, story boards and cartoons; 8. Split-page notes - written notes on one side and sketches or symbols on the other; and 9. Color-coding or highlighting notes, parts of speech, main ideas, etc.
What are Visuals and Graphic Organizers
500
The more variety in the ways one refines and extends a skill or concept, the more effectively it can be recalled. The use of the following techniques will help students remember what they are learning: paraphrasing; note-taking with summaries; predicting and verifying the prediction; making meaningful associations; visualizing and verbalizing conclusions and summaries of what they are learning; applying to problem-solving situations; and creating something using the skills and concepts.
What is Elaborating
500
This term may be used to describe an alteration of environment, curriculum format, or equipment that allows an individual to gain access to content and/or complete assigned tasks.
What is an Accommodation
500
Students identify what they know about a topic, what they want to know,and after reading or instruction, identify what they learned or would still like to learn.
What is KWL
M
e
n
u