Improving Attention and Concentration in Students with a Distraction Strategy
It is a known fact that an average human being cannot stay attentive for more than 30 minutes, or 45 minutes at the most. This beckons the need to develop strategies that could help in improving attention and concentration of students in your classroom. One such strategy is to use distractions.
Distractions aid in […]
Teaching in a Multicultural Classroom: Student Participation
People in the U.S. are encouraged from a young age to think for themselves, stand up for themselves, express themselves, and just be themselves. Assertiveness in the United States is valued. Here, “the squeaky wheel gets the grease.” These attitudes are reflected in U.S. schools.
In contrast, an appropriate saying to describe attitudes in […]
An Integrated Curriculum
The idea of going beyond factual items and making connections to the learner’s world is not new. In 1915, John Dewey wrote about this in “The School and Society”.
“Relate the school to life, and all studies are of necessity correlated.”
Today, no one definition captures standard-based integration but the following is as close as […]
Positive Classroom Management Strategy: Scanning
Teachers can maintain a positive classroom environment by constantly monitoring group behavior and intervening at the first sign of trouble. The instructor should scan the classroom frequently for any early signs of potential behavior problems (eg. a student looking out of the window during a lecture; a talkative student who has left his […]
Creating a Good Lesson Plan: Structure and Organization
A good lesson plan that is simple yet powerful is based on behavioral research that characterize well-structured lessons.
Start lessons by reviewing prerequisite learning. This can include a type of formative assessment.
Provide a short statement of goals.
Present new material in small steps, with student practice after each step. Simple student exercises after the presentation […]
Setting Learning Goals and Objectives
The key to examining learning goals and objectives is to identify the actions that you want the students to engage in. Rather than saying “the student will write a paper,” try something like what Dubbels (2011) listed for creating learning goals and objectives below.
Adaptive behavioral acts
Skillfully access, read, analyze, evaluate, integrate, and use […]
Developing Strategies to Help Improve Reading Comprehension
Developing strategies to help improve reading comprehension can be tricky. Dr. Al Greefield, who did a lot of work in this area, came up with the following strategy. According to him, in order to develop or enhance a student’s reading skills, all three of the following elements must exist.
1. Meaning
Cues from text and […]
The Importance of Pre-reading Activities
Recent research brought to light a new lesson format that gave due importance to pre-reading activities. It was found that what is done before reading, is very beneficial for understanding the text. This preparation work is what helps students get connect the new information to what they already know.
This new format suggests that […]
Compacting Curriculum for Gifted Learners
Sometimes it is necessary to spell things out. When students object to the fact that the teacher has different expectations for different students, it is time to talk about what it means to be unique.
What is “fair?” Is it okay for the gifted students to not have to do all the work required […]
Formal Learning and Informal Learning
Learning can occur outside of school and even unrelated to school work. Quite often it is this learning type that tends to remain etched in the memory of the child for a long time. It is therefore important to have a perfect blend of formal and informal learning.
Jay Cross, the originator of the […]
