Keys to Help Struggling Learners

Access the Curriculum

A Guide to Unlocking the Keys That Hinder Student Performance

Metaphor of the Jewel and the Stronghold Using Bloom’s Taxonomy

Knowledge Level – collect the rough, uncut stones

Comprehension Level – study and sort the stones

Application Level – cut and polish the stones

Analysis Level – study each stone to determine how to best use it ( first level of higher order thinking)

Synthesis and Evaluation Levels

Doors to Each Room

Students must pass through all doors at each level of learning

(Bloom).

Acquisition

Proficiency and Fluency

Maintenance

Generalization

Adaptation

The Locks on the Doors

Input Locks

Information Processing/Retention Locks

Output Locks

Affective Locks

The Input Locks

Attention Problems

Perception Problems

Discrimination Problems

Sequencing Problems

Attention Problems

Sustained Attention – Processes involved in maintaining attention over an extended period of time.

Selective Attention – Intentional focusing on relevant information while ignoring irrelevant information

Students with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD or

ADHD)Have poorer comprehension on longer reading passages as compared to shorter reading passages

Have lower reading comprehension on longer reading passages than their peers without attention difficultiesAre usually deficient in math achievement

Math deficits appear to become more pronounced with age

Perception ProblemsVisual or auditory acuity are normal.

The problem is with the image or sound getting to the right place in the brain so that the brain can make sense of it.

Reading disabled adolescents are slower at processing visual information in written form (text) and are more deficient in rapid naming ability when presented items visually.

Reading disabled adolescents also experience difficulty perceiving auditory input.They are less able to discriminate the emotions of others whether the stimulus was auditory, visual, or combined.

Discrimination ProblemsAuditory Discrimination Problems – Had difficulty as young readers in maintaining phonemic information in their short-term memories long enough to discriminate among sounds Visual Discrimination Problems – Less able to discriminate between orthographically legitimate and illegitimate pairs of letters (nonsense words)

Poor problem solving and reasoning abilities

Difficulty coding, recoding and recalling information

Less able to discriminate the emotions of others

Sequencing Problems

Difficulty in sequencing ordered material

Difficulty in generalizing/transferring information

The Information Processing/Retention Locks

Confusion

Organization problems

Reasoning problems

Memory Problems

Metacognition Problems

ConfusionLeft-right confusion

Sequencing confusion

Sound-ground and figure-ground confusion

Linguistic confusion

Cognitive confusion

Confusion in executing a task

Confusion in general social responding

Organization Problems

Difficulty in organizing bits of information to consolidate into concepts, often learning multiple facts that they cannot draw upon to answer related questions.

Difficulty completing work, locating materials, and using time wisely

Reasoning Problems

Dysrationalia –the inability to think rationally despite adequate intelligence.Less coordinated thought structuresLess likely to employ second-order logical structures than their peers

Difficulty in math operations

Memory Problems

Memory difficulties across the curriculum

Social relationship problems – unable to remember social conventionsLikely to forget appointments, dates, homework, etc.

Metacognition Problems

Difficulty with thinking about thinking and controlling thinking

Passive learners – fail to monitor their own learning

Results in reading comprehension, memory, transfer and generalization difficulties

The Affective Locks

Frustration

Motivation

Frustration Problems

Evident in both academic and social arenas

Low frustration tolerance can contribute to aggressive behaviors

Motivation ProblemsLearned helplessness follows repeated failures

Extrinsically motivated, rather than intrinsically motivated, when it comes to schoolwork

Lower achievement motivation toward schoolwork

Motivated in areas in which they experience success (sports, video games, projects)

Believe that they cannot succeed in school

The Output Lock

Persistence/Production Problems

Persistence/Production Problems

Lack persistence in completing schoolwork

Difficulty completing assignments and homework

Teachers rate them as less persistent and deficient in quantity and quality of story production

Difficulty completing their education – more likely to drop out of high school

Difficulty completing all tasks, not just tasks involving academics

P - L- E - A - S - E!!!

WE MUST IDENTIFY THE

TO HELP OUR STUDENTSOPEN THE LOCKS

TO LEARNING

Keys to the Effectiveness of Inclusion Strategies

Explicitness

Structure

Repetition

These are the Master Keys!

Teaching the Concepts and Vocabulary of Our DisciplineWords are concepts

Vocabulary is a key factor, not only in reading, but in listening comprehensionStudents with learning disabilities have difficulty understanding what they read in textbooks and what they hear in classStudents with learning disabilities have too few building blocks, the concepts, with which to construct meaning

Three Levels at Which a Word is Known

Unknown – user has never heard the word

Acquainted – user has heard the word and recognizes it, but meaning is “fuzzy”

Established – user knows the word automatically

Helping Students Have a Rich, Established Vocabulary in Our

DisciplineInstruction should help students relate new vocabulary to their background knowledge.Instruction should help students develop elaborated word knowledge.

Instruction should provide for active student involvement in learning new vocabularyInstruction should develop students’ strategies for acquiring new vocabulary independently.

Keys to Teaching Vocabulary

Use of graphic organizers Sketching a definition Total Physical Response/Vocabulary

Drama Linguistic Link Lists/Word Towers Keyword Mnemonic Strategies Vocabulary Word Card Ring Vocabulary Concept Dictionary

Teaching Devices for Increasing Student Learning from Lectures

Simply Slowing Down Pause Procedure Cueing the Most Important Points Explicitly Teaching the Big Ideas Giving a Preview, Overview, or Advance Organizer Soliciting Concrete Examples from Students’ Lives Providing More Examples Than You Think They Need Providing Plenty of Concrete Nonexamples in Concept

Teaching Teaching Concepts Through a Concrete, Semiconcrete, Abstract (CSA) or Concrete-Representational-Abstract

(CRA) Series of Examples Role Playing Difficult Content Incorporating Humor

Increasing Learning by Using Notetaking Strategies

Guided Notes

Strategic Notes

AWARE Strategy

Brick and Mortar Notes

Three-Column Personal Notes

Newspaper Notes

Power Notes

Helping Students with Special Needs Maximize Learning From Reading the

Textbook Using graphic organizers to make

relationships within domain knowledge and discipline knowledge explicit

Preteaching Vocabulary Explicitly teaching text structure Highlighted textbooks Recorded textbooks Universal design learning Peer reader Study guides

Increasing Learning by Using Guides

Content guide Process of reading study guide Analogy study guide Extended anticipation guide Point-of-View guide K-W-L study guide Flip Flop study guide Cause and Effect Study Guide Hypertext study guide Videotape/DVD viewing study guide

Increasing Higher Order Thinking Skills Storyboards

Flowcharts Timelines The Forest and the Trees Venn-Euler Diagram Venn-Euler Diagram to develop analytical skills Apple Orange Tree Compare and Contrast Matrix Campfire Evaluation by Elimination Matrix Evaluation by Addition Matrix

Improving the Quality of Expository Writing

Data Retrieval Chart

Charting

Semantic Writing

Power Notes

Campfire

Evaluation Matrices

Teaching Text Structure

Rubrics

Mnemonic Devices

Keyword Mnemonics

Pegword Mnemonics

Musical Mnemonics