EDUCATION STRATEGY

The trend of incorporating students receiving special education services more into the general education classroom brings with it a challenge of providing these students with additional learning support. Mnemonic strategies can be used to enhance the learning experience for both special education and general education students. Mnemonic strategies are tools that use visual and verbal clues to help students retain important information, and they can be used in any subject area. The three main types of mnemonic strategies are: letter strategies, keywords and pegwords. Letter Strategy The sentence “Please excuse my dear Aunt Sally” is often used to teach Order of Operations, or the order in which mathematical operations should be performed when evaluating expressions or equations. The first letter of each word of the sentence forms the word PEMDAS. This stands for Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction. PEMDAS is an example of a mnemonic letter strat

The corners of teaching strategy can be easily adapted to any grade level and subject. It takes little teacher preparation yet results in motivated, engaged students. The strategy involves students moving to one of the four classroom corners to convey their feelings about a topic. It can be designed to take only several minutes of class or up to an entire session. Memorable and valuable class discussions are often the result of the four corners strategy. Visible Opinion Sharing The corners is a teaching strategy that works well to engage all students in conversations about controversial topics. For example, in a reading class you can ask questions about a character’s actions in a novel. Math students can debate if students should be able to use calculators. Science students can discuss the use of alternative forms of energy. While in social studies, students can debate the various forms of government. To prepare, write statements in a definitive manner. For example, nuclear energ

To local school officials, taxpayers in a community share much in common with stakeholders in a publicly traded company. The proof is that superintendents and boards of education spend months and even years designing strategic plans for education that serve almost the same functions as a company's annual financial reports. These educational road maps portray officials' vision for the schools' future while presenting strategies to improve results, objectives to realize goals and key indicators to measure performance. Methods Brainstorm a list of goals for improving student achievement. Arrange goals in order of importance to the district at large. For example, the first goal might be to boost the high school graduation rate. The last goal might be to revamp language arts instruction at one of the elementary schools. Write an introduction summarizing those goals and expressing the district's educational vision. Refer to successes and shortcomings of prior strategic p

According to Paulson, Paulson and Meyer, (1991, p. 63): "Portfolios offer a way of assessing student learning that is different than traditional methods. Portfolio assessment provides the teacher and students an opportunity to observe students in a broader context: taking risks, developing creative solutions, and learning to make judgments about their own performances." In order for thoughtful evaluation to take place, teachers must have multiple scoring strategies to evaluate students' progress. Criteria for a finished portfolio might include several of the following: Thoughtfulness (including evidence of students' monitoring of their own comprehension, meta-cognitive reflection, and productive habits of mind). Growth and development in relationship to key curriculum expectancies and indicators. Understanding and application of key processes. Completeness, correctness, and appropriateness of products and processes presented in the portfolio. Diversity of entr

Portfolio assessment is a multi-faceted process characterized by the following recurrent qualities: It is continuous and ongoing, providing both formative (i.e., ongoing) and summative (i.e., culminating) opportunities for monitoring students' progress toward achieving essential outcomes. It is multidimensional, i.e., reflecting a wide variety of artifacts and processes reflecting various aspects of students' learning process(es). It provides for collaborative reflection, including ways for students to reflect about their own thinking processes and meta-cognitive introspection as they monitor their own comprehension, reflect upon their approaches to problem-solving and decision-making, and observe their emerging understanding of subjects and skills. Although approaches to portfolio development may vary, all of the major research and literature on portfolios reinforce the following characteristics: They clearly reflect stated learner outcomes identified in the core or es

There are many different types of portfolios, each of which can serve one or more specific purposes as part of an overall school or classroom assessment program. The following is a list of the types most often cited in the literature: Documentation Portfolio : This type is also known as the "working" portfolio. Specifically, this approach involves a collection of work over time showing growth and improvement reflecting students' learning of identified outcomes. The documentation portfolio can include everything from brainstorming activities to drafts to finished products. The collection becomes meaningful when specific items are selected out to focus on particular educational experiences or goals. It can include the bet and weakest of student work.   Process Portfolio : This approach documents all facets or phases of the learning process. They are particularly useful in documenting students' overall learning process. It can show how students integrate specific know