Posts by techsupport
Using Unusual Fonts
Teaching Students with Learning Disabilities
Follow these principles when working with students who have learning disabilities. Slow down the pace of instruction. The pace and lesson sequence of most commercial materials is too fast for these students. You may not cover everything, but your LD students will have a better chance of learning what you do cover. Provide additional practice.…
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Having Materials Ready
Be proactive by placing all materials and supplies students need to do their work in bins that are easily accessible to them. Lessons can be disrupted if you have to continually stop to provide one or more students with the supplies and materials they need for the lesson or assignment.
Read MoreRecognize Your Effect on Students
Teaching is a tough job. Whenever you wonder if it’s all worth it, think about teachers you had as a student. You will no doubt recall teachers who affected your life in a positive way. I did the following exercise with my graduate university students, most of who were married with one or more children…
Read MoreMaking Math Fun
Here are five ways to make math more fun for your students. Create shopping games in which students have to buy items within a certain budget. Involve your students in math projects. Have your students solve math word problems that relate to their lives. Involve physical movement in your math activities. Utilize the many excellent…
Read MoreDo I Give Enough Feedback?
Ask yourself these five questions about the feedback you provide to students. Work to ensure that you can answer ‘Yes’ to each question. Does my instruction style facilitate feedback? Do I offer objective, non-debatable observations of student performance? Is my feedback aligned to desired outcomes or goals of the learning task? Students must be aware…
Read MoreMass Nouns
Point out that most nouns can be counted such as three books, four nickles. Contrast these with mass nouns that can not be counted, such as bread, rice. Have your students identify which of the following nouns are mass nouns: mail, zebra, room, gold, grass, school, sugar, town, robin, peanut butter, air, package, card ,…
Read MoreObserving Behavior
Observation of student behavior should be consistent and take place in a variety of times and settings. The key is to provide a clear picture of the behavior that you target. You can use any of the following to accomplish this: Time or interval sampling in which you record whether a specific behavior occurs at…
Read MoreStudent Interests
Knowing your students’ interests can help you plan instruction that builds on their strengths, prior knowledge, and natural enthusiasm. Here are some questions you can use to learn about your students’ interests: What are your favorite school subjects? What do you like to do after school? What do you like to read? What are your…
Read MoreCompound Words
Teach your students that compound words are made by joining two or more words to make another word. Point out that the two words can be nouns, non-nouns, or a noun and a non-noun. Also point out that the two words do not always keep the same meaning as they has as separate words. Write…
Read MoreWord Recognition Bingo
Identify 20 words you want your students to recognize by sight. Prepare Bingo cards with four squares across and five squares down. Call out each word and its spelling and instruct your students to randomly write each word in one of the squares on their card. Then call out the words in random order. Have…
Read MoreOpposite Behavior
A simple way to deal with an undesirable behavior is to request a behavior that is incompatible with the undesirable behavior. For example, if a student ignores a particular student in the class, request that he or she work with that student on a specific task that can earn each of them points toward a…
Read MoreAn Integrated View of Events
Many students view history as just a bunch of events and dates to be memorized for tests. Help your students to understand the circumstances that led to an event occurring at a certain time. Encourage them to identify what followed as a result. Students should view history as a sweeping chronological series of events, rather…
Read MoreRelating to Students’ Lives
Keep in mind that students’ lives should be a part of your social studies curriculum. Bring their lives into your classroom. This will naturally lead to informative discussions about race, class, culture, gender, language, and nationality. Students will learn that these things not only are important in broader society, but effect them every day in…
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