Last week I started Technique 17, but had way too many methods for Ratio, Technique 17 from Doug Lemov's excellent resource, Teach Like a Champion.

Ratio is the means by which the teacher increases the amount of intellectual work the students do during instruction.  It involves different questioning strategies.  Last week I covered strategies 1 through 6. This week I will finish up.

More strategies to increase student to teacher participation ratio:

1. Whys and Hows:  Asking why or how instantly pushes students to engage in more rigorous intellectual work, explaining why a process worked, or did not work. Read more...

   Teach Like a Champion -- Technique 17 Part Two originally appeared on About.com Special Education on Sunday, August 29th, 2010 at 23:07:30.

   Permalink | Comment | Email this

   
   
   
2. Value Added Sounds Like a Winner
   

   I was taken by an article in the Los Angeles Times that caught my eye:  evaluating schools by "value added" rather than on the basis of aggregate test scores.  They noted that Wilbur Elementary, an elementary school that attracts a line when enrollment is opened is actually a less effective school than many schools in low income neighborhoods.  Children from this affluent neighborhood have actually had declining score in reading and math, whereas children from low income schools have seen consistent gains.  How do they know?  Compare children's year over year progress, rather than the schools' aggregate scores.   That way, you are measuring the year over year progress than comparing year to year aggregate performance. Read more...

   Value Added Sounds Like a Winner originally appeared on About.com Special Education on Monday, August 23rd, 2010 at 21:18:58.

   Permalink | Comment | Email this

   
   
   
3. Teach Like a Champion -- Technique 17 Part One
   

   Technique 17 from Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov is one of the more challenging in the chapter on structuring instruction.  I'll let Doug explain:

   Technique 17 -- Ratio

   A successful lesson is rarely marked by a teacher's getting a good intellectual workout at the front of the room.  Push more and more of the cognitive work out to students as soon as they are ready, with the understanding that the cognitive work must be on-task, focused and productive. p. 93

   When teaching, the challenge is to make the students do the intellectual work, not the teacher.  It requires teaching strategies that questions, but focuses students back on the intellectual task at hand.   The notion is that the ratio of student to teacher participation in class discussion should go up with time, so the teacher is leading less and the students are developing skills at gaining knowledge.  Effective teachers use a number of strategies.  Here are the first six. Read more...

   Teach Like a Champion -- Technique 17 Part One originally appeared on About.com Special Education on Sunday, August 22nd, 2010 at 22:35:10.

   Permalink | Comment | Email this

   
   
   
4. A Horror Story
   

   Okay, it's a little early for Halloween, but I just heard another horror story from a parent.  I get them every once in a while from a reader, but this one is closer to home.  I was talking to Janet, a friend, in church today.  I had her son Trevor  in Sunday School, and was always quite fond of him:  he is funny, bright and can be a real asset to a junior theological discussion.  He is also athletic, and here in the Philadelphia area Sunday is not sacred when it comes to youth soccer, youth field hockey, youth baseball, youth lacrosse, youth tiddly winks (I made that up) so I haven't seen him in church much lately.

   I asked how he was doing and got an ear full. Trevor was always a big talker, but he was not that hard to contain and redirect.  In the intervening time, Janet has been fighting the school district (they will remain unnamed since people think it's a good school district and I want to get a good price for my house in the same district) to get him evaluated.  He is very bright, but his performance in school has been pretty bad.  A couple years ago he aced the math part of the Pennsylvania State School Assessment (PSSA) but did very badly on the reading section.  Aha!  AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) was at risk!  People will read about it in the paper!  Time to actually do something thing!  This time Janet didn't have to fight to get the district to get Trevor evaluated:  reading fluency issues and a need for remediation.  Oh, ADHD and ODD. Read more...

   A Horror Story originally appeared on About.com Special Education on Sunday, August 22nd, 2010 at 14:30:39.

   Permalink | Comment | Email this

   
   
   
5. Show Us the Money
   

   Okay, I've used this title before in a different context, but I do like titles that resonate with popular culture.  The president signed the legislation that will provide ten billion dollars in emergency funding to states to save teaching jobs.   It seems, the states still have to apply for it.  The Federal Government is promising a two week turn around from the time of application.  The deadline is September 9th, through I trust most states will have their applications filed long before that.

   Will it affect employment opportunities for special education teachers?  Will it bring down the number of students a special educator has on his or her caseload?  Those of us in the field know that all too frequently, schools are filling the special education gap with under-qualified substitutes or by giving special educators caseloads of 20 to 30 children.  It can be done, but it can't be done well. Read more...

   Show Us the Money originally appeared on About.com Special Education on Wednesday, August 18th, 2010 at 18:53:15.

   Permalink | Comment | Email this