Research Based Strategies for At-Risk Learners

Cindy Riedl
May 17, 2010

Although all students benefit from research based instructional strategies, they are critical for students with learning differences of attention, memory, processing difficulties and organizational deficits. Students for whom explicit instruction with research based strategies is critical are those who:

* Are easily distracted and have a short attentions span
* Have a difficult time organizing information on their own and retaining it
* Bring limited background knowledge
* Need excessive feedback and guided practice to retain abstract information.
(U.S. Department of Education 1999)

Tips for Obtaining and Focusing Students' Attention: Activating Learning

* Ask an interesting speculative question for collaborative pairs to discuss (e.g. Essential Question).
* Show a related picture, tell a related story or read a related poem to generate discussion and interest in the topic of the upcoming lesson.
* Storytelling, real-life examples and anecdotes are powerful means to capture students' attention and hook listeners.
* Add mystery by using one or more objects/artifacts relevant to the upcoming lesson in a box, bag or suitcase. Pairs of students touch what is in the bag or listen to it move in the box and then make predictions which lead to discussions or writing activities.
* Model excitement and enthusiasm about upcoming lesson.
* Activate prior-knowledge and make connections to students' own experiences.
* Provide students with an overview of the major points that will be studied and their relationship to prior-learning, post a few key concepts that will be addressed, listened for and thought about during the lesson (e.g. Student Learning Maps).

Tips for Maintaining Students' Attention Using Active Participation

Maintaining or sustaining student attention requires teachers to watch their pacing, be prepared and minimize instructional lag time. High-interest materials and students actively involved and participating, whether the instruction is lecture based with structured-note taking of key points during the lesson or solving problems with hands-on manipulatives.

* Provide students with study guides or partial outlines, where students fill in the missing words during the lecture. Organizers representing the text structure of the content being taught are excellent note-taking devices.
* Collaborative Pairs such as Numbered Heads and Think-Ink-Pair-Share greatly increase student involvement and responses. Increase distributed guided practice and summarizing. In math, for whole group practice, use small whiteboards for all students to be accountable and involved.
* Use cooperative learning formats where roles are assigned for individual accountability.
* Use computer programs for specific skill building and practice; programs that provide immediate feedback and self-correction; games for skill practice.
* Provide a variety of graphic organizers and techniques such as webbing, graphing, mapping and outlining where pair collaborate as they add important information.
* Provide many opportunities for student choices of activities, learning centers, projects and ways to demonstrate learning, e.g. R.A.F.T.

Concept of Lesson: Bacteria

Tips for Organizing Information for Retention

Students are bombarded with a great deal of information throughout the day and can easily become overwhelmed. The following are strategies and practices that help students increase the amount of information they retain from their hours in the classroom.

* Learning logs allow students to choose how they want to connect with information but they still are accountable for including key points from the lesson. Students can list, sketch, chart or diagram three to five main points, new items they learned or facts that were emphasized in class. The entries in the Learning Logs are typically summarizing responses.
* Having students start homework assignments, reports and projects in class increases organization and retention of directions. Information and instructions, even when listed in steps for referral, become confusing when the scaffolding and security of supervision is removed. Starting homework and long-term projects in class provides students with structure and guided practice that they can reinforce at home.
* Use visuals or graphic depictions to help the student remember routines, procedures or sequences of steps.
* Use mnemonics and association strategies to aid with memory of math facts, spelling and new vocabulary.
* Supply and use sticky notes for reminders and have students use them to identify key information during reading assignments.
* Increase opportunities for periodic review and practice using a game or challenge format. K-W-L charts are a great tool for review. Students reexamine or add to the charts during review sessions and can use the charts to compare and contrast aspects of related topics.
* Summarizing units of study through culminating projects such as PowerPoint presentations, posters, interviews or murals provides opportunities for students with learning differences to review material using their learning strengths.
* Memory aids for math, such as number lines, multiplication tables and charts, lists of steps and formulas.
* Using a different sensory modality or learning style for culminating activities of choice enables students to build memory links.
* Jigsaw where each student works in a collaborative team to become an expert on a specific area of content to be shared with their home team members where everyone shares their expertise. The responsibility of communicating content to others increases attention to learning and verbalizing it helps cement it into permanent memory.