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Using Visual Aids to Teach Addition Strategies

January 28, 2014

Luminous Learning Tuesday Teaching Tip using number lines and 10-frames to teach addition strategies for students with learning disabilities

Learn about two useful, visual aids that help reinforce addition: the number line and 10-frame. How do we use the number line and 10-frame to teach addition? Read more to find out some ways to integrate these visual aids when teaching addition strategies.

Tag:
addition and subtraction

Addition Fact Mastery!

January 14, 2014

Luminous Learning teaching tip for math help with addition facts

We want our young students to develop fluency with their addition facts so they can easily learn more exciting, complex math topics in later grades. However, our students often confuse math facts and still rely on inefficient counting strategies, such as using their fingers, even in the later grades. Students with learning disabilities are especially prone to slow retrieval and making errors in basic computation. Why is this? Find out here!

Tag:
addition and subtraction

Goal Setting to Raise Achievement

January 07, 2014

Setting SMART Goals

The new year signals a fresh start, a chance to reflect on the progress you made in the past year while making plans for growth in the year ahead. Similarly, this is a great time to encourage your students to reflect on their academic, social, and emotional achievements while choosing areas they can improve upon. As a teacher, I understood the importance of including my students in the goal setting process to give them ownership over their own learning. Goal setting activities can be general, where students choose any area they want to improve, or modified for a specific subject area, such as math or reading. One of my favorite types of goals are called SMART goals.

Odd vs. Even Numbers

November 05, 2013

Tuesday Teaching Tip:

Using 10-frames (or egg cartons!) and number lines to illustrate odd vs. even numbers.

Tag:
numbers and number sense

Differentiating Assessments for Special Needs Students

October 30, 2013

As a special education teacher, I spent a good deal of my time trying to make the mainstream curriculum accessible for my students. Oftentimes, with the right supports, they were able to grasp content on or near grade level. When it came time to assess their mastery of the curriculum, I built the same supports into my assessments. Special needs students may struggle with retention and recall, but given the opportunity and appropriate supports, they may shine with more complex assessment tasks. A carefully differentiated assessment will provide more meaningful data, indicating opportunities to challenge all students.

Read more about how I differentiated math assessments, although the strategies I outline can apply to multiple subject areas. Check out the latest edition of ASCD Express: http://www.ascd.org/ascd-express/vol9/902-uscianowski.aspx

Tag:
special education

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