Achievement Center
Leanne Widhalm
December 13, 2007
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Mission Statement: The purpose of the Achievement Center is to improve the performance of students with learning deficiencies in grades 7-12 through research-based interventions. Students will become independent, engaged, self-aware learners, and goal-oriented for their futures. “The greatest danger for most of us is NOT that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.” Michelangelo |
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Making Independent Learners, Who Succeed! |
Lorie’s math strategies
As math educators, we are continually evaluating how we can help struggling students to better understand mathematics? According to “Nine Ways to Catch Kids Up, extra help for struggling learners must be more than additional practice” (Burns, 17). When introducing mathematics concepts Burns suggested nine essential strategies:
1. Determine and Scaffold the Essential Mathematics Content
2. Pace Lesson Carefully
3. Build in a Routine of Support
4. Foster Student Interaction
5. Make Connection Explicit
6. Encourage Mental Calculation
7. Help Students Use Written Calculations to Track Thinking
8. Provide Practice
9. Build in Vocabulary Instruction
Building connections within math and across the curriculum is critical in order for conceptually understanding and building relationships between concepts in all curriculum areas.
Burns, M. (November 2007), Nine Ways to Catch Kids Up. Educational Leadership, November 2007, 65,3,16-21.
By: Lorie Summers
Ruthie’s Revelations
As teachers, it is not only our goal to enable our students to love learning, but also to learn that they can synthesize the content of our lessons. We want to create an opportunity for their thinking to evolve and mature on issues, and we want them to be able to respond with thoughtful conclusions in stating their opinions. To this end, we intentionally ask questions that are higher level, open ended, and thought provoking to cause our students to wrestle with all that it takes to form thoughtful opinions.
As a part of our Nebraska Studies class, we take some time to study about the Orphan Trains that carried street children from New York city to towns in the Midwest, from the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s, in hopes that they would have a better, more productive life. Our study examines the kinds of lives these children from New York had being orphaned, homeless, or neglected. We learn about the Orphan Train program, designed by the Rev. Charles Loring Brace to transplant these children into the homes of families in Midwestern states. The homes these children found ran the gamut from being loving homes, to homes where children merely became slaves and farm hands. After experiencing interviews of adults who had been actual transplanted orphans, our students finish their unit by writing a paper on whether the Orphan Train program did a service or a disservice to the orphans, families, and communities involved.
I’m always amazed at the variety of responses!
By: Ruthie Timm
