SNED 113

Instructional Adaptation for Learning the content area

NAME: UMILDA, JUSTINE LOYD L.
SECTION AND COURSE: BSNED, ES21

Knowing When Students Need Instruction in Learning Strategies

Are Students Meeting Task Demands?

You may identify critical demands and expectations that your students face every day
and determine which af them are not being met by asking important questions: (1) "What is
expected of my students and (2) "Where is student performance not meeting my standards?"
Researchers at the University of Kansas categorized the demands faced by secondary students
into four major areas academic, social, motivational, and executive (Lenz, Clark. Deshler, &
Schumaker, 1988) For example, in the category of academic demands, secondary teachers
expect students to gain information from lectures and written material. demonstrate
knowledge on tests, and express information in writing Unfortunately, many students do not
know how to read textbooks effectively, so getting information is difficult. Also, many
students have never received instruction in how to take notes and have difficulty identifying
important ideas and information. Further, many students experience difficulty in spelling,
writing complete sentence, constructing paragraphs, and responding to short-answer and
essay questions on tests
In addition to academic demands, secondary students face social demands, such as following
rules in and out of school participating in social activities, discussions, and conversations
with peers and adults: accepting criticism and help, recruiting assistance when needed,
resisting Inappropriate peer pressure, and being pleasant in social interactions. A third
demand area for students in secondary schools is motivation. Students are expected to plan
for timely task. completion and set short, intermediate, and long-term goals. Unfortunately,
the skills necessary to meet these motivational demands are not explicitly taught to students,
and many students fail school as a result, Students in secondary settings also face executive
demands that require them to work independently with little feedback, apply knowledge
across content areas, solve problems, and organize information and resources. In other words,
executive demands require students to think about how they learn best and make decisions
about what they will do. Strategies may be used or developed to address all four categories of
demands. However, it should be noted that all good strategy use includes components
addressing executive demands, because a key feature of any strategy is to think about when to
use it, how to modify it, and when it is appropriate to switch to a new strategies.
Are Many Students Asking for Help As They Experience Similar Difficulties?
Another way to assess when your students need learning strategies is to pay careful
attention to extra support you routinely provide students dur ing learning activities. Many
teachers use learning strategies in their teaching but may not recognize them as strategies.
This happens when teachers are helping students during independent work and explain a
 SNED 113
Instructional Adaptation for Learning the content area
process or concept repeatedly to various students. Sometimes the teacher recognizes that a
number of students are having the same problem and may pause to clarify a point or process
for all students.

Are There Colleagues Who Can Help Me Identify Why Some of My Students Are Not
Being Successful?
A third way to determine when students might need instruction in effective learning
strategies is to consult with the special educators in your school. In the process of providing
support for students in resource room settings, special educators often use or create learning
strategies to help students to be successful in mainstream classes.

Principles of Strategy Instruction

There are three features that should be part of any learning strategy you develop or
use. First, the steps in a strategy should cue students to do something like read, survey, or
examine. Second, the strategy should offer a way to remember the steps to follow in using the
strategy. Third, the strategy should address a process that students find difficult. Students
need to feel that the strategy will help them meet key demands and expectations
A learning strategy that incorporates the features noted above is the GRADE strategy,
which may be taught to students to help them use their notes to study for a test (Berry, 1999),
Students are often perplexed by the task of studying for a test, so the task demand is real. The
strategy has steps that direct students to do something, in this case
Gather missing information from your notes by asking the teacher or a friend for his
or her notes.
Reread and highlight notes using different colors to code different levels of
information.
Ask yourself questions as you study your notes
Draw a visual device, like a chart, or graphic to organize the information
Engage in positive self-talk after studying your notes so you will be mentally
prepared when you take the test ("1 test and I am ready to do my best"). have studied
for this

The steps spell the word GRADE a mnemonic device that helps stu dents remember the
strategy, and the steps instruct them on what to do to use their notes to prepare for a test
(Berry, 1999).
 SNED 113
Instructional Adaptation for Learning the content area

THE PARAPHRASING STRATEGY

The students in Mr. Harris's history class would clearly benefit from learning a
paraphrasing strategy to help them put information into their own words which in turn would
help them understand and remember information better One strategy that Mc. Harris chose to
teach his students was the Paraphrasing Strategy Schumaker, Denton, & Deshler, 1964), in
this strategies each letter of the acronym RAP cues students t engage in a specific process
aimed at helping him or her understand and remember information, For example, the "R"
cues students to "read a paragraph" for section of information the "A" cues students to "Ask
themselves, What are the main idea and details in this paragraph? and the "P" cue students to
"Put the main idea and details into your own words" Knowledge of these steps helps students
understand that there is a process to paraphrasing information. Students then practice
applying these steps to different types of information (textbooks, lectures, etc.). As they learn
to apply the strategy in different situation, they learn when, where and how the strategy can
be used for maximum benefit. For example, when answering questions at the end of the
chapter or essay items on tests, students learn how to state main ideas and corresponding
details in their own words. Students also realize that when taking notes, one good system for
structuring information is to provide headings for main ideas and subheadings for details.
Collaborating with Others to Provide Strategy Instruction
Successful integration of strategy instruction in secondary classrooms is most effective when
teachers work together to identify the strategies that will help students become more
successful learners. Content-area teachers have expertise in the particular methods of inquiry
for their disciplines, while special educators have expertise in the specific learning needs of
students who struggle in school. When these professionals collaborate, strategies instruction
can be provided that meets a variety of setting demands and addresses the learning needs of
more students.