Student Partnering Ideas for Understanding and Confidence

Thanks to Linda Zacchea from Waubonsee Community College and a participant in the northern SLN group for her enriching ideas.

 

Reading - I have students choose two characters from a story and write a letter from one to the other. They need to delve a little bit deeper into both the characters and their involvement in the story to be able to effectively do this.  

I also like to use the think/pair/share strategy when covering a new topic.  First you have individuals come up with some ideas and jot them down, then partners talk, then either one or both partners shares with the whole class. I think that students gain confidence in their ideas when they first have time to think to themselves, then talk about it  to one person, rather than the large group.

Thanks, Linda, and thanks for inspiring your students! These ideas are also great for enhancing post-secondary and work skills. Boosting our students critical thinking skills and confidence levels is a fantastic contribution to their future success.

Congratulations to Newly Credentialed Resource Specialists

Thanks to the following individuals for making a difference in their students’ lives via increasing their knowledge and expertise by becoming credentialed Special Learning Needs Resource Specialists. 

Christine Decker - Parkland College

Melissa Koke - Spoon River College

Janet Young - Spoon River College

Nancy Young - Lewis and Clark Community College

Linda Zacchea - Waubonsee Community College

Congratulations!

Word Warrior of the Week

Thanks to Nancy Young of Lewis and Clark Community College and a current member of the Central SLN group for her Reading/Writing strategy!

Brainstorm/discuss what they think this article or story might be about based on the title/picture.
Read the story aloud together.
Stop from time to time to check the brainstorming answers.
Confirm or debunk what they thought the article or story was going to be about.
Have the students go back over the material and come up with a vocabulary list (Always have a backup list)
Bounce the vocabulary words around the room to allow each student to use it properly in a sentence.
Begin the word war. This is where the students challenge each other to come up with grammatically correct sentences using multiple words. The student that uses the most vocabulary words in one sentence is the "Word warrior of the week".
Go back to the article/story and have the student do some analyzing and summarizing.
Identify descriptive areas and paint a verbal picture of what that looks like, so the student can "see" it in their mind.
Relate the article or story to the real world if at all possible.

Thanks, Nancy, for this fun, interactive, and real world reality check strategy!

Members of the SLN Team Making a Difference!

Tara Schwab and Heather Martin of Waubonsee Community College share ideas on incorporating college and career readiness into the Language Arts curriculum at the IACEA conference in Springfield. They did a fantastic job!

Venise Haynes from South Suburban College has great strategies for teaching multi-level, multi-languge classes. Thanks, Venise, for spreading your knowledge with the field at IACEA last week.

Sally Guy and Richard Wince of Elgin Community College are pros at addressing learning styles as they develop thematic core curriculum. Their session delivered a wealth of knowledge from years of experience teaching.

Not pictured, but also providing great expertise was Alice Daniels of Rock Valley College who presented with Amanda Smith on Crossing the Bridge to ICAPS/Accelerating Opportunity and Jessica Parrent of Illinois Eastern Community College who shared her master's level knowledge on mental health in the classroom.

Thanks to all for helping us learn from each other!