BEFORE the LESSON:  Prepping the class

  1. Response to Intervention (RTI) is a new strategy that involves school-wide assessments to find at risk learners and then give extra instruction to help them. Know ahead of time which students need extra attention.
  2. Vocabulary We will go over the vocabulary words in class.  I will ask students to jot down definitions and pass the papers to me.  Then I can check for understanding and dispel misinformation.
  3. VOCABULARY EXPLORATION: I will break down words used in math to explain their different parts.  For example, “coordinate plane” would be broken down into “coordinate” and then “plane.”  The word “midpoint,” will be broken down into “mid” (and explained) then “point” (and explained).  By breaking down words that have specific meanings in mathematics, it helps students to understand and remember vocabulary and concepts.
  4.  KWL Chart  K-W-L charts are graphic organizers that help students organize information before, during and after a unit or a lesson.  They can be used to engage students in a new topic, activate prior knowledge, share unit objectives, and monitor learning. Before starting the lesson, students fill out the first column — what they know about the topic.  This can be done individually or in small groups.  Later, the 2nd and 3rd columns would be completed.
  5. CONCEPT EXERCISES:  Show students an illustration of the coordinate plane, axis, coordinates, etc. Ask students to state fundamental facts about these and their relationship to each other.
  6. MODELING: Students are to work in pairs and construct their own models of the coordinate plane and related concepts by drawing a graph, X and Y axis, coordinates. One student is to name coordinates and their partner is to mark the coordinates on a graph. Hands-on learning engages students more and thus they learn more. Therefore, modeling is a particularly useful technique.
  7. Students are shown an anticipation guide and they check the box for ME whenever they agree with a statement.
  8. Students are given a 6-step SQRQCQ guide to review, prior to reading a math problem.
  9. Semantic feature analysis (SFA) creates a link between prior knowledge and new words.
  10. Use CLOZE technique. Cloze tests require the ability to understand context and vocabulary in order to identify the correct words or type of words that belong in the deleted passages of a text. This exercise is often used to assess ESL student understanding.
  11. Ask students to write a microtheme about one particular idea, such as “What is an axis?” Micro theme is a brief piece of writing that succinctly explains a lesson and requires a great deal of thinking to compose.
  12. Develop study guides using levels-of-comprehension construct and text patterns that refer to the math lesson on hand.
  13. External text structure points readers to important concepts via organizational aids like a prefix, table of contents, appendixes, bibliography, , indexes, front matter, end matter, graphs, headings, font sizes, charts, illustrations and guide questions.
  14. Internal structure tell, show, describe, and explain important concepts. Different text patterns help to reinforce important concepts.
  15. Point out signal words help readers to follow the author’s main points.