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8 Powerful Strategies for Teaching Main Ideas and Details

Main ideas and details are fundamental, core concepts every elementary student needs to master. It is the foundation of reading comprehension, writing and the organization of ideas. In fact, mastery of these abstract concepts can even help students improve memory , note taking skills and enhance their understanding of lessons. What are Main Ideas and Details? Main ideas are the most important central concept or claim that can be expressed visually in writing (often as a thesis or topic sentence) or orally in conversation. Details are single ideas that illustrate a point, explain a concept, or otherwise support the central idea. Details can be facts, descriptions, examples, quotations, or anecdotes. How Can the Mastery of Main Ideas and Details Improve Student Learning? By understanding and utilizing the concepts of main ideas and details, students can make a conscious effort to organize and manage their learning. This can assist them with: Reading: Understanding main id...

7 Organizational Tricks that Keep Educational Materials Orderly and Accessible

When you have as much material and resources as I have collected over the past 20 years acting as a learning specialist, it can be easy to overlook some great options or even have trouble finding the needed materials. A number of years ago, I decided to tackle this problem head on. Strategies for Clearing Your Clutter and Organizing Your Materials Clearing your clutter and organizing your materials can be a great way to make your home and practice manageable, comfortable, and efficient. What’s more, it makes your space look more attractive and you won’t waste time locating the needed materials. Here are a number of strategies that have helped me organize my space: Use well labeled, color coded filing cabinets, storage carts, colorful boxes and even old pill bottles to organize materials. Once a year go through your materials and clear the clutter. Give away or get rid of outdated books, technology, and other resources that you are not using. Shred and recycle old stude...

Teaching Students Relaxation and Attention Skills with the Muse

Due to high classroom expectations and an increase in testing, I find that more and more of my students are coming to my after school sessions spent and weary from a long day at school and many are plagued with social and/or academic anxiety. Additionally, I’m seeing this concerning profile in a younger and younger student population How Can I Address Low Stamina and Student Anxiety? At first, I offered my students the opportunity to dip their hands into what I call my, “zen table.” The zen table is a hollow coffee table that I filled with lentils, mung beans, rocks and magnets. Students plunge their hands deep into the soothing medley, where they can allow the stress of the day to “dribble out of their fingertips.” Concurrently, we discuss the day, choose a positive mindset, engage in occasional meditations, and do deep breathing and mindfulness activities. When I realized that this was not enough for some of my students, I began to search for other alternatives. W...

Erasable Frixion Markers Make Learning Both Fun and Memorable

Frixion pens , highlighters and markers are currently my favorite tool for making my sessions both fun and memorable. From colorcoding, to erasing mishaps, to sending secret messages, these magical writing utensils will engage students of all ages. In fact, this past week, one of my students, that is a senior in high school, had a blast breaking down the steps required to complete mathematical logarithms (see the image above). What Are My Favorite Frixion Options? Most recently, I found a set of 24, different vibrant markers that can bring a rainbow of colors to assignments and projects. Best of all, with the swipe of the attached rubber eraser, the ink disappears. I’m also a fan of their highlighters , as it enables my students to erase their markings when they highlight too much information. Now correcting mishaps is somewhat miraculous. How Does the Frixion Technology Work? The markings become invisible when heated. When rubbin...

Motivating Students - 3 Misconceptions and 10 Strategies for Success

Motivation is purported to be a common obstacle that obstructs academic success, however this is a misconception. As Rick Lavoie said, "It is not that students become unmotivated, because all human behavior is motivated." Instead, other core factors such as depression, anxiety, a poor self concept, and learning disabilities are the source that affect learning and appear to impact motivation. Assisting Students that Appear Unmotivated? To help students that appear unmotivated, first we must investigate the cause of the academic struggle or unwanted behavior. One can attempt to uncover these stumbling blocks through mindful discussions, but it may be best to pursue additional assistance from a therapist, educational therapist or learning specialist that has some training in psychology. In addition, if the student’s difficulties manifest as poor grades, a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation can help to uncover the core problem. Once the underlying causes h...

Fractions Lesson Activities and Free Video

Fractions are often a complicated mathematical concept for many young learners to conceptualize. What’s more, understanding how fractions relate to everyday life can be an added challenge. In my practice, I continually design and redesign my lessons to be concrete, memorable and fun. I love nothing more than to come up with strategies and materials that really work for struggling learners and I strive to use engaging characters, implement animations, and integrate joyful and amusing activities. I regularly ask my students to provide feedback, so that I can tweak and refine my methods. In March of 2017, I finally put my fraction ideas and materials together and created 31 PowerPoint slides as well as a 25-page adjoining document with interactive activities. I got a number of my students involved in the project, and I must say that I’m quite proud of the finished product. This new publication is available at Good Sensory Learning and it is titled Fractions are Fun: Animated...

Learning to a Beat Can Improve Student Mood Attention and Stamina

Having to complete homework after a full day of school is really challenging for some learners. The thought of having to pull out books and get back to work after sitting at a desk for most of the day can be an overwhelming and daunting undertaking. In fact, many students would rather do just about anything than school work. So what can we do to help them get through their assignments in a focused and mindful manner? A Consistent Beat Can Help Improve Mood, Attention, Processing Speed and Stamina Metronomes have been used to enhance abilities in sports and music for decades, and but did you know that for some learners, a consistent beat playing in the background can help to improve mood, attention, processing speed and stamina? A metronome is a device that produces an audible beat—a click or other sound—at regular and consistent intervals. While a slow beat can be calming, a fast beat can increase one’s energy level and processing speed. The trick is to use a device th...

How Can I Improve my Executive Functioning?

What is Executive Functioning? Executive functioning, or what I like to call the conductor of the brain, is the process of the mind gathering together and making sense of all the information we receive from our instruments or senses. Helping us to create meaning from what we see, hear, touch, taste and experience, executive functioning also allows us to focus our attention, think about new information, and make connections to what we already know. Many teachers and parents have trouble understanding how simple tasks such as remembering appointments, using an agenda or turning in assignments can be difficult, but unfortunately these and other similar tasks can be extremely challenging for some individuals. However, the good news is the part of the brain that manages executive functioning, which is called the frontal lobe, continues to develop through high school and college. Therefore, many kids that struggle with executive functioning can significantly improve their abilities....

Creating the Ultimate Student Planner - Executive Functioning Success

Why is it that more and more students are struggling with the process of recording, completing, and turning in homework assignments? It used to be that every teacher had a similar process. They: Wrote assignments on the blackboard. Asked students to record this information into their planner. Collected the student’s daily assignments. Now that teachers use varying degrees of technology, it seems like each teacher has different expectations as well as different procedures. As a result, those students with weak executive functioning skills, often struggle with the homework process. Without a consistent, structured routine, planning, time management, and organization can fall by the wayside. Sadly, many of these students are often mislabeled as careless, lazy and unmotivated and they may struggle to get the grades that they deserve. Is it the Student's Fault when they Fail to Turn in Assignments? It’s easy to see that it is not a student’s fault if they are paraly...

Do I have dyslexia - Explaining Symptoms and Myths for Kids

What do you do when you learn that your child has dyslexia? Should you hide this diagnosis to protect them from labels and misunderstandings, or should you tell them? If you do decide to tell them, how do you do this? Can you help them to overcome any potential fears or misunderstandings? These are the questions that I will answer in this blog that includes kid-friendly graphics. What are the Benefits of Telling Your Child That He or She Has Dyslexia? Educating your child with dyslexia about the common signs and misconceptions can help them to: understand that they learn in a different way than other kids that don’t have dyslexia. shed negative labels such as stupid, careless, unmotivated and lazy. correct any misunderstandings. identify with other successful people that have or had dyslexia. acquire the needed intervention and instruction in school. learn that many people with dyslexia have strengths that others do not have. Individuals with dyslexia are often: g...

Social Media Disrupts Homework - Five Management Strategies for Success

Although many students think that they can manage an onslaught of distractions while they are doing their home work, there is a price to pay. Pings from social media and bleeps from electronic devices present constant interruptions that pull attention away from the task at hand. In fact, because many students try to juggle multiple activities, divided attention can turn an hour of assignments into three hours or more. An added problem is that diversions prevent learners from fully engaging in their work on a deep level and their learning curve takes a sharp dive. As result, these students often have to take the additional time to relearn the information at a later date - if they don’t want their grades to suffer. What Can We Do to Help This Generation of Young Learners Manage Social Media? Teachers can integrate social media into classroom and homework assignments. Start a group for your class so that students can share st...

Mindfulness Training Improves Weak Emotional Intelligence - Symptoms and Strategies Defined

I find that more and more parents and teachers are complaining that our youth have underdeveloped social skills. Instead of face to face encounters, many youngsters have their attention buried in their electronic devices, and they are not learning to read important social cues. As a result, many children are not developing their emotional intelligence. We are now learning that mindfulness-based approaches can be very beneficial to both the learning process and the development of emotional intelligence. This is a form of metacognition that can help youngsters gain a sense of control over both their thoughts and emotions. In addition, these practices can improve self-esteem and resilience. What Does Mindfulness have to do with Emotional Intelligence? Psychology Today defines emotional intelligence as "the ability to identify and manage your own emotions and those of other people." It involves the following three skills: emotional awareness, emotional application, ...

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