Douglas Smith
Donna McElveen
Coastal Carolina University
25th International At-Risk Youth Forum
Myrtle Beach, SC
February 16-20
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It is an online resource for school teachers
and administrators that provides a
comprehensive, scalable, interactive, and
secure support system for diagnosis of
students, management of best instructional
practices, and monitoring of student progress
on a number of different assessment levels.
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Students differ from one another in several
key ways
◦ How they think and process information
MacWhitney, 1998; Piaget, 1969, 1976)
◦ How they prefer to receive information
1994; Dunn, 1984; Gardner, 1983)
(Klahr &
(Armstrong, 1993,
◦ How and why they relate to one another and adults
in the ways they do (Erikson, 1963, Kohlberg 1976)
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Teachers are more effective when they
respond to student uniqueness
◦ Developmentally appropriate practice
◦ Differentiation of instruction
subsequently Marzano and many others)
(Bredekamp, 1987)
(Tomlinson, 2000 and
◦ Noting and responding to student differences is
widely considered to be good teaching practice (Bain,
Lintz, and Word, 1989; Brophy and Good, 1986; Corno and Snow, 1986;
Dunn, 1984; Metcalf and Cruickshank, 1991; Slavin, 1994; Wang, Haertel
and Walberg, 1993/1994, too many more to list…)
Cognitive Level
Axis
Pre-operational
Concrete Operational
Formal Operational
Students completed
the survey including
Piagetian tasks
measuring student
cognitive levels. This
provided constraints
for content
presentation.
Cognitive Level
Axis
Pre-operational
Concrete Operational
Formal Operational
Verbal/Linguistic
Logical/Mathematical
Multiple
Intelligences
Axis
Visual/Spatial
Bodily/Kinesthetic
Musical/Rhythmic
Interpersonal
Intrapersonal
Naturalist
Students also completed the imbedded,
age appropriate original Multiple
Intelligence inventory which facilitated
internal computation of learning
preferences
Cognitive Level
Axis
Pre-operational
Concrete Operational
Formal Operational
Verbal/Linguistic
Logical/Mathematical
Multiple
Intelligences
Axis
Visual/Spatial
Bodily/Kinesthetic
Musical/Rhythmic
Interpersonal
Intrapersonal
Naturalist
Finally, analysis of the
content to be taught for
domain
Cognitive
Affective
Psycho-motor
Content Domain
Axis
Psycho-social
Cognitive Level
Characteristics
Axis
Pre-operational
Concrete Operational
Formal Operational
Verbal/Linguistic
Logical/Mathematical
Multiple
Intelligences
Axis
Visual/Spatial
Bodily/Kinesthetic
Musical/Rhythmic
Interpersonal
Intrapersonal
Naturalist
Cognitive
Ecological Characteristics
Affective
Psycho-motor
Content Domain
Axis
Expected / Actual Achievement
Gains in RIT Scores
Percent Actual Gains are of
Expected Gains by Grade
Level
Smallest
195.63%
Math
5.9 / 8.8
Reading
4.7 / 11
Language
Usage
5.4 / 11
4
3.6 / 9.4
3.6 / 10.9
3.9 / 8
256.34%
5
4.3 / 8.7
2.9 / 7.7
3.0 / 5.6
218.17%
6
3.1 / 4.6
2.2 / 5.4
2.3 / 5
203.74%
Grade
3
Greatest
RIT Scores – Scores derived from Rauschian Item Response Theory
demonstrating absolute difficulty of items correctly completed.
Percent Actual Gains are expressed in aggregate over all three content
tests by grade level.
Student
Characterized by
Multiple Intelligences profile
First, teachers learn
Second,
teachers
how
to uselearn
the
how todiagnose
critically of
analyze
their
their curriculum
students according
to
identifying
domains,
the listed
theoretical
taxonomic
levels,
and
constructs and
instructional
implications
consider
instructional
implications
Teacher’s
Role
Cognitive Developmental level
Ecological backdrop
Psychosocial level
Diagnose students
(individually and as a
class) and ensure
reasonable
implementation of
implications from these
variables to produce
Curriculum
Typically driven by
Standards which dictate
Domain for Instruction
(Cognitive, Affective,
Psychomotor)
Bloom’s Taxonomic Level
(Knowledge, Comprehension,
Application, Analysis,
Synthesis/Evaluation)
Classroom Instruction
that is
Student Centered,
Developmentally Responsive,
Achievement Oriented
A Model for Balancing Classroom Instruction (Smith, 2009)
Forty-five states, the District of
Columbia, four territories, and the
Department of Defense Education
Activity have adopted the Common
Core State Standards.
Like them or not –
CCSS are here to stay!

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Formative assessments, summative
assessments, benchmarks, and so much
more
When results are in how do teachers analyze
and use the information to increase
achievement?
Learning Curve Achievement Systems not only
analyzes data, but makes instructional
strategy recommendations - not curriculum
driven ones
Materials
Netbook lab Laptop, Projector, Costumes ; shirts ,ties hats, wigs etc. www.5minutemystery.com, elements
of a story concept map/ worksheet.
Classroom Arrangement Considerations
Students will be grouped in five clusters of four (or so) based on ability homogeneous/reading.
Activity Instructions
1. Students will be grouped in fours based on reading level.
2. Each group will read the same mystery, and compare what they thought the outcome was.
3. Each group will construct a dramatic recreation of the different outcomes of each story and the correct
ending.
4. Students will review concepts of character, setting, and perspective before the new learning takes place.
These concepts will be displayed on the board in the form of a concept bubble map to display the
interconnectedness of these ideas, and to serve as a model for the activity.
5. As a class, students and teacher should go through a 5-minute mystery to insure that the students are
familiar with the format, and idea of the activity. While the mystery is read-aloud, the class will also pause
to fill in the concept map. The class will also do a brief what happens next to model the end of the dramatic
recreation.
6. When the groups have completed step 5, they should be given time to rehearse their endings for
presentation to the rest of the class.
7. Each group will act out their scene, and key terms will be reviewed.
Related Multiple Intelligences
Interpersonal, Verbal/Linguistic, Bodily/Kinesthetic
Materials
Paper
Colored pencils
Crayons
Magazines
Books for students to read
Classroom Arrangement Considerations
Students arranged into groups of four or five.
Art supplies and books will be shared within groups.
Activity Instructions
Discuss communities and give the students a brief description of communities. Talk with the students
about two different communities that they can compare and contrast. Read a book about communities to
the class.
Explain to the students that they will be making a book comparing and contrasting two communities that
they have been to or know a lot about. Tell them the book can be their own creation, but it must contain a
title with both communities represented in it, a picture, and their name as the author. Tell them that the left
side of the page must correspond to the right side of the page. The teacher might want to model or share
one that she/he has made in advance. Help the students get started by comparing things like the weather,
food, clothing styles.
Discuss the comparisons of the communities and ask volunteers to discuss parts of their books. Have
students write at least four complete sentences about these communities in their journals.
Read and respond to the students books on a separate piece of paper. Look over journals to see if the
students wrote what was assigned to them.
Related Multiple Intelligences
Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Visual/Spatial, Verbal/Linguistic
Materials
Plain white paper, perhaps some cut in circles, chalkboard, and chalk or whiteboard and markers.
Classroom Arrangement Considerations
Desk can either be placed in groups or individually.
The activity allows the students and teacher to interact together.
Activity Instructions
By performing this activity, students will become more comfortable with using fractions and have a better
understanding of them.
Students will be able to write a fraction to describe what part of a region is shaded. They will also be able to
name the numerator and denominator in a fraction. Finally, students will be able to identify equal fractions.
Begin by having students imagine that they have a pizza and they want to share it with 7 of their friends.
Ask, how would you divide that pizza up so that each of you received an equal amount? Tell students that
through this activity they will learn how to divide something into equal parts by learning about fractions.
Day 1:
Give each student a piece of plain white paper and have them fold it in half. Now explain that they have
divided a whole piece of paper into two equal parts and that a fraction is simply a part of a whole. Ask the
students to color in one of the two equal parts, and have one student write on the board to show that one
out of the two equal parts is now shaded .Now is a good time to introduce the terms numerator and
denominator. Explain the numerator to be the number of parts that are shaded and the denominator is the
total number of equal parts. Students may remember the association better when it is explained that down
and denominator both start with D. After you have given this instruction, perform the same activity with
pieces of paper to describe fractions such as 18, 23, etc. Each time this is done, have students write the
fraction on the board and identify the numerator and denominator.
Continued on next slide
Day 2 (or later in day 1):
To teach equivalent fractions, have students take out the paper they folded in half to demonstrate
the fraction Have them fold it again to divide the paper into fourths. Ask them to unfold the paper
and describe what they notice. If students do not catch on, explain to them that they have divided
the paper into fourths and that 24 of the paper is shaded and that this is equal to. Another way to
do this is to ask what fraction is shaded and students should respond that 24 and are both shaded.
Since the amount of shading has not changed, this means that is equal to 24. Have students fold
the same paper in half again to demonstrate that is equal to 24 which is equal to 48. Follow this up
with other equivalent fractions such as 23 is equal to 46.
Ask students to continue exploring by folding papers and trying to come up with as many different
equivalent fractions as they can. This part could be made into a game to increase motivation, with a
reward for the winner with the most equivalent fractions. Also request that students identify the
numerator and denominator in their examples.
To wrap up this lesson, return to the pizza question presented in the anticipatory set. Question
students on what a solution could be for dividing up the pizza to give to 8 people. Most likely,
students will realize that the pizza should be cut in half, then cut in half a second and a third time
to divide the pizza into 8 equal parts. You may need to lead students into finding this solution.
Another way to make this even more meaningful is to give students round pieces of paper and have
them fold it to divide it into 8 equal parts.
Related Multiple Intelligences
Interpersonal

Effective teaching yields observable achievement-related results
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Among the many constraints upon teachers, selection and
implementation of instructional strategies stand out as viable
options
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Implementation of instruction based upon understanding of
students’ preferences has resulted in increased achievement on
the Measures of Academic Progress assessment.
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One route to effective teaching is for teachers to engage in
professional development that scaffolds diagnostic and
prescriptive skills necessary to understand students and
implement instruction that is student centered, developmentally
responsive, and achievement oriented.
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If you would like more information, please contact us via
email :
Dr. Douglas Smith - dsmith@coastal.edu, or
Mrs. Donna McElveen - damcelvee@coastal.edu