Learning Strategy Academy
Coordinator - Dr. Ellen Arnold (ellenarnold@arncraft.com)
The purpose of the Learning Strategies Academy is to provide our students with a strategy rich environment that introduces, models, scaffolds and reinforces the use of cognitive strategies. During “homework time” at The Center, the use of ‘strategies’ is expected, honored and rewarded. The goal is to help each student learn how to become an independent learner.
So what is a strategy? It is a process where a person thinks and acts planfully when completing a task. It can be a specific technique, principle or rule that will allow the student to be successful. Effective and efficient students have a plethora of strategies at the automatic level. They often refer to them as ‘tricks’ or ‘shortcuts’. Students with learning disabilities, on the other hand, are typically strategy poor. They often use the same strategies over and over, even if they do not work, mostly because they do not know what to do differently.
Much of current brain-based research supports the need for educators to use multiple modalities and pathways to help students make connections with academic content. In the Learning Strategies Academy, students will learn:
- How they learn best (including elements like sensory input, multiple intelligences, environmental preferences, appropriate assistive technology);
- The strategies they currently use at the automatic level;
- Other strategies that tap their own cognitive strengths;
- A process for reflection on which strategies are working and which are not;
- How to assess their own errors; and
- How to communicate the strategies that work best for them.
We use homework assignments provided by the child’s public school classroom teacher as a base to teach and reinforce these strategies. When homework is not assigned, we use the time to reinforce the principles of cognitive strategy instruction in material that supports and supplements the New York State Curriculum.
We provide periodic communication to each student’s parents and teachers about the strategies their student is using successfully.
It is our belief that all of our students are capable of mastering strategies that will allow them to be successful in school. It is our hope that every student will leave the Academy with a stronger belief in his/her own ability, an understanding of exactly how his/her brain works, a wealth of ideas about strategies that can be used to solve any difficulty related to school, the opportunity to be involved in dialogue about what is working and why, choice about how to accomplish various tasks, mastering the language of self advocacy – knowing how to appropriately tell a teacher when and why they are stuck, and what strategies they should use in order to maximize success.
Dr. Ellen Arnold has been the Center’s Learning Strategy Coordinator since 2003. As Academy Coordinator, she provides instruction to The Center’s Graduate Assistants on how to effectively teach students with learning disabilities. Center Graduate Assistants are also required to take Dr. Arnold’s Daemen College course, “Instructional Methods and Strategies for Students with Disabilities” (SED 606). In addition, Dr. Arnold is an educational consultant, and directs Arncraft, a company dedicated to helping learners of all ages unlock their potential. She holds a Doctorate in Education from Nova University. Dr. Arnold is the author of several books, including “The MI Strategy Bank” and “Brilliant Brain Becomes Brainy”. Her books strive to empower students through self-reflection, self-knowledge, and strategic thinking.
The Reading/Writing Academy
Coordinator - Catherine Fay (cfay@opschools.org)
Our Graduate Assistants incorporate writing instruction to Center students utilizing the fully developed Step Up to Writing Program*. In addition to mastering Step Up to Writing accordion paragraphs, the Graduate Assistants are taught a multitude of reading/writing strategies to use for classroom instruction, such as CUPS, (Capitalization, Usage, Punctuation, Spelling) a strategy to assist with the cognitive writing process involving revision and editing and informal outlining.
Graduate Assistants meet bi-monthly for instructional sessions with Catherine.
Topics included during these learning enrichment sessions are as follows:
- Writing an accordion paragraph using common language and colors
- Using literature to improve reading comprehension and build background knowledge for the purpose of writing
- Organizing writing using an informal outline:
- stars-main idea
- dashes- sub-topics
- dots- details, examples, explanations
- Developing topic sentences:
- Occasion/Position
- Power Statement
- When or Where + What’s Happening
- Understanding the “Cycle of Instruction”:
- Direct Instruction – I do
- Guided Instruction – We do
- Independent Instruction – You do
- Understanding and applying the CUPS strategy for revision and editing
- Understanding and applying what makes a “Great Short Response”
- Identifying informational web sites to aid in lesson design
- Administration and interpretation of assessment tool TOWL-3 (Test of Written Language)
- Using and creating manipulative strategies to reinforce Step Up to Writing
- Classroom teacher evaluations based on site observation
*Maureen E. Auman, founder and owner of the Read-Write Connection in Denver, CO, created the Step Up to Writing Program to empower educators to help all students meet or exceed state standards in reading and writing. Step Up to Writing is published by Sopris West Educational Services, a Cambrium Learning Company.
Catherine has a Master of Science Degree in Elementary Education from the State University College at Buffalo. She has taught in the Orchard Park School District for 31 years and is currently an Academic Intervention teacher at Windom Elementary. In addition to her teaching responsibilities, she is involved with many school support programs such as The Leadership Advisory Committee, Teacher Mentoring, Instructional Study Team, Curriculum Mapping Council, and the Professional Development Committee. Catherine oversees the Literacy Lab, where she meets with as many as 50 students, grades 3-5, 2 times weekly for 45 minute sessions to teach multi-developmental stages of learning in the areas of reading and writing.
Mathematics Academy
Coordinator – Mary Smolak
Our students use the Investigations* curriculum to practice instructional techniques. This program relies on the use of manipulatives and real life applications.
The emphasis on mathematical thinking is at the center of the program:
- Children think for themselves about the mathematics they do, rather than simply applying learned procedures and definitions.
- Children develop multiple ways to enter a mathematical problem.
- Children learn to keep track of their mathematical strategies and communicate them in ways that make sense to themselves and others.
- Children’s strategies become more and more efficient with practice over time.
Research on the effects of Investigations is based on a variety of measures of student achievement and learning including state-mandated tests, research-based interview protocols, items from research studies published in peer-reviewed journals and specially constructed paper –and- pencil tests.
This body of research includes classroom studies, large-scale comparisons across schools, and small-scale comparisons between classrooms.
Together, the studies indicate that:
- Investigations students do as well as or better than students using other curricula in straight calculation problems involving basic facts and the whole number operations.
- Investigations students have a better understanding of number relationships than students working with more traditional programs.
- Investigations works equally well with students at different achievement levels in mathematics.
- Students who use Investigations achieve greater accuracy on word problems and on more complex calculations than students in comparison classrooms.
- Students in schools fully implementing Investigations outperform students in schools not using Investigations on a high stakes standardized test administered in Massachusetts.
*The Investigations curriculum was developed at TERC (formerly Technical Education Research Centers) in collaboration with Kent State University and the State University of New York at Buffalo. The work was supported in part by National Science Foundation Grant No. ESI-9050210. TERC is a nonprofit company working to improve mathematics and science education. TERC is located at 2067 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02140. The Investigations curriculum is published by Scott Foresman, a division of Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers, Inc.
Mary Smolak began in August 2007 as Mathematics Academy Coordinator for The Thomas Reynolds Center Year Five After-School Program. As Academy Coordinator, she provides math training to Center Graduate Assistants using “The Investigations” curriculum. She holds a Master of Science in Early Education from Buffalo State University College. Mary taught Elementary School in the Buffalo Public School System for 17 years, retiring in 2005. She currently holds a position as Math Coach for the Boces Regional Support Services where she assists teachers with math instruction and planning. She is also involved with the University of Buffalo Research Foundation under Dr. Clements and Dr. Sarama as a Teacher Mentor with the Math Triad Building Blocks Program for Pre K and K.
