Adapt Lessons to Reach All Students

Principle

Criteria/Feature

I. Big Ideas
Concepts, or principles that facilitate the most efficient and broad acquisition of knowledge

Focus on essential learning outcomes
Capture rich relationships among concepts
Enable learners to apply what they learn in varied situations
Involve ideas, concepts, principles, and rules central to higher-order learning
Form the basis for generalization and expansion

II. Conspicuous Strategies
Useful steps for accomplishing a goal or task

Planned
Purposeful
Explicit
Of medium-level application
Most important in initial teaching of concept

III. Mediated Scaffolding
Instructional guidance provided by teachers, peers, materials, or tasks

Varied according to learner needs or experiences
Based on task (not more than learner needs)
Provided in the form of tasks, content, and materials
Removed gradually according to learner proficiency

IV. Strategic Integration
Integrating knowledge as a means of promoting higher-level cognition

Combines cognitive components of information
Results in a new and more complex knowledge structure
Aligns naturally with information (i.e, is not "forced")
Involves meaningful relationships among concepts
Links essential big ideas across lessons within a curriculum

V. Judicious Review
Structured opportunities to recall or apply previously taught information

Sufficient
Distributed over time
Cumulative
Varied
Judicious, not haphazard

VI. Primed Background Knowledge
Preexisting information that affects new learning

Aligns with learner knowledge and expertise
Considers strategic and proximal preskills
Readies learner for successful performance

Six Principles of Effective Curriculum Design

Toward Successful Inclusion of Students with Disabilities: The Architecture of Instruction

click here

Free 7-Day Trial for TeacherVision^®

Walden University

Wondering about online education at Walden? Get answers to your questions, meet faculty, and learn what it's like to be a Walden student. Click here to check out our free Walden Forums!

November Calendar of Events

Use our Educators' Calendar to find activities and printables for every day in November, including Geography Awareness Week (Nov. 15–21) and Thanksgiving (Nov. 26). Plus celebrate American Indian Heritage Month and Aviation History Month all November long!

Continuity of Learning

Is the flu causing you or your students to miss class? Pearson introduces www.PearsonContinuity.com to help keep the doors of learning open. This new website offers print and online resources for students, parents, and teachers to continue education if the H1N1 virus or another crisis keeps children from attending school.

Teaching The Diary of Anne Frank

PBS MASTERPIECE is airing a new film in the spring based on The Diary of Anne Frank, and, in conjunction with Facing History and Ourselves, the MASTERPIECE team will be creating resources to help educators introduce this timeless story to students. You're invited to share your ideas about what activities and tools you'd like to use in your classroom at the PBS Teachers blog!

Bulletin Boards

Improve effectiveness and enjoyment of lessons with our bulletin board ideas and examples. They'll make your classroom visually appealing and stimulating for your students.

Top-Ranked Educational Program—100% Online

Equip your faculty with today's best practices through an MS in Curriculum and Instruction or an MS in Educational Administration—100% online from The University of Scranton. Find out more!

Select a Country