High-Leverage Practice 13: Instruction

I am going to discuss High-Leverage Practices as mentioned on the CEC website organized around four aspects of practice. I hope you will join in the conversation!

HLP13 Adapt curriculum tasks and materials for specific learning goals.

Sometimes we take for granted that all students are capable of doing the same things. This is not true because each student has their own unique way of learning and retaining information.

Once I determine the specific learning goal for the students and prioritize the steps that are needed to reach this goal, it is time to look at each individual step closer and in more detail.

I need to make sure the student is capable of completing the individual task. I need to look at the student’s developmental level to determine if he needs to start out with concrete examples before moving to abstract ideas. I might need to look at manipulatives to help move from the concrete example to the abstract ideas. Does my student have all the materials he might need to master this skill? I might have to get some materials or even make my own if I can’t find any. This is why planning ahead of time is so important.

I might find some practice worksheets but usually, the student will need more practice examples. Sometimes the practice worksheets are too overwhelming and might need to be cut into smaller sections for the student to complete. Sometimes the student doesn’t need to complete all the problems if he can show mastery by doing half of the examples.

Depending on the student’s needs, I might even have to adapt the material for the student to use. Usually, I see general material available and then I tweak them to match the needs of my student.

How do you adapt curriculum tasks and materials? Please share.

Photo by Chris Liverani on Unsplash