At Risk Students and Teaching Strategies for Cognitive Learning

1
At Risk Students
and Teaching
Strategies for
Cognitive Learning
2
Table Of Contents

• Slide 1 Title Page
• Slide 2 Table of Contents
• Slide 3 Focus Questions
• Slide 4 Statistics
• Slides 5-8 Introduction
• Slides 9-21 Strategies and Methodologies
• Slides 22-23 Summary
• Slide 24 Conclusion
• Slide 25 References

3
Questions for Thought

• Do you remember classmates in school that never
  seemed to complete in class assignments or do
  their homework?
• Do you remember classmates in school who did
  poorly in most of their classes and rarely
  participated in extracurricular activities?
• How many of those students actually graduated
  from high school?
• (Ormrod, 2006)

4
The National Center for Education
Statistics Drop Out Rates (1999)

• 25.3 Hispanic
• 13.4 black
• 7.6 White
• (Johannessen, 2004, pg. 638 )

5
Who are at risk?

• Students who have a high probability of failing
  to acquire minimal academic skills necessary for
  success in the adult world.
• (Ormrod, 2006, pg. 129)

6
At Risk Students

• Approximately 12 million students in the largest
  urban school districts are labeled at risk.
• Schools and teachers have been defining a
  majority of their students as unable to educate.
• ( Haberman, 1995)
• These facts define the necessity of teaching
  teachers how to teach the unteachable.
• The essence of this presentation.

7
Labels of Students Least
Likely To Succeed

• Struggling Students
• Reluctant Students
• At Risk Students
• Disadvantaged Students
• Alienated Students
• Resistant Students
• Educationally Deprived
• (Johannessen, 2003, pg.6)

8
Characteristics of
Students At Risk

• Low socioeconomic status families
• Minority ethnic groups
• Linguistic minority background
• History of academic failure
• Older in age than classmates
• Emotional and behavior problems
• Lack of psychological attachment to school
• List your most at-risk students---these are the
  ones we want YOU to focus onthe ones who need
  YOUR help the most!
• (Ormrod, 2006)

9
Teachers Encouraging At Risk Students

• Make the curriculum relevant to student to
  students lives and needs
• Use students strengths to promote high
  self-esteem
• Communicate high expectations for students
  performance
• Encourage and facilitate school involvement and
  extracurricular activities
• How can you do this with the students you
  listed???
• (Ormrod, 2006)

10
Teachers Promote
Self-Determination in At Risk
Students

• Strategies
• Present rules and instructions in an
  informational rather than controlling manner
• Give students opportunities to make choices
  (individually or as a group)
• Evaluate students performance in a
  non-controlling manner
• Use extrinsic reinforcers selectively
• (Ormrod, 2006)

11
Teachers Promote
Self-Efficacy in At Risk
Students

• Strategies
• Teach basic skills
• Use effort and achievement rubrics
• Assure students they can be successful
• Promote mastery or challenging tasks
• ( Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock, 2001)

12
How do teachers know if at risk students are
learning?

• permanent changes in behavior as a result of life
  experiences
• permanent changes in mental representations or
  associations as a result of life experiences
• (Both definitions describes learning as
  a permanent change due to experiences)
• (Ormrod, 2004)
• Student characteristics and instruction
  determines learning outcomes. (NASSP, 1979)

13
Teachers Make Learning Meaningful for At
Risk Students

• Student-directed instruction promotes prior
  knowledge activation
• Meaningful learning occurs only when students can
  relate new information to prior knowledge
• Meaningful learning facilitates both storage and
  retrieval of information
• Discuss with your tablehow can YOU make learning
  meaningful to students? Think of the students you
  wrote down that YOU will focus on.
• (Ormrod, 2004)

14
Transfer and Problem Solving
Strategies for At Risk Students

• Allow students many opportunities for practice
  and learning
• Use scaffolding for complex tasks
• Implement authentic activities
• Assignments must require prior knowledge
• Create activities that promote HOTS
• Convey high performance expectations
• GIVE EXAMPLES OF EACH AT YOUR TABLE
• (Ormrod, 2004)

15
Teachers Can Motivate At Risk
Students

• Intrinsic (internal) motivation has more
  advantages than extrinsic (external) motivation.
• Intrinsically motivate students by
• Creating meaningful lessons
• Promoting authentic engagement
• Encouraging students success
• Promoting pleasure and enjoyment
• DISCUSS AT YOUR TABLEHOW DO YOU DO THIS???

16
Needs Deficiencies in At
Risk Students

• Maslows Hierarchy of Needs
• Physiological Needs
• Safety Needs
• Love and Belongingness Needs
• Esteem Needs
• Need for self-actualization
• (Ormrod, 2004)

17
Teachers Can Satisfy Non-Academic Needs
of At Risk Students

• Help low income families apply for free lunch
• Create an orderly and predictable environment
• Acknowledge students special occasions
• Listen to students ideas
• Acknowledge students accomplishments
• Assess students based on individual achievement
  and not in comparison to peers
• (Ormrod, 2004)

18
At Risk Students Need Goals

• Goal setting influences motivation
• Goals influence choices and consequences that are
  reinforcing
• Goals effect the extent that students become
  cognitively engaged
• Avoidance Goals vs. Mastery Goals
• (Ormrod, 2004)

19
Benefits of Goal Setting

• Goal attainment results in considerable
  self-satisfaction, greater self-efficacy, and
  higher standards for future performances.
• Goals are beneficial only to the extent that they
  are accomplishable.
• Setting goals is an important part of
  self-regulated behavior and learning.
• How does goal setting relate to motivation???
• When have YOU set a goal and how did it motivate
  YOU?

20
Teachers Can Motivate Goal Setting in At
Risk Students

• Communicate high student expectations
• Establish routines
• Positive feedback
• Encourage individual mastery goal setting
• Relate failures to controllable external factors
  or unstable and controllable internal factors
• Relate successes to stable and unstable internal
  factors
• Are these motivators for students???
• (Ormrod, 2004)

21
Teachers Foster Positive Attributions of
At Risk Students

• Teachers communicate their attributions for
  learners performances directly through
  statements and indirectly through emotional
  reactions. (I knew you could do it!)
• Teachers evaluate students on the basis of
  mastery and not one another.
• Teachers should encourage students to take on
  challenges and risks
• Classroom activities should be noncompetitive
• List ideas for working with at-risk students
  academically in your classroom---try to focus on
  the students you listed earlier.
• (Ormrod, 2004)

22
Teachers Promote Learning in At Risk
Students

• Teachers must believe that they themselves have
  some control over students learning and
  achievement. By using instructional strategies
  that promote long-term memory storage, by
  scaffolding challenging tasks, and promoting HOTS
  they can genuinely help students master school
  subject matter. Teachers must believe that all
  students can learn.

23
Cognitive Learning Theory The ability to
reason depends on a number of factors.

• Today, there is a demand for men and women who
  can think, reason, and use their minds well.
• (Schlechty, 2002, pg. 94)

24
Conclusion

• The cognitive approach to teaching and
  learning focuses on complex, meaningful questions
  and problems that make connections with students
  life experiences and cultures. Students who are
  at risk for academic failure are a diverse group
  of individuals with a diverse set of needs, and
  so there is probably no single strategy that can
  keep all of them in school until graduation.
  However, a combination of strategies can help
  many at risk students succeed and stay in school.
  
• (Ormrod, 2006)

25
References

• Haberman, Martin. (1995). Star Teachers of
  Children in Poverty. Indiana Kappa Delta Pi
  Publishers.
• Johannessen, Larry. (September/October, 2003).
  Achieving success for the resistant student.
  Clearing House, 77(1), p. 6-13.
• Johannessen, Larry. (May, 2004). Helping
  struggling students achieve success. Journal
  of Adolescent Adult Literacy, 47(8), p.
  638-647.
• Marzano, Robert, Pickering, D., Pollock Jane.
  (2001). Classroom Instruction That Works.
  Virginia McRel.
• Ormrod, Jeanne. (2004). Human Learning. New
  Jersey Pearson Education, Inc.
• Ormrod, Jeanne. (2006). Educational Psychology
  Developing Learners. New Jersey Pearson
  Education, Inc.
• Secondary School Principals. (1979). Student
  Learning Styles. Virginia National Association
  of Secondary School Principals (NASSP).
• Schlechty, Phillip C. (2002). Working On The
  Work An Action Plan For Teachers, Principals,
  and Superintendents. California Jossey-Bass
  Publishers.