Instructional and Environmental Strategies for All Learners - Problems with Understanding/Comprehension

Problems with Understanding/Comprehension

Teach the meaning of key vocabulary words.
Provide an example of a correctly solved problem at the beginning of the lesson.
Provide visual cues to help students who may have difficulty visualizing shapes, dimensions and sizes.
Have students verbally or visually explain how to solve a math problem.
Provide students with a strategy to use for solving word problems.
Introduce only one concept at a time and teach to mastery.
Provide many practice opportunities and include problem solving, reasoning, and real-life application to help with transfer of information.
Teach students how the textbook is organized and the format for each page or section.
Used taped textbooks.
Have students "talk aloud" as they complete problems.
Model and teach metacognitive strategies (Model and verbalize procedure, guide students through verbalization of problem computation, monitor student verbalizations as they complete procedure, periodic reviews provided).
Use cooperative learning techniques such as "jigsaw" or "think-pair-share".
Teach in small chunks so students get lots of practice with one step at a time.
Provide learning aids such as calculators to help students focus on conceptual understanding.
Use estimation throughout the day and have students estimate a reasonable solution prior to starting any computation.
Teach facts in families.
Demonstrate all concepts with manipulatives.

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