Teach Effectively!

Teachers who surf the Internet looking for guidance about instruction for students with disabilities might come upon recommendations that border on bogus. I found a page authored by Sue Watson that provides one valuable suggestion—”Ignore and avoid the labels - your main focus is on effective interventions”—and otherwise is chocked full of balogna. Here’s an abbreviated list of some of her recommendations.

1. Use multiple-intelligences learning styles;
2. Use study carrells;
3. “Provide opportunities for a 3 minute stretch or a quick 5 minute by your desk workout”;
4. Play “soft music”;
5. “Use concrete manipulatives on a regular basis, once the student fully understands, you can move to the abstract” (sic);
6. Use problem-based learning rather than drill and practice.

Arrrgh….I sure would like to see the evidence that those are effective interventions. I’ve written about the quality of another of Ms. Watson’s posts from About.com’s education guides previously; given that both of my encounters with her contributions have resulted in finding not-good recommendations, I’m going to scour the site more thoroughly now. This deserves careful scruitny.

Follow this link to read Ms. Watson’s entry on maximizing learning.