Strategies for Reading

Word Identification Strategy: teaches students a problem solving process for efficiently decoding unknown words in their reading by identifying key word elements and applying 3 condensed syllabication rules.

Visual Imagery Strategy: is designed to improve students' acquisition, storage, and recall of narrative passages by periodically visualizing the scene, characters, and actions; then describing these elements to themselves.

Self-Questioning Strategy: increases reading comprehension by having students actively ask questions regarding key elements in a passage, predict answers, then read further to determine if they are correct, and paraphrase the actual answers.

Paraphrasing Strategy: helps students focus on main ideas and the most important details in a passage by having them actively read a section, pause and sort the information, then translate it into their own words, thereby improving reading comprehension.

Strategies for Studying and Remembering

Vocabulary Strategy: helps students memorize new terms using visual imagery, key word mnemonics, and prior knowledge that are all "LINCed" on a study card.

FIRST-Letter Mnemonic Strategy: teaches students to scan a body of information, searching for important details that form lists, then design and rehearse mnemonic devices on study cards for storing this crucial information.

Paired Associates Strategy: supports students' recall of critical items in a pair, such as a place and event, by having them identify these details, then design and rehearse mnemonic devices on study cards for memorizing the paired information.

Practicing the Storage Strategies: enables students to flexibly apply all of the storage strategies by discriminating which is most appropriate for the critical information within sentences or passages of varying lengths and reading levels.

Strategies for Writing

Fundamentals in the Sentence Writing Strategy: teaches the foundational concepts (subject, verb, infinitive, and preposition), and formulas for writing complete, simple sentences, as well as a self-checking sub-strategy.

Proficiency in the Sentence Writing Strategy: provides a systematic procedure and formulas for writing simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences, as well as a self-checking procedure.

Paragraph Writing Strategy: explicitly teaches students how to pre-organize paragraph components, and arrange detail sentences according to patterns that best suit the paragraph's purpose. Consistent point of view, verb tense, and logical transition words are also addressed. Mastery of this strategy enables students to produce 9 different types of paragraphs.

Error Monitoring Strategy: helps students systematically question themselves regarding capitalization, appearance, punctuation, and spelling errors in their written products, as well as correct them, before submitting the assignment to the teacher.

Fundamentals of Theme Writing Strategy: focuses on foundational skills associated with writing themes and provides scaffolded learning sheets to accompany instruction.

Strategies for Motivation

Self Advocacy Strategy: prepares and motivates students for active participation in their educational conferences by enabling them to be knowledgeable about their leaner profiles and to effectively communicate this information.

Possible Selves: increases motivation by having students examine their futures and think about goals that are important to them. They reflect about and describe their hoped-for possible selves, expected selves, and feared selves. This leads to goal setting, action planning, and monitoring.

Strategies for Improving Assignment & Test Performance

Assignment Completion Strategy: teaches students to apply a time management process for completing quality assignments from the point when the teacher announces the task until it is graded and returned to them. The strategy is embedded in the "Quality Quest Planner™".

Test Taking Strategy: empowers students to effectively take control of decision making during the act of taking a test by determining the time and order for proceeding through the test sections, whether to answer or temporarily abandon questions, and how to make educated guesses. It is particularly beneficial for students with test anxiety.

Strategic Tutoring: describes a new vision of the tutoring process in which the tutor not only helps the student understand and complete the immediate assignment, but also teaches the student strategies required to complete similar tasks independently in the future.

Strategies for Effectively Interacting with Others

SLANT Strategy: helps students learn how to use appropriate posture, eye contact, and meta cognition, as well as effectively contribute to whole group instruction.

Cooperative Thinking Strategies are a group of strategies students can use to think, learn, and work together productively. They are designed to improve the students' ability to interact and work with others as they restructure and manipulate information in group tasks.

THINK Strategy: used by students working together in teams to systematically solve problems.

LEARN Strategy: enables students to work in teams to learn together. Each step promotes creative cooperation with students thinking together to generate learning ideas.

BUILD Strategy: enables students to work together to resolve a controversial issue, similar to the debate process.

SCORE Skills: describes a set of social skills foundational to effective group processing: sharing ideas, complimenting others, offering help, recommending changes, and exercising self-control.

Teamwork Strategy: provides a framework for organizing and completing tasks in small groups. Students analyze as assignment, divide it into subtasks, equitably assign them to group members, offer support for individuals, combine subtasks into one product and evaluate the process used to complete the project, as well as assess the interpersonal skills of the group.

The Community Building Series: strategies to create safe and supportive learning environments for students with disabilities in inclusive classes, including the following:

Following Instructions Together: teaches students concepts and strategies associated with following directions effectively.

Organizing Together: provides instruction in strategies for keeping notebooks, schedules/calendars, desks, lockers, and back packs organized.

Taking Notes Together: teaches students a simple strategy for taking notes in response to a variety of stimuli such as lectures, demonstrations, movies, and reading assignments.

Talking Together: introduces the concept of a 'learning community' to students and how to participate respectfully in class discussions.