Reading University

HELPING CHILDREN SUCCEED

 WHAT WE DO AT RU TO HELP CHILDREN SUCCEED

  •  1. We actively promote an atmosphere of community, acceptance and respect for individual abilities in our team groups.
  •  2. We send clear messages of success. 
  • 3. We teach for understanding.
  • 4.  We use multisensory teaching techniques and active learning strategies.
  • 5. We provide clear, explicit structure for the station time, space, materials, and course of study.
  • 6. We provide frequent activities that ensure students receive meaningful feedback and evaluation, whether it be from the facilitators or other students.
  • 7. We want to expose and teach the skills, information, and expectations hidden or embedded in the curriculum.
  • 8. We try to encourage students to offer and accept alternative possibilities.
  • 9.  We strive to involve and respect students as central partners in learning.
  • 10. We will intervene early and effectively when an individual student is having difficulty.
  • 11. We provide many opportunities to succeed. We define daily goals by dividing the material into "micro-units" to assure that students can experience genuine daily successes. 
  • 12. Students who are behind in learning can feel denied the satisfaction that comes from accomplishing goals, since they are just catching up. We understand that students demonstrate more determination when they experience tangible successes that they can truly attribute to their own efforts. 
  • 13. We demonstrate the spiral of learning by showing how skills can be applied in different ways in different settings. We strive to provide opportunities for students to practice skills and material in a variety of ways and to show them how to adapt these skills according to the context. 
*Adapted from Learning to Learn, written by Carolyn Olivier and Rosemary Bowler and published by Simon and Schuster ISBN # 0-684-80990-7