3. Frequently Asked Questions Assignment

The list of 30 FAQ’s are shown below.

• To prepare potential professional developers in SIM Learning Strategies to answer difficult questions that are often asked at SIM professional development sessions. Apprentices submit responses to 15 of a list of 30 SIM Frequently Asked Questions (below) via email to the institute director(s). 
  
• Post reflection about how answering the FAQs has helped you prepare for your role as a SIM Professional Developer.

To prepare potential professional developers in SIM Content Enhancement Routines to answer difficult questions that are often asked at SIM professional development sessions. Apprentices submit responses to 15 of a list of 30 SIM Frequently Asked Questions (below) via email to the institute director(s).

1.   Why should I teach learning strategies when my students are failing content area courses?
2.   How do I change from a tutorial (assignment/homework based) model to a strategies model? Administrators, teachers, students and parents expect me to continue providing time for completing assignments & homework.
3.   How can strategy instruction support students’ success in the general education curriculum?
4.   How can I teach strategies to my students who are included full time in         general education classes?
5.   Will learning strategies work for all low achievers? Should I teach all of my students learning strategies?
6.   What factors should I consider in choosing which learning strategies to teach, how many and how long it will take to meet mastery?
7.   Why do strategies take so long to teach?
8.   I know all about teaching strategies, but what’s different about the Strategic Instruction Model™?
9.   How can I ensure that students generalize the learned strategies? What kind of hurdles can I expect?
10. What do I do if a student refuses to participate in learning strategies instruction no matter what I do?
11. How important is it to follow the teaching procedures in the manual? I know my students; I know how to teach them.
12. Under what conditions can I make adaptations in the teaching procedures and maybe even in the strategies? 13. Are there ways I can help students learn content that support the strategies I am teaching?
14. We are wasting time teaching learning strategies. Why aren't we teaching basic skills to these students? That's what they really need.
15. What do you do with all those students who don't have enough basic skills for learning strategies? About one-fourth of my students read at the third-grade level or below.
16. How do I get administrative support to implement the learning strategies curriculum within my department, school and/or district?
17. What is the potential effect the Strategic Instruction Model™ has on student outcomes and quality of life?
18. Okay, I am ready to conquer the world. I want to implement these learning strategies! What are essential steps I need to put in place to begin?
19. I know there are many strategies to support literacy; what other strategies are available to support teachers and students in math, social interaction and motivation?
20. How does SIM™ professional development relate to my department, school and/or district initiatives?
21. How do the curriculum standards developed by the state or the Common Core State Standards align with the Strategic Instruction Model™?
22. How do I progress monitor when teaching Learning Strategies?
23. How are Learning Strategies and Content Enhancement routines related?
24. How can I embed Content Enhancement Routines into Learning Strategies instruction and vice versa?
25. In what sequence should I teach the Learning Strategies?
26. How can I embed learning strategy instruction into the general education curriculum? What adjustments can be made?
27. How does learning strategy instruction fit within a tiered model of intervention such as the Content Literacy Continuum™ or Response to Intervention?
28. If students receive learning strategy instruction, what results can be expected on district formative assessments as well as summative standardized state assessments?
29. What strategies can be combined to create a literacy intervention course? What would a school need to know before creating such a course?
30. What components of corrective feedback are necessary for successful strategy instruction?