Using a variety of teaching strategies is important when trying to reach every student. The following are examples of teaching strategies I have used to help students learn different skills.

Example lesson plan
This lesson was given on 10/17/05 during a 90 minute teaching iblock. The evaluation of the lesson was conducted by former superintendent Reggie Barnes, and can be found here.

Children's story project
Providing students with authentic assignments that have a purpose in their community is important. The following outlines the criteria for a project where they create original stories that will eventually be read to children at the elementary school. The entire project concludes with them reflecting on the impact of their experience.

Displaying student work
It is important that student work not just be graded. Their work takes on more meaning, and they take more pride in their efforts if they are displayed in the room. Also, it gives them a sense of ownership in the classroom. Examples of student work that was in my classroom can be found here and here.

The writing process
When teaching writing, I emphasize teaching the writing process, and getting students to improve their writing through peer reviews, sharing their essays in class, and reading out loud during proofreading. This strategy has helped the state test writing scores in English II to improve from 81.1% in 2003-04 to 86.4% in 2004-05. The preliminary results from the Fall of 2005 show that score increased to 95.6% passing.
The following is an example paper from a student who started off the year unable to write using the writing process. When he took the state test, he scored a three on his essay. A passing score is a 2, while a 4 is the highest score they can be awarded:

Page 1 - Prewriting

Page 2 - Rough draft and revision

Page 3 - Rough draft and revision cont.

Page 4 - Final draft

Page 5 - Final draft, page 2

If you have any questions, or want to get ahold of me, please email me at: josephpsweeney@gmail.com