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Effective academic instruction helps children with ADHD succeed. As you plan and carry out lessons, use these techniques across subject areas and grade levels to enhance the learning for students with ADHD.
Introducing Lessons
Students with ADHD learn best when structure is incorporated throughout lesson planning. Having a sequence that follows a basic routine and maintains a level of consistency are both vital. It allows students to focus on the new information and activities, rather than on trying to figure out what comes next and what they are supposed to do. Use the following strategies to develop a routine that works for you, and use it when introducing every lesson.
- Summarize the activities of the whole lesson visually and verbally
Start any lesson with a review of what the student will learn and the activities you will use to teach it. For example you could say, “Yesterday we worked on counting by tens. Today we are going to review yesterday’s lesson. We are then going to learn to count by fives. You will be doing work with your partner as well as independent work.” On the board you might have written
- Review counting by tens
- Learn to count by fives
- Practice counting by fives with your partner
- Practice counting by fives on your own
- Present learning objectives in many ways
Students with ADHD often benefit from many modes of presentation. For example, with learning objectives, you can write them on the board, say them aloud, ask students to repeat them, or ask students to copy them off of the board. Include at least two forms of presentation.
- Describe behavior expectations
Tell students how they are expected to behave during the lesson. For example, if they are doing group work, explain that they may talk with their partner or group. If they are doing independent work, you might tell them you expect them to work quietly. You also want to include how they can get your attention if they have a question, need help, or if the behavior expectations provide a challenge, e.g., they feel disrupted by other students talking.
- List materials
Tell students the materials they will need during the lesson rather than leaving them to figure it out on their own. Be specific. For an art project, tell them specifically the items they will need, such as “three sheets of construction paper, their crayons, and scissors.” For a reading assignment, you might tell them they need their reading book, workbook, and two pencils.
- Include time limits
Tell students how long they will have to work on each activity, and consider setting a timer to help them externally see the time. Include the specific time set aside for each part of the lesson―reviewing previous materials, instruction of new lesson, group work, and independent work―rather than large amounts of time such as “the next hour” or “the whole class period.” Time limits are meant to help students stay on track and enhance their learning, not cause anxiety. You might need to experiment with different time limits to see what works for your students.
Teaching the Lesson
Conducting the lesson means presenting new material to students and letting them practice. To help students learn and remember the new information, connect it to prior knowledge. Give them ample opportunities to practice the material with you guiding, with other students, and on their own. Provide feedback throughout the lesson and prepare different types of tools to help students who are struggling.
- Stick to the plan
Your introduction sets expectations for the whole lesson. Try to follow the outline you have given. This strategy helps reinforce structure and consistency within a lesson. If changes are made, provide explanations so that they become predictable.
- Review the previous lesson
Students with ADHD are more likely to have deficits with their working memory. Help students recall previous knowledge by reviewing it. This practice will not only reinforce the previous lesson, but also help them remember the new lesson. Practice provides context for them to connect to in their memory.
- Provide guidance to stay focused
Students with ADHD lose focus easily. They might become captured by a day dream or other activities in the classroom. During lessons, help them stay focused by using tools such as guided notes, colors, mnemonics, and probing questions.
- Check for understanding
While presenting the lesson and during practice activities ask open-ended questions. You might start by asking and then answering your own questions. You can then guide the class to the answer, allow students to answer collectively, and lastly answer on their own. Sample questions include, “What have you learned so far?” “How did you get that answer?” and “Why is this information important?”
- Give students enough time
Often more processing time is needed to learn new tasks. One teaching model, the gradual release of responsibility, transfers responsibility from the teacher to student through four stages (I do, we do, you do together, you do alone). Giving ample time in each stage allows students to practice mastery of information before moving on.
- Provide extra support
Watch for students who are having difficulty comprehending the information. Provide extra help by explaining the material in a different way, using more examples, or having another student serve as a peer tutor.
- Break work into small steps
When completing class work, divide assignments into smaller pieces. For example if you have a worksheet with 10 questions, cut the worksheet in half. Give the students the first five questions and then after they complete it, give them the remaining five. This helps students learn to break tasks into steps and keeps them engaged, setting them up to successfully complete an entire assignment.
- Incorporate assistive technology
The use of technology allows students to participate actively and may help them organize their thoughts. Allowing students to do practice work on a computer or tablet or write on the board are ways to make assignments more engaging. Assistive technology can also be used to separate tasks into components and thus can avoid unnecessary multi-tasking. For example, dictating notes before typing or writing an essay separates brainstorming from the task of writing and can make it more manageable.
- Provide time reminders and model how to pace
Often students with ADHD need help managing their time. Even though you’ve give total times for the lesson and each activity, continue to provide consistent and frequent reminders. In addition, model for students how to pace and work within a given time limit. For example, “You have 10 minutes left to complete these 6 practice problems. You should be on problem number three or four by now.” These reminders help students stay on task and complete their work in the allotted time.
Ending a Lesson
Conclude your lesson and help students transition to the next activity smoothly. How you end a lesson is as important as how you start it. Make sure you finish strong so that you can transition to the next lesson and start the process over with ease.
- Summarize key points
Help students solidify the new knowledge they learned by reviewing the key concepts. Repetition is a must for student with ADHD. You can use open-ended questions to have students explain what they learned, or you can restate the objectives.
- Review take-home assignments
As with activities during the lesson, make sure to review homework assignments. Ask students to read the assignment listed on the board and write it down. You might even have a few students repeat what the assignment is out loud. Consider checking planners to ensure that students wrote everything down accurately. Remember to tailor practice homework to skills the students have learned. Independent practice at home should serve as a reinforcement to promote retention of the content taught.
- Smooth transitions
It is important for students with ADHD to know what activity or situation is coming up next. You especially want to focus on reminding them of any changes in the rules for the next activity. Step-by-step instructions on how to prepare for the next lesson, visual prompts, and more time for students to organize will help create a smooth transition.
References
Barkley, R. (2008). Classroom Accommodations for Children with ADHD. ADHD Report.
Frey, N. & Fisher, D. (2014).Better Learning Through Structured Teaching: A Framework for the Gradual Release of Responsibility(2nd ed.) Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Segal, J. & Smith, M. (2016). Teaching Students with ADD/ADHD. HelpGuide.org. Retrieved from:http://www.helpguide.org/articles/add-adhd/teaching-students-with-adhd-attention-deficit-disorder.htm
U.S. Department of Education. (2008). Teaching Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Instructional Strategies and Practices. U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from:http://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/research/pubs/adhd/adhd-teaching_pg3.html
Zentall, S. (2006). ADHD and Education Foundations, Characteristics, Methods, and Collaboration.
FAQs
What is the instructional process? ›
Instruction and learning processes are defined as the interactions between the learners and teachers. Instruction is planned according to the curricula, based on needs identified through assessment, and made possible through training of teachers.
What are the components of instructional process? ›The four-component instructional design (4C/ID) model claims that four components are necessary to realize complex learning: (1) learning tasks, (2) supportive information, (3) procedural information, and (4) part-task practice.
Which of the following are the three steps in the instructional process? ›The three phases of the instructional process are: Pretaining, during the learning event, and post-training.
What are instructional methods in teaching? ›Instructional methods consist of principles and methods used by teachers to enhance and relate the training to learners. It is defined by the process that you use to instruct people on a particular topic.
What is the first step in the instructional process? ›1: Needs Analysis: This first phase of the instructional design process is to determine what the deficiencies or problems are. It can be thought of as the process of identifying gaps between what should be happening and what is happening, and accounting for the causes of these gaps.
Who is the center of the instructional process? ›2.2 Teacher-centered Instruction
One approach that puts the teacher into the center of the instructional process is to use planning techniques that make it possible to develop and flexibly adjust global teaching strategies (e.g., Peachey and McCalla 1986, Sedlmeier and Robles de Acuña-Ponseti 1992).
The IMD program consists of four components: Learning Progressions; Instructional Materials for Students; Assessment; and Applied Research, which are described below.
What are the three basic elements of instructional design? ›Basic Components of Instructional Design
They include analysis, design, development, and evaluation.
In this post we'll explore the five stages of the ADDIE model of instructional design—analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation—and how this process can help or hurt your learning evaluation methods.
What are the steps of the instructional design process? ›- Goal. ...
- Analysis of the learners. ...
- Develop Needs. ...
- Create objectives. ...
- Design the learning. ...
- Participate in feedback. ...
- Evaluate the learning experience. ...
- Assess the learners.
What are the phases of instruction? ›
- 1.1. Introduce and Present information.
- 1.2. Guide the learner in using the content/skills.
- 1.3. Practice the content and/or skills.
- 1.4. Assess learning.
Instructional Method
Examples are coursework after a lecture or group-based homework after a training course. Group work helps learners think about the lessons and relate them to their current knowledge. The coursework can define a number of problems that the group has to collectively solve.
Modern training models of instructional design seek to be engaging and effective at embedding and retaining knowledge through blended learning. Examples include microlearning, online learning, and spaced repetition.
What are the 5 teaching methods? ›- Student-Centered Discussions. ...
- Making Connections. ...
- Increased Autonomy. ...
- Building Relationships. ...
- A Focus on Literacy.
- Project Initiation. ...
- Product Design. ...
- Content Development. ...
- Production. ...
- Review, Publish, and Evaluate. ...
- Evaluating Effectiveness.
An instructional design model gives method and implication to design instruction. During the instructional design process, I.D. models help educators to visualize the problem. If the instructional design model solves the learning-teaching problems, it means that it is an effective instruction.
What are the 7 instructional materials? ›Textbooks, pamphlets, handouts, study guides, manuals | |
---|---|
Audio | Cassettes, microphone, podcast |
Visual | Charts, real objects, photographs, transparencies |
Audiovisual | Slides, tapes, films, filmstrips, television, vedioo, multimedia |
Electronic Interactive | Computers, graphing calculators, tablets |
As regards to teaching new things to students, a strategy instructional model is the best one to use since it considers the level of potential that a student has and whatever the level is they will still all arrive at the same destination which is a new enhanced self in each student.
What is the most effective instructional design model? ›ADDIE is arguably the most important instructional design model because it provides a universal framework for ID work. All instructional design models follow some variation of a three-step process that includes: Analyzing a situation to determine the instructional need.
Who is the heart of teaching/learning process? ›With the studies done by experts as to what would be the best approach to learning, they have come up with a single result, that the child should be the center of the teaching-learning process. The child is perceived as a unique individual with hidden skills, talents and potentials that a teacher needs to unlock.
What are the 4 principles in student-centered learning? ›
...
A student-centered learning model has four main characteristics:
- voice,
- choice,
- competency-based progression, and.
- continuous monitoring of student needs (Harrington & DeBruler, 2019).
- Gain attention of the students. ...
- Inform students of the objectives. ...
- Stimulate recall of prior learning. ...
- Present the content. ...
- Provide learning guidance. ...
- Elicit performance (practice) ...
- Provide feedback. ...
- Assess performance.
Examples of instructional materials include: Traditional resources: Textbooks, reference books, lesson plans, workbooks, flashcards, charts and supplemental reading materials. Graphic and interactive materials: Physical objects, photographs, illustrations, charts, graphs, maps, multimedia, movies and games.
What are the factors to consider in preparing instructional materials? ›While preparing instructional materials, it is necessary to consider several factors such as contrast, size, tactility, clarity and description. For example, it is preferable to have a light background while using dark colours for writing.
What are the three types of material evaluation? ›A pre-use evaluation makes predictions about potential value of materials that can be: Context-free – reviewing for journal. Context influenced – review draft materials for a publisher with target users. Context dependent – selecting for use in a particular class (Tomlinson 2013)
What are the methods of instructional design? ›The ADDIE model outlines five steps to instructional design: analyze, design, develop, implement, and evaluate.
What makes learning process successful? ›Three key principles for effective learning
understand the learner's context (past, present and future); establish and respond to the learner's existing level of knowledge; and. provide adequate and appropriate practice over time.
Addie is an acronym for the five stages of a development process: Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation. The ADDIE model relies on each stage being done in the given order but with a focus on reflection and iteration.
Who uses the ADDIE process? ›ADDIE is a learning model used by instructional designers and training developers to create effective learning experiences. What does the acronym ADDIE stand for? The term, ADDIE, is an acronym for a five-step process: Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation.
What is ADDIE model used for? ›ADDIE is an acronym for Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate. The ADDIE model is arguably the best-known model for instructional design. Instructional design is the process of designing, developing, and delivering learning content.
What is the learning design process? ›
Learner-centered design is the process of building learning experiences by focusing on learner challenges and building fitting solutions by working through an iterative process.
What is the most important aspect of instructional design? ›When it comes to designing a learning experience, instructional designers must take three main components into account to ensure the learning is effective: learning objectives, learning activities, and assessments. This is known as the “Magic Triangle” of learning.
What are the three categories of instructional strategies? ›This list organizes instructional strategies according to three categories: Teacher Instruction, Student Practice, and Evaluation.
What are instructional strategies in a lesson plan? ›What are instructional strategies? Instructional strategies are techniques teachers use to help students become independent, strategic learners. These strategies become learning strategies when students independently select the appropriate ones and use them effectively to accomplish tasks or meet goals.
How important are instructional strategies of teaching in the teaching and learning process? ›Educators who use instructional strategies allow students to make meaningful connections between concepts learned in class and real-life situations. They offer an opportunity for students to demonstrate their knowledge and course correct on their own when needed.
What are the 7 methods of teaching? ›- Teacher-Centered Instruction. ...
- Small Group Instruction. ...
- Student-Centered / Constructivist Approach. ...
- Project-Based Learning. ...
- Montessori. ...
- Inquiry-Based Learning. ...
- Flipped Classroom. ...
- Cooperative Learning.
There is no such thing as the best method in teaching. There are methods that is proven to be more effective than the other. The method a teacher can use and even experiment depends on the nature of the students, the subject matter and the motivation of students.
What are the different types of teaching models? ›While there are many teaching models, some basic ones are direct instruction, lecture, cooperative learning, inquiry-based learning, seminar and project-based learning.
Who is the center of the instructional process? ›2.2 Teacher-centered Instruction
One approach that puts the teacher into the center of the instructional process is to use planning techniques that make it possible to develop and flexibly adjust global teaching strategies (e.g., Peachey and McCalla 1986, Sedlmeier and Robles de Acuña-Ponseti 1992).
The purpose of instruction is to help people learn. The goal of instructional designers is to make learning easier, quicker, and more enjoyable. Some people view training as a process of finding out who the brightest employees are.
What are the stages of instructional design? ›
- Project Initiation. ...
- Product Design. ...
- Content Development. ...
- Production. ...
- Review, Publish, and Evaluate. ...
- Evaluating Effectiveness.
Instructional objectives are specific, measurable, short-term, observable student behaviors. They indicate the desirable knowledge, skills, or attitudes to be gained. An instructional objective is the focal point of a lesson plan.
Who is the heart of teaching/learning process? ›With the studies done by experts as to what would be the best approach to learning, they have come up with a single result, that the child should be the center of the teaching-learning process. The child is perceived as a unique individual with hidden skills, talents and potentials that a teacher needs to unlock.
What are the 4 principles in student-centered learning? ›...
A student-centered learning model has four main characteristics:
- voice,
- choice,
- competency-based progression, and.
- continuous monitoring of student needs (Harrington & DeBruler, 2019).
- Gain attention of the students. ...
- Inform students of the objectives. ...
- Stimulate recall of prior learning. ...
- Present the content. ...
- Provide learning guidance. ...
- Elicit performance (practice) ...
- Provide feedback. ...
- Assess performance.
Essential Elements of Instruction for New Teachers
The elements serve as principles upon which instructional decisions are based regarding: 1) what to teach – the content; 2) how the students will learn and then demonstrate what they've learned; and 3) what teacher actions will be needed to accomplish 1 and 2.
Teaching is explaining how something is done. Instruction is telling how something is done. When you teach someone, you may transmit almost anything: concepts, ideas, theories or, say, history. When you instruct someone, you're giving him a set of tools or tasks to do something specific.
What is the most important thing when giving instruction? ›Try and be short, simple and precise; Attract students attention first; Give all the instructions prior to the beginning of activities; Make use of body language, written commands, etc…
What are the 5 key stages of instructional design? ›In this post we'll explore the five stages of the ADDIE model of instructional design—analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation—and how this process can help or hurt your learning evaluation methods.
What are the 5 process in training and development? ›...
Explore five stages of the training process:
- Assess.
- Motivate.
- Design.
- Deliver.
- Evaluate.
What is instructional design methodology? ›
An instructional design method refers to the approach a designer takes when developing a new system of instruction. Though the designer's approach may vary from case to case, many of the established methods of instructional design are similar in their fundamental nature.
What are instructional objectives examples? ›Instructional objectives should precisely describe what is expected of a learner. For example, the learner will be able to deal with irritable customers, which is not a specific objective. This could be made better by stating how the learner will deal with the irritable customer. Measurable.
What is the difference between instructional and learning objectives? ›The key difference between instructional objectives and learning objectives is that instructional objectives describe what is exactly to be learned by learners, whereas learning objectives describe what learners know and what the learners are capable of doing at the end of the course.
What are instructional goals examples? ›- Students will know how to communicate in oral and written formats.
- Students will understand the effect of global warming.
- Students' perspective on civil rights will improve.
- Students will learn key elements and models used in education.
- Students will grasp basic math skills.