overview
Feedback: A Powerful Tool for Raising Student Achievement in Mathematics & Science
(Grade 2-6)
Mary Doran Brown
Course Description:
Not all students learn at the same pace or at the same level, but all are capable of learning rigorous academic material at high standards. In standards-based curriculum, how can teachers best identify what students know and are able to do so that they can plan for, instruct, and measure learner progress in mixed ability classrooms? Mary Doran Brown will show participants how to routinely assess what their students know and can do, and then demonstrate how to adjust instruction to meet the different learning needs of all students. She will use examples of tiered science lessons to illustrate how process, content, and product can be differentiated to make each student a successful learner. Participants will be given a grade-level science objective to practice planning tiered instruction and assessment. Emphasis will be given to student inquiry as the basis for gearing differentiated instruction.
Mary Doran Brown
Over the past 7 years as a Montgomery County Public School (MCPS) elementary teacher, Mary Doran Brown has developed curriculum, devised and monitored school improvement plans, and presented educational topics to professional groups. She is a "model" teacher and coaches colleagues to tailor curriculum to address specific state learning objectives for science, mathematics, reading, and writing. Brown helped organize a county-wide Science Student Inquiry Conference, and then coached students to initiate their own testable questions, plan and implement well-designed investigations, and present their work at the conference. She has written and piloted science curriculum guides for the MCPS Science Department to bridge the instructional gaps between state learning outcomes and commercial science kits. Brown presented Establishment of a Professional Learning Environment to Implement School Reform at the conference for the 2001 Counsel for Education, Administration, and Supervisory Organization of Maryland and Moving Towards Science Inquiry: The Student Inquiry Conference at the 2002 Eisenhower Science and Math Conference for the Maryland State Department of Education.
