Procedure for Teaching Students how to Use S.T.A.R.: 1. Use previous material that students have mastered. 2.

Prepare students for learning the new strategy by telling them what the strategy is and why they are learning it. 3. Demonstrate how the new strategy is used by: Saying the steps out loud Showing the steps on the board Model thinking aloud 4. Help the students practice the steps on their own and offer help as needed. 5. Give students an assessment so they can show that they have learned the steps and how to use them. Do not offer help to students so you can get a good reading of how well the students know the information. 6. Grade this assignment and give students positive and negative feedback on how they used the STAR strategy. 7. Do follow up assignments every week or two to make sure students still understand and know how to use the strategy.

Resource: Gagnon, Joseph and Paula Maccini. (2008). Mathematics strategy instruction (si) for middle school students with learning disabilities. Retrieved October 30, 2008 from The access center: Improving outcomes for all students K-8. Web site: http://www.k8accesscenter.org/ training_resources/documents/ MathSIforMiddleSchoolStudent swithLD.pdf

S.T.A.R.

Shayla Brooks Maribeth Evans Katie Martin-Riddle

Purpose: The article summarizes the findings of a study involving the use of strategy instruction (SI) for middle school students. The authors recognize that one of the greatest challenges teachers face with students who are struggling academically is how to provide appropriate access to the general education curriculum. In general, these students struggle with how to approach math problems, how to develop a problem solving plan, and how to carry out the plan to solve challenging problems. The authors found that an effective way to teach the solving of challenging math problems to students with disabilities is through strategy instruction. The focus is on the STAR strategy which is an acronym, which helps students remember the steps for solving word problems. These steps are: Search the Problem, Translate the Problem, Answer the Problem, and Review the Solution. Population: The population for this strategy is middle school students with learning disabilities, although the strategy will be helpful to other students as well.

S.T.A.R. Strategy: SSearch the word problem Read the problem carefully and ask questions like what do I know? and what do I want to know? Write down the facts TTranslate the word problem Translate the equation into a picture form, or use counters. A Answer the problem Calculate the answer to the problem. R Review the solution Reread the problem. Ask yourself does my answer make sense. Check your math.