Mission of the resource room:
To provide a safe and active learning environment where students of all Learning Styles may practice respect for themselves, others, and their surroundings.  Each student will learn academic responsibilities to be carried out through the practices of Self Advocacy, and will prepare to be a self-confident life-long learner. Learning Strategies will be taught and practiced to enhance the student's ability to achieve personal goals, and the Annual goals set forth in their IEP.

SYLLABUS

Quarter 1:

1) Classroom Rules and Expectations
        Parent/Student Letter must be signed and returned by first day of class
        Enduring Understanding:
                I am in the resource room to gain:
                        insight into what type of learner I am
                        good learning strategies
                        academic support
                        appropriate self-advocacy skills
                        the ability to be an independent lifelong learner
                Organizational skills are key to success and need to be learned and
                        practiced
        Essential Questions:
                Are we all in resource room for the same purpose?
                What does academic success look like?
                What is expected of me as a student?
        Activities:
                -Get to know each other
                -Schedule set-up
                -Assignment Book set-up
                -Academic material check-list
                -Hand-in Parent/Student Letter

2) Identifying our Individual Learning Styles; "Aptitude" or "Talents"
        Enduring Understandings:
                -Learning styles are different ways of thinking and learning.
                -Every person learns differently and the way you learn, and take in
                        the world, is unique to you.
                -Understanding your learning style can dictate what learning
                        environments are best for you, and what learning strategies
                        will work best.
                -Understanding both my learning style and my multiple intelligences
                        will make me a stronger student.
        Essential Questions:
                Is it important to understand how other people learn?
                Is there a connection between how I learn and how I perform in school?
                What can I gain by knowing how I learn?
        Performance Task:
                Starting a study skills inventory binder
        Activities:
                Online Learning Style Questionaire:  Link
                        Directions:             
                        1)Take the learning style questionaire, then print your results.
                        2) Check your score against the handout Ms. Munn has given you
                        3) Inventory your goals for learning this semester

                Multiple intelligences survey and scoring
                

3) Learning Strategies;
        " When students identify their natural learning style and begin to
                incorporate new ways of studying that match their style, their
                grades improve, and so do their test scores."
                        -Dr. Lynne O'Brien (New Horizons for Learning)
        
        Enduring Understandings:
                -A learning strategy is an approach to learning and using information.
                        They help guide by supplying an explicit set of steps.
                        Appropriate strategies:
                        1) Cue the user to DO something
                        2) Offer a way to remember steps
                        3) Address a difficult learning process
                -Learning strategies help students focus on tasks, clarify, and ultimately
                        make them successful students and problem solvers
                -How to use the MVRHS.ORG website for academic support
                -Appropriate test taking strategies
                -Reading comprehension practices
                -The use of graphic organizers aid in note taking, assignment completion,
                        pre-writing, writing, and reading tasks.
                -How to match appropriate Graphic Organizers to the task at hand
                -Key words can be used as clues when responding to free response and
                        multiple choice questions
                -What are Successful Strategies used by successful students
        Essenial Questions:
                What does learning feel like? What does it look like?           
                What does academic success look like? What does failing look like?
                How do you know you know something?
                Is learning about different learning strategies enough to assure
                        success in my academics areas?
        Performance Task:
                Continuing to build the study skills inventory binder
        Activities:
                -Using the MVRHS website, we will print teacher rules and expectations
                        for each academic class and add them to the study skills binder.
                        Also, we will becoming familiar with Ms. Munn's web page and how
                        it can be used to support your success in all content areas
                - group graphic organizer activities:
                        
                -Learning strategy excersizes for certain objectives
                        READING- Word Identification, Visual Imagery Strategy,
                                Self- Questioning, Paraphrasing
                        WRITING- InSpect Strategy,
                        STUDYING- First Letter Mnemonic, Paired Associates
                                Strategy, LINCS Vocab Strategy
                        TEST TAKING- PIRATES, ACE guessing technique,
                                Absolute and Non-absolute words,  
                        NOTE TAKING



4) Self-Advocacy Strategies; What it means to "Own Your Education."
        Enduring Understandings:
                -Learning is an active process, not passive.
                -How to take responsibility for decisions, choices,
                        and actions, and how to develop goals and pursue goals
                        from improving performance
                -Students control what, how, how well, and why they learn
                -Steps to better self-advocacy
        Essential Questions:
                Whose responsibility is my education?
                Why do I have to advocate for myself?
        Performance Task:
                Student will participate in an annual review meeting for their
                IEP, where they will use their personal inventory of strengths
                and weaknesses to advocate for their educational needs

5) Goal Setting;
        Enduring Understanding:
                -Three goals that are a focus for my academic success
                -Parts of my IEP that I must know and what it means

        Essential Questions:
                Does my IEP do all the work for me?
        
        Activity: Accessing the Annual Goals section of the student's
                        IEP and setting 3 academic goals, on which the student
                        will focus throughout the quarter/year.

Ongoing throughout the year:

        We will practice using learning strategies in the resource room, and
        the general education classroom, via assignments, projects, and tests.
        Also, we will self-evaluate our individual progress by completing
        weekly Self-Evaluation .