Key Elements of Learning Contracts

Learning Contracts are working agreements between students and their teachers that document how a student is going to achieve specific learning objectives. Learning Contracts typically include the following elements:

•  The learning objective (goal) of the contract.
•  The steps involved (what the student will do).
•  Expectations for the quality of the work (guidelines).
•  How the work will be assessed.
•  When the contract is to be completed (due date).
•  Places for the signatures of the teacher and the student.

Read more about Learning Contracts Click on the link them go to page 43 of the DI Strategies Tool Basket packet.

The I-Search strategy provides DI teachers and students with a means of orchestrating a personal quest for information as compared to the collaborative quest you learned about in the Group Investigation strategy. Its goal is self-understanding about how one learns. As such, it is an excellent tool to help students become self-directed learners.

The I-Search process was developed as a means of inviting students into the research process in a way that is engaging and relevant to them. It encourages students to stretch their minds and find new places to gather the information they are researching.

 

Read an Overview of the I-Search Process Click on the link them go to page 47 of the DI Strategies Tool Basket packet.

Curriculum Compacting is a DI strategy that provides DI teachers with a way to differentiate in an individualized way for high-ability learners. Although this strategy is frequently used with gifted learners in a mixed-ability classroom, it is by no means an option solely for gifted students. There are often times when students, gifted or not, come to our classrooms with a high degree of proficiency in a topic that other students are just learning.

Curriculum Compacting is especially useful when there is a student whose readiness level regarding a particular unit of study is different than that of the rest of the class. When there are not enough Tiers to accommodate this student with an adequate degree of challenge, it is more beneficial for the student to pursue an alternative activity that provides an appropriate degree of challenge. Just as students at or below grade level need activities within their Zones of Proximal Development (ZPDs), so, too, do advanced learners above grade level.

Read more about Curriculum Compacting Click on the link them go to page 43 of the DI Strategies Tool Basket packet.