Amy D Diamond

SPED 541 Advanced Methods & Assessments: Learning Strategy and Content Mastery for Struggling Learners &
Students with High Incidence Disabilities
Show and Share Lesson

Reflection

Assignment Purpose

The purpose of the Show and Share Lesson was to locate and present a strategy that

would be evidence based and support math development for students with disabilities. The

assignment involved reviewing peer reviewed journals in order to locate a strategy that had been

proven effective and was simple to implement. Finally, we presented the strategy to our peers,

much like we are asked to do as professional educators.

Assignment Requirements

This assignment began by reviewing peer reviewed journals to locate math strategies that

were effective in providing support to students with disabilities. I located an article in the

Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology regarding the implementation of Base 10

decomposition. The article reviewed early addition decomposition of kindergarteners and how

that knowledge contributed to students knowledge and ability in later grades when applying the

strategy to more complex math concepts. After reviewing the article, I composed a summary of

it and presented it in a VoiceThread to my peers. In the presentation, I summarized the strategy

for my peers and presented why I thought the Base 10 strategy was an effective strategy to utilize

with students. Finally, I was required to review at least three of my peers presentations and

provide feedback.

Revision and Application

I did not make any revisions to this assignment due to full marks received and positive

instructor feedback. This assignment provided an excellent opportunity to explore strategies that

I could utilize in my current classroom setting. It also provided feedback on the necessity of

using effective evidence based strategies at the early learning levels that students will use as
Amy D Diamond
SPED 541 Advanced Methods & Assessments: Learning Strategy and Content Mastery for Struggling Learners &
Students with High Incidence Disabilities
Show and Share Lesson

concepts increase in difficulty. The article also reaffirmed the need to instruct students in a

variety of strategies to apply to concepts, per the Overlapping Waves theory. In addition, the

simple analysis of utilizing base 10 and its applications at early learning stages helped me to

understand how and why I can integrate this strategy in early childhood. Understanding how

Base 10 operates helped to understand how it can be adapted and utilized to build an early

foundation of math concepts. Finally, the process of compiling and presenting the information in

a presentation format is similar to professional development opportunities. We are frequently

called upon as educators to learn about a concept, curriculum or strategy and present it to our

peers. The ability to present this information in a coherent and engaging manner is crucial to

collaboration among professionals. In fact, this year I was asked to present an early learning

math professional development for our district and incorporated some of the knowledge from

this assignment into my presentation.