“Do it again. Play it again. Sing it again.
Read it again. Write it again.
Sketch it again. Rehearse it again.
Run it again. Try it again.
Because again is practice, and practice is improvement,
and improvement only leads to perfection.”
Richelle E. Goodrich
Many of us who are Orton Gillingham teachers and practitioners use terms that we think we understand perfectly, but they often leave others thinking,
“Okay that sounds good. But what does it really mean?”
Read on or watch and listen here.
The Orton Gillingham Approach is often known by its abbreviation OG. Another term is MSL or Multisensory Structured Language and less well-known is Simultaneous Oral Math or OG Math.
Each of these terms is intended to describe an approach for academic instruction that is diagnostic, prescriptive and emotionally sound.
Less well known is how these approaches create a deeper understanding of how to learn.
They are not a quick fix.
Success is steadily earned through practice and experiences.
You may wonder, what does diagnostic, prescriptive and emotionally sound teaching really mean?
An Emotionally and Socially Sound Approach
OG Math Instruction, whether one-to-one or in a classroom or group, is a safe place to learn. It is positive engagement with the instructor and active learning for the student.
There isn’t any unnecessary talk, but the focus is on well-chosen dialogue incorporating description, movement and actions simultaneously.
The OG teacher will always model and describe her actions. The student will duplicate the process and practice the steps while describing his actions as they take place. In OG Math we call it,
Seeing, Saying and Doing OG Math.
A Diagnostic Approach
If you are one of my students, I’ve got my eyes on you!
I will discover your current level of skill and have a plan to move forward from there following the OG Math scope and sequence.
I’ll create systematic lesson plans that will guide and instruct you until it is mastered. I will be watching how you engage with an idea and apply that idea to a math concept.
Prescriptive
If it happens that my instruction didn’t connect with you and the new math idea cannot be applied, it is my responsibility to find another way to teach it until you understand it clearly. We’ll practice the concept and review it frequently, so it is not lost as the next new idea is introduced.
Lessons are repeated until they are learned.
Throughout their instruction, my students learn through guided experience: “When you don’t get it right the first time, do not get frustrated. There is no reason to complain. You know that you can take action.”
Tell yourself,
“I’ll check it.”
“Correct it,
and
I’ll get it next time!”
Increasingly and through experience, my students will have learned:
When you get frustrated or complain, you immediately shut yourself off to learning. You halt your own progress and will inevitably repeat the same mistake in the future.
You made a mistake, so you can learn from it. A mistake is important feedback. Be happy about it and move on to the next opportunity to try the concept out again. You’ll have full knowledge of what will work and what doesn’t.
And if you allow this knowledge to become clear, you’ll be empowered to create better results in the future. Then we can celebrate your success together.
Conclusion
Good math instruction should be engaging, active and hands-on.
An emotionally sound, diagnostic, prescriptive approach for teaching math, sounds complicated and challenging but it’s really an approach that can be learned step by step. Then success can be yours for the taking.
If a student cannot learn the way you are teaching math, you will need to change the instruction so that it is successful.
In a safe, well planned learning environment students can accept their mistakes and learn from them.
OG Math teachers apply OG principles then refine OG techniques and processes so that students can consistently reach the desired results.
About OG Academic Math
Marilyn’s OG Academic Math training programs have been called the secret weapon of frustrated math instructors. Thousands of educators use OG Math every single day.
Learn more about OG Math right here.
Contact Marilyn here anytime.
Marilyn Wardrop is a gifted trainer & mentor who helps educators replace or surpass their current math teaching strategies for struggling math students or those children learning math for the first time. Marilyn’s OG Academic Math training programs have been called the secret weapon of frustrated math instructors. Thousands of educators use OG Math every single day.
[…] I tried and I had determination. I worked hard to make sure my lessons were incredible. I’d start to make progress with the math […]
