How to handle the diverse levels of knowledge.
When working with students who have all different learning levels, hands on skills and experience the right style is tough at first. You need to quickly identify the students who need more motivation and the ones who need more help. Many students at night have been out of school 5+ years. Some much longer. Tests, quizzes and homework are a memory to them. For others it is their skill level in the labs with limited time with newer students. The biggest challenge is to give enough support to the students that struggle while keeping in touch with the more experienced. The partnerships made on that first day can show me the way to group students together.
I teach math classes and I also run into the situation of different learning styles and speed of comprehension. Frequently, I will assign some work to be done in class and ask the students to compare their work and answers with other students and ask for feedback. Peer explanations and evaluation, sometimes, far out way the input of the instructor.
I started to identify experience students from the least by having them do a brief intro about themselves. Not only does it help me to know the class amount of different level of skills. But also ask the skill students to teach the list by me pairing them up. I always tell my students the best way to know if you understand the material is if you can teach it.
I run into that same problem all the time. I teach Dental Assisting and students are sometimes at a different times in their program when they come to me. It is very difficult to keep the level of instructions moving at the same speed when students are at a different level of knowledge.
