I am having a similar problem with my students. Some of them catch on to clinical procedures very well and others do not. I am open to suggestions on how to improve the teaching of procedures to the slower students. Please help, thanks for any suggestions.
Hi Jennifer,
Sounds like you are working very hard to meet all the needs of your students. Keep up the good work. In working with students that don't have the academic skills and/or ability of some of the other students I can provide them with graphic organizers and guided notes. These supports enable the students to zero in on what I see as being important . This gives them time to listen, write and digest course content easier.
Gary
I teach at a trade school where the student body is quite varied. I have found it quite difficult to teach to the different categories in the same class. I am continually trying to find new extra projects to keep the bright students interested while being a cheerleader for the slower, less skilled students to get them to catch up.
Hi Gary:
Being an instructor is a new experience, so yes, I am enjoying it so far. The MAX KNOWLEDGE has helped me very much.
Linda Harford
Hi Linda,
Good ideas about how to balance different student and their dedication to the class. Anything you can do to get them to share helps them to focus on the learning needs of the class.
Good luck with your teaching! I can tell you really enjoy having the opportunity to be an instructor.
Gary
I like to have the students do a group participation project at least weekly in class. This tends to involve both categories of students and I tell them to vary the group leader (the one who presents the findings to the entire class) so that everyone has a chance to speak in front of the class. Sometimes the slower or carefree students come up with creative ideas that the brighter, more interested students have not thought of. It makes for interesting debates.
Hi Becca,
I don't know if my forum response was sent as I was bumped off line as I was responding to you.
The focus of my reply was the use of educational supports for your students. You need to think of ways you can help all of your students "grasp" the content of your course. An example would be the use of guided notes. Guided notes are helpful for all students and can be of great help for students that are challenged in getting the material. Guided notes allows you to highlight what you consider really important as well as what you consider as being supportive material. The key is to be clear on what the learning needs are for your students and then develop strategies to meet those needs. This is the fun part of being a creative instructorl
Gary
Hi Becca,
When you are instructing students with different ability levels you can help all of your students by providing them with educational supports. These supports can be graphic organizers, guided notes, and acquistion strategies. Once you have developed for example a set of guided notes you will be able to use them over and over. In addition, these guided notes help all of the students so
I think that being an instructor, we are role models. By treating those that abit slower with compassion and empathy brings the class closer. Isn't that what life should be about all the time. Everyone marchs to a different beat.
Hi Timothy,
Good approach for diverse learners. The is the number one issue facing instructors no matter what level they teach. How do you bring along all of the students? That is the premise of the federal law, No Child Left Behind. Bring everyone along at the same time.
Your use of the step by step mode of learning helps the students to see the sequence of content that they will be working through. You can also use the think, pair, share model that helps all ability level students to acquire new information.
A suggestion that I would make is for you to have some type of assessment that you could use to determine reading levels of students and to see if there are some students with learning disabilities. Approximately 10% of the population has some type of learning disability that interferes with or causes delays in the learning process. Having a basic working knowledge of how to help students with learning disabilities will help you to be a much more effective instructor. There are several sources of information about learning disabilities, the easiest being a web search. Among learning disability categories, dyslexia is the most common. This learning difficulty is based upon the challenge of language processing and reading skills. There are many different strategies that an instructor that employ without compromising the course or the competencies needed to enter the students' career field.
Gary
I find that a step-by-step mode of learning is best for what I'm teaching, and as such, I enform the students that this is not a competion, and that everyone should proceed at their own pace. This seems to relax students and assure them that what's important is to gain the skill to accomplish their goals
Hi Carol,
You are doing the right things in terms of meeting the individual needs of your students. By offering the diversity of delivery and the various methods of student support you are providing your students with a variety of learning opportunities. I know your approach requires preparation and planning but from your comments I can tell that you are getting the results and rewards that you want from your teaching experience.. Keep up the good work.
Gary
I believe that it is the responsibility of the classroom teacher to prepare for all levels of abilities. I have done this in several ways.
First, I administer a learning styles test to identify each student's two significant styles. I try to plan lessons with a goal of using as many of the learning styles as possible.
Secondly, I identify extension activities that I can use with faster students who finish a task early. I go over with students my expectation that when they finish a specific task, they can move on to the challenge or extension (enrichment). I have posted steps or instructions for that activity. I make sure that the challenge or extension uses skills previously taught, but on a more challenging level.
For slower students, I often modify the amount of material expected to be covered or completed. I may use a peer tutor, or I may pull a small group of slower students to myself and work with them while the faster students are working in pairs or individually on the challenge activity.
Finally, I make sure I pull all students back in one group to close the lesson.
Hi Donald,
By knowing the learning styles of your students you can tailor instruction to meet the different needs of your students. When you are faced with a wide range of student abilities you can offer instruction and application in a number of different ways, thus allowing different ability students chances to succeed.
I have found that using graphic organizers and structured notes for classes greatly assist students in understanding what is important to the class and what information they must acquire. In addition, through the use of teams I am able to use the different abilities of all the students in the learning process.
Gary
The challenge is to keep the good students interested without leaving the slow ones behind and not having the class break down into two separate entities. I try to do hands on, one on one with the slow students. The good ones usually respond to challenging assignments issued to the whole class.
Hi William,
The challenge of instruction is how to best meet the learning needs of all the students in your class. The most rewarding part of instruction is when you feel that you have done it well. Each class and the respective mix of students presents a major challenge to providing the content in a manner that will facilitate maximum learning.
As an instructor you need to always be on the lookout for new and creative ways of keeping your students engaged in the learning process. You may find that the think (individual) pair (2 students), share (small group) model works for certain phases of the class and at other times instructional aides such as guided outlines or structured notes helps the students with learning difficulties with their learning growth. The key is to have many different strategies in your instructional toolbox from which you can draw when needed. I have found that when I offer a special study device or learning outline for a particular student it generally helps other students in the class as well. This means that my job is made easier and the students are feeling better about their educational progress.
Good luck with your teaching.
Gary
In lecture style teaching I try to place the setting for students with learning differences
in the front were I can have direct eye contact with them often and constant. One reason students chose a trade / tech school over a University is the lack of attention and focus they are capible of having in a formal setting.
This is extremely common in artistic and creative instructional schools. Some of this is cultural and some a chemical or physical condition. They need more supervision and stimulation during lecture session or instruction classes. The students who are fast learners can be incorporated as teachers helpers or assistant teaching coaches.
I have had few to no classes without a learning difficult student. Keeping them stimulated is the greatest challange to a teacher.
I am still working on this skill level and hope to find a perfect formula one day. Don't hold your breath!
The slow must be stimulated.
The smart active ones must be kept active with some for of learning experience all the time or they will be in the same catagory as the difficult learner. Bored!
William Edison Travelstead / Instructor
Hi All,
Those of you commenting on Forum 4 are on the right track. Thank you for all of the good input. Grouping students, study groups, and think, pair, share models all help the students to grasp the course content in different ways. Students often have unique ways of explaining a concept to other students, so this should be encouraged.
Also, you all might want to explore the use of graphic organizers. These organizers are pictures or symbols, lines, and boxes in which students are to place certain information. These organizers really help to focus the students in on specific points cricitcal to their learning success. I also use the newspaper organizer model, that has the students work through the who, what, where, why questions that will get them in the material and learning.
The use of mnemonics is very helpful to students that must learn certain procedures or steps in their field. I have found that mnemonics helps slower students to grasp and retain the material much easier. The key is to use strategies that will be of help to all students and are easy to use.
Gary
I agree this also increases student participation. I encourage slow learner to have group study as well. That helps if everyone is agreeable to it.
Kiran
Hi Joseph,
I also like to share as much of my own experiences with my students, since I have so many years working in the feild that I am teaching. I think the slower students respond better to shared experiences than to strictly book learning. By doing that, I feel that the slower student as well as the intelligent students are more open to asking questions that lead to instructive answers. They see the instructor as human, as a role model who has done it all, made mistakes, and is not afraid to share the good with the bad. I also like to put my students into dicussion groups, grouping the slower with the quicker and find that the slower students do very well in these situations and come away from the discussion with new knowledge and a firmer grasp on critical thinking. Peggy
