Damon, absolutely, being aware and focused on the needs is the first step. As you referenced, students' comprehension processes, speed of learning, and learning styles all differ. It creates a challenge for us to reach each one, however, varying the way we deliver our instruction is most likely the best solution.
Thanks for your input!
Jay
ED106 Facilitator
I find that simply staying student focused will allow me to facilitate every student's learning needs. Some students need more time for comprehension; some first need to translate content, while others are ready to move ahead. Working in discussion groups and careful monitoring helps to keep a balance in content speed. Some students need to be shown visuals, others need to have hands-on, while some are content with an explanation.
Using smaller groups helped.
Putting people together who have strengths & weaknesses so that the members of a group could better help one another has helped too.
I give notice to the individual students who need extra help. We have a tutoring system at our college that students may meet with the tutor and get new study skills and time managment. I support what the tutor tells the student and follow up daily with the progress of the student. They have my cell number with the open door policy to call with questions, I make myself available during class, in between class, and after for quesitons. There is definitely a one on one at least once a week for several minutes and individual tutoring from myself. I will take the time because I feel it is important for the student success. If I do not show them how important it is they might not feel the need to do the work. I am here to help them succeed.
I agree with some of the previous contributors, groups. I have always enjoyed being in groups while learning new materials which may have been outside my comfort zone. Key may be to encourage group learning while eliminating the pressure to isolate and fall behind
One strategy I have found is to be open that I may have been wrong in my FIRST approach to reach students.
As instructors, often we need to approach things from a different angle, use a more hands-on approach, or change the delivery medium to be effective in reaching the diverse learner. If we are beholdened to our initial approach, then we stand to slight the student(s) in their learning. When we remain open, we increase our probability of success over the longer term.
Regards,
Christopher
There have been some students that had difficulty understanding some of our medical terms. So by having the terms explained in their language and then developed visual examples of the term helped.
small groups,and one one explaining.
With one student I turned it into a game. Every day she would give me a word in spanish and I would give her one in english and by the end of the class we would run through three or four of the past words and see who got the most right. Sorry to say she beat me most of the time, but it was fun to learn.
Thanks George for the fine training detail in which you are involved. I appreciate the intensity of the feedback. Gary
Janet, you mirror my thoughts. It sure seems to put them at ease and a bond is established. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Gary
Karishma, I loved your illustrations! I think it is great to include any media to assist in re-inforcing the lessons from the class. Gary
Fine synopsis Laura. I appreciate the lessons from reading your post. I like your list of culture training aides. Thanks for sharing the experience. Gary
Jacob, you are not alone. I had a mentor who used to tell me it was better to listen than to speak - you learn more and you come across as smarter to others'. Gary
Leslie, I always like to learn from the folks who have been everywhere as culture is a "make or break" part of teaching. Gary
Jacob, you provide some great examples and illustrations how the communication has worked for you. It is good to have experience to apply in either format. Gary
I work in a culinary school. Our curriculum demands to use of a wide variety of languages in courses and careers. For us a ELL student is not alone. Skilled students in english will be put in a similar position with having to learn french, spanish, mandarin, cantonese, italian and so forth as cusines from around the world are taught. This give us a huge advantage in that a student will not feel nearly as isolated. We have substancial numbers of international students whose languages actually contribute to food courses and even Human resource business courses. We still perform the fundamental vocabualry training, phonics etc., but we have to do it for all students because of the language diversity that the culinary arts themsleves require. It becomes part of the course for all.
The biggest challenges are the english speakers with the challenges with theri own language because of background deficiences.
Some strategies that I have used that have helped me work with the students who have diverse learning needs I especially apply in the medical terminology class that I teach. Because some of these students are learning the basics of spelling, grammar, and vocabulary in English it is almost a double learning experience for them because they are also learning the language of medical terminology. Therefore it is especially important to focus on word application. For instance, I have my students go through the exercises in the book to grasp the visual aspect of medical terminology. Then I pronounce and repeat the terms in class. Finally I have them go through exercises in class together such as matching games or define each word part as a class. I also recommend for them to watch shows on TV that implement some of the terms in class so that they can see how they are applied. Medical TV shows such as House, Scrubs, ER, Greys Anatomy will give them the practical application and the repetition of some of the words. In addition, if there is extra class time we go through an article together as a class on WebMD. The article pertains to the particular topic covered that day. This way the students can really understand clinically what these words are used for.
I find all of these methods of learning extremely helpful. I am always open to the suggestions of my students and modify my class structure as the sessions go on. A challenge that I face, however, is that with medical terminology we are learning more than the 5-7 vocab terms as suggested in this course.
Some of the best ways in which I have instructed my diverse student population is to use cooperative group learning, one-on-one instruction, translating the text or lessons into their native language, books on tape, the use of graphic organizers, and vocabulary development skills. Because my background is in elementary education, I have become well versed on the importance of creating an individualized curriculum for the students. So, in order to accomplish this, I have always found that it is important that by learning some of the basics of the cultures, I am much better able to learn about their "ins and outs" in order to plan instruction accordingly.
Pictures tell a thousand words, use graphics and simple explanations. Also allow electronic translators
