My favorite strategy for assisting my students who struggle with vocabulary is to use mnemonics. For example, when learning the medical terms needed for our field, I will often find a silly but applicable picture, or come up with a rhyme. I try to be as humorous as possible, as this keeps their interest. They never know what I'll pop out with next! The most fun we ever had in class was practicing the word "eructate". It means "to burp", so we practiced "burping" the word itself. HILARIOUS...and I know my students will NEVER forget the meaning of that word!
As far as assessing student needs, I still struggle with this. I generally will ask a student what they feel the problem is, and then develop strategies to address it. Sometimes, I will give them brief (one or two paragraphs) critical thinking exercises, and then have them discuss them with me in private. Usually I can tell from this if it's a vocabulary problem or an information processing problem.
Hi Craig! Thanks for sharing your technique. It's a good example of approaching more than one learning style.
Jay Hollowell
ED106 Facilitator
Thanks, Carlton; it also creates a highly participatory and engaging learning environment. Bravo!
Jay Hollowell
ED106 Facilitator
I work with many students who are true hands on people. I just use many props to show what I need to get across. Let them touch a wheel speed sensor. Let them touch the finish on a cylinder head deck. This seems to satisfy thier three demensional learning style.
I might use a form that has a description of a engine part and have the student pick a part from a list that best fits the description.
I recently had a student graduate from my class who was from another country. He read and spoke broken English. I had him participate in every aspect as though he had no language barrier at all. His reading aloud was required but in small quantities. This made him feel equal to everyone else in the class. Initially he didn't want to read aloud but I reminded him that everyone in class had to read. In time, he enjoyed reading and began to volunteer to read. His test scores were above class average.
Hi David! Sorry for the delay in responding! Your suggestions are excellent to help with the identification or recognition of learning challenges.
I hope that all of our forum participants will read your post; not only do such methods help prepare us for working with challenges, but they faciliatte a buy-in from students - a partnership, if you will,among students and instructor to maximize the learning experience.
Thanks for your comments,
Jay Hollowell
ED106 Facilitator
A student that lack motivation I spent time talking abd incouraging him. Ilook for ways to tell him when he does a good job.
To effectively assess a student learning needs I list to the students and observe them during class.
On the first day of class I spend some time just talking to the students to generate some discussions about their backgrounds, career goals and class expectations. During this discussion I note students speech patterns such as talking in short sentences (chances are they write in short sentences also), use of slang terms, do they seem embaressed to speek out, etc. This usually is enough to help me spot a student with diverse learning needs. Also, I like to give a pre test with instructions to ask me about any words they don't understand. I tell them to raise their hand and I will speak with them quitely about their question. Some students will ask me about a technical term that I would not expect them to know. Other students will quietly ask me about a common word that they should know and when that happens it is a direct clue to their vocabulary ability. Now I have learned something about their ability without pointing it out to everyone.
Hi Robert! I bet their motivation is fueled by your willingness to go the extra mile for them. Using visual comparisons and exmaples along with stating the terminology is an excellent teaching strategy and crosses learning styles. I have found that demonstrations work well too.
Thanks for your comments!
Jay Hollowell
ED106 Facilitator
I have experienced several ELL students who were having difficulty keeping up. By observing their reactions to certain phrases or words during lecture, I began to recognize where they needed extra clarification. When that opportunity arises, I try to take advantage of it to make visual comparisons and examples while clearly stating the terminology associated with the content. By doing this for the whole class, the student does not feel singled out and the appreciation for the clarification is often very apparent. Many of these students more than make up for their language challenges with intense motivation!
Hi Eva! What a wonderful thing when challenged students realize that just beacause they have a learning disability, they are not "dumb" - and, of course, I use that word carefully.
Thanks,
Jay
ED106 Facilitator
I teach many ATB students who have poor reading, writing, and math skills. I have them take an assesment at the beginning of the course to show their learning style using Howaqrd Gardner's theory of multiple intelligence. Once students have identified their learning style, we explore ways to apply that form of intelligence to the learning process.
Students often are relieved to know they have a form of recognizable intelligence (often very high) and this is also a great self-esteem booster.
Good point, Timothy, observing students' interactions with each other can tell us so much about their learning experiences and motivation,
Thanks,
Jay
ED106
I like to watch how the students comunicate with each other in certain situations and use that to my advantage to help me comunicate with them.
Talk to them and find out what makes them click. Some are by reading, seeing, doing or some amount af all.
We have 1 of each project for students to look at because some work from writtn instructions, some need to see it and some use both. A picture is worth a thousand words.
Hi John, excellent point! Sometimes when a student has scored poorly on a test, I go over the missed questions with them and get their perception of the what the question was asking - it may be completely different from the intended meaning. I even have had students negotiate, or "argue back" their answers and why they chose them - if it's logical and they thought through the process, they might receive credit. The bottom-line though is that if an answer is just out and out incorrect regarding a term, definition, procedure, etc., then we have to make sure the student has the correct information.
Jay Hollowell
ED106 Facilitator
By asking students questions during lab work I can determine if they grasp the content of the lab. If I notice a lower than normal score on a test I sense test taking concerns and let the student come in for tutoring and let them know to ask questions during the test if they do not know what a specific word means. This helps them score better plus builds confidence.
We attempt to get to know the student early in the course to find out what kind of learning suits thier needs. Many are hands on some are note takers others will stand back and watch. We encourage the watchers to get involved and the busy students to allow some of the others to get thier hands on
