Doing Our Job
As an instructor, it should be expected to teach a diversity of learners. I feel that we want our students to succeed. We know the goals and objectives of the course we are teaching and so we can manipulate the learning track and set all students up for success without them even knowing it. Therefore, it is so important to consider this when designing curriculum, projects, content...etc.
I feel that if the course is carefully set up to address this from the start, then the issues that stem from a diverse group of learners can be diffused before they escalate to frustration or boredom - depending upon which side a student falls.
Sometimes you have to move on. You can help these students with more case studies and chapter questions covering key points.
Ms.Mowat my thoughts exactly. I enjoy having a strong course placed together with a forecast of at least 20 days. The difficulties arise when i spend a little more time on a subject because I wil not move on until the majority of the class has a strong understanding. What do you do in this delima?
Hey Robyn, you have students who are AD, and others, you step up or slow down, whatever it takes to get the course across so they understand.
I teach in an automotive school. It's important that I know what I'm doing and talking about. Sometimes I have to talk about something 3 or 4 different ways to make sure everybody understands the information. Identifing different learning styles quickly helps also.
Robyn,
I agree, I teach English at a Design and Tech school and it is extremely difficult to keep the students interested in an aspect of traditional learning that they initially enrolled in the D&T school to avoid. I feel that honesty is the best policy throughout instruction, that way I can be brutally honest with the student that is either not putting the time in or is not "getting it."
I find the difficult part of the job is to know what issues are holding back my students. Do they not understand the concepts or do they not put the time into the class? I teach accounting so it is very important to find that out early.
