Christopher ,
you are right that we must determine the needs right away. We cannot wait until the first significant grade to realize there is an issue.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I try to dtermine the learning needs of my students as soon as possible. From Day One... An introduction of themselves is key, however, the student is not going to let you know they cannot read! I must assume that most of my students, at least within the first week of class have problems with reading and learning (well below their grade level of highest education)...
I talk to my students individually, and interact with them during class time. With getting to know them, I can understand if there is any previous experience or any learning concerns I need to be aware of.
stacy,
an understanding of cultural differences is a great way to start to bridge some of those gaps.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
Elizabeth,
these are great points & having them tell their stories really is a great way to conduct an informal preassessment.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
You have to understand the students cultures and how they are diferent from you.
I like to ask the individual student that do speak another language what are the diferences are and try to understand that way.
I have a diverse population in the class, I believe that by asking them to describe their previous experience and work experience helps me determine their level of information in our subject. I also have a few students where English is their second language and I have to restate the information in another way so that they can understand it. By restate a phrase not only does it help the ELL student but also helps other student hear the information in a different manner as while.
Nothing can help more to understand diverse learners' need as to be a former diverse lerner myrself. I went to the college to learn my profession and continued learn English. This process never stops and being a vocational teacher myself, I know what my diverse learners deal with. Using my own experience, collegues help, and taking this great on-line classes is helping me to help my students and grow professionally myself.
Jeanette,
and I have found that the quicker I learn their names, the more likely they are to come to me with problems or if they are struggling.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
Each student is diverse. It is important to get to know your students. It can start on day one of the class with some sort of ice breaker.
The instructor learning the names of their students as soon as possible will assist in knowing your students as well.
claire,
this is a wonderful advantage to having guest speakers that I had not really thought of before.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
Bring in different people to the class as resources that students might be able to connect with.
Search out people that are different from yourself and that might share certain qualities with your students.
Students need role models. Many times when they see they are connected in some way to a person they will be more apt to listen and learn from them.
It's not uncommon for me to have a wide range of student types in each of my classes, whether it be a recent high school graduate, to a military individual who just finished their commitment or an individual whom has just decided to change careers. I like to incorporate different teaching styles in each class to try and meet the needs of each student. I also find it very helpful just to ask them what their educational background is and see how they feel they learn best and then try to incorporate that into the class.
We do this with patients to educate them about their disease processes and medications. Ask about how they learn best and then provide the material in that format along with others. Most people do best with more then one avenue of information input-video and written, demonstration and pictures, etc. Asking the person to analyze their learning style also helps them to become more in tune with their ability to learn and to ask questions when the material is presented to them in a way they do not understand.
Lynn,
this is a great way to get to know your students & also to understand better where they are coming from & why they might react in certain ways.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
During class orientation, I ask students to tell me something about themselves that they think would shock me. It is surprising how much you can learn about their diversity from what they tell you. For some you learn their motivation, others the struggles they had in traditional learning environments.
I agree asking questions is the best way to learn about students, and the questions do not have to be direct questions about activities outside of the school environment can help indicate what a student likes to do and give insight into how they learn.
james,
and the more we as instructors can model this appreciation of the diversity the more the students will embrace it as well.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
Mark,
thanks for sharing these ideas. I teach an intercultural communication class & I (jokingly!) tell my students that we all know the way to cross cultural barriers is to talk loudly, slowly & with lots of gestures. They laugh, but sadly many still try to use this method to communicate...
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
