John ,
I think this is a great strategy as it provides a way for those students who need help to seek it out in a safe, anonymous manner.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I admire the courage some of these students have. One thing i do at the start of each course i teach is to ask the class if anyone needs any accomadations to please see me at your convienience. I try hard to give them the extra attention that they may need to help them be successful.
I admire the courage some of these students have. One thing i do at the start of each course i teach is to ask the class if anyone needs any accomadations to please see me at your convienience. I try hard to give them the extra attention that they may need to help them be successful.
Stephanie,
this is a good way to pretest & another benefit is that it helps excite the students about the content they are about to learn & they tend to be more engaged.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
We give the students a demonstration on a specific technique. The students then try to replicate the skill. We keep the demonstration and practice session short. We follow up with an extensive lecture.In a sense it is pretesting without stress.
This helps to plan our lecture on their needs.
Carolyn,
these are both great ways to check in with the students & see how they are coming with understanding.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I really like "question of the day" to focus on the main point covered in the lesson. I also like a weekly pre and post test to help ensure the information covered has been understood.
i give chapter test for each one and do an open discussion after
This section was very challenging for me because I work with a population that is a mix of very low and high functioning adult learners. Often, if I slow the class down to allow the lower functioning participants to catch up the high functioning group start acting out and doing their own thing. How can I help my students that are more challenged without stopping the learning process for the others? I love the idea of the index cards and will be incorporating that into my classes.
Joseph,
this is a great suggestion & one that is relatively simple to accomplish. This also helps me as the instructor to remember to teach to the different styles & not just to my preferred style.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
As part of the assessment for student's success at our college, they are given a general evaluation of math, writing and reading. I'd like to believe this would assess student learning abilities and help gauge their success. I am a fan of pretests and pop quizzes. I also like using scenarios using the information given in lecture to reinforce content. I put students in small groups and tried to change the make-up of the group but having them count out. I change how i have them count out because students tend to seat with the same people around themselves
Give a simple assessment relating to their learning preferences at the beginning of the course. These findings will inform the instructor if the student is a Visual, Audio, or Kinesthetic learner. When there appears to be a time when the student is struggling, the instructor can refer to this assessment and make the necessary adjustments during their instruction for that student.
lisa,
excellent point here & it is very important that we, as instructors, be tuned into & aware of potential learning challenges.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
In part assessing could be subtle, questioning the smal group asking each student to apply the info in a personal, this will assist the student in gently discovering if a student is tracking.also, can allow other students to inform the person struggling to learna concept at the peer level, which may be more natural,less threatening.
it is so important to have early dection of slo in an effort to catch early special needs, so that students ultimatly succeed.If this is not learned early on the student will find it difficuly all the way through.
Karen,
this is a great idea as I'm sure it really helps to determine where the students are & where they might struggle & also have success.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
We give our students a basic math test (take-home) and writing assingment (why they want to go into this profession) on the day of orientation. They are to return them on the the first day of class. This gives us a very good insight to the students' basic skills in these two very important areas.
Doreen,
pretests are a great way to see where your students stand at the beginning of the process.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
you can give pretests to assest their skills. talk to them and see what they understand
Deward,
yes, the pre-test is a great tool for both the instructor & the student.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
