understanding students
We work with a wide age range of students we have to be able to adapt to all ages and learner styles
As Mr. beach stated, we instruct a wide range of students from high school/GED grads to retired individuals.
As a senior instructor (over the age of 50)I find it difficult to understand how the younger students made it this far,
I have found that many of the recent grads have extreme difficulty in reading and comprehending the written word as well as performing simple math (addition-subtraction-multiplication and division. Both nessessary in the students chosen line of education.
In math particulary, I try to provide math questions in a way that my younger students can possibly relate,
If you spent $500 on those tatoo's, how many tools could you have purchased if each tool were $20 each. or
if a case of beer is $13, how many cases would it take to equal $156 in tools.
as sad as the above the examples are, if i can get them to add, subtract, multiply and divide these questons, maybe I might be able to get them to calculate their shim math correctly.
Hi Matthew,
I commend you for your efforts in working with the diverse students that you have. By providing them with encouragement and support you are showing them that they have a opportunity to be successful no matter what issues they facing in their own lives.
Gary
In my classes I see a wide range of students...age, gender, ethicity, etc. Perhaps of greatest challenge in our environment is the international student who wrestles with language issues as well as potentially being somewhat technophobic due to a lack of familiarity with computers. We also deal mostly with non-traditional students who most often have full time jobs as well as families...which leads to significant work life balancing issues.
