Students missing basic skills
In this section the class makes reference to students who are missing a basic like skill. For example computer skills, writing or reading skills, or communication skills. My question is how do I help them be sucessfull in my class and not change the level of depth for the rest of the students?
Patricia,
This student may have a cognitive processing issue that needs to be addressed by your Student Assistance Office. If the student will share with you try and find out if he or she had an IEP while in high school. The Individual Education Plan (IEP) was developed to provide support for such a student so that he or she could progress in learning while in high school. The techniques that were successful with this student can be used on the post secondary level as well. Most often with students like this there is a need for more time and pictorial offering of content so the individual can use more than one sense to take in information. This will expand the time needed to complete the course so that needs to be factored in when planning this student's schedule.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
What if your particular school does not do any type of "pretesting" and they really don't have additional "help" for the student? There's peer tutoring and instructor tutoring; however, I have found myself in a situation that none of those "offered" methods were helpful for this particular student who seem to have comprehension issues.
Grant,
This is becoming more common though I am thinking we are going to see this change before too long because if the students don't have the basic skills academically they are not going to be successful in their college career.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Some schools will not add or pay an instructor to review or teach these basic skills. Budget cuts are given as the reason.
Hi Heather,
It is great to hear about the cooperation and respect that other instructors have for you and what you are doing for the students in your school. By having more than one instructor involved in the learning process the students can see how important all of you feel about their success. Keep up the great work that you are doing.
Gary
Thanks. I will try the National Leteracy Research Institute.
I work very closly with the other instructors in my building, and they will frequently bring students to me for help with research papers and similar assignments. I find that if students have the ability to use me and the resources in my room for things like this I quickly build relationships with them and they are less anxious when they enter English classes.
I also appreciate that the other instructors in the building are comfortable coming to me for things like this that are outside their area of expertise. It gives the students the help they need and lets them know that their instructors are willing to get them that help.
Hi Heather,
I am disappointed that your local literacy council is not able to help you. I would suggest that you contact the National Literacy Research Institute for some additional suggestions and help on how to get the information you want to help the adult students. Also, if you can get the skill area instructors to give you examples and samples of math and English applications they require then you can work with them to develop instructional supports that will help the adult learners that have deficiencies in these areas to shore up their weaknesses while enrolled in the skill courses. This is the model we use and have had good success with it.
Gary
This is a huge source of frustration for me as an English teacher. If we, in the general studies departments, do not have the support of the rest of the instructors in correcting these things, the students end up lacking soft skills because the students do only what they need to do to pass the class. We find that when all instructors are on board and supporting the basic English and Math skills as well as other soft skills the students are much more employable. The biggest reason grads loose jobs is because they lack the soft skills, especially English skills, not because they lack technical skills.
I also find that even using an entrance exam, we have students who slip through and can only read at a minimul level. I have been trying to find a class on teaching adult literacy, so I can be available to assist those students, but so far I have not been able to find anything, even through the local Intermediate Unit where adult literacy is taught.
If anyone knows where I can find this sort of class, I would be greatful.
Patricia,
My brother had to take a qualifcation exam before he went on for his Masters in Education. so Yes! I Believe that anyone who wants to enter into a Technical Career field should take an exam. I know that qualifications are worth more. However, so is initial ability.
The first day of class, I set the mood by stating,"There are no dumb questions, just unanswered ponderings." I do my best to make each student feel confident in themself, which lowers their stress, and allows them to learn faster.
Hi Scott,
When you have students without basic study skills you need to have some instructional supports you can use with your students. Examples of these are graphic organizers, structured outlines, and study guides. These help the students to focus in on what is important to the course and critical that they learn.
Gary
Not only can some students lack basic skills in math and English, they can also lack study skills. Like note taking, they don't know how to study for a test. In some cases, they don't know how to take a test!
I teach automotive and it is amazing that students can't do basic math, they even get the wrong answers with a calculator. I have had to show students how to check their own work on paper, they are post high school.
This is an example of what I referred to in one of the other forums as "counter-punching." There are a lot of our students who lack basic skills, that doesn't mean they are not teachable. By reacting appropriately to the input and feedback we get from our students, we should be able to come up with methods to help them learn. We are not dealing with buckets where we just pour in the info and hope it stays in the bucket.
Patricia, If career colleges held entrance exams, we probably would not have any students to teach. Why do you think they are in our school in the first place? However, I agree with you in principle that it would be nice if our students could read, write, speak and comprehend english, and do basic math.
Patricia, If career colleges held entrance exams, we probably would not have any students to teach. Why do you think they are in our school in the first place? However, I agree with you in principle that it would be nice if our students could read, write, speak and comprehend english, and do basic math.
How about gathering info ,like using an Index? I teach Automotive,and I always stress the importance of using the index in the books we supply. I always tell my Students that when they are working on a car,they have to know how to look up info,because I wont be there to give them the answers ,and their Boss certainly wont do it.
Hi Rod,
Thanks for sharing this strategy that worked for a student that was lacking in an experience, such as with the marshmallow. This is a demonstration of how you can show relevance through another avenue. Well done. Keep up the good work.
Gary
I also teach automotive, and have run into students without the basic math skills, also I run into a language problem. In one class one of the students did not know what a marshmallow was, I use this analogy to talk about spongy brakes, this student had never eaten a marshmallow or even knew what one looked like. The next day I brought some in and when the student saw, touched and felt what they were like, you could almost see the light bulb turn on.
