Module 6Providing for student differences.

TED 367

Methods in Sec. Ed.

Module 6Explain how teachers can recognize and provide for student differences in instruction.

Explain how teachers can recognize and provide for student differences in instruction.

Reading

• Read the following in the Duplass textbook:– Topic 8: “Teaching in a Diverse Classroom”

Topics

• Differentiated Instruction• At-risk Students• Special Needs/Exceptional/Disabilities

Students• Linguistically and Culturally Diverse

Students• Gifted and Talented Students• Slow and Recalcitrant Learners

Introduction

• The diversity in American classrooms was partially created by…– A democratic society that attracts people from around

the world.– By the desegregation of public schools.– By a commitment to universal access to public

education.• The proportion of students from diverse

socioeconomic, cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds and with special needs will continue to grow.

Differentiated Instruction

Differentiated Instruction

• Within-class differentiated instruction does not mean you lower your standards, but rather that you provide opportunities for students to meet those standards in a variety of ways.

Differentiated Instruction

1. Give students choices about how to express what they have learned.

2. Use reading materials with different levels of readability.

3. Present ideas both visually and verbally.4. Meet with small groups to re-teach key

concepts.5. Pair students of lesser and stronger reading

ability.6. Vary the length of time for students to

complete projects so struggling students can succeed.

Differentiated Instruction

7. Provide for individual work as well as collaborative work.

8. Tie instruction to assessment.

9. Use flexible grouping (e.g., readiness and mixed-readiness groups, same and different interest groups, random groups).

10. Carefully organize and explain classroom routines (like where to put assignments), directions, and objectives.

At-risk Students

At-risk Students

• The term at risk originates from a 1983 U.S. government publication, A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Education Reform.

• Variables that indicate students may be at risk:– Poverty, ethnicity, race, gender, language.

At-risk Students

1. Help students feel welcome in your classroom and your school.

• Greet each student entering your room by asking questions about topics that matter in his or her life.

2. Use time outside of class to talk with students about matters unrelated to schoolwork.

3. Assign projects and tasks that allow students to be successful from the beginning. This develops a sense of mastery and confidence.

4. Focus on higher-order thinking. Just because a student is at risk does not mean that he or she can’t tackle higher-order cognition.

At-risk Students

5. Give students important classroom responsibilities and allow students to plan how they will complete assignments.

6. Help students reach at least one meaningful goal each day.

7. Keep learning struggles private. Encourage students to ask and answer questions and respond privately, on a one-to-one basis.

8. Use a variety of grouping approaches: by ethnicity, gender, readiness, and so on.

Special Needs/ Exceptional/Disabilities Students

Students with Special Needs

• As a result of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA):– About 11% of the school-age population are

classified as “exceptional.”– About 70% of these students are

mainstreamed into your classrooms.

Students with Special Needs1. Intellectual differences: profound mental

retardation, educable mental handicap, and other conditions.

2. Communications differences: hearing and speech disabilities.

3. Sensory differences: auditory and visual impairments.

4. Behavioral differences: ADHD, social maladjustment, and other conditions.

5. Multiple and severe handicaps: cerebral palsy and other impairments.

6. Physical differences: dwarfism, confinement to a wheelchair, and other conditions.

Working with Special Needs Students

1. Explain the learning and behavioral expectations in detail.

2. Use cooperative learning with heterogeneous groups, particularly for reading and composition.

3. Use peer tutoring with all students participating.

4. Use shortened assignments to accommodate the slower pace of special students.

5. Remind students how to correct their own errors.

Working with Special Needs Students

6. Use multiple examples.

7. Refocus students who are dawdling.

8. Use one-to-one teacher-to-special-student coaching while students are in cooperative learning groups.

9. Teach a strategy’s steps by using mnemonics, modeling, and choral recitation of the components.

Working with Special Needs Students

10. Use adaptation instruction to allow special students to work on the same content but with lesser degrees of difficulty.

• Have them list ten states, capitols, etc., while the other students list twenty.

11. Use accommodation instruction to allow special students to do the same assignment but in a different way.

• Give a dyslexic student a verbal exam.

12. Use direct instruction for knowledge content like vocabulary and factual information.

Working with Special Needs Students

13.Use constructivist approaches for analysis and decision-making.

14.Promote independence during projects by having students maintain a folder of their work.

Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Students

Linguistically and Culturally Diverse

• In the 100 largest school districts, 68% of students are minority students.

Linguistically and Culturally Diverse

You could have a classroom:• That is primarily populated with one

dominant ethnic group.– As in many schools drawing from the Hispanic

communities in the Southwest or in an Inner City school with mostly African American students.

• In a suburban school with a few ethnic minority students from one culture.– A relatively small number of African American

or Latino students.

Linguistically and Culturally Diverse

• With a few minority students who have diverse linguistic and ethnic backgrounds.– Perhaps in New York City, where you could

have one Chinese, Vietnamese, Pakistani, and Haitian student in a class of thirty.

Working with Diverse Students

1. Don’t insist that students make eye contact when you are speaking to them: This is considered rude in many cultures.

2. Be visual.• Use drawings, dramatic gestures, actions,

emotions, voice, mime, chalkboard sketches, photographs, and visual materials to provide clues to meaning.

Working with Diverse Students

3. Talk slowly. Simplify your message (avoid passive voice and complex sentences).

• Use short, simple sentences and no pronouns.• Repeat yourself using the same grammatical form.

4. Give ELL students more time to respond, don’t be impatient; and smile.

• Remember, they are just as bright as non-ELL students; it’s the language that is the barrier.

Working with Diverse Students

5. Correct heavily accented speech by repeating the words correctly and asking the student if he or she would like to try.

6. Allow the use of bilingual dictionaries.

7. Use student volunteers to help new ELL students learn new phrases and pronunciations.

8. Encourage writing.

Gifted and Talented Students

Gifted and Talented

• Historically, teachers used to refer to gifted (exceptional ability in one or more academic subjects) and talented (exceptional ability in visual or performing arts).

• Today, the terms are used synonymously.

Identifying Gifted Students

• Criteria for determining gifted:– GPA– IQ

• Problem: Gifted students many times are not identified.

Identifying Gifted Students

• Abilities of gifted:– Transfer knowledge to other circumstances.– Manipulate a symbol system.– Take on adult roles at home.– Be resilient to cope with dysfunctional family.– Think logically and solve problems.– Creative or artistic.– Independent mind/leadership ability.

Identifying Gifted Students• Characteristics of gifted (that may go

unnoticed):– Antisocial.– Creative, high achievers.– Underachievers (learn in ways not

challenged).– Divergent thinkers.– Perfectionists.– Sensitive.– Students with special needs (ADHD, dyslexia,

etc., can mask giftedness).

Working with Gifted Students

1. Provide opportunities to work independently or in dyads (prefer to work with other gifted students).

2. Emphasize critical thinking, problem-solving, and inquiry (student-centered methods).

3. Involve students in activity/assignment planning.

4. Provide options for enrichment.• Learning centers, special projects, multimedia

programs.

Slow and Recalcitrant Learners

Slow and Recalcitrant Learners• Students who require more time to learn

typically fall into 2 categories:1. Slow learners.

– Are willing to try, but require more time due to any of a number of reasons.

– Not less intelligent, just require more time.

2. Recalcitrant learners.– Refuse to try.– Referred to as underachievers and reluctant

learners.– May be due to history of failure, bored with

school, poor self-image, severe personal problems.

Working with Slow Learners

1. Build the student’s self-esteem:– Discover something the student does well and build

on that.– Use frequent positive reinforcement.

2. Vary instructional strategies.3. Build student’s communication skills:

– Emphasize speaking, listening, reading, writing.– Help student improve reading skills such as

pronunciation and word meanings if needed.4. Help the student learn in small sequential

steps.5. Maximize use of in-class work.6. Use appropriate level reading material.

Working with Recalcitrant Learners

1. Learn as much as you can about each student.

2. Avoid lecturing. Instead, engage students:– Interactive media.– Real-world problem solving.

3. Help students develop their learning and studying skills (especially mnemonics).

4. Maximize use of in-class work.

5. Use frequent positive reinforcement.

6. Use appropriate level reading material.

SUMMARY: Providing for Student Differences

Providing for Student Differences

• One classroom may contain at-risk, special needs, linguistically and culturally diverse, gifted students, and slow and recalcitrant Learners.

• How can a teacher differentiate instruction to accommodate so many diverse learners at the same time?

Providing for Student Differences

1. Start learning experiences in the concrete, and progress to the abstract.

2. Rely more heavily on student-centered methods of instruction.

3. Use learning centers.4. Maintain high expectations (can be

different for different students).5. Provide variations and options in

assignments.

Providing for Student Differences

6. Make learning meaningful by integrating it with life.

7. Use peer coaching.

8. Use small group and cooperative learning strategies.

9. Use interactive multimedia computer programs.