How Should an Instructor Approach a Situation With Slower Students
You don't want the rest of your class to fall behind because you have a couple of slower students, how should you handle this types of students?
Jeannette,
In the past, I have created collaborative activities, in that I assign groups based upon individual student learning levels (of course I did not inform the students that the groups were generated, based on class performance). By creating diversely, academic groups, I found that the lower-level learners are generally motivated by the higher performances, which has impacted their engagement in the course, overall.
Tremayne Simpson
This approach can work but it will definitely depend on the field of study and the amount of time available for learning new material. The sonography modules are 5 weeks long and there is a lot of material to cover. Taking this approach will be a difficult one.
I also agree with you there... I teach cardiovascular sonography and that would be a nightmare if I tried to use that approach. Instead, we try and identify the weaker students early on and get them into tutoring asap. If they refuse tutoring for any reason then I try to make them engage in the classroom discussions more by asking them a series of questions that start out with a very basic concept that I know he/she knows and then follow that up with a few more questions each one taking them a bit further into the material that they are struggling with. This method does tend to take more time but the student generally can work themselves to the right answer which build their self esteem and will help the other students as well.
In my short time of teaching, I have already encountered this. I was fortunate that this student was well liked because his classmates were equally committed to his education as much as their own! I, as well the other students, did random pop quiz questions in our down time. It seemed to help him a lot.
Teaching for the past 8 years I also have encountered this many times. What I do is to give special attention to the slower students after class. Whether is be with the hands on skills, certain techinques and if I have to actually read them the questions on the assessments (for those who have a difficult time with, especially the english language)and all this does since to help them.
Diane,
Assisting special needs students is a delicate task. It is a good idea to brainstorm ideas with your school's ADA 504 coordinator, in order to determine the best course of action. In all cases, instructors should not "diagnose" if a student has special needs, instead they should find appropriate ways to get them to disclose that they are in need of assistance.
Tremayne Simpson
Diane,
Assisting special needs students is a delicate task. It is a good idea to brainstorm ideas with your school's ADA 504 coordinator, in order to determine the best course of action. In all cases, instructors should not "diagnose" if a student has special needs, instead they should find appropriate ways to get them to disclose that they are in need of assistance.
Tremayne Simpson
