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?
Hi Desiree,
There are several issues that revolve around helping students be successful when they are missing some of the basic skills needed for the course. The first is to have better pretesting to help with placement. Many colleges pretest students and then place them according to their knowledge/ability levels.
Another part is to provide instructional supports that help the students acquire the information. These instructional supports can be additional handouts, study guides, Venn diagrams, graphic organizers, and structured outlines. All of these help the students to focus on exactly what they need to work on to develop their skills so they can continue to progress in the course.
Gary
Hi Christine,
The Venn Diagram is made up of two or more overlapping circles. It is often used in mathematics to show relationships between sets. In technical instruction, Venn Diagrams are useful for examining similarities and differences in applications, techniques, and skills.
They can used as a pre-writing activity to enable students to organize thoughts or textual questions prior to writing an explanation or essay on a procedure. This activity enables students to organize similarities and differences visually.
Gary
This is a big problem in our institution. We have many students who do not seem to have evr experienced having to really apply themselves. By this I mean we have students who have been told that something would be difficult, but then found that they were able to get by without very much effort.
Our program actually is very challenging and some of these students are angered by the fact that the material requires effort on their part. I believe that they actually do not have the basic understanding of what it means to "work hard." Similarly they lack resiliency. A cold, a minor car accident, an argument with a spouse or boyfriend, or even rain are, in their minds, legitimate reasons for missing days of classes.
Of course other students are lacking in basic academic skills such as being able to identify the parts of a sentence. On the one hand they find covering such simple material to be boring, but on the other hand they need to master it.
I certainly feel your frustration. It's incredibly difficult to be at a point where you can't teach your curriculum because you're have having to back up and regroup, teaching basic skills before you can move on. At first, I really let it get to me, but now I've had to come to terms with looking at their work for the content only. As long as they are grasping the concepts I have laid out for them, I will let them resolve their other issues when they get to the basic math and english classes.
I can certainly feel you pain on this one. I teach automotive courses in which most require basic math skills, some require a little more than others depending on the course. I have some classes where half of the students can’t add or subtract basic decimals or fractions or can even cross the two together for some of the geometry needed for basic frame measuring and when I start talking about degrees and minute it throw them even further off track. I usually spend one third of the time out in lab showing small groups how to read a protractor or even a tape measure before I can demonstrate a lab technique or alignment of a vehicle. I have been told by some people that it is in part to a lot of the Industrial arts classes being taken out of our high schools. Does anyone have any ideas on this issue?
When i have a student that comes with an absence of a basic skill, i usually take the time out to help them with such things.
I had a student that needed help with a resume and i helped her by giving her sample resumes and required things that are vital for a resume.
You are singing my song! Many of our younger students lack the requisite skills necessary to master the skill they have chosen to pursue. Because we do not have any type of qualification exam for our school - only a high school diploma - it's very frustrating to backtrack and teach things students should have already mastered.
It's true that even the most minor roadblocks allow them an excuse to miss class, which puts them even further behind. When they find out that our course requires more effort than expected, they want to leave school and move on to something else. Many of them appear to be looking for the easy way.
Do other career colleges allow qualification exams, or is that too restricting?
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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
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.
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.
