Works With Students as Individuals
Teaching isn't about teaching 5-6 classes a day. It's about teaching 5-6 groups of 30 or so individuals every day. What interests, challenges, and engages one student sometimes doesn't reach others in the classroom. That is why it's important for effective educators to deal with students as individual people, with a variety of skills and needs. This means, not only accommodating lessons based on students' strengths and weaknesses, but also helping students understand how the work we do today in school will benefit them in their futures, clearly communicating class goals to each and every student, and manipulating the class curriculum in a way that allows everyone to succeed without sacrificing excellence.
To that end, I've developed a variety of strategies for treating each class as a collection of individuals. Below you'll find examples of how I've done this successfully throughout my teaching experience.
To that end, I've developed a variety of strategies for treating each class as a collection of individuals. Below you'll find examples of how I've done this successfully throughout my teaching experience.
Effective Instruction Practice for ELLs
My teaching minor is Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), but it's also known as English as a Second Language (ESL). From my experience in working with English Language Learners (ELLs) and from the theory and reflection that's taken place during my studies at MSU, I've compiled a list of strategies that work in the face of the challenges of effectively teaching these students. Here's a link to that document: Effective ESL Instruction.
Grid of Accommodations
The Special Needs Inlusion Project (SNIP, check out there website here) put out a grid of nine types of accommodation that I've used to inform my practice. These accommodations don't just apply to students that have been diagnosed or labeled as special needs. I've used accommodations like this in a wide range of scenarios. I've found this to be incredibly effective, but it's important not to make accommodations for students that are trying to game the system. As a teacher, you want to maintain rigor, but at the same time students need to know you're willing to work with them and acknowledge that sometimes outside circumstances get in the way of academics.
I actually wrote an entry in my blog about accommodations and when to use them and when to refrain, so if you'd like to read more, check it out here.
I actually wrote an entry in my blog about accommodations and when to use them and when to refrain, so if you'd like to read more, check it out here.
"Dill" Case Study
For one of my graduate level courses at MSU, we were asked to focus on one student whose behavior isn’t what you’d like it to be and develop, execute, and reflect on a plan of action to improve the student’s performance in your class.
I chose a student that we'll call "Dill". Dill was very resistant to participating in English class, and I'd had my eye on him all year. He wasn't rude or disruptive, but would quietly try to blend into the background. He seemed content to float through class, turning in work when it suited him and other times sitting quietly and not engaging with the class material.
To change this behavior, I'd tried a whole slew of options: I celebrated success with him, I tried to cash in on his outside interests, I explained various rationales for why these skills were important, and I moved him closer to the front of the room so he wasn't able to hide as easily.
Over the course of the year, it's remains unclear what's had an impact on him. He did start dating another 8th grader, and right around then he started turning in more assignments, and even speaking up in class more. Whether or not that is the reason for his change in behavior, I'm working with it. I have and will continue to push students to do their best work, and though the results of my reflections on Dill are unclear, something seems to have worked. To read more about my reflections on working with this one individual student, you can see the full case study here (/uploads/9/5/4/6/9546108/dill_case_study.docx) but I'd like to think that this is representative of the effort I expend towards all of my student, even if I don't write up full documentation for each one.
I chose a student that we'll call "Dill". Dill was very resistant to participating in English class, and I'd had my eye on him all year. He wasn't rude or disruptive, but would quietly try to blend into the background. He seemed content to float through class, turning in work when it suited him and other times sitting quietly and not engaging with the class material.
To change this behavior, I'd tried a whole slew of options: I celebrated success with him, I tried to cash in on his outside interests, I explained various rationales for why these skills were important, and I moved him closer to the front of the room so he wasn't able to hide as easily.
Over the course of the year, it's remains unclear what's had an impact on him. He did start dating another 8th grader, and right around then he started turning in more assignments, and even speaking up in class more. Whether or not that is the reason for his change in behavior, I'm working with it. I have and will continue to push students to do their best work, and though the results of my reflections on Dill are unclear, something seems to have worked. To read more about my reflections on working with this one individual student, you can see the full case study here (/uploads/9/5/4/6/9546108/dill_case_study.docx) but I'd like to think that this is representative of the effort I expend towards all of my student, even if I don't write up full documentation for each one.