Accommodating Differences - Essay Example

?Accommodating Differences Individuals within a room differ in a variety of ways. They may differ according to gender, socioeconomic background,ethnicity, religion, academic or sporting ability and even political disposition. This paper addresses one of these groupings - the issue of varying abilities within a classroom. Thompson in her “Summary of research” suggests that “there are different classes or different groups within classes for students of high, average, and low ability” (Para 2). Thus, some individuals within a class may be slow learners, some may be of average ability and some may be high-performers or gifted individuals. In particular, the paper focuses on the characteristics, challenges, opportunities and pedagogical approaches which may be experienced by students with varying abilities within a classroom. In a class with these different groups the slow learners may not have the required cognitive skills that are needed to perform simple task. In fact their cognitive level may be below the chronological grade for the specific learning behavior. In addition, such learners may take a longer time to grasp the basic skills that are needed to perform at an acceptable level. Whilst these elements may be true of the slow learner, this in no way defines who they are and their capacity to learn and achieve acceptable goals. The second ability level, the average learners are those who are normal in the sense that they are able to learn within their chronological grade level. Given a classroom of students, average learners are those who are able to grasp the concepts through the general methods adapted by the general educator. On the other end of the extreme are the high achievers who are able to cognitively grasp concepts at a rate that is exceptionally faster than the normal child’s ability to understand. Some special challenges that an educator may have to overcome to accommodate a group of students with mixed ability include the challenge of delivering one’s lesson to allow each individual to understand the intended objective. Because some students are slow to grasp they may be unable to grasp abstract concepts that the teacher is required to deliver. The teacher then is challenged to bring these abstract concepts to the level of all the students. At the same time that the teacher is trying to convey the lesson to the slow learners the teacher has to present some challenge to all the learners, thus simplifying an abstract concept for the benefit of the slow learner may cause challenges for the high performer. For example, lack of challenging activities may result in boredom and subsequently inappropriate behaviors by the high achievers if they are constantly kept back due to the teacher’s inability to communicate the lesson to them whilst simultaneously catering to the needs of the slow learner or the average learner. Special learning opportunities which may be offered by the presence of mixed abilities within a class include for the slow learner the opportunity to be motivated by the presence and the assistance of the high performers. Likewise, it is claimed that the more you teach the more you are able to understand the concepts (Thompson, n.d.). Thus, the high achiever is able to concretize what is taught by assisting the slow learner to grasp concepts that may be difficult for the slow learner or the average learner. One way in which an educator can accommodate each difference in a mixed ability group would be to incorporate the use of different resources within a lesson. For example, in a Mathematics lesson which involves the teaching of how to solve word problems. A teacher may begin such a lesson by utilizing dramatization to allow pupils to actually see the problems unfold before their eyes. The use of manipulatives in the drama is particularly instrumental in bringing understanding to the slow learners. Although this dramatization is to meet the needs of the slow learners, the average as well as the high achievers would enjoy the drama activity. All students can engage in the dramatization. A second strategy which may be used after the dramatization would be to allow the students to use drawings. Again, the drawings would add enjoyment to each member of the group but it would directly assist both the slow learners and the average learners because they are able to understand complex concepts that are broken down into manageable pieces. Thus far, only two types of learners are directly benefitting from the strategies adopted by the teacher. There is still the need to challenge the high achiever who would already have grasped the concept from the initial dramatization. Therefore, the teacher may cater for the needs of these high achievers in the final part of the lesson. At this point the teacher may ask students to attempt to solve the worded problem on their own utilizing any strategy that they choose. It is at this point that the slow learners may use the drama or the drawing, the average learner may use the drawings and the high achiever would abstractly solve the word problem. This situation could cause a problem if the teacher is not prepared for the different levels of learning within the classroom. Therefore, the teacher would need to be creative because whilst the slow learner may take 15 minutes to solve one problem and the average may take seven minutes, the high achiever may complete within two minutes. It is therefore imperative that the teacher has a number of examples or other problems for the high performer to solve. In addition, the evaluation for such a lesson should also incorporate the use of challenge for each difference. Thus, whereas the slow learner may be given one or two problems and the average learner may be given three, the high achiever could complete more than five within the time allotted for evaluation. Similarly, the educator may accommodate each difference in a class of mixed ability students by forming teams within the classroom which consist of perhaps two slow learners, two average learners and one high achiever. The teams can be divided differently depending on the particular task and the number of different learners that are assigned to each group. The teacher may assign particular task to these teams such as the completion of a project which requires presentation to the class. The teacher would assist the groups in assigning particular task to each group member. Therefore the slow learner may be the leader whose responsibility it is to direct the operating of the team. The second slow learner may be the presenter because all the hard work would have been done by the team and therefore the presentation simple requires the student to use the material that would have been created and practiced by the team prior to the presentation. The average learner and the high achievers may be responsible for researching the more challenging aspects of the project so although the slow learners would be required to do a certain level of researcher, the bulk of the research would be in the hands of these the average and high performers. Considering the plethora of differences represented within a classroom, a teacher is inundated with a variety of challenges. For effective teaching and learning to occur it is necessary for the teacher to not only understanding these differences, but also to be creative and flexible in formulating strategies to ensure that individual needs are met. Clearly, it is possible to accommodate these differences, the teacher as the facilitator of learning must use these individual differences to bring harmony to the teaching and learning experiences of all students within the class. References Thompson. L. (n.d.). Grouping students for instruction: A summary of the research. Retrieved from http://www.saskschoolboards.ca/old/ResearchAndDevelopment/ResearchReports/Instruction/93-02.htm Read More