PLT Students as Diverse Learners
Legislation & Institutional responsibilities relating to exceptional students: Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
1990: civil rights legislation for persons with disabilities ensuring non-discrimination in a broad range of activities - provides protections in specific areas of employment, transportation, public accommodations, state & local government, & telecommunications.
Legislation & Institutional responsibilities relating to exceptional students: Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
1990: federal law requires that to receive funds under the act, school systems must provide a free, appropriate public education for 3 yrs - 21, regardless of severity of disability.
Differences in the ways students learn and perform: Learning styles
Environmental conditions in which a person is most likely to concentrate, internalize, and retain information & skills. - Often relates to categories such as environment, physical needs, & interactions w/others. Ex. Noise, degree of movement, kind of seating, mode of presentation, & working alone/w/partner.
Behavioral disorders: -What are the major types of challenges? - Major symptoms & range of severity -Related classroom and instructional issues
Factors include: biological disorders/diseases, pathological family relationships (parents need positive support resources), undesirable experiences at school (spiral of negative interactions), negative cultural influences (increase in level of violence, drug abuse, & changing social standards).
What does the research reveal about gender differences and how they might affect learning?
Gender preferences/approaches to learning: Girls - collaboration/discussion Boys- competition & moving about while learning
What is an example of the way cultural expectations from a particular geographical region or ethnic group might affect how students learn or express what they know?
Parental expectations vary among cultures i.e. Chinese parents have higher expectations for children, thus they push for academic perfection. This can in turn cause low self-esteem & degrading behavior towards students when parents become "too pushy" according to other parents & teachers.
Legislation & Institutional responsibilities relating to exceptional students: Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act
Prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in programs/activities that receive federal financial assistance. It does not provide funding for special education or related services, but it does permit fed gov to take funding away from programs that don't comply w/the law.
Legislation & Institutional responsibilities relating to exceptional students: IEP (Individual Education Program) -What by law must be included in each IEP?
Required by IDEA to be drawn up by educational team for exceptional students. Must include: statement of present educational performance, instructional goals, educational services to be provided, and criteria & procedures for determining that the instructional objectives are being met.
Legislation & Institutional responsibilities relating to exceptional students: Due Process
Required under IDEA that formal policies & procedures are implemented by schools & for children in special ed programs. Ensures that disabled students receive FAPE.
How student learning is influenced by individual experiences, talents, prior learning, language, culture, family, & community values: Linguistic patterns & differences
Students may not be taught appropriate means for communicating in school by their families - good to model the types of responses expected of them.
How student learning is influenced by individual experiences, talents, prior learning, language, culture, family, & community values: Age-appropriate knowledge & behavior
- Kids needing to be taught developmentally appropriate content & given such expectations
Propose a strategy for: improving performance of students in the case who do not perform well on homework, original compositions, or other assignments
-Designate a time where students can work in the classroom (maybe the homework environment does not match their learning style) -Model what is expected:give the instructions and the task being expected -Create checklists/Conferences -Provide writing prompts
Propose a strategy for: helping the students with ADHD in the cases to stay on task (i.e. in listening to a lecture, following a demonstration, doing written work).
-Divide the lesson up into chunks for shorter periods of focused attention. -Make goals/expectations clear along with an explanation/presentation of end result for students who have trouble focusing on the main task. -Provide guided practice to keep students actively engaged, provides positive reinforcement, and shifts within activities address the short attention span, task completion and short-term memory difficulties. -Provide closure to lessons to create support for students to make connections among the day's concepts.
How student learning is influenced by individual experiences, talents, prior learning, language, culture, family, & community values: Social & emotional issues
-ED students may have a lower than average IQ and may coincide w/other conditions i.e. ADHD or unrecognized LD. - Likely to have delinquent behavior -Behaviors can be internalizing/externalizing -Teachers must understand & deal with the students' perceptions about what getting a good education is likely to bring them in life.
Special physical or sensory challenges: -What are the major types of challenges? - Major symptoms & range of severity -Related classroom and instructional issues
-Inability to relate to others in an ordinary manner (communication skills & social interactions) -Extreme fear reactions to loud noises - Obsessive desire for repetition & maintenance of sameness -Repetitive physical movement i.e. spinning or perpetual rocking -Direct Instruction -Positive Behavioral Intervention & Support -Augmentative/alternative communication (no oral sounds of speech/augment the use of speech)
Visual and perceptual differences: -What are the major types of challenges? - Major symptoms & range of severity -Related classroom and instructional issues
-May have delays in motor skills (sitting up, crawling, & walking) -May score behind sighted peers, low achievement may be due to low expectations, lack of exposure to braille/ALT -Teachers should provide repetition in order to help develop their conceptual abilities -Read out loud what you're writing on the board, avoid the terms here/there (be descriptive)
Functional mental retardation: -What are the major types of challenges? - Major symptoms & range of severity -Related classroom and instructional issues
-May have problems in adaptive behavior not just intellectual functioning. -People w/intellectual disability can improve. -Problems may involve attention, memory, language, self-regulation, motivation and social development. -IQ tests assess intelligence. -Teaching should include systematic instruction: instructional prompts, consequences for performance, & strategies to transfer stimulus control.
Differences in the ways students learn and perform: performance modes: - Concrete Operational thinkers -Visual and Aural learners
-Mental operations, classifications, ordering objects by feature (i.e. height), counting in order from low to high, order/group single objects using 2 dimensions, mentally undo a physically performed action (reversibility) and conservation (physical objects remain constant in spite of changes in their shape/appearance). -Lean best when they can see graphs/notes, read from a text, draw pictures/outlines. -Learn best when they can listening to a lecture, can recall instructions when told verbally
How student learning is influenced by individual experiences, talents, prior learning, language, culture, family, & community values: Family Backgrounds
-SES -Family Size -Parenting Styles (authoritarian, permissive, authoritative)
ADD & ADHD: -What are the major types of challenges? - Major symptoms & range of severity -Related classroom and instructional issues
-Students may have difficulty delaying a response, waiting one's turn, recognizing inappropriate responses, or resisting distractions. -Struggle with the ability to regulate behavior via working memory, inner speech, controlling emotions/arousal levels (overreacting), and can be less flexible when faced w/problem situations and often respond w/the 1st thing that comes to mind. -Struggle w/time awareness & management -Struggle w/engaging in sustained goal directed activities
Legislation & Institutional responsibilities relating to exceptional students: - Inclusion - Mainstreaming - Least Restrictive Environment
-Students w/disabilities are not segregated - must show they are not losing out from being included in the classroom even w/out making significant gains (i.e. only needing to know name of own state/country & receiving 1-1 instruction w/para to accomplish goal). Curriculum may be rewritten for the student to pass even if not on level w/peers. -Student w/disabilities may benefit form being in a gen. ed classroom academically & socially. May have slight adjustments in how they are assessed, but learns mostly the same material and prove to be gaining from the placement. Ex. may need to know only the names of the states versus states & capitals. -Student is educated in the LRE consistent w/their educational needs & insofar as possible w/students without disabilities.
Approaches for accommodating various learning styles, intelligences, or exceptionalities including: - Differentiated Instruction - Alternative Assessments - Testing Modifications
-Variety of instructional strategies stimulates student interest from 1 unit to the next. -Portfolios that measure particular benchmarks or objectives: tasks are teacher-designed or modified. They can be unstructured or structured. -Rating scales: evaluate performance on a long list of skills based on classroom observation. -Give an oral exam, have exam written in larger print/braille etc., provide more time, give test in secluded enviornment ELL: testing should reduce language barriers that interfere with results.
Propose a strategy for: meeting the needs of a wide range of students (esp.those with learning difficulties & those who are accelerated).
-Work on individual level for them to understand their own strengths/weaknesses -Use ranges as options when assigning tasks -Options with learning styles: working alone/partner, work that is open-ended/structured, work with movement & some noise/still & quiet -Be aware of those who learn best by being told (deductively) & those by discovery (inductively). -Using both extrinsic/intrinsic motivation -Small groups -Assign targeted homework
Propose a strategy for: building positive relationships with a student the case shows is very turned off to school.
-try to understand what about school they like/dislike. Make a pros list (even lunch & recess!) -Offer meaningful choices -Provide relevance cues -Make content personal to them -Make learning fun: use a variety of tasks
Be able to ID and describe strengths/weaknesses in: 1. a lesson plan for meeting needs of individual students w/special needs in the case studies. 2. the interaction described in the case between the teacher & students in terms of culturally responsive teaching
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Give a specific example from your own classroom experience of the effects of differences in learning styles on how people understand and express what they know.
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Propose a strategy for: adapting instruction/assessment for an individual student w/identified needs in the case.
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Propose a strategy for: helping the student in the case see issues from different points of view.
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The process of 2nd language acquisition, and strategies to support the learning of ELL
1. Emphasize use of their native language: English taught as separate subject and later makes transition to instruction in English in all other subjects once adequate fluency is displayed. 2. Offer content-area instruction in English from the beginning but at a "sheltered" level/constantly modified to make sure student understands it. This helps the student learn English while learning academic subjects as well.
Differences in the ways students learn and perform: Gender Differences
Boys: -More hyperactive & behavior problems -More referrals for reading disabilities (teachers may need to focus more on them with reading skills) -Raise their hands more? Girls: -Higher scores in classroom grades in math -Girls w/out math help at home suffer more than boys
Propose a strategy for: helping ELL students in the case to build literacy skills and improve in academic areas.
Comprehensive interventions including: explicit instruction in phonemic awareness, alphabetic principle, fluency, vocabulary & comprehension).
How student learning is influenced by individual experiences, talents, prior learning, language, culture, family, & community values: Cognitive patterns & differences
Different cultures may have different ways of solving problems: if they don't do it in the analytical & verbal styles the schools require, enable the students to show in other ways what they know: creative (write stories, plays, skits, songs etc.) or meaningful/practical (planning a small park cleanup project, staring a mock business, or mentoring younger students etc.)
Learning Disabilities: -What are the major types of challenges? - Major symptoms & range of severity -Related classroom and instructional issues
Disorders relating to difficulties in the acquisition of & use of listening, speaking, reading, writing, reasoning, or mathematical abilities. -Issues w/decoding (phonological & phonemic awareness), fluency, & comprehension -May exhibit visual/auditory disabilities -May exhibit difficulty w/physical activities w/motor skills -Attention/Hyperactivity disorders -Memory deficits -Metacognition problems -Social-emotional problems -Motivational problems -"inactive learner w/strategy deficits"
Differences in the ways students learn and perform: Cultural expectations and styles
Modify instruction to capitalize on students' culturally rehearsed favored methods of learning.
Legislation & Institutional responsibilities relating to exceptional students: Family Involvement
NCLB requires parental involvement as assisting in child's learning, being actively involved in their education at school, being included in decision making & on advisory committees in their school. Families must also be involved in the IEP.
How student learning is influenced by individual experiences, talents, prior learning, language, culture, family, & community values: Multicultural backgrounds
Students who don't do as well often come from cultural groups with values that differ from the values stressed in school: US/Western European schools stress punctuality, future planning, solitary work, competition, & emphasis on the individual but Latin American schools tend to be less rigid, more team oriented, collaborative, noncompetitive & present oriented.
How student learning is influenced by individual experiences, talents, prior learning, language, culture, family, & community values: The student culture at the school
Temperament & social competence can interact w/the behaviors of classmates & teachers in contributing to emotional/behavioral problems.
Developmental Delays: -What are the major types of challenges? - Major symptoms & range of severity -Related classroom and instructional issues
Term encompasses variety of disabilities of infants or young children indicating they they are significantly behind the norm for development in one or more areas such as motor, cognitive, or language development.
Differences in the ways students learn and perform: Multiple intelligences
Verbal/Linguistic: Just Say it! Logical/Mathematical: Plot you course! Visual/Spatial:Picture in your mind! Rhythmic/Musical: Get with the beat! Bodily/Kinesthetic: Interpersonal: Together is better! Intrapersonal: Looking back, looking ahead! Naturalist: Mother Nature Knows!
