Meeting All Student Needs

I am in my third year of teaching and every year I have a different set of learners. I have students that learn better by taking notes, students that learn better by just being exposed to the problem being modelled, and those that require many different opportunities for practice and references. In meeting all these needs, quite the challenge is posed because you must alter each lesson in many ways so that everyone in the room can benefit. Engagement must be high, and everyone must be able to learn.

In trying to meet the needs of my students, I have taken many approaches. I have created poster size anchor charts, with the step by step processes of different things we are working on in class, as well as individual hand outs for those to keep. I have also tried supplying videos during class instruction and for students to have access to who may need extra help. Using different platforms like GeoGebra and Desmos, have also been able to help my students, so I do try to offer practice on those sites.

Moving forward with my career, I do want to try and provide as many students as possible with as many resources and opportunities to learn as possible. I am so used to learning through lecture because that is how my classes were structured in all my years of schooling. With this generation, lecture is as engaging to them. Because I have a variety of learners in one class, I cannot just lecture and expect all students to grasp the knowledge. I want to try and incorporate more exploratory lessons, so give students the chance to learn on their own and be more responsible for their own learning, which is a skill they will need for higher education. They need to be able to learn from an instructor but also on their own time. I want to be more engaging by having more relatable lessons too. I know I learn better through experience and it seems that a lot of my students benefit from it as well, so I want to have more hands-on lessons where students can physical apply the knowledge to something real world. I think that if I pay more attention to the community I teach, I can find things that interest all students and engage them more.

I have to remember while doing all of this that everyone learns differently. I cannot just teach one way or have one type of practice and expect all students to understand the concept. I need to make sure that I have multiple outlets for each student to give them the highest probability for success. Each student has to be given an equal opportunity to learn and so whatever I can find to help them learn better, I will.