Learning Blog #6

Some good strategies to ensure that you are listening to your students are using exit cards, check-ins, and course evaluation. Exit cards should be short and concise, students shouldn’t have to spend a long time filling them out and they should have the option of being anonymous. Using the exit strategy at least once a week could help you keep track of where your students are at in their learning. The second strategy, check-ins, should be done daily. It is a good idea to do a quick red, yellow, green light or scale of 1 to 5 check-in at the beginning of each class so that you can adjust your plan if need be. For example, if the majority of your class is at a red/yellow, 1, or 2, then you might want to give them a chance to take a short break to collect themselves. On the other hand, if everyone is at a 3+ or green then you know you are ready to get into the lesson. The third strategy is to make a course evaluation sheet. However, this strategy is more helpful for he teacher than the students. That being said, this will help the teacher improve the course for following years.

One student I have been working with at CSL speaks very minimal English. My strategy when communicating with her is to demonstrate and use signals to help her understand what I am trying to say. I have notice that she tends to disengage easily since she does not always know what is going on. On the other hand, when I put in the effort to work with her one-on-one she is extremely engaged and is an awesome participant. Ideally, I should try to learn at least a few key words in her mother tongue to help her feel more involved. This is a strategy my AT uses very successfully with another student. She has a list of key words written down in her binder in English with their Greek translation beside them. This student responds with great enthusiasm whenever he hears us speaking to him in his language.

Constantly expanding our knowledge and broadening our scope of practice is necessary in the teaching profession. Differentiating based on the individual students’ needs helps to strengthen the bond with your students and, inevitably, helps them to succeed.