How do you deal with different levels of students in the class?

Question

I am currently going to school to become an elementary teacher. The class I am taking right now is how to teach grammar/writing to students. I have to write a final paper for the class and it has to help answer a question that other teachers might have. the question that i came up with, which is something that I've been wondering myself is, how does a teacher deal with students who are advanced and students who are behind in learning? Any teachers out there, I would greatly appreciate some help on this one! Thanks!

Answer 1

It's called differentiation...you have to work with each child with the level they are at.  You modify and adapt their work and try different groupings for their levels.

Answer 2

All of my writing is done on an individual basis. They all have the same topics, but I do individual writing conferences. Also, when I grade them I put them into different groups and grade them differently.

Answer 3

Classify students into differrent groups depending on levels of learning. Frame questions / topics /contents to be learnt at each level in order to encourage further /stage wise /level wise improvement. The questions  should be from easier level to next higher level difficulty in a test. The programmed learning will be easiest approach.

Answer 4

let those students who are "advanced" continue progressing by themselves, so you can focus MORE on those who are behind.

its simple as that.

Answer 5

As bandit said the 'workshop' model is a great way to teach students as they are all at different levels in their abilities and knowledge.  Another way is through differentiated instruction.  I would suggest you google writing workshop and/or differentiated instruction so that you get an idea of how you might implement both in the classroo.

Answer 6

You'll teach them via the "Workshop" model.

1. Mini-lesson

2. Guided Practice

3. Independent Practice

4. Conferring on Writing w/ individual writers(It's is during the conference that you will 'teach' small points that are tailored to where a student is and push him/her to the next level.  This will help advanced as well as struggling learners.)

good luck

Answer 7

The advanced students can work more independently (if they don't have other problems that prevent that).  You could have a very bright student who cannot stay on task.  So, you would have find out more about that student to pique his or her interest in the topics.  

Students who struggle with learning need more support.  So, if I'm teaching guided reading to a group like that, I will always take them on a "picture walk" through the reading selection.   And I choose short early literacy books that have a lot of picture support and no more than 4 lines of text. Talking about the pictures and making inferences about what is happening are both good ways to get the student think about the meaning of the text, and that is your ultimate goal (comprehension).  Then I may do "echo" reading.  I read a line; they read a line.  Or we may read the passage altogether.  If I have a non-English speaker in the group, I pair that child with a bilingual child who can interpret.   Do not try to cover the same amount of text with every group. With the struggling readers, we read the same story every day for a week.  By the end of the week, they understand and can read it alone.   I also keep that book and have them reread on Monday of the next week before I introduce a new book.  They can keep the books in their cubbies to read later.

A more advanced group might do their own picture walk and generate questions about the text that can be answered by reading.  You can have them read aloud or read silently.  The Four Blocks method of teaching guided reading has some wonderful strategies.  Type "Four Blocks" into your search box and you'll get lots of help.

In any classroom, whether the children are intellectually in the same classification or not, you have a variety of students.  For example, some students learn mostly by listening (auditory), some by seeing (visual) and other by moving (kinesthetic).   These are called modalities.  That means you need to provide them with learning materials/activities that incorporate these modalities.  Type "learning styles" or "learning modalities" into your search box, and you can read more about this.  You should be getting instruction on modalities in your course work.

One of your answerers gave you the direct instruction model to use.  That is a deductive approach.  Some children learn inductively. You need to provide both of these approaches.  But even then use the different modalities.  A form of inductive instruction is called Concept Attainment.  It's very simple and lots of fun.

When I set up learning centers, I use a variety of tools to help students learn.  I have a math center (with math games/activities), a listening center (tape recorder and books, but also paper for drawing.   Students are asked to draw their favorite part, or 3 pictures showing beginning, middle and ending), a writing center with all kinds of tools including different types of paper and blank books.

If students want to build something in blocks, they can show it to the class later if they can find the word that tells what it is in a simple word book I put there.  I have a language master center, an art center, supervised by a paraprofessional.

I wish I could write more, but this is getting long.  Make sure your day has variety also.   There should be activities where students may talk and others where they must be quiet, activities where they move and activities where they are still and listening.    

Good luck.  Hope this helped!