One of the biggest struggles that many teachers have is coming to terms with the fact that each of their students is an individual, with individual needs, talents, and struggles. Having to teach a set of lessons to a class with such disparate talents can be extremely difficult, since setting a pace for classroom learning feels all but impossible. This is especially true when you have students whose abilities far exceed their age and grade level, coupled with a few students who may have a learning disability. Here are a few tips that may help:
1. Get to know each one of your students as well as possible.
The best way to be able to teach a class effectively is not to simply acknowledge each student’s individuality, but to do your best to discover what this individuality entails. Getting to know your students, especially in the first few days of class, will give you a better insight into how they learn, what struggles they may face, and what their interests are.
2. If a stellar student seems bored, work with her on more advanced concepts outside of class.
Perhaps the biggest tragedy of putting a diverse group of students in one room is that those at the top and those at the bottom will suffer. The very smart students will often feel bored and frustrated, which can affect their overall motivation. One way to tackle this problem is to offer to work with your student on some sort of project that extends beyond class. For example, if you teach an English class, consider assigning this student a more advanced novel, and have her write short reports on it as she reads.
3. Don’t assume a student is dumb just because she doesn’t understand a concept immediately.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, there may be student in your class who has great difficulty with almost everything you teach in your class. If you suspect this student may have a serious learning disability, work with parents and administrators so that this student gets appropriate help from medical professionals. Most schools have separate classes for the learning disabled, where they can be taught by special education teachers who have been trained to handle different learning disabilities. If, on the other hand, you have a student who is simply slower than other students, offer as much extra help as you can. Don’t assume this student is merely “dumb”—it’s very possible that this student just learns differently from most other students. Try different explaining a new concept using different approaches until your student becomes more receptive.
4. Emphasize effort over intelligence.
Believe it or not, there are definite drawbacks when you praise students for their intelligence. As this Education World article explains, when smart students are praised for their intelligence instead of their effort, they desire more greatly to seem smart instead of working hard. This causes many students to give up in the face of failure. On the other hand, if you place a greater emphasis on effort, students will view working hard as the key to success.
And although students have varying levels of intelligence, all students can put in hard work if encouraged appropriately, regardless of the results.