Many teachers complain that their students are all at different levels. But isn't that what you'd expect? We haven't started to make exact 'clones' of humans so, of course they are different!
But accepting that differences are natural doesn't solve your teaching problem. |
 |
You
have to change the way you teach. You have to recognise you
are teaching a group of different individuals not a single
student with 25 faces!
Students
are different in many ways. Some are quick, others are slow.
Some are confident, others are shy. Some like working with
friends, others are happier working alone.
So,
how can you teach all these different individuals?
First
of all, think about homework. Do you always give the same
homework task to all the students in the class? Why?
If all
the students have the same homework task, it will be too easy
for some students and too difficult for others. If the task
is too easy, the clever students don't learn anything. If
the task is too difficult, the weaker students don't learn
anything either.
So
give them different homework tasks - easier tasks for the
weaker students, more challenging tasks for the brighter students.
But doesn't
this make it very difficult to check and mark the homework?
Yes, it would until you discover the trick - create easier
or more challenging versions of the same task so, at the end,
all the students get the same result!
Remember
that True/False is easier than Multiple Choice and Multiple
Choice is easier than a 'wh' question. (Who? When? Where?
etc.).
Make the
task easier by giving more help. Give the weaker students
most of the answers but with some mistakes. Correct the first
few mistakes. Ask the students to correct the next few. Then
ask them to do the last few items without help. You can also
make the task easier by giving more worked examples.
Try to
set three levels of the same homework task – an easy
version, a more difficult version and the most difficult version.
Make the tasks more difficult by reducing the amount of help
you give.
With
three different versions of the same homework task, all the
students will benefit and all the students will learn.
But how
do you choose which student gets which version of the task?
Well, you can guess the level based on your knowledge of the
student. Another way is to let the students choose their level!
But
won't the students all choose the easiest task? That's what
you might expect, but try it out. You'll find that the students
will try to attempt the most difficult level.
If you
find some lazy students always choosing the level below their
ability, I'm sure you can persuade them to move up to their
appropriate level.
Once you've
solved the problem with different levels with homework, you
can start to work in a similar way during lessons.
If you
use these techniques, all the students in your class will
make good progress. They will not become equal in ability,
but they will all have made good progress. Can you ask for
more than that?
Back to top
|
