Helping Diverse Learners Succeed in Today’s Classrooms

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Helping Diverse Learners Succeed in Today’s Classrooms

ED 1010

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Why learn about student development now?

Help you decide if teaching is for youIf it is, understanding student development will help you to know at what level you should teach.Understanding of students will increase your ability to adapt your instruction

Cognitive DevelopmentChanges in students’ thinking as they grow and acquire experiences

Young children- dominated by perceptionsWith maturity thinking becomes logical and systematic

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Moral DevelopmentExternal morality

Preconventional ethicsConventional ethics

Autonomous moralityPostconventional ethics

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Personal & Social DevelopmentPersonal Development- changes in our personalities and our ability to manage feelings, behavior

Influences interactions with physical and social environment

Social Development- changes in time as to the ways we relate to others

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Influences on Personal & Social Development

Parents and other adultsParenting styles

AuthoritativeAuthoritarianPermissiveUninvolved

Peers6

Learner DevelopmentElementary

Concrete experiencesRules and proceduresPractice perspective taking & social problem solving

Middle SchoolStill concrete experiencesFirm but empathetic teachers

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Promotion of student responsibility is criticalPeer group is extremely important at this age

High SchoolPersonal responsibility is a necessityReal life applications, valuableDiscussions, small-group work, focused writingAbstract thinking depends on prior knowledge

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What is Intelligence?Traditionally thought of as the ability to

acquire and use knowledge, solve problems, and reason abstractly

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Ability Differences

Average

68% Above Average

13.5%

Below Average

13.5%

Gifted 2%Intellectually Disabled 2%

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Multiple IntelligencesGardner’s theory:

Suggests that intelligence is not unitary but multidimensionalSuggests that classrooms should attempt to develop different kinds of intelligenceWhile accepted by teachers, is controversial because of a lack of a firm research base

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Gardner’s Multiple IntelligenceLinguistic intelligence: a sensitivity to the meaning and order of words. Logical-mathematical intelligence: ability in mathematics and other complex logical systems. Musical intelligence: the ability to understand and create music. Musicians, composers and dancers show a heightened musical intelligence. Spatial intelligence: the ability to "think in pictures," to perceive the visual world accurately, and recreate (or alter) it in the mind or on paper. Spatial intelligence is highly developed in artists, architects, designers and sculptors.

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Multiple Intelligences continuedBodily-kinesthetic intelligence: the ability to use one's body in a skilled way, for self-expression or toward a goal. Mimes, dancers, basketball players, and actors are among those who display bodily-kinesthetic intelligence. Interpersonal intelligence: an ability to perceive and understand other individuals -- their moods, desires, and motivations. Political and religious leaders, skilled parents and teachers, and therapists use this intelligence. Intrapersonal intelligence: an understanding of one's own emotions. Some novelists and or counselors use their own experience to guide others. Naturalist intelligence: an ability to recognize similarities and differences in the natural world

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Responses to Differences in AbilityAbility Grouping

Places students of similar aptitude and achievement together for instructionBetween-class ability grouping divides students for all subjects.Within-class ability grouping divides students only in certain subjects, such as math and reading.

TrackingAt the secondary level, divides students across the curriculum.

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Learning StylesDescribes students’ personal approaches to learningPopular with educators, viewed skeptically by researchers, and difficult to implement

Implications for teachersVary the way you teachIncreases your sensitivity to differences in your studentsEncourage students to think metacognitively- become aware of how they learn most effectively

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Students with ExceptionalitiesIndividuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)

Passed in 1975Guarantees a free, appropriate, public education (FAPE) for all students with exceptionalities

Mainstreaming: moves students from segregated settings into the regular classroom

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Students with Exceptionalities (continued)Inclusion: more recent and more comprehensive approach, advocates a total, systematic, and coordinated school-wide system of servicesLeast restrictive environment (LRE): places students in as normal an education setting as possibleIndividualized Education Program (IEP): individually prescribed instructional plan created and implemented by multiple stakeholders

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Categories of Disabilities under IDEASpecific learning disabilityCommunication disorderIntellectual disabilityEmotional (behavioral) disturbanceOther health impairedAutism

Multiple disabilitiesHearing impairmentOrthopedic impairmentDevelopmental delayVisual impairmentTraumatic brain injuryDeaf-blindness

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Students who are Gifted and Talented

Students who are at the upper end of the ability continuum who need special services to reach their full potential.

Controversy about Gifted and Talented programs in the era of NCLB

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Exceptionalities: Implications for Teachers

Collaboration: working with other educational professionals to create an optimal learning environment for students with exceptionalitiesYour role:

Aid in identification processCollaborate on IEPsAdapt instructionMaintain communication