Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Calabria College
Key Issues
Low Socio-Economic Status (below metropolitan average) Majority of families receive Government Benefits Identified as a highly multicultural area (over half of residents born overseas) including refugees. Language backgrounds include: Chinese, Cambodian, Sri Lankan, Somali No ESL support at school, option to attend community Language School for 6 months Special Education Needs Students (hearing impaired, sight and learning disabilities) are integrated in to mainstream
Identification
of Key Students
ROLE PLAY
Lucie: Teacher Marianne: Stella
Indigenous student who is reserved and quiet in class
Rohanna: Sam
A student with a hearing impairment
Francine: Amanda
A gifted and talented student
Understanding
Catering for Diversity in the classroom doesnt mean tolerating or rationalizing poor performance from certain groups on the basis that they are different because of their background or because of a belief that they are innately inferior.
Dinham, S, 2008, Diversity in Australian Education, Teaching and Learning and Leadership, Australian Council for Educational Research
From brain/mind research, we know that gifted individuals show some measurable biological differences, for example: There is, by means of an increase in neurological cell production, accelerated synaptic activity that allows for more accelerated thought processing (Thompson, Berger, and Berry, 1980). The neurons become biochemically richer, allowing for more complex patterns of thought (Rosenweig,1966: Krech, 1969).
Pretest
If score of 85% or higher
1. The student displayed that he or she has already mastered the content being presented. Excuse the student from daily assignments already mastered. 1.
2.
2.
3.
4.
Assign activities or skills sheets covering the materials missed on the pretest.
Provide, or have the students create (using the Bloom Alive Center), extended or accelerated materials or activities for the student to engage in while the rest of the class is learning the required material. When the unit is completed, repeat 1 -4. 5. 3.
4.
5.
Differentiate the
Content
Process Product
Learning environment
Difficulties you may face: Gifted students who have not experienced a differentiated curriculum previously may challenge the process with the its not fair that I have to do something that is different/harder/has higher expectations The same might apply to the rest of the students in the class
Questioning Techniques
Blooms Hierarchy to Vary the Processes
Analysis Separation of a whole into component parts What are the parts of features of _____? Classify _____ according to _____ Outline/diagram/web How does _____compare/contrast with _____ What evidence can you present for _____?
MDF is a process that allows students to demonstrate their capabilities in 10 20 minutes instead of a longer time period. Instead of doing 40 problems, they are able to show what they know by doing the most difficult ones.
So the teacher has time to help students who need more individual attention.
Adapted from Susan Winebrenner, Teaching Gifted Kids in the Regular Classroom
This is true of all students but especially important of students that identify as being of Indigenous background (Better classroom management, Gary Partington)
Students of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander background have been identified as having certain characteristics: View things from their own perspective and might not consider the effect their actions have on the rest of the class Many will be dealing with a number of problems outside of school which can effect their mood in the classroom They dont like teachers who shout or are unfair. They will either respond in kind or take offence They like to be helped when they cant do the work They tend to express themselves more physically than verbally They respond better to behaviour management if they are warned before action is taken against them for misbehaviour. When dealing with a behavioural issue, focus on the behaviour, not the child.
Helping Stella
The first step to helping Stella would be to find out the reason why she is not performing to the standard expected of her One reason could be due to her lack of understand of the content Based on this, the teacher can adapt the class work to suit Stella better One way could be by presenting it in a different way, such as visually or kinaesthetically
All students have a right to participate in educational programs. This means having the same educational opportunities and choices as mainstream students.
Supporting the needs of a diverse group of students requires a positive approach and good planning. Teaching a child with a disability may mean allowing more time to plan, collaborate and learn new skills..
Adapted from the Association for Children with a Disability, 2010, Students with Disabilities in Mainstream Classrooms.
- make use of available technology IWBs, Ipads, laptops. E.g.. in-class email
- write instructions on the board/display on projector, and face the student when speaking
You may need to learn and use new technologies to aid the students learning
Interdisciplinary Learning
Reasoning skills: Giving reasons for opinions and actions, to draw inferences and make deductions, to use precise language to explain what they think, and to make judgments/decisions informed by reasons or evidence.
Enquiry skills: Ability to ask relevant questions, pose and define problems, plan what to do and how to research, predict outcomes and anticipate consequences, and to test conclusions and improve ideas.
Creative thinking skills: Generate and extend ideas, suggest hypotheses, apply imagination, and to look for alternative innovative outcomes. Evaluation skills: Enables ability to evaluate information, judge the value of what they read, hear and do, develop criteria for judging the value of their own and others work or ideas, and to have confidence in their judgments.
CLASS TIME
Year 7/8 Team Teaching multi-domain class, covering Diversity in the Mainstream.
Two Activities for this afternoons class. Miss Yang will run an activity to show importance of respecting diversity. Miss Anderson will run a creative writing activity that uses the ideas of Diversity in the Mainstream.
Activity One
Connect the Dots
Directions: Connect all of the dots with four straight lines. Do not lift your pencil off the paper. Do not retrace any line. Lines may cross if necessary
Discussion:
Why is it that most of us did not think of going outside the boundaries to solve the problem?
Activity Two
Creative Writing Imagine you are a refugee from Africa and it is your first day at Calabria College today. You are to write a journal entry about your day. Remember to use emotive language (that we learnt last week) in your writing. If you finish before 20 minutes, you are to use your laptops or the class computers to research why refugees have to leave their country.
Reflection
While teachers try their best to provide inclusive classrooms sometimes they can end up encouraging marginalization
For example: The refugee scenario can divert the students attention to other students differences rather than similarities
Differentiating the curriculum is important for students with different needs than their peers but if not done discreetly this can also result in students being isolated from their peers
Reflection Continued
Differentiating the work also takes time and effort, putting some teachers off. Instead of every lesson being differentiated, use it once or twice a week Not all teachers have a strong background in knowing how to accommodate students with extra learning needs, making it difficult to know how to adapt the classroom for them
Resources
Creative Spirits, 2012, Teaching Aboriginal Students
Dinham, S, 2008, Diversity in Australian Education, Teaching and Learning and Leadership, Australian Council for Educational Research
Association for Children with a Disability, 2010, Students with Disabilities in Mainstream Classrooms.
Gary Partington, 2006, Department of Education and Training, Western Australia, Better Classroom management
Rupert Wegerif, 2002, School of Education, Open University, Literature Review in Thinking Skills, Technology and Learning