It is not always easy for new teachers to know how to engage struggling students. The instructional goals for these students are to help them learn at a pace they can achieve.Teachers can set the stage for successful instruction by learning the areas that students can and can't do. By targeting instruction, they can determine the best way to help students meet those new instructional goals.
Differentiating Between Instructional Goals and Objectives
Teachers need to account for instructional goals and objectives in their teaching. The main difference between instructional goals and objectives is that goals state the desired result or achievement. An instructional goal identifies what students should learn. Objectives specify the learning environment, background knowledge, instructional material, and other tools students will need to have in order to demonstrate specific knowledge or perform a particular task. Teachers need to consider what methods they will use to help their struggling students attain instructional goals.
Identifying Areas of Learning Difficulty
Once teachers identify significant areas in which students struggle and significant areas of at-risk learning, they can create targeted instructional goals and objectives. These specific goals will guide classroom learning and assessment that reflect learner independent and growth. According to Starkman, "when anyone is trying to learn, feedback about the effort has three elements: recognition of the desired goal, evidence about present position, and some understanding of a way to close the gap between the two" (Starkman, 2006).
Meeting the Diverse Needs of Struggling Students
The focus today is on the best methods to use in self-sufficient literacy classrooms. Teachers will also want to consider how they can meet the needs of diverse learning populations. They might collaborate and share instructional strategies, reflections, and observations. The materials and activities will be on the same subject matter and include some of the same curriculum goals as regular classroom instruction. However, these instructional goals will be geared to potentially at-risk and/or struggling students. Teachers can also collaborate to prepare special activities and materials for such students.
Use Differentiated Instruction to Target Goals and Objectives
Differentiation occurs when teachers focus on the diverse needs of their students and group them accordingly. It also occurs when they vary their instructional strategies and methods to maintain student interest and meet their needs.
Teachers can use differentiated instruction to modify their teaching. They want to successfully engage specific groups within a whole class framework who are not making strides in their learning. In these cases, teachers will need to target instruction to meet the needs of other students who struggle more. Teachers look for ways to differentiate instruction within extremely tight time and curriculum constraints. They are also concerned that students won't be off-task during period of instruction.
Teachers are still discovering how to adjust instruction to meet the needs of their struggling students. They can draw upon their instructional goals, experiences and contexts that are applicable to teaching and supporting their struggling students.
Works Cited
Starkman, Neal. (2006). "Formative Assessment: Building a Better Student," T.H.E. Journal, 9.
Dorit Sasson - Hello! I'm an ESL instructor, teacher diversity coach and writer for the educational markets who writes on English language learners ...
