Hey everyone, I’m hoping you all will be so kind as to answer a question for me. At the moment I can't reveal my motivations behind asking the question, to prevent the corrupting influence of the infamous Hawthorne Effect, but please, if you will, be as frank as you can in your response. If you can, or feel like it, explain your answer in at least 3 sentences, that would be fantastic. But then again, who the hell do I think I am, telling you what to do? But seriously, the longer your is answer is, the better. Anyways, without any further rambling… the question. Two students are sitting in a classroom. The students are exactly the same in every way except one, education. One student is markedly further in his education than the other. The other child does not suffer from any handicaps or learning disabilities, he is essentially as intelligent as the other child, just further behind in terms of where he is academically. Both children must be taught simultaneously and must be presented with the same exact lesson plan. What would you do if you were the teacher?
Is the lesson plan already established? You only said that it has to be identical for both students. Does the teacher get to choose what lesson plan that is or is there perhaps a state entity that is issuing the lesson plan? If I, as the teacher, got to decide... I would dumb the lesson plan down to where it is challenging for the less educated person and let the person farther along coast until they were both on the same level. Otherwise, I might tutor the less advanced student to get them where they need to be. If all else fails, I would feed one of them to a ravenous, mutated wildebeest.
Thanks for responding. Now to clarify a few things. As the teacher you have full autonomy over the lesson plan and for whatever reason, neither student can receive special attention or on the side tutoring. They must be taught simultaneously.
The teacher should make no differences in the way in which he/she teaches the two students. As you say, they 'must' be presented with the same lesson plan. However, outside of class, it would do no harm for the teacher to engage with the student who is a bit behind; that teacher could perhaps put forward some suggested reading for the student where, if he/she wants, they can catch up in their spare time. The teacher could offer some guidance, maybe even lend them a book to read, but it really is no fault of the teacher for the situation which presents itself. They can only do their best within the class time, and do a few bits here and there outside of it. They have the whole class to think about, after all.
I would assume the lesson plan be geared to where the class as a whole should be academically. Those further ahead get to coast, those further behind have to sweat a bit. Not entirely fair, but that's life.
Are there only these two children in the class, or are they 2 of many more? How old are the children? I would teach whatever it was I had planned to teach. Given that the less-educated student has no learning or intellectual disability, I would expect him to rise to the level of the other student, and to ask questions accordingly. If I had to pick whether to specifically gear the class to the more educated or less educated, I would gear it to the more educated, providing the impetus for the less educated to rectify gaps in knowledge. If it's a new subject to both students, the relevant gaps really should not be that large.
There's so many more factors that come into play (I am studying to become a teacher). Perhaps academics are more highly valued in the family of the first student that has affected how he or she was raised and how they view school. Perhaps is just a subject thing. I COULD have gotten straight A's in math in school. I am intelligent enough person. However, I didn't really care to. So, as a teacher, I would try to engage this second student with a different approach. The idea that these students would be taught in the same way is entirely unrealistic. We're humans, not robots! I, for instance, do REALLY well in classes that are lecture and discussion, while some of my friends do much better with group work or more structured activities like worksheets. So, if a student who was capable of learning the material wasn't comprehending it, I would present it in a new fashion (because if one person how does not have a reason, such as a learning disability, is having an issue, it means that other members of the class are, too). Perhaps the second student is having problems at home that are distracting them from their work. Perhaps not only the subject, but school itself is of disinterest to that student. If his or her ambition is to become a member of the work force who isn't required to have a "traditional" education, such as a mechanic or a chef, it would make sense to just perform "well enough." I'm sure there's many other circumstances or combinations there of that could affect this, these are just quickly off of the top of my head. In summary, to approach the two students in the same way when they clearly don't work in the same way would be failing as my job as an educator. Lessons should be introduced in a variety of ways to meet all of the students needs.
If you can identify the best learning mode (visual, audio, kinetic/written, etc) of the student who is further behind, and present the same material but favoring that mode, the other student would have to work harder to keep up with the one who has fallen behind. That student may well be behind because he or she has been short-changed in that regard. Meanwhile, the more advanced stuent may learn to become more effective at learning in a less-preferred mode. Everyone wins.
I suppose another important factor to know, is whether these two students have been in the same academic setting for their entire educational career, or has the one that is further ahead received more education than the other? If they have had the same educational experience, yet one is further behind without any identifiable cause, then, yes, a mix of presentation styles should be used.
First I'd figure out why the child isn't grasping what's being taught - it could be something simple or more complicated. Personal problems at home could be affecting his attention. Distractions in class could also be the problem. Some children won't put up there hand and admit they don't understand what you've explained. Taking a few extra minutes with him/her could be all that's needed.
without know what subject it is that's being taught, no one can really give any valid specific advice, since it's an entirley different thing teaching math vs english or science...
