Clinical Field Experience
Allocate at least 3 hours in the field to support this field experience.
With your mentor teacher, identify a student or small group of students with disabilities who would benefit from differentiation and engagement strategies during an upcoming math lesson or activity.
Part 1: Student Challenges
With the mentor teacher, observe the student or small group of students while they work on math problems in class. Identify areas where the student or students seem to struggle.
Areas of concern where students may struggle include (but are not limited to):
Output difficulties
Organizational difficulties
Language difficulties
Attention difficulties
Visual spatial or ordering difficulties
Difficulties with multiple tasks
After observing and noting concerns, discuss with the student/students whether the areas you identified were challenging for them. Continue to work with them with guided practice and support.
Discuss your findings with your mentor teacher. Offer intervention strategies you could implement to help the students learn the math concepts being taught. With your mentor teacher, decide on 1-2 strategies to further develop in Clinical Field Experience C and implement in Clinical Field Experience D.
Sample Solution
After observing and noting areas of concern, I discussed the identified issues with the student/students to ensure that they were indeed challenging for them. After this conversation, it became apparent that many of their difficulties could be addressed through differentiated instruction and engagement strategies.
To help these students understand math concepts more effectively I recommended providing visual cues and prompts such as pictures or diagrams which can assist in understanding abstract concepts (Moss & Brookhart, 2013). Additionally using multiple forms of media such as videos or audio recordings can help with language barriers while also presenting information in a way that is easier to comprehend (Moss & Brookhart, 2013).
Breaking down larger tasks into smaller parts may also be useful in helping students stay on track with their assignments (O’Connor et al., 2014). This could involve having them complete one step at a time which would allow them to focus better on how each part impacts the overall goal. Another option would be providing additional support by pairing weaker students up with stronger ones so they can work together to complete activities or review material when needed (O’Connor et al., 2014).
Furthermore, allowing for student choice when deciding how an assignment should be completed can help increase engagement levels out of sheer curiosity about what options are available (Sparrow & Hammond, 2017). Task cards containing various problems related to a particular concept could also provide an interesting and fun way for learners explore different tasks at their own pace while still gaining practice during class time.
Overall, implementing these strategies not only helps engage struggling students but allows them learn more effectively since they receive assistance based on their individual learning needs rather than being expected conform one set method.
