Steps will you take during the first few days/weeks of school to orient yourself to the needs and context of your students

Teaching can be challenging, especially when dealing with students who perform below grade level. However, strategies must be put in place to ensure that all students improve their performance or, better still, achieve the standards similar to their peers. Consequently, educators must modify their instructional methods and adjust their assessments to reflect the student’s abilities. This task looks at a personal teaching experience for a New York Public School whose 30% of the students perform below their grade level.

Steps to take during the first days/ weeks of school

In the first few weeks, I will get used to the students in the class by communicating with them to know each other. This will ease their anxiety when I start official teaching. I will also meet teachers who handle the students to have a clear picture of the student’s strengths and deficiencies. Besides, this will allow me to understand the individual students’ needs even before I meet them for a more interactive session. If possible, I will also meet the parents to gather as much information as possible about the students. Besides, I will seek to meet the administration to get a glimpse of their expectations, the school structure, and events for the academic year. This move will give a more detailed understanding of the community I am in and not necessarily the class setting.

End of Academic year Goals for the Students

The end of year goals that I will have for the academic year is that students will perform better than they do presently. In this case, the performance is not about the grades but discovering themselves, knowing the potential within them, and how to overcome what they perceive as their deficiencies. I will regard myself as a successful teacher when the students can grasp the content delivered in class and how they can apply what they learn every day. I will also treat the students equally. For those who feel they are lagging academically, I will give them special attention through a differentiated teaching approach to improve their performance. Additionally, one of my aims as a teacher will be to bring out the potential in these students and instill in them the confidence to perform beyond what they believe they cannot achieve. I will adjust my goals and strategies by reviewing the standards of my formative and summative assessments to accommodate the students’ different abilities.

Specific Strategies/Steps if Instructional Efforts are not Yielding Expected Results

Differentiated instruction – when instructional effort has not yielded expected results, the first strategy is to use differentiated instruction. The approach entails building lessons, developing teaching materials and varying the teaching approach to help all students learn relevant content that also reflect their learning needs.

Use of Collaborative learning – Collaborative learning is a process where two or more students are allowed to discuss for the sake of mutual benefits. The collaborative leaning can be implemented by students alone or incorporating a teacher to guide the learning process and help directly deal with emerging weaknesses and possible strengths among students.

Try out inquiry-based instruction – Inquiry-based instruction involves asking thought-provoking questions that can help the students think better and independently. By encouraging students to be more inquisitive and critic their own idea, the students will learn how to solve their problems better. They will also be able to raise concerns they have in any challenging academic concepts.