As a future teacher what are some way that I can have appropriate accommodations for students who are at different developmental/learning levels? I want to make sure my students are all equally enjoying the classroom disscussions and expirements but that they can all preform on their own. What should I do in the future if some lessons are too easy for one group of students and on the other hand it is to hard for another? Is there a common ground?
I think this is a great thing to keep in mind, especially since we are bound to have a range of different abilities within a classroom. For classroom experiments and projects in particular, I think it is beneficial to create a short critical thinking assignment for if students finish early. This way they can stay engaged in the topic while their peers finish up the project. For students who are not as advanced, I think it is important for teachers to spend individualized time with these students to grasp what those students are having trouble understanding. This way if further instruction or a different type of instruction is needed, it will become more apparent to the teacher. I think it is also benefical for students to work in groups. That way they can learn from each other. I find that students learn from peers just as much, if not more, than from instructors.
I am a big fan of doing learning centers because it accommodates all learners and it allows students to be successful in their learning style that they like best. You can adapt the learning centers to meet each child's level. You can also change your schedule around to have a period in the day where you can do small groups to provide those extra support for all of the students. Depending on what that student is having troubles in you can provide that support during the small groups and also group that child with others in the class who is facing the same difficulties. On the other hand, for those students who are breezing through the work, this is the time where you can give them more challenging problems or allow them to extend their knowledge.
I think this is a great question to ask that we should always be asking ourselves. I think that it is best to start by fully getting to know your students and their learning abilities. We should always be proactive in changing our small groups if students are not learning to the best of their abilities. I think it would be smart to change your instruction to small group instruction or make accomodations to your lessons for students who might need it. I think it is best to make everyone feels special and important and not make them feel like they are not smart enough or capable enough if they do have to have accomodations made.
I think it's great to accommodate all learners in the classroom. It's important to have students play on their strengths when working in heterogeneous groups. Utilizing graphic organizers will also help students organize their planning and creating checklists to chunk a big project into smaller, more manageable steps.
I'm excited to have found this post because I too am new to teaching NGSS and science as a whole in the classroom. The replies are helpful. Thanks for asking this question!
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