CURS4140
Curriculum Studies – Maths
Individual Differences Research
Questions
Answer
School Name?
<deleted>
Address?
<deleted>
Grade you will teaching?
Grade 8
Subject you will be teaching?
Maths, and other subjects as directed.
Number of boys?
21
Number of girls?
8
Is your school culturally diverse?
Explain in detail.
Yes, the school is fairly culturally diverse.
Approximately 1/4 to 1/3 of the students are
reported to have a language other than English.
The predominant additional language is Polish,
followed by Spanish. Also, slightly more than half
of the students come from middle-income families,
with the rest being from lower income families.
Is your classroom culturally diverse?
Explain in detail.
The classroom is somewhat culturally diverse. Of
visible minorities, there is one Black, one Hispanic,
one Indian, and one Oriental student. Several other
students are part of non-visible minorities, such as
East European.
Is there a teaching assistant for your
class? If so, then who?
No, there is no teaching assistant for the class.
Are there any students with IEPs in
the class?
Yes, five of the students have IEPs. One other
student will have an IEP, but his OSR just arrived
at the school (he is a new student, transferring
from another school), and his IEP has not yet been
implemented.
What are their specific differences?
The students’ IEPs are based on a variety of
different learning deficiencies (diagnosed),
including
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David Keffer
Student #100257682
organization
maths
written, spoken, oral/visual
science/technology
social studies
and certain other specific subjects
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CURS4140
What accommodations are being
made for them?
Curriculum Studies – Maths
Three students have access to AlphaSmarts
keyboarding units, but only one is using it. Other
accommodations include
-
limited curriculum
clarification for understanding
increased time for assignments
independent work space
reduced work load (quantity)
use of calculator/computer/scribe
daily planner/agenda
cue student to stop and listen to
instructions before beginning task
fewer questions and more time on tests
oral instructions
individualized reading programs
and many other accommodations.
Are there students with difficulties
who do not have IEPs?
MANY!
What are their difficulties?
These students misbehave on a daily basis, but
incidents are typically minor, and do not often
require discipline outside the classroom. Difficulties
are typically social problems, family problems, or
other normal ‘crises’ for adolescents.
What accommodations are being
made for them?
No accommodations are made for these ‘problem’
students, other than normal practice. The teacher
works with them, provides basic lessons, posts
formulas on the wall boards (even leaves them up
for tests sometimes). The teacher stressed that she
provides this support for all her students, and not
just those with IEPs.
What other support facilities are
available in the school?
A speech-language pathologist visits the class on a
weekly basis. Counseling is available, but only up
to 20 minutes/week per student.
Are there any student differences or
difficulties that are currently
unaddressed by the school?
Not to the associate teacher’s knowledge.
Are there any students in the class
with medical requirements?
Yes …
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David Keffer
Student #100257682
one student is allergic to penicillin
three students are asthmatic, and take
inhaled medication (some at home)
two students have a nut allergy – one has
an ‘epipen,’ but the other may not need
one any more (the school is ‘nut free,’ in
any event)
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Are there any students in the class
with medical requirements? (cont’d)
Curriculum Studies – Maths
-
one student has Turrets, and is medicated
at home – no manifestation of the
syndrome has been seen yet this year
Who at the school administers
required medication?
Required medication is administered by the student
(in some cases), teacher, program support
personnel, or other staff who are with the student
when medication is required
Are there any non-Catholic students
in the school or class (Catholic
Board)?
Not known, and the teacher said she would be
reluctant to ask the students.
What accommodations are made for
these students (if any)?
None would be made if such students existed.
Have any students come into the class
from a foreign (non-Canadian)
teaching environment?
No, not in this class.
Are their any ESL students in the
class? Any other language barriers?
No, not in this class.
What does your associate teacher do to accommodate individual differences?
One of the students in the class is diagnosed LD in the areas of language and maths, and has an
IEP. The student has difficulty concentrating in class, and has trouble writing. He has an
AlphaSmart unit, which he uses for keyboarding and data input, but occasionally the associate
teacher assigns one of the other students who have finished the work to act as a scribe for the
LD student.
The associate teacher accommodates this and other of the LD students by using pre- and posttests. She also occasionally reviews test questions in class prior to the test, and allows the LD
students additional time on the test. In this case, student who have finished the test are allowed
to go quietly with other work.
One accommodation which the teacher makes for the students with IEPs, over which she has no
control, is the use of a reduced curriculum and work load. There is considerable debate among
practicing and candidate teachers as to whether this benefits or hinders the students. While it is
currently a practice in education in Ontario, there is considerable opposition. Those opposed feel
that it disadvantages the students, by placing them in a higher grade while only having
completed a portion of the curriculum. These students eventually ‘hit a wall,’ often in the form of
the Literacy Test given in Grade 10. At the moment, this is a valid accommodation to be used.
When evaluating homework or assignments, the associate teacher has occasionally assigned the
teacher candidate to go over the work with an IEP student, to elicit oral responses to the
questions. In this case, the IEP students have typically responded well, and were able to explain
their reasoning adequately, which they would not have been able to do in a written format.
David Keffer
Student #100257682
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CURS4140
Curriculum Studies – Maths
Identify three strategies you might use to accommodate specific individual
differences cited in the table above.
One strategy which I might use is that of peer tutoring. It can be very effective to have students
teach other students – this cements the learning in the peer tutor, as well as hopefully getting
the concept across to the tutee in a more comfortable environment. One effective variation of
this is to pair the students at the beginning of a term. The students can be arranged in sequence
from those who ‘hate’ the subject to those who ‘love’ it. The teacher can then pair students from
either end of the range, putting the extremes together as partners.
As long as it is required to accommodate students with diagnosed learning disabilities within a
standard classroom, it will be necessary to give these students some additional opportunities to
accomplish a task. Focusing on a test, this can take the form of giving the students a ‘pre-test’ or
some exposure to questions and problems similar to those which will be on the test. In addition,
it will probably be necessary to give these LD students additional time to finish the test. I feel
strongly, however, that any pre-testing or example questions should be given to all students, and
not just the LD students. To do otherwise would seriously distort the true performance of the
class as a whole, and would not be fair to students not receiving accommodation. In addition,
non-accommodated students must be given meaningful work to do while the accommodated
students are finishing the test or assignment. Otherwise, serious classroom management issues
would certainly arise.
For students who are diagnosed as being learning disabled (LD) in the domain of writing or
drawing, I feel that allowing these students to use keyboarding or data entry assistive technology
is quite acceptable, provided that such technology exists in the particular school. Many LD
students with IEPs are given such assistive technology devices, funded by the Ministry. These
devices frequently take the form of AlphaSmart keyboard entry devices, or of more traditional
laptop or desktop computers. These students are often fully capable of solving the problem, and
simply cannot put the information on paper. Using assistive technologies allows these students to
achieve deserved levels which they might otherwise be unable to achieve.
Conclusion
As long as students with individual differences are integrated into the standard classrooms,
teachers will be required to cope with these differences. This practice changes from time to time,
depending on the current political and social climate. At the moment, it is a requirement.
Diagnoses and accommodations are part of students’ permanent OSR files, reducing the impact
of surprise on teachers as long as these files are available in advance. It should be noted,
however, that student expectations and diagnoses change from year to year, and IEPs must be
constantly updated, adding further to the teachers’ work load and responsibility. Also, in the
event of new students at a school, teachers frequently must deal with an unknown quantity.
Fortunately, a large pool of accommodations has been developed upon which teachers can draw
to adjust their approaches to dealing with students with individual needs which differ from those
of the other students. In fact, these accommodations are actually incorporated into the IEP
Writer software used in many schools. As well, many different teaching strategies are available,
which allow teachers to implement the accommodations. These resources will help to ease the
impact on the classroom teachers, as long as the current political and social educational climate
prevails.
David Keffer
Student #100257682
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