Introduction: How do I meet the needs of so many students with diverse learning needs
For the classroom teacher, who is responsible for meeting the learning needs of his or her students, effective instruction begins with an understanding of the needs of the learners, both collectively as a classroom unit and as individual students.
Today's classroom has its challenges. Each student is a unique learner, with a unique pattern of learning. Our challenge is to learn about our students' strengths, needs and interests, to best plan for their learning in an environment that is safe and inclusive.
Today's classroom has its challenges. Each student is a unique learner, with a unique pattern of learning. Our challenge is to learn about our students' strengths, needs and interests, to best plan for their learning in an environment that is safe and inclusive.
Develop a Class Profile: Know your Students
Our Class Profile is a tool to collectively identify your students' learning style and needs. It may be adapted to suit your teaching style or altered to include other factors, such as socio-affective, readiness, interests, and educational history. We have focused on Learning Styles (or the VAK inventory), as a starting point to design instruction, environment, and assessment that meets multiple modalities.
Steps in the Development of Your Class Profile:
1. Gather Information:
- Use of diagnostic assessments
- student and parent questionnaires
- learner inventories (VAK, Multiple intelligences, Left-Brain Right-Brain, True Colours)
- review of Ontario Student Records
- dialogue with in-school team and colleagues
- classroom observations and anticipation guides
2. Organize the Information:
Use the Class Profile tool provided to visually track and record your students' learning preferences and accommodations.
3. Plan (Understanding by Design) curricular units and lessons based on essential understandings, and what all students must know, understand and be able to do.
4. Create opportunities to implement universal design for learning (UDL) and differentiated instruction and assessment. Consider and select strategies and supports that will meet the needs of your class.
Use the Class Profile tool provided to visually track and record your students' learning preferences and accommodations.
3. Plan (Understanding by Design) curricular units and lessons based on essential understandings, and what all students must know, understand and be able to do.
4. Create opportunities to implement universal design for learning (UDL) and differentiated instruction and assessment. Consider and select strategies and supports that will meet the needs of your class.