Verified Document

Teaching Strategies Essay

Education A sad reality in the world today is that many school children suffer academically not so much because of a lack of prowess as because of the various social and economic challenges they face. Countless children suffer economic pressures at home and have little time or energy left to pay attention to school world. More often than not, parental support for school children in these circumstances is minimal at best and non-existent at worst. Many of these children are also from minority groups and sometimes find themselves the brunt of racial slurs and prejudice at school. It is therefore well nigh impossible to classify these children as anything other than "at risk." It is with these students in mind that numerous studies have been conducted focusing on educational strategies and programs that could assist children classified as at risk. This literature review will focus on what educators can learn in terms of strategy from teachers working with at-risk students, researchers investigating the nature of the problems experienced by these children, and programs created to assist children within this population.

Teachers Working With At-Risk Children

The most valuable source of information regarding strategies for any teacher is other teachers. The situation with at-risk children is no different. Raul-Fitzpagrick's (2014) research report, for example, provides an overview of several teachers in this situation. To collect data, the author focused on interviews with the teachers selected for the study. In addition to the strategies the teachers engaged to handle at-risk students in their classrooms, the teachers also shared their frustrations and challenges when working with such learners. From these, the author made several recommendations. These, along with the strategies used, are useful tools for others to apply in their own classrooms and their own situations.

One of the recommendations is to form a school-based team consisting of teachers and various other...

In addition, such a team can work together to monitor learners and determine when they need to be referred to additional support services. Early screening and testing is also a useful strategy to identify students who are at risk at a stage during which they are in a better position to be assisted than later in their academic lives. For teachers, the suggestion is to make use of teachers with a background in special education. In addition to offering suggestions regarding how students can be assisted, these teachers can also be involved in team teaching, where special education do team work in mainstream classrooms so that at-risk learners are disrupted as little as possible in terms of the teaching process.
Another important component is professional development. Teachers need to be trained on a regular basis to ensure that they are aware of the most useful and most recent strategies for assisting students in the at-risk situation. It is only with a solid basis of understanding and training that teachers can effectively assist at-risk students.

Finally, Paul-Fitzpatrick (2014) suggests the involvement of parents. As mentioned, parental involvement in the academic lives of at-risk students is more often than not minimal or non-existent. By involving parents in the educational process via education and collaboration programs, and support sessions, they can be encouraged to become a more active part of their children's lives. Furthermore, the author argues for a more parent- and community-friendly school environment to encourage parent participation.

As for strategy, the teachers interviewed used classroom actions such as peer tutoring and positive reinforcement to encourage learner participation and improvement, especially for at-risk students. They also made use of educational programs to gain extra support for the students identified as at risk.

Lanier and…

Sources used in this document:
References

Lanier, M. And Glasson, G. (2014). Investigating Strategies for Enhancing Achievement for Urban African-American Students in Middle School Science Classroom. Insights on Learning Disabilities 11(1). Retrieved from: www.ldworldwide.org

Oreopoulos, P., Brown, R.S., and Lavecchia, A.M. (2014, Aug.). Pathways to Education: An Integrated Approach to Helping At-Risk High School Students. National Bureau of Economic Research. Retrieved from: http://chairepro.mobme.info/

Paul-Fitzpatrick, A. (2014). Implementing teaching strategies to students with difficulties in learning in a mainstream inner city school -- teachers' experiences. Research Report. Retrieved from: http://uwispace.sta.uwi.edu/

Wolniak, G.C., Rude, P.A., and Rekoutis, P.A. (2012, Apr.). Fault Lines in Postsecondary Educational Opportunity: A Mixed-Methods Examination of At-Risk Students. AERA Annual Meeting. Retrieved from: http://www.norc.org/
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Teaching Strategies
Words: 1073 Length: 3 Document Type: Term Paper

Teaching Strategies Mainstreaming involves placing special education students in regular classrooms as much as possible, and using resource rooms where the student receives special tutoring, review and instruction. Inclusion, which is considered a goal of mainstreaming is the total integration of special education students and services into the general education classroom where special education teachers collaborate with general education teachers to teach the entire class. There is still debate in education

Teaching Strategies Problems Long Division Area Perimeter
Words: 1252 Length: 4 Document Type: Essay

Teaching Strategies Problems Long Division Area Perimeter and Volume Ratio Proportion Percentages Strategic teaching describes an instructional process that focus on student's thinking capabilities and goes well beyond that. Strategic learning is correlated with strategic teaching. A strategic teacher should have an understanding of variables regarding instruction and he is required to be aware of the cognitive requirements of learning like sense of timing and a style of management. He should be a thinker

Teaching Strategy for Special Ed Special Education
Words: 589 Length: 2 Document Type: Essay

Teaching Strategy for Special Ed Special Education Standard Direct instruction is the most widely-used teaching strategy, although it has become controversial in recent years. Critics argue that it limits the creativity of good teachers and provides a crutch for poor ones (What is direct instruction? 2011). It is a teacher-centered approach that relies on structured lesson plans, offering little or no variation and no opportunity for discussion or active participation. The effectiveness

Teaching Strategies to Integrate Refugee
Words: 4591 Length: 14 Document Type: Research Paper

As such students at similar levels in both categories were grouped together to ensure optimal benefits for all participants. When evaluated on a practical level, it was found that communicating the benefits of the program to refugee communities was critical to success. Parents in these communities needed to understand that the program offers a pathway for their children towards success and employment, as well as an effective future in the

Teaching Strategies for Students With ADHD the
Words: 795 Length: 3 Document Type: Essay

Teaching Strategies for Students With ADHD The article by authors Kiuhara, O'Neill, Hawken, & Graham discuss ways to improve persuasive writing in high school students. They stress the importance of persuasive writing because students with ADHD had difficulty planning and drafting text. Any teaching strategy that dealt with these weaknesses could improve the writing ability of a student with ADHD. "Intervention studies with younger, middle school students with disabilities shows that

Teaching Strategy of Creatring Mental
Words: 786 Length: 3 Document Type: Term Paper

We talked in class about the things a flat person would have trouble doing and the dangers that a flat person might encounter. The parts of decorating and sending the flat person worked because it allowed children of all abilities and educational needs to become involved with the project and have a hands on approach to the story. The areas where I feel the lesson was weak included the testing of the

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now