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Effective Curriculum and Instructional Design Approaches for Diverse Learners

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Education is shifting away from emphasizing teachers teaching to ensuring student learning. All students learn differently and learn best when instructional practices are tailored to their own cultures, languages, and experiences. Student engagement and achievement are associated with a teachers’ use of evidence-based and proactive classroom management practices (Larson et al., 2018). These proactive practices are also associated with higher rates of positive student behavior. There are several strategies to create a rigorous and appropriate curriculum for all learners. These strategies include knowing your own beliefs, building strong rapport with students and families, and understanding cultural impacts on learning. A critical component to recognizing and using effective instructional strategies for culturally and linguistically diverse students is for a teacher to be aware of their own experiences and beliefs. Whether they realize it or not, these beliefs and experiences play into t...
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Lesson Plan Development Strategies

Effective lessons must have three things at their very basic level: standards or learning outcomes, instruction or new learning in its many forms, and assessment that students met the intended goals. Teachers must plan for these features in an effective lesson plan. Effective teachers go through a process to analyze, build, and reflect upon the learning of their students. Teachers should use this process to  take their lesson plans and their instruction one step further to develop components that can both deepen learning and reach all students. In this process teachers should first analyze the needs of their students. Most schools gear learning towards standards, so consider what the standard is that needs to be addressed while considering what students already know about this standard. This may be through observations or a pre-assessment. Next, the teacher should work to design the learning. They should consider how students could best learn the standard or learn what they need to...
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Classroom Management Techniques

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Diverse learners have unique needs. These needs may be academic, linguistic, social, or behavioral. Students from diverse backgrounds may not have the necessary skills to be able to focus, engage, or learn effectively in school. It is essential that teachers create a classroom culture of safety, comfort, and confidence. This should be done by building rapport with students and their families. Teachers should create a structured classroom that clearly states and enforces expectations for every aspect of the classroom. Teachers should also integrate culturally responsive teaching practices to help connect students to learning. Many students are better able to engage in learning with some modifications, and teachers should be in tune with their students to determine how these needs can be met. There are certain classroom management techniques that should be avoided. These include antisocial behaviors. Teachers should work to mentor and discipline students through inclusivity rather than e...
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Teacher Perceptions

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An investigation was done in a private school district in Washington to determine the reason for a dip in fourth through sixth grade students’ standardized testing scores specifically in math. It is also to investigate techniques to improve test scores and improve instruction for this group of students to improve MAP Growth scores in math. As part of the study, the below teacher perception survey was given to five teachers who teach math, four of whom answered. The participants were all teachers in the same private, Christian school. The survey was administered through Microsoft Forms. The average time taken to complete the survey was about 11 minutes.   Teacher Perception Survey This video provides further information on teacher perceptions regarding math instructional strategies used in the school. It includes background information on research-based math instructional strategies, teachers’ use of them, and the results of the survey. This table represents a summary of th...
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Diverse Learner Strategies

Recognizing Unique Characteristics of Culturally Diverse Students Based on Background The number of culturally and linguistically diverse students is increasing in our nation and is the fastest growing group of school-aged students in the United States (Rodriguez & Lindo, 2018). More students are coming from unique backgrounds, experiences, cultures, and languages than ever before. It is important to acknowledge the different learning styles and needs that each of these students bring to the classroom. Below are unique learning characteristics for three immigrant student groups including Chinese, Mexican, and Russian students. These characteristics should be taken into account and leveraged in instructional strategies when engaging these students. Teachers should work to maintain at least a basic account of their students’ cultural characteristics such as these. Immigrant Group Unique Characteristics Chinese ·     ...
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Student-Centered Instructional Strategies

There are four main strategies to make learning student-centered. They are to teach appreciation for diversity; build and use group-focused, collaborative curriculum; use culturally responsive curricula and resources; and utilize authentic learning opportunities. Teaching appreciation for diversity can help build a safe learning environment and ensure learning for all students. Team building and group problem solving activities can help individuals and groups recognize the unique characteristics of themselves and therefore their peers. Teachers should not play down differences or feign color blindness (Nganga, 2015). Recognizing and celebrating diversity helps to create a socially and intellectually safe space (Hammond, 2013). Through a strong self-identity these routines and rituals can reinforce self-directed learning and academic identity to make learning more personal and make students more engaged. Collaboration among students can build a group effort toward learning goals. Cooper...
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