Which type of disability would you find most challenging to adapt to (as a teacher)? What can you do to prepare for this?
5 thoughts on “Diverse Students: Biggest Challenge”
Gavyn Cordero
I believe that as a teacher the most challenging disability to adapt to would be dyslexia. I believe that this would be the most challenging due to the fact that one of the common symptoms is problems following multiple steps. A way that I would handle or prepare for this is to modify their individual lesson plan to fit his needs. The modification would be to establish an assignment that doesn’t have to much instructions but can still demonstrate knowledge (class discussion).
I feel that a student with a learning disability would be most challenging as a teacher. From personal experience I have seen the challenges that arise from certain students. These challenges mostly start with student frustration. If the student feels that they are less than his or her peers, then they could act out or cause disruptions. I believe that there are ways to prevent these actions from arising.
The way to prepare for these situations is to have times in the daily schedule where you can assist the student. This time can come when you hand out individual work. I have seen this method work to a certain degree. The problem that arises is often the frustration that come from the student. They then lash out and disrupt the classroom. In that case the way to prevent this is to move the student to a calm and quiet area and use patience with them to ensure that they are learning and will not get frustrated as easily.
I think that teaching students with learning disabilities would be one of the most challenging disabilities to adapt to. Students with learning disabilities can present you with one specific challenge, such as dyslexia, but can also present you with many as some students have a combination. That right there I believe would be the ultimate challenge because not only would you have to change the lesson plan or activities slightly for the student, but you might need to think of an idea completely out of the box to ensure that their education would be successful. I don’t think there’s any correct way to prepare for such things because every student is different, but some things that would definitely help is doing background research on the disabilities, asking for advice from people seasoned in the practice of special education teaching, and most importantly gaining real life experience with those types of kids so that you see what works and what just doesn’t. Going into this department of education is a huge transition from the teaching the typical student, and what plays a big part in your success in educating kids with disabilities is having both patience and faith in your student(s). They need to know you believe in them and are willing to take the time to teach them. Students, both with and without disabilities, need to know that their teacher believes in them, it’s just more visible in the students with disabilities.
The type of disability I would find most challenging to adapt to is having a blind student. As I have experienced being in classrooms with special need students, I found it really hard to focus because majority of the time the attention was going to my classmates with special needs. Back then I was only in elementary so I didn’t really know why this happened. But one thing I did find out was you do need a lot of patience to take care of these type of people because their body can’t be controlled like the rest of us. I don’t remember much from elementary, but I do remember having a deaf classmate. Ever since she became deaf, she also became partially blind.
To prepare for my blind students, I would try my best to fit majority of the lessons to the best of the students ability with learning. Having audio files, or recordings that students can learn information from would be my first resource. As time goes by, I know that it is good to change up the style of teaching so I would jump to some visual resources. While giving out visual resources such as movies, the blind student can simply listen to the information given. With the blind student being limited, I would not expect he/she to be able to write down their information like everyone else. At the end of the lesson, I would walk around get everything settled down with the class, then do a one on one with the individual to make sure he/she gets the correct information. I know being blind is hard, the student might get overwhelmed at times and I know that they do need to take breaks at times. I would provide something small like a stress ball, that he/she can keep him/herself occupied with to calm him/herself down when times get rough. The main thing I want all my students to know is that everyone is equal, and no matter what I am there for all of them. The goal for everyone is to gain knowledge and grow together as a class.
As a teacher, the disability that I would find to be the most challenging would be a cognitive or learning disability just because my initial purpose is to teach these students and if they already struggle with the concept of learning and fully grasping something, then that turns into a real challenge and it seems like something that I would have to make a one on one process and system with each student. I’m not saying that all the other disabilities are any less hard, yet this to me, seems like the most challenging. Some things that I could do to further prepare for this sort of situation, in which I would have students with a cognitive or learning disability would be to just take my time with them, and to put lots of effort into helping them grow and flourish as individuals who deserve the same amount of care and education that us students without disabilities get. Basically, i would just spend more time and focus more on the students who need it the most.
I believe that as a teacher the most challenging disability to adapt to would be dyslexia. I believe that this would be the most challenging due to the fact that one of the common symptoms is problems following multiple steps. A way that I would handle or prepare for this is to modify their individual lesson plan to fit his needs. The modification would be to establish an assignment that doesn’t have to much instructions but can still demonstrate knowledge (class discussion).
I feel that a student with a learning disability would be most challenging as a teacher. From personal experience I have seen the challenges that arise from certain students. These challenges mostly start with student frustration. If the student feels that they are less than his or her peers, then they could act out or cause disruptions. I believe that there are ways to prevent these actions from arising.
The way to prepare for these situations is to have times in the daily schedule where you can assist the student. This time can come when you hand out individual work. I have seen this method work to a certain degree. The problem that arises is often the frustration that come from the student. They then lash out and disrupt the classroom. In that case the way to prevent this is to move the student to a calm and quiet area and use patience with them to ensure that they are learning and will not get frustrated as easily.
I think that teaching students with learning disabilities would be one of the most challenging disabilities to adapt to. Students with learning disabilities can present you with one specific challenge, such as dyslexia, but can also present you with many as some students have a combination. That right there I believe would be the ultimate challenge because not only would you have to change the lesson plan or activities slightly for the student, but you might need to think of an idea completely out of the box to ensure that their education would be successful. I don’t think there’s any correct way to prepare for such things because every student is different, but some things that would definitely help is doing background research on the disabilities, asking for advice from people seasoned in the practice of special education teaching, and most importantly gaining real life experience with those types of kids so that you see what works and what just doesn’t. Going into this department of education is a huge transition from the teaching the typical student, and what plays a big part in your success in educating kids with disabilities is having both patience and faith in your student(s). They need to know you believe in them and are willing to take the time to teach them. Students, both with and without disabilities, need to know that their teacher believes in them, it’s just more visible in the students with disabilities.
The type of disability I would find most challenging to adapt to is having a blind student. As I have experienced being in classrooms with special need students, I found it really hard to focus because majority of the time the attention was going to my classmates with special needs. Back then I was only in elementary so I didn’t really know why this happened. But one thing I did find out was you do need a lot of patience to take care of these type of people because their body can’t be controlled like the rest of us. I don’t remember much from elementary, but I do remember having a deaf classmate. Ever since she became deaf, she also became partially blind.
To prepare for my blind students, I would try my best to fit majority of the lessons to the best of the students ability with learning. Having audio files, or recordings that students can learn information from would be my first resource. As time goes by, I know that it is good to change up the style of teaching so I would jump to some visual resources. While giving out visual resources such as movies, the blind student can simply listen to the information given. With the blind student being limited, I would not expect he/she to be able to write down their information like everyone else. At the end of the lesson, I would walk around get everything settled down with the class, then do a one on one with the individual to make sure he/she gets the correct information. I know being blind is hard, the student might get overwhelmed at times and I know that they do need to take breaks at times. I would provide something small like a stress ball, that he/she can keep him/herself occupied with to calm him/herself down when times get rough. The main thing I want all my students to know is that everyone is equal, and no matter what I am there for all of them. The goal for everyone is to gain knowledge and grow together as a class.
As a teacher, the disability that I would find to be the most challenging would be a cognitive or learning disability just because my initial purpose is to teach these students and if they already struggle with the concept of learning and fully grasping something, then that turns into a real challenge and it seems like something that I would have to make a one on one process and system with each student. I’m not saying that all the other disabilities are any less hard, yet this to me, seems like the most challenging. Some things that I could do to further prepare for this sort of situation, in which I would have students with a cognitive or learning disability would be to just take my time with them, and to put lots of effort into helping them grow and flourish as individuals who deserve the same amount of care and education that us students without disabilities get. Basically, i would just spend more time and focus more on the students who need it the most.