Teaching the Struggling Learner

Learning Problems Weakness in a Sea of

Strengths

Increase skills and abilities

Adult Education:

Critical role

The way you

structure a

lecture can

have a

positive or

negative impact on

people with

learning

difficulties.

ThisGIVE STUDENTS TEXT THAT THEYCAN EASILY

READ. NFORMATION THAT IS BIG AND BOLD

WITH LOTS OF PICTURES IS BETTER THAT JUST

AN ACCUMULATION OF WORDS ON THE PAPER.

BE SURE TO SPACE WORDS AND TO USE A LARGE

FONT, AT LEAST 14. USE COMIC SANS, TAHOMA,

OR ARIAL AS YOUR FONT.

Provide text that can be read easily

Or This BIG AND BOLD

LOTS OF PICTURES

SPACE WORDS

LARGE FONT, AT LEAST 14

USE COMIC SANS, TAHOMA, OR ARIAL

Visual Teaching and Learning It’s good for everyone!!

Powerful teaching strategies combine verbal and visual.

This improves how adults process information, enhances memory retrieval.

Large Visual and Tactile Aids

Red

Cambodia

Link words to images

Read aloud as you write on the board or present with an overhead visual.

Deliver instruction clearly and in multiple ways

Orally and in printed form

Lectures and small group discussions

Collaborative and hands-on learning

Internet-based

Fieldwork

Adults have already developed neurological pathways for processing visual and auditoryinformation.

Compensatory Strategies

Some compensatory strategies are helpful,

but others may need to be unlearned in order

for adults to make progress.

Provide Cognitive SupportsIn printed and in a text-based electronic format

Continual Assessment Ask questions

Ask students to

repeat directions

Give feedback Many adults with LD don’t have an accurate picture of how they are performing

Make content relevantPut learning in context..

Step by Step

Small bits of info

Ways to process informationThe whole before the

part

Takes intuitive leaps Can’t explain

Building on Prior Knowledge Think Aloud Example

I didn’t know this! I might keep from getting it, if I keep my weight down.

“It explained the difference between types of diabetes. Aunt Barb has Type I.

“Oh, this article is about diabetes! That’s what Aunt Barb has. It runs in our family, I’d better learn what I can.”

Mapping or Webbing

Building on Prior Learning

Adults with LD have difficulty transferring what they learn to different settings or related tasks.

Promote Generalization

Write main idea of each paragraph on left side

List details on right side of page.

Two-Column Note-Taking Method

Use to prepare for test Do not write full

sentence

Start with just main

idea – ask others for

details

Use abbreviations

Leave lots of space

Cornell Method

Note Taking

Sometimes silly pictures or cartoon pictures stand out in your memory.

Insert rough drawings/

sketches asvisual reminders

Teaching and Learning Math

Students talk instructor through the examples.Teacher does the work

as a think aloud, students watch.

Stu

den

ts w

ork

exam

ple

s a

lon

g w

ith te

ach

er.

Students work examples on their own

Lesson Closure

Teaching and Learning Math

Developmental Stages of Learning Math

Pictorial

Symbolic 60(3) + 50(3) =

Abstract D = R * T

Concrete

Student Language

Instructor Language

Math Language

Math Learning: 3 Kinds of Language

Using large print with a lot of white space around mathproblems

Turn a legal pad when doingarithmetic processes thatrequire figures in straightcolumns

Number Lines

Horizontal lines are a puzzle to some students.

Vertical lines, like athermometer, feel morenaturally positive and

negative.

Determining the Reading Problem

Can the student decode words? An intensive

decoding/ syllabication program may be needed

Intensive work to improve fluency may be needed.

Does the student

decode words,but fail to readfluently

enoughto grasp themeaning?

The student may need: to visualize what she is reading to relate what she is reading to her prior knowledge to learn comprehension strategies to use a graphic organizer to see how pieces fit together into the whole

Does the student decode well and read with some fluency, yet have poor memory or understanding of what he or she reads?

Skimming a Book

Check the index

Look at the opening or closing pages

Read the important passages out loud while highlighting them

Look at the title page Study Table of Contents

Address Basic Skills First

The student may never get to the stage of analyzing.

When a student’s basic skills are not automatic,

energy is exhausted in the early stages of reading

comprehension.

Teaching Main Idea and Details

Teams sort a large number of words into categories and explain why they grouped them a certain way.They decide which item in the list names the “big picture” or the main theme of the group.

They use a graphic organizer to place the main idea in the top box and the representatives of

the categories in the lower boxes

Process is repeated with sentence instead of words.Students color code the main idea and details andtransfer the components to a graphic organizer.

Give students a completed Venn diagram and ask them to write a main idea sentence or draw a conclusion based on the facts in the Venn Diagram.

“If I can't picture it, I can't understand it."Albert Einstein

Visualizing and VerbalizingConcept

imagery

Created by Lindamood-Bell

For those who understand the meaning of words, but do not comprehend sentences or paragraphs.

Processing of parts to a whole, making meaning by creating a mental image of words. It keeps words from going in one ear and out the other.

V/V directly teaches how to build pictures in a student’s head as he or she reads or listens to someone speak.

Visualizing and Verbalizing

Movement

Sound

WhereNumber

What

Shape

Color

Size

Mood

Background

Perspective

When

Visualizing and Verbalizing

Movement

Sound

WhereNumber

What

Shape

Color

Size

Mood

Background

Perspective

When

Snow

Visualizing and Verbalizing

It is believed that creating images resides in the brain's right hemisphere and that expressive language resides in the left.

Both sides of the brain need to be actively engaged in order to make sense from reading.