Do you agree that no child should be left behind?

[LOL]

A dilemma that i think is faced by all teachers of all subjects the world over! I attended a lot of meetings back home that were essentially looking to find the best solutions for this question.

One thing that i think everyone can agree on is that you cant hold the entire class back because some students are having difficulty.

I think what is generally encouraged is'differentiated' work, which means adopting strategies to help students that are having difficulty accessing the curriculum. This could be for so many reasons, mainly learning and behavioural difficulties. One suggestion is to do the same activity but prepare different tasks to cater to differing levels of ability. Granted, this means increasing your workload but aside from completely ignoring the lower level students, thats what needs to be done what ever action you take.

You can google differentiation in teaching to get some ideas.

[conorsean]

I've some students I wish their parents would leave behind. At a bus station.

[nball]

I am also at a very low level poor elementary school. In all of my 3rd-6th grade classes there are students who can read and write with students who still don't know the alphabet. My co-teacher and I started a buddy system in class, where we seated a high level student with a low level one. The results have been pretty amazing so far. The high level students who are usually bored in class, now have this responsibly to help their partner that they take very seriously and the low level kids are actually doing the work. My co-teacher and I also made no secret about why we were changing seats and specifically put students with their friends..boys with boys and girls with girls because they actually wanted to help their friends. We also moved the worst students to the very front so we can easily help them. A lot of time students have to do activities with their partners as well..like in 4th grade during role play they can make their own groups of 4  but each student has to stay with his or her partner. It also helps that despite being in this low level area the kids are just somehow still very innocent and sweet.We also cracked down on homework, the low level students were always the ones who never did their homework..now students who don't do their homework lose their break time or have to come back during lunchtime to finish.

[Taniwha]

i think in theory its a good idea, in reality i can't see a good solution, unless they graded the classes on english level rather than age, which is not practical

[bhwung]

It's been two months since I started teaching middle school and now I can sort of see which kids are constantly paying attention and which kids are always asleep.  I feel that if I spend time every class trying to get every student to stay awake and pay attention that it will actually detract from my teaching in general.  As of now I have been able to keep the majority of the class's attention and I teach to those kids who actually pay attention and want to learn.

Does anyone have an experience in the past where they tried to not leave any kids behind?  I am curious to find out if it can work and if I am doing the right thing.  Thanks.

Ben

[Merryone]

my two cent....1) you need to assess their learning style. its a waste of time trying to cover the same lesson the same way, but if you can discover what their learning style is and vary your method to meet their needs.... also 2) ask some of the kids who got it to tutor the other students during class time and reward the tutors. my students love choc cream pies!!! with their little marshmallow filled centers.

[Hoosier_Jedi]

Teaching is the ulimate example of how you can lead a horse to water but can't make 'em drink. You're there to be a source of information and a resource. If a kid doesn't want to help themselves there's really only so much you can do.

You can't save everyone.

[JABU NXAU]

as a black south african i have to say that i am grateful to those teachers who pushed me to work hard and achieve the results neede to go to university, they never compromised when it came to studies and painfully exacted the best from me , it was not fun at the time but now i want to thank them and also inspire youngsters to work hard and not be average, aluta continua!

[woman-king]

Extra lessons for all lower-level students, tailored to their individual needs, is simply impossible.  I do let students know they can come see me at lunch or when classes finish and ask questions--but generally only the advanced students feel comfortable doing this.   

If you teach mixed-level classes, unfortunately, I think some students are just going to be left behind.  General comprehension checks and reviews are extremely important, but you can't keep repeating and repeating material that over half the class understands and is bored with.