Mr. Houston’s lesson on the structure of DNA addresses the educational needs of his diverse students. The strategies that he uses shows that he believes that all students can learn at high levels and that he is committed to helping students gain success. Carol Ann Tomlinson (2010) states the “role of the teacher is to hold high expectations and provide the necessary support system so that students achieve those goal” (p. 253). The students in Mr. Houston’s diverse population have dyslexia, hearing disabilities and are ELL students. Mr. Houston does not single these students out, but instead holds these students to the same high standards as other students. He adds support and clarification when needed to. For example, when his student with
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Houston also addresses the needs of his linguistically diverse students. He employs a strategy called Showing While You Talk (Herrell & Jordan, 2008, p. 161). In this strategy verbal explanations and physical movements help to explain concepts and instructions (Herrell & Jordan, 2008, p. 161). Throughout this lesson, Mr. Houston uses several gestures like pointing at the learning goals, hand gestures and circling important words to help signal to ELL students that information is important. The visual clues given assist students in understanding content and are extremely valuable to the academic language …show more content…
Houston incorporates several pictures and a short video into his lesson to assist his various learners. This helps address more than one learning style in his classroom and students are able to learn in a variety of ways. One weakness that I noticed in Mr. Houston’s lesson is that there is no student use of technology. The use of technology is a way that teachers can help differentiate for students. While Mr. Houston does incorporate the use of technology into his lesson as a teacher, students don’t get to discover learning on their own through the use of technology. I think that this lesson on DNA structure could benefit from student technology
Houston also addresses the needs of his linguistically diverse students. He employs a strategy called Showing While You Talk (Herrell & Jordan, 2008, p. 161). In this strategy verbal explanations and physical movements help to explain concepts and instructions (Herrell & Jordan, 2008, p. 161). Throughout this lesson, Mr. Houston uses several gestures like pointing at the learning goals, hand gestures and circling important words to help signal to ELL students that information is important. The visual clues given assist students in understanding content and are extremely valuable to the academic language …show more content…
Houston incorporates several pictures and a short video into his lesson to assist his various learners. This helps address more than one learning style in his classroom and students are able to learn in a variety of ways. One weakness that I noticed in Mr. Houston’s lesson is that there is no student use of technology. The use of technology is a way that teachers can help differentiate for students. While Mr. Houston does incorporate the use of technology into his lesson as a teacher, students don’t get to discover learning on their own through the use of technology. I think that this lesson on DNA structure could benefit from student technology