9 Teaching Strategies to Reach and Teach Diverse Student Populations

Teaching Strategies to Reach and Teach Diverse Student Populations

Within this chapter, you will find some helpful documents that speak directly to Course Objective #7 (Consider and implement strategies to effectively teach and reach diverse populations).

Classroom teachers are on a constant search to find creative ways to teach diverse learners. What exactly do we mean when we say “diverse” student populations? In general, the term represents one who differs from the majority of students in some way when it comes to their education. It could be based on culture or race, religion, academic ability, native language, or socioeconomic status.

According the Elementary and Secondary Act (ESEA), meeting the needs of diverse learners is a responsibility, not a suggestion. The law protects many of the groups mentioned above when it comes to the type of education they should receive.

Here are seven things you can do to teach diverse learners:

• Make an IEP cheat sheet. Individualized education plans (IEPs) are lengthy, detailed documents. To save yourself the time of having to go back and read the plans repeatedly, you can create an IEP cheat sheet. Store reminders about important special education for a student on one page will save yourself down the road.
• Encourage active learning. It can be challenging to keep students engaged and actively involved, especially students who struggle with learning, speak English as a second language, or have trouble focusing. Try incorporating active learning strategies, such as group learning, case-based learning, group discussions and talk-and-turns, one-minute papers and one-sentence summaries, and demonstrations and memory matrixes.
• Embrace small group and learning stations. Consider including centers and small group activities into your weekly routine in some way because they help all learners, especially diverse learners, by addressing knowledge gaps; promote collaboration and communication among students; give more opportunities for feedback; and encourage independent learning.
• Group by learning style, not ability. Grouping by ability can be counterproductive. It can make things a little easier at the teacher table, but research indicates that it keeps struggling students where they are and does little to boost students of intermediate aptitude to higher levels. Using mixed-ability groups can promote learning, especially when students get the opportunity to coach or teach their peers. An extension of this is to place students who learn in similar ways together, for example visual learners with visual learners, auditory with auditory, etc.
• Promote project-based learning. While you differentiate your teaching, consider project-based learning (PBL). Project-based learning is not a summative assessment; it is a way of actually helping students understand what is being taught through hands-on methods. Kids work together to solve real-world problems by coming up with solutions together. The ingredients of PBL activities include:
  • The academic content itself;
  • Real-world scenarios that make the material more relevant;
  • A sense of purpose (end goal);
  • Opportunities to practice collaboration;
  • 21st Century skills;
  • Student-focused activities with ample choices; and
  • Opportunities for self reflection.
• Incorporate ed-tech and adaptive learning tools. There’s plenty of technology out there designed with certain types of students in mind, so there is no need to reinvent the wheel. Instead, look for apps that align with whatever task you are having the students do. Examples include: Peardeck (presentations designed to make news articles interactive); Plickers (free card activities for formative assessment); Wordsinasentence.com (helps students understand vocabulary in context); Classcraft (game-based classroom management options); Book Creator (alternative to assessment); and GoogleKeep (electronic note-taking and organization).
• Provide alternative testing options. The fact that we traditionally test on paper doesn’t mean that it’s the only acceptable way. Instead, differentiate your approach by allowing students to answer orally, through drawings or pictures, and with the use of their notes.

Here are a few links that also provide valuable information on reaching and teaching diverse student populations:

• Strategies for Working with Diverse Learners: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/district/departments/clusteradmin/equity/strategies-for-working-with-diverse-learners.pdf
• The Importance of Diversity and Multicultural Awareness in Education: https://drexel.edu/soe/resources/student-teaching/advice/importance-of-cultural-diversity-in-classroom/
• Teaching Tuesday: 3 Strategies to Support Diverse Learners: https://www.gcu.edu/blog/teaching-school-administration/teaching-tuesday-strategies-support-diverse-learners
• Inclusive Teaching Strategies: https://poorvucenter.yale.edu/InclusiveTeachingStrategies
• Eight Differentiated Instruction Techniques to Reach Diverse Learners: https://www.plt.org/educator-tips/8-differentiated-instruction-techniques/
• Ensuring That Instruction is Inclusive for Diverse Learners: https://www.edutopia.org/article/ensuring-instruction-inclusive-diverse-learners/