How a classroom is structured can affect a child’s learning. As Canada tested homogenous and mixed approaches over the years, a mixed approach would be have the most positive outlook. A mixed classroom approach is a structure that involves putting children from different social classes and intelligence levels into one classroom. The mixed approach is preferred because it gives all students an equal opportunity that may or may not push them to make an attempt in school (Lee 2013). As many different students are placed into one classroom, it is up to the teacher to create a classroom environment suitable for all students because of the many students from different backgrounds (Smith, 2005, p. 98-99). Therefore, a heterogeneous approach is better …show more content…
When a lower tracked student is placed in the low-ability class, the placement can destroy a child’s confidence as well as promote inequality (Enns 2015). As the lower tracked education quality is much lower than a higher tracked classroom, there is a disadvantage for students who actually want to learn. There is not much encouragement for the lower-ability students because expectations are significantly reduced (Enns 2015). Despite being in a high-ability class, a child may feel pressure because he or she has to compete with other kids with the same intellect. When a child feels the need to compete, it could harm his or hers confidence level as well (Holloway 2003). A homogenous approach creates inequality within society because tracking is based off on an individual’s social background. Therefore, tracking will create a divide between the minority and majority groups. The majority dominant class has the upper-class advantage meaning that their children are most likely to be in the high intelligent class due to the extracurricular within their lives. While the minority is placed in the lower tracked class, they are given the lower quality education that they do not deserve (Enns 2015). Nevertheless, according to Paton (2012), the mixed approach was thought to have a its disadvantage because it might put high-ability children at a disadvantage. Parents were scared that the lower-ability children would hold their high-ability children back academically (Paton 2012). Having said that, the parents are wrong, as it is not another child’s fault in why their children are not pushed to their full potential. It is the teacher’s responsibility to provide more challenging lessons for the more intelligent children. The teachers are the ones who should push their students to their full potential (Paton
Grades also cause a seen diversity among the students. That would be the half that get great grades, and the other half with lower grades. At a young age children can realize which section the fall into. Some students that fall into the lower half may push themselves to do better, but others will not. They see no point when they think they cannot be the higher half. The odds are not in those kids favor, and they know
Ability tracking is harmful for a number of reasons. The criteria used to group kids are based on subjective perceptions and fairly narrow views of intelligence (Slavin, 1990). Tracking leads students to take on labels, both in their own minds as well as in the minds of their teachers, that are usually associated with the pace of learning (such as "slow" or "fast" learners). Because of this, we...
These students would be put into typical classroom settings. “All kids with the right support, the right technology, can learn the general curriculum”, said a teacher at the academy. This is showing how effective Habib is trying to show all students can try to be in typical classrooms and succeed with some effort and trying. The teachers have to put in a little more effort in making inclusion lesson plans and activities that accommodate each student. Habib shows that if the children learn the differences inside the classrooms, it could help them later in their
Diversity among students including differences in culture, language and socioeconomic stance is not a new trend. The difference, however, is that today, the school system realizes that all students, including those who differ in some way from the "average" student, or those “at-risk” must be provided with an equal, opportune education (Morris, 1991).
Tomlinson, C.A. (1999) Chapter 2: The Rationale for Differentiated Classroom in Mixed Ability Classrooms. The differentiated classroom: responding to the needs of all learners. US: ASCD.
Everyone knows about the various stereotypes and social stigmas that come with socioeconomic status whether they will choose to admit it or not. Society has come to assume that a child who comes from a family of low socioeconomic status, that they will not do as well as a child who comes from a family of a greater socioeconomic status. Unfortunately these assumptions are so ingrained in our brains that we start to follow the self-fulfilling prophecy. When a child from a noticeably low socioeconomic status walks into a classroom, it is not uncommon for the teacher to automatically assume that the child will not perform well in class, and in turn either grades the child more harshly or does not give the child as much attention as the other children from high socioeconomic status families. Do these children not perform well in class because of the self-fulfilling prophecy or is there something that happens during the critical period that causes the child to fall behind?
In the 21st century, teachers experience many behavioral issues with students in the classroom and face challenges that are very difficult to resolve. School districts have different expectations about how students must behave during school and teachers have their own expectations about how students must behave in their classroom. Every educator has different classroom expectations and students must follow specific standards; therefore, the responsibility of the teacher is to discuss the standards with all students and make sure those expectations are clear. According to Jones and Jones (2016), teachers whose students made greater achievement gains were observed establishing rules and procedures, and carefully monitoring student’s work. In
The importance of having a curriculum that accommodates diverse learners, it allows the child to learn at their own level or ability. A child with emotional and intellectual challenges may not have the verbal or comprehension skills or the ability to control their body as their peers. With this in mind, classes with diverse learners can excel with an adjusted curriculum. An activity for example, using large Legos to teach the entire class their colors or numbers can help the intellectual challenge by asking to build a building by using on certain colors or amounts. By doing this activity the students can have fun and learn at the same time with using very little words. Also in a group activity the emoti...
The lower class student’s major issue with learning in class is a shortage of confidence based on real or apparent weakness in the home environment. These students often feel undesirable. They are very aware of the class in which they come from and of the place and position people classify them under, they often feel the urge to hide their background. Students that are categorized in this particular class frequently come to school with a lower level of academic skills and involvedness than their peers that are categorized in the midd...
When a school or teacher groups students “based on their ability or achievement,” the school is practicing between-class ability grouping (Santrock 125). In many cases, between-class ability grouping is used in a high school setting as a way to group students with similar goals and skills. On the surface, between-class ability grouping appears that it benefits all students because it allows teachers to better teach students in a more focused manner. However, researchers have determined that this form of grouping harms those that are in a lower ability group (125). Recently, when I was helping out at a lower achieving high school this form of grouping was clearly evident. Students were clearly divided into classrooms based on their abilities. Each classroom was going over the same material but each classroom teacher was teaching the material differently to meet the needs of that group of students. The history classroom that was deemed an advanced placement class worked a lot smoother and the students had a good understanding of the subject as well as appropriate behavior. However, the “average” history
Research on the social and cognitive effects of grouping students in mixed-abilities versus same-abilities classrooms is gaining increasing interest among practitioners and researchers. In hopes of attaining higher scores, many schools have adopted homogeneous ability grouping. Unlike them, our school has adopted the policy of mixed ability classes where students of different academic abilities study together in the same class. Indeed, there is a lot of research in favor of heterogeneous ability grouping, but is this beneficial to us?
It can be argued that the academic performance of children has nothing to do with their socioeconomic status, because there have been many cases of children from very poor families who have excelled greatly in academics (APA, 2017). Furthermore, many predominantly high-end schools have posted poor results when compared to school with poorer backgrounds. This is despite the fact children from lower socioeconomic classes do not have access to the best forms of learning materials. The high performance of children from poor backgrounds is often attributed to the fact that they are not preoccupied with many activities which would otherwise hinder them from concentrating on their studies (Sacerdote, 2002). Therefore, some believe it is false to say that poor performance is associated with children who come from low socioeconomic classes. Rather, they believe academic achievement is genetic (Sacerdote, 2002).
In today’s educational environment, all students expect to receive the same level of instruction from schools and all students must meet the same set of standards. Expectations for students with learning disabilities are the same as students without any learning difficulties. It is now unacceptable for schools or teachers to expect less from one segment of students because they have physical disabilities, learning disabilities, discipline problems, or come from poor backgrounds. Standardize testing has resulted in making every student count as much as their peers and the most positive impact has been seen with the lowest ability students. Schools have developed new approaches to reach these previously underserved students while maintaining passing scores for the whole student body. To ensure academic success, teachers employ a multi-strategy approach to develop students of differing abilities and backgrounds. Every student is different in what skills and experiences they bring to the classroom; their personality, background, and interests are as varied as the ways in which teachers can choose to instruct them. Differentiated instruction has been an effective method in which teachers can engage students of various backgrounds and achieve whole-class success. When using differentiated instruction, teachers develop lesson strategies for each student or groups of students that provide different avenues of learning but all avenues arrive at the same learning goal.
When a individual walks into a school, he or she will see students talking, laughing, and completing assignments throughout the day. This individual can see the formal curriculum and teacher philosophies placed in conspicuous places around the school. What he or she will not see is the hidden curriculum that is being emplaced by teachers, students, and the administration. He will not see the girl with autism who can do long division in her head, or the African American boy who wanted to go to college. What he will see is the girl with autism who cannot string a complex sentence together, and an African American boy, who will most likely drop out next week. This is what tracking has done to the academic system. Although tracking is not innately a negative entity, society allows this system to become one in which, students are
As previous discussed Bernstein’s research has shown that the language of teachers and school is that of the elaborate code, this leaves students from working class backgrounds often lagging behind in the classroom. (Gibbons, 1989). Teachers themselves tend to be come from a middle class background and this in itself effects how they view their students, they will value certain cultural capitals and will be bias towards students who possess these culture capitals. (O’Higgins-Norman, 2011) For teachers to be truly inclusion in their classroom they need to teacher outside their own culture. However this is not always the case as students from working class backgrounds are often judged unfairly on language, subculture values and material factors; which all lead to lower expectation. The social background of both students and teachers effect their classroom interactions. (Gorlewski, 2011). According to Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968) result of lower expectation of students by their teacher will result in decreased performance, known as the Pygmalion effect. This study used the impact a teacher’s expectation can have on a student, so when a teacher expects students from a lower class to do badly this will happen, the student internalises this expectations and become a self fulfilling prophecy. This is particularly the case when teachers’ beliefs