John

John has been teaching since 2005. He teaches reading, math, and language arts in both inclusion settings as well as resource classes. The relationships he develops with his students are special to John, and he enjoys the opportunity to invest time and effort with his students sharing a sense of fulfillment with them as they become successful.

QUESTION 1: Share a challenge that you have faced in providing quality instructions for all students, including those with disabilities.

One of the challenges that John faces in providing quality instruction for students, especially his students with learning disabilities is building their self-confidence. They have often struggled in school and by the time they reach middle school they do not believe in themselves or that they can be successful in school.

QUESTION 2: What strategy or teaching method have you implemented to address these challenges?

1. One of the strategies that John uses to build confidence in his students is to give them opportunities to be successful in front of their classmates by allowing them to answer questions in class about a topic that he knows they understand and will be able to answer correctly.
2. John also tries to figure out what learning style or method that individual students use when learning a new skill, and then incorporates it into his lessons.

QUESTION 3: How and where did you learn to work with learning differences in your classroom?

John learned to work with learning differences from mentor teachers that have been willing to share information with him. He suggests that new teachers find at least one mentor that is willing to answer questions. John also suggests that teachers be proactive in finding information about how to best meet the multiple needs of students in their classes by looking for information on learning disabilities from professional resources available to teachers, as well as attending as many workshops as possible on differentiated learning.