How to prevent spreading yourself too thin...

Scenario: Instructional methods and skills, mainstreaming of students, gifted and talented, special students, ESL students, visual teaching a learning, educational games.

Main problem: Spreading yourself too thin between so many high need students.

Questions:

1. Is this situation typical in most schools? This situation is very relevant in most schools. In calgary in particular, it is a city where many new students immigrate to. This makes it very likely that each teacher will have several student's in their class to whom English is their second language. Learning disabilities as well as gifted students will be found in every single classroom. There is always a mix of students with different family backgrounds, learning styles and challenges in all classrooms.

2. How can art teachers accommodate different learning styles and needs among their students? To accommodate all learning styles and needs in students, teachers must tier and scaffold their lessons. Every activity should have skill building exercises that lead up to the final experience in order to assure that every student has the tools to excel in their final product. The projects should be flexible in their level of difficulty and understanding level. Open ended results should be available to those who will have the skills to take it there, and a more guided approach should be available to those who need more structure.

3. Is it important for teachers to develop a range of instructional skills? It is extremely important that teachers develop a range of instructional skills. If a teacher can only teach the subject matter in one way, they will have their message lost on many students. The varied learning needs of students calls for teachers to have the same variety of instructional skills in their tool box for their students.

4. How can art teachers get the most of the visual nature of their subject? Art teachers can get the most of the visual nature of their subject by also using other ways of teaching it (auditory, and kinesthetic). Art is so accessible to all types of learning and can be taught in countless ways. To make the most of the visual aspect the teacher should try and develop the "artist eyes" of their students by exposing them to many different kinds of art and ways of looking at art. Teachers should foster skills in looking at objects and learning to observe accurately. They can used other kinds of "eye" to teach their student alternate ways of looking. Examples could be photography, microscopes, binoculars, magnifying glasses, or ways of restricting the student's vision.