teens

Teenagers: teaching mixed ability teens Many teachers complain that they have problems dealing with classes that are mixed ability. The characteristics of such classes are: • While some students follow the lesson and are able to answer questions and do... More

Teenagers: teaching mixed ability teens Many teachers complain that they have problems dealing with classes that are mixed ability. The characteristics of such classes are: • While some students follow the lesson and are able to answer questions and do well in tests, others fall behind, don’t seem to understand and do badly in tests. • While some students pay attention and are cooperative, others ‘misbehave’ and seem disinterested. • Teachers feel concerned that they are not challenging the high-achievers enough and at the same time are not giving enough help to those who are not doing as well. • Teachers find it hard to ‘pitch’ their lessons at a level where all students can be engaged. In the past teachers may well have said that the problem was just that some students were cleverer or simply ‘better’, but we now understand that the situation is more complex than that. Our students are indeed mixed in many ways. They are different in terms of their levels of: • Attention • Int Less