As a high school resource teacher in northern California, I am concerned about how hard my students have to struggle with school, not because they are not intelligent; in fact the contrary is true. For the most part, the resource students I have worked with over the years are bright, wonderful people who work heroically in classrooms without success. By the time resource students reach middle and high school they have come to think of themselves as failures. As a resource teacher, my job becomes one of attempting to help my students rebuild a belief in their own capabilities.
As part of my Masters Degree work through Sonoma State University, I have researched and compiled strategies that general education teachers can use in their middle and high school classrooms, strategies which will create a healthy learning atmosphere for the students in their rooms who have learning disabilities and, at the same time, for the students who have no disabilities. The reality is, they are one in the same.For this web page I chose strategic topics collected from a review of the current educational literature and supplemented them with information from teacher surveys and student focus groups. The key to working successfully with students is to pay close attention to the students themselves. Notice what works for them and what doesn't. Provide lots of variety in the delivery of new information, assignments, projects, and tests. If they aren't "getting it" look to your own presentation before determining that they aren't doing well. Dare to ask the students what works for them, and listen when they talk. Above all, remember that you are teaching students, not English, or history, or science.