Teaching Strategies for Learning Differences

Teaching Strategies for Learning Differences

Biblical curriculum

Curriculum: teaching a life of success

Curriculum materials

Individualized, multi-sensory learning

Whole school is limited to 8 students

Children help each other

Assessment

Individual learning centers

Daily life activities: practical application

Outdoor activities

Because children diagnosed with learning differences - whom we call specialized learners - process information and learn differently than other people, teaching strategies must be different as well. But teaching strategies alone aren't enough to bring a human life to fulfillment; only God can do this.

Biblical curriculum

We're truly a Christian school. At Reach Out Christian School, Inc., the Bible is our basic teaching guide. We use special teaching strategies for specialized learners, to make the Biblical teachings come alive for each student in the day's lessons and daily activities. Each day begins with a theme from the Bible, which is woven into all the lessons and activities of the day.

Remember our goals:

• To encourage a child through God's love

• To instill in a child the desire to learn

• To confirm a child's uniqueness

Woven throughout every lesson and activity is care for the child's self-esteem and desire to learn. You can see how this flows naturally from our desire to communicate Biblical teachings of God's love.

Curriculum: teaching a life of success

The core subjects are math, language arts, history, and science. We also offer music, fine art, performing arts, and a wide range of crafts and industrial arts.

While we are disciplined and consistent in teaching our curriculum, our focus is on the child as a whole. In a larger sense, we teach all aspects of life. We are really teaching one simple thing: success.

While we certainly teach reading, writing, and arithmetic, we've found that three different R's are even more important:

• Reverence of God,
• Responsibility for Self and Others, and
• Resourcefulness of Talents.

The school establishes standards of behavior. School rules promote self discipline, good health habits, and respect for others. Daily chores promote personal accountability as well as appreciation for the school. A system of school rewards helps students learn to succeed.

Many of our lessons and activities build self esteem, social skills, responsibility, and simply knowing how to succeed. Therapeutic animal care builds responsibility, self confidence and relationship skills. We have horses, miniature donkeys, pygmy goats, and loving dogs, as well as fish and ducks. Caring for these animals is a special treat.

The performing arts program also develops self esteem and social skills. The wide range of art experiences enables us to discover each child's interests and talents. Charlotte Gresham teaches many craft skills, from making soap to simple rug hooking.

Wayne Gresham supervises a fully equipped industrial arts shop that includes basic woodworking and metalworking equipment. Basic drawing, painting, drafting and modeling equipment is available as well.

Pictured above: an art learning center

Curriculum materials:

The school combines a Christian based, Biblical curriculum with a specialized learning curriculum. We use a variety of educational materials in order to meet each individual child's needs and learning style:

• Home-schooling
• Christian-schooling
• Literacy programs
• Learning processes
• Learning differences

Individualized, multi-sensory learning

Our teaching strategies for "learning differences" emphasize multi-sensory, hands-on activities that enable the student to grasp ideas and develop skills that would be inaccessible otherwise. This sensory integration is extremely important in building new concepts.

Each classroom is equipped with a full range of helpful materials designed exactly for these teaching strategies.

A one-room school for 8 students

We limit the number of students in the entire school to eight. Rather than divide the students by grade level or age, we have one small class of eight students - like an old-fashioned one-room school. This means that each child receives truly individualized attention. 

While other children in the class are working with hands-on sensory tasks, the teacher gives one-on-one instruction to one child at a time. This is important to help the child overcome specific deficiencies, or to get an introduction to a new kind of information. It builds a strong, positive relationship between the teacher and each child. And of course, the teacher can adjust the teaching methods to match the child's specific learning style.

Children help each other

To reinforce and further develop the one-on-one learnings, the students work together. Often they solve challenges as a team effort. This helps them learn problem solving and organizational skills.

The children help each other, which builds self-esteem and social skills. There's an old saying that the best way to learn something is to teach it; we've found this to be quite true for our students.

Assessment

Testing services are included in the school tuition. We use the test results to help identify each student's strengths and weaknesses, as well as the student's best style of learning.

Assessment is ongoing, focusing on the student's strengths. Every day the teacher makes both mental and written notes about what the student is learning. Each student advances according to his or her own natural rate of progress. The school uses no formal grade levels or letter grades, since such labeling usually works counter to our goals. Students also evaluate themselves - an excellent skill that they can use all their lives.

Individual learning centers

Although many activities and lessons are done in the group, there are also individual student learning centers. These are comfortable, cozy places that help the student concentrate. Each center is equipped for a particular focusing sensory learning experience. Each center has materials and supplies for a specific kind of learning. One is for writing, another for tactile experiences, another for computer learning, one for visual skills.

Daily life activities: practical application

Of course the day's learnings are reinforced in all the activities, not just in the classroom. Practical application of ideas and skills is extremely important. By sharing everyday activities at the school, the students learn the diet, exercise, and patterns of success that will serve them well through their whole lives. Chores and practical projects not only build responsibility and self esteem; they reinforce classroom lessons as well.

The main classroom building has a living room with a piano, plus a kitchen and dining area. We sing, play, cook, and eat together. Everything we do reinforces not only the lessons in math, language, history and science, but self esteem and social skills as well. Success builds on success.

Outdoor Activities

Many of the activities take place outdoors, such as:

• nature hikes for exploring and discovering God's world,

• outdoor cooking at the grill or campfire ring,  to heighten the imagination for food preparation,

• recreational games for developing balance, coordination, and motor skills.

We also take field trips. Participating in a variety of activities is stimulating to the students, which is vital. This is the best way the students learn - by involvement.

Pictured above: part of the Triple R Ranch campus, home to Reach Out Christian School, Inc. and to Charlotte and Wayne Gresham.