Scenario Response 9

Within a whole class setting there would be a balance of direct instruction, hands on activities and variations of instruction modalities to hit all learners/learning styles.  Very specific, clear instructions, with visual supports to assist the learners would be evident.  Class would foster opportunities for critical thinking and cooperative exploration. Technology could help enhance the class/overall experience.

With paired learning or peer tutoring, I would connect field-dependent learners with more field-independent learners so that dyadic relationships can be made and the duos would work in tandem to  create a supportive learning environment for development of language skills. Collaboration on class projects would be evident and there would be modeling present/visible.   Students can question/answer one another and allow the independent learner guide the dependent learner through activities, tasks, assignments until the dependent learner builds confidence and growth towards a higher level of functioning and independence. 

For small groups in class instruction, there would be task progressions built in that would range from simple to complex tasks.  Students would take on roles and share opportunities for those roles.  Promotion of conversations, cooperation, guided inquiry task sharing would be evident.  Groups could role model/role play activities with various levels of staff support.    By starting with guided discussions or role-play exercises that offer structured support for and as groups move from dependent to independent, fade out the level of staff support that is implemented/used.   

With one-to-one student learning sessions there should be a focus on more focus/individualized instruction that is tailored to meet the unique needs of the learner.  There will be more opportunity for student/task specific feedback as the set-up is more focused in nature.  Additional opportunities for tailored/targeted skill work will assit the dependent learners shift to being a more independent learner through the supports from 1:1 instruction and higher levels of specific feedback.  As they improve skills, confidence will also improve.  Students will take more risks in the learning and become less dependent on staff.