Ladies and gentlemen, as we all know, education is an important part of a child's development. Yet, children learn at varying rates, with some being rapid learners and others being slow learners. I want to concentrate on teaching Title 1 pupils who encounter learning issues due to a lack of fundamental necessities and come from low-income families (Leventhal 11). These pupils are deemed slow learners and require extra care to keep up with the other students. The passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in 2001 resulted in the renewal of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). This aimed at giving the federal government oversight of schools through the imposition of measurable pre-requisites on districts or Local Education Agencies (LEA) (Taylor, O’Day and Le Floch 11).The implementation of this act mandated every state to implement comprehensive statewide education standards. This act was built on the precepts of expanding local control and flexibility, doing what works best for students, and more options for parents.
It is prudent for Title 1 teachers to develop strategic and effective lesson plans while identifying ways of connecting with their students and understand the issues that affect their learning. The students are often present with multiple distractions that make it difficult for them to concentrate in the lesson. Since their learning is impaired by various social and economic challenges that they face, it is necessary for the teacher to find out their situation in life, interests, and problems. Teachers must identify the best way to deliver instruction to the students, as the Bible states, “Train up a child in the way he should go” (Proverbs 22:2, New International Version).These would be instrumental in the development of an effective teaching mechanism that ensures Title 1 students are not disadvantaged. One of the most effective methods is tutoring and applying cooperative teaching with the aim of providing such students with specialized attention.
Cooperative teaching for Title 1 students involves more than one teacher taking the responsibility of delivering a lesson to some students or all students in the class. This is a process that involves the allocation of responsibilities among the teachers for assessment, planning, and instruction of students. Essentially, cooperative teaching is the process within which two or more teachers deliver instruction in the same class at the same time to students (Krisztina 61).
This method of teaching ensures that teachers work as teams towards the delivery of comprehensive and holistic instruction while taking into consideration the individual and educational needs of each student. Teaching strategies may be designed to achieve long-term or short-term educational goals (McMahon 196). For instance, teams can be created to ensure that a designated unit is delivered or a teaching program delivered in classes that adopt inclusion of Title 1 students.
The unique aspect of cooperative teaching is that in addition to the teacher delivering normal lessons to students, there is more than one teacher doing it at the same time. Consequently, the successful implementation of cooperative teaching requires agreement and the recognition that the responsibility of making decisions and leading the class does not fall to a single teacher, but it is a shared responsibility among the team members (DeMatthews 193). This aspect of cooperative teaching promotes the concepts of distributed function theory since each teacher is equally responsible for delivering instruction and accountable for the outcomes.
Since the delivery of instruction is not limited to teaching a class, the team members must determine how various functions are shared especially those that occur prior, during and after delivering the lesson. For instance, in an inclusive classroom, the regular and special needs teacher must decide and agree on their respective roles and duties in the development, design, and delivery of the lesson (DeMatthews 194).
Conclusion
While there are challenges facing Title 1 students, it is the onus of teachers to identify and deliver the optimal instruction strategy for such students. Cooperative teaching is an ideal strategy that ensures slow learning or disadvantaged students. This approach places focused attention on Title 1 students while attempting to improve their learning outcomes in spite of the social and economic challenges that may be facing them outside the learning environment.
Works Cited
DeMatthews, David E. “How to Improve Curriculum Leadership: Integrating Leadership Theory and Management Strategies.” Clearing House, vol. 87, no. 5, 2014, pp. 192-196.
Krisztina, Barczi. "Applying Cooperative Techniques in Teaching Problem Solving." Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal, Vol 3, no 4, Pp 61-78 (2013), no. 4, 2013, p. 61.
Leventhal, Mary Wilson. Intercultural Awareness in Rural Title 1 Elementary School Teaching Practices. ProQuest LLC, ProQuest LLC, 01 Jan. 2012.
McMahon, Brenda. "The Perpetuation of Risk: Organizational and Institutional Policies and Practices in a Title 1 School." Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, vol. 9, no. 2, 01 Nov. 2011, pp. 199-215.
Taylor, James, Jennifer O’Day and Kerstin Carlson Le Floch. State and Local implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act. U.S. Department of Education, 2010. http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED508912.pdf . Accessed 14 August 2017.
