Remedial Classes and Specialised Teaching Methods
In every classroom, teachers want their students to all study and progress at the same pace. However, this is not possible due to students having various limitations and levels of understanding. After adequate assessments and standardized testing, students that have difficulty keeping up with the schooling curriculum are referred to remedial classes by school. Thus, remedial classes and specialised teaching methods are essential in all schools to cater to those students that are not able to stay abreast academically. Some remedial classes entail one-to-one instruction. Whilst other remedial classes entail small group instruction. The key to successful academic support include active and increased support and attention from the remedial teacher. Remedial education consists of a remedial teacher that teaches and practices concepts at a slow and steady pace. The teacher during remedial classes concurrently identifies methods and strategies to make learning more effective by breaking down concepts into smaller bits of information in order for their students to understand. These compensatory lessons require effort and patience from the teacher as some students will take long periods of time in order to grasp certain concepts. A positive of remedial classes is that it is student dependent and learning can go at the slow and comfortable pace of the learner. Remedial classes require adequate learning material in order to facilitate effective learning. The material utilized in remedial education should consist of instructional language that is easy to understand by the learner. It should also consist of visual aids for learners that learn to retain information more visually rather than through auditory stimulation. Visual aids in remedial classes can consist of pictures, graphs, symbols, patterns, colours, shapes etc. Various teachers that facilitate academic support utilize various teaching methods. This can consist of, but is not limited to:
- Pneumonics
- Acronyms
- Repetition
- Sequencing
- Step- by-step learning
- Practice
Not all methods work for each child and thus teaching becomes child specific. The teacher therefore has to be flexible to work with each learner accordingly.
Many children benefit from extra classes and later on are able to continue with mainstream schooling once they are able to catch up with their peers. Some students are referred to remedial schools especially if they unable to stay on par with mainstream schooling. It is unfortunate that many schools do not possess reinforcement classes as this causes students to be redirected to other facilities that can cater to their needs. There is a need for remedial classes and more advocacies should be placed on their existence.
