(a) Name the three instructional arrangements that are teacher-directed and require continuous teacher participation. (b) Compare and contrast the benefits and limitations for students with special needs. (c) Defend your viewpoint on which arrangement best serves students with different learning needs

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

(a)
- large group instruction
- small group instruction
- one student with teacher

(b)

ADVANTAGES:

LARGE GROUP
- Time efficient
- Helpful for secondary school and college
- Helps transition from special education to general education
- Allows for general education and special education teachers to co-teach

SMALL GROUP
- Students able to participate more
- Teacher able to provide more instruction/praise/ feedback
- Students progress at own rate
- Less boring
- Teachers able to monitor progress better and make teaching modifications
- More comfortable for students with learning differences
- Structured for students with learning and behavior problems

ONE STUDENT
- Helps student learn new skill
- Appropriate for students who are learning skills different from rest of the class
- Student has opportunity to receive instructional feedback
- Can be used spontaneously to prevent or relieve frustration
- Teachers can give students having difficulty at first opportunity

DISADVANTAGES:

LARGE GROUP
- Does not allow for teacher to deal easily with diverse abilities and skill levels
- Questions may go unanswered
- Distracted students may remain off task
- Students who need more intensive instruction may fail to receive it
- Too slow for high-ability students; too fast for low-ability students
- Behavior problems likely to result because of boredom and frustration

SMALL GROUP
- Teacher prep time and managing students doing their seatwork while others in small group
- Students required to do more seatwork
- Teachers must organize more instructional variables (grouping students, managing transitions, monitoring seatwork activities while teaching)
- Teachers must provide more instruction in the respective academic or content area
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ONE STUDENT
- Teachers must plan activities, such as seat work, peer tutoring, computer-assisted instruction, or cooperative learning activities for the rest of the class.