Teaching Strategies

Education A sad reality in the world today is that many school children suffer academically not so much because of a lack of prowess as because of the various social and economic challenges they face. Countless children suffer economic pressures at home and have little time or energy left to pay attention to school world. More often than not, parental support for school children in these circumstances is minimal at best and non-existent at worst.

Many of these children are also from minority groups and sometimes find themselves the brunt of racial slurs and prejudice at school. It is therefore well nigh impossible to classify these children as anything other than "at risk." It is with these students in mind that numerous studies have been conducted focusing on educational strategies and programs that could assist children classified as at risk.

This literature review will focus on what educators can learn in terms of strategy from teachers working with at-risk students, researchers investigating the nature of the problems experienced by these children, and programs created to assist children within this population. Teachers Working With At-Risk Children The most valuable source of information regarding strategies for any teacher is other teachers. The situation with at-risk children is no different. Raul-Fitzpagrick's (2014) research report, for example, provides an overview of several teachers in this situation.

To collect data, the author focused on interviews with the teachers selected for the study. In addition to the strategies the teachers engaged to handle at-risk students in their classrooms, the teachers also shared their frustrations and challenges when working with such learners. From these, the author made several recommendations. These, along with the strategies used, are useful tools for others to apply in their own classrooms and their own situations.

One of the recommendations is to form a school-based team consisting of teachers and various other professionals to provide support to both teachers and learners in the at-risk situation. In addition, such a team can work together to monitor learners and determine when they need to be referred to additional support services. Early screening and testing is also a useful strategy to identify students who are at risk at a stage during which they are in a better position to be assisted than later in their academic lives.

For teachers, the suggestion is to make use of teachers with a background in special education. In addition to offering suggestions regarding how students can be assisted, these teachers can also be involved in team teaching, where special education do team work in mainstream classrooms so that at-risk learners are disrupted as little as possible in terms of the teaching process. Another important component is professional development.

Teachers need to be trained on a regular basis to ensure that they are aware of the most useful and most recent strategies for assisting students in the at-risk situation. It is only with a solid basis of understanding and training that teachers can effectively assist at-risk students. Finally, Paul-Fitzpatrick (2014) suggests the involvement of parents. As mentioned, parental involvement in the academic lives of at-risk students is more often than not minimal or non-existent.

By involving parents in the educational process via education and collaboration programs, and support sessions, they can be encouraged to become a more active part of their children's lives. Furthermore, the author argues for a more parent- and community-friendly school environment to encourage parent participation. As for strategy, the teachers interviewed used classroom actions such as peer tutoring and positive reinforcement to encourage learner participation and improvement, especially for at-risk students. They also made use of educational programs to gain extra support for the students identified as at risk.

Lanier and Glasson (2014) also focused on teacher strategies to educate readers about the possibilities for assisting at-risk students in mainstream classrooms. These authors, however, identify an extra component involved in classifying students as at risk. It has been mentioned above that not only mental prowess (or lack thereof), but also factors like poverty and racism could affect a student's ability to perform at school. As such, the authors identified ways to assist these kinds of students.

For their investigation, the authors investigated a teacher who has proven to be successful in promoting effective learning among the African-American population in her classroom. Various characteristics and strategies were identified that set this particular teacher apart from others in her peer group in terms of her success with students. The findings of the study suggest that the most important factor is a the expectations that "all students can learn" (Lanier and Glasson, 2014).

This foundation encourages other strategies such as connecting the students' home life with the school environment and curriculum. Parental involvement can do much to encourage this component as well. The teacher investigated also implemented effective classroom management and instructional practices, where students were required to participate in group discussions, classroom discussions, and practical laboratory work. All the students interviewed indicated that these strategies were extremely effective.

Although this investigation was done for a science classroom, the strategies can be implemented across the curriculum where teachers are facing challenges with at-risk students. Challenges Associated with Being Classified as "At Risk" It is sometimes easy to forget that not only teachers face challenges when attempting to bring at-risk students into the privilege of education, but that students themselves are significantly disadvantaged in terms of motivation and the sheer ability to rise above their circumstances.

This factor is investigated by Wolniak, Rude, and Rekoutis (2012), who made a study of at-risk students who successfully overcame their at-risk status and entered higher education. The authors list three basic findings. First, socioeconomic status has a significant effect on college enrollment rates for at-risk students, where affluent households are disproportionately represented. However, the second finding suggests that at-risk students who are actively involved in their communities during high school tend to be more likely to enroll in four-year colleges.

The third finding is that at-risk students who consciously and actively regard their disadvantaged status as motivation to improve themselves via study are more likely to be what the authors refer to as "resilient" and enroll in college. What teachers can learn from this is to devise strategies for encouraging at-risk students to participate in their communities and to use their adversity as a stepping stone for improvement rather than regarding it as a stumbling block. Programs to Assist At-Risk Students.