Adapting for Students who Require Challenges within the Classroom

At the beginning of every semester, teachers start out with fresh class lists and the anticipation of a great year. After about the first three weeks, many teachers are beginning to realize that a percentage of their students may need to be challenged in different ways within the classroom environment. Teachers will recognize these students as they

• are usually finished the course material quickly and easily

• often appeared bored or inattentive, yet when they are called on to answer a question regarding the material, they will be able answer without difficulty

Most classes include a small percentage of students who seem able to handle the course material so quickly and easily that they may become bored. These students will inevitably require challenges within the classroom.

What To Know

For the students who require additional challenges within the classroom, building in choice is the key to success.

The more responsibility and control these students have over their own learning the more in depth and successful that learning will become.

Students who require more challenges are often able to:

• generate a wide range of ideas

• respond in unique and unusual ways

• elaborate on their own and others' ideas

• problem solve in a skillful manner

Engaging students who are not being challenged can be difficult, especially when you are teaching with a variety of different learning levels in one classroom. Teachers must be sure that they create questions, activities and assignments that require students to synthesize and evaluate information rather than simply explain or illustrate.

Our Resources

Within our pages on adaptive dimension, we have tried to provide teachers with some practical suggestions regarding the adaptation of curriculum content and instructional process within their classrooms.

To view activity suggestions for adapting classroom instruction and curriculum content for students who require more challenges, click on the links below. Each of the pages presents an activity from one of the lessons on this website and suggestions for how to adapt the activity for students who are not being challenged.

Classroom Instruction

Curriculum Content
- Activities
- Assignments

Adapting instruction and curriculum content will help teachers to meet the individual needs of students who are not being challenged within a regular classroom environment.

Additional Resources

For more information on topics discussed on this page, please click on the links below.

• Bloom's Taxonomy - Bloom's six levels and sample questions for each level

• Gifted Education - A Resource Guide for Teachers - B.C.'s Ministry of Education offers information about teaching students who require additional challenges