Teaching and Accommodation Strategies
While the CTE provides recommended formal accommodations, faculty members can use teaching strategies that cater to diverse learners in the classroom every day. Follow these tips to create an inclusive, well-rounded classroom that accommodates every type of student.
1. Make class syllabi and texts available during class registration, when possible. Be available during this registration period to discuss class content and your teaching style with students who have disabilities who may be interested in your course.
2. Begin lecture/discussions with a review of the previous lecture and an overview of topics to be covered that day.
3. Use the board, or overhead projector, to outline lecture material; when practical, read the outline aloud. Use PowerPoint with a handout version for students to follow the material and take small notes right on the packet.
4. Emphasize important points, main ideas, and key concepts during lecture and highlight them on an overhead/board/screen.
5. Speak distinctly and at a relaxed pace, pausing occasionally for students to ask questions or to catch up on their note-taking, or for an interpreter to catch up.
6. Try to diminish, or eliminate, auditory and visual classroom distractions, such as noise in the hallway or flickering fluorescent lights.
7. Provide opportunities for participation, questions, and/or discussion during or at the end of each lecture.
8. Learn whether material was understood by students by asking volunteers to give examples or summaries.
9. Give assignments in writing, as well as orally, and be available for further clarification.
10. Provide time lines for long-range assignments, and suggest the submission of rough drafts at appropriate points. When possible, give students a realistic time frame to complete large assignments.
11. Provide time during office hours for individual discussion of assignments, questions about lectures, and readings. Faculty may also want to make Teaching Assistants, Graduate Assistants, or other help available if they observe students to be struggling to understand course content.
12. Provide a study guide for the test, study questions, and offer review sessions to aid in mastering material and preparing for exams.
13. Help students to form study groups to verbally process and discuss material from class and readings.
14. Encourage peer collaboration by pairing students off for assignments or other creative methods (Show students how to find the class email list in D2L and encourage communication through this.)
15. Ask all students who disclose a disability how you, as a professor, can help facilitate their learning.
16. Encourage students to use the Office of Student Support & Success and the Counseling Center.
17. Make use of web-based D2L computer program offered for Faculty use.
18. Taking breaks and preferential seating may be helpful to many students who have visual impairments or need to work harder to pay attention and focus for long periods of time.
19. Every student learns differently, so it can be helpful to teach to different learning styles. Provide various ways to learn class materials- readings, videos, hands-on experiences, lectures, observations, etc.
20. Provide supplemental resources to help students comprehend course content, such as diagrams, videos, or related games.
21. Use accessible websites for your class.
22. Provide multiple ways for students to succeed by structuring your class with varying assignments, such as exams, projects, presentations, group work, written papers, readings, and hands-on experiences.
23. Refer students, as needed, to tutoring services, the writing center, the reading specialist, or other services provided by the OSSS.