Focus on how you communicate with students in order to identify learning challenges. Describe how you work with students who are unable to identify these challenges for themselves.

"Several years ago, I was employed teaching ESL classes to Syrian refugees. We met on a weekly basis and worked our way through a curriculum designed to help them develop intermediate English-speaking skills. When we arrived at the unit focused on phrasal verbs, I realized that while the class was able to grasp individual meanings of the verbs we studied, the majority struggled to apply them in conversation. Because there are only eight students in the class, it is easy for me to meet with them individually and address any issues they might be having.

During these discussions, I began to realize that I would have to alter my planned lessons in order to focus more on the grammatical and structural applications of the phrasal verbs. I moved the role-play scenarios to the end of the week and replaced them with one-on-one conversations between students for which I could offer feedback and personalized assistance. This strategy helped the students retain the meaning of the new vocabulary as well as how to use them in daily conversation."

"During college, I started teaching hip-hop dance classes to teenagers at a nearby community center. While the students were full of passion and talent, they had a difficult time focusing during class and many had behavioral challenges. One day, a fight broke out between two of the participants, and I spoke with them separately to remind them of the rules of the program. However, I also wanted to give them an opportunity to talk about anything that might be bothering them, and both revealed significant personal struggles at home and school.

After talking this out for several minutes, both students felt relieved and reenergized to participate in class. They even worked together without conflict. As a result of this experience, I built sharing and reflection time into the beginning and end of each class; this was a chance for the students to talk about anything they wanted to. Thus, the class became an outlet for personal and creative expression; this addition not only enhanced the students' ability to learn new dance moves but also helped ease interpersonal tensions between students and established a greater level of empathy between them."