Curriculum Barriers

The Curriculum Barriers template on the CAST website helped me analyze potential barriers a student in my class may face. I was able to see the materials I was offering the student, his qualities/characteristics when presented with the materials, and potential barriers and missed opportunities he may encounter. Completing this template helped me view how I'm teaching students and ways to minimize barriers that may present themselves in any subject.

Below is a Curriculum Barriers template I created for a student in my class. This student is an ESL learner who struggles in math. His language barrier and low achievement level have an affect on his overall math ability.

Materials and Methods	Student Qualities	Potential Barriers/Missed Opportunities
Subject Matter	Poor self-confidence regarding math	Does not apply himself. Often requires reassurance.
Discussion (whole class/small group)	Does not participate in whole class discussions and has difficulty paying attention (even when students are brought to the carpet instead of working at their desks). He participates and stays focused in small group discussions with teacher guidance.	Does not understand the concept of the lesson. Unable to apply what he has learned independently. None
Individual Assignments/Activities (centers)	He enjoys moving and completing a variety of activities in the class.	Easy for him to become distracted with the atmosphere of the room. Requires teacher check-in and guidance.
Manipulatives (choice)	Responds well to having a choice of manipulatives that work best for him. Uses them to complete problems more easily.	None
Textbook	He has trouble following along a in a textbook and transferring answers to questions in his notebook.	Does not transfer problems/answers for textbook correctly. Misses important concepts of the lesson.
Homework	Forgotten or completed with many errors. Parents speak Spanish at home and are unable to provide assistance if needed.	Parents only speak Spanish and are unable to provide much assistance if needed. Without teacher/parent review, work is completed incorrectly. Is not getting the necessary practice at home of the skills/concepts learned that day.
Chapter Test	Struggles with reading questions and directions independently. Testing needs to be chunked so that he is not completing at one time.	He has difficulty reading the questions and understanding what is being asked due to being an ESL student. He will answer problems incorrectly due to not understanding the language not because he didn't know the answer. He becomes overwhelmed with the amount of questions requiring completion.