Standard 4-Diverse Learners
“Uses strategies to deliver instruction that meets the multiple learning needs of students.”
A variety of teaching strategies must be used in order to meet the needs of every student. Direct instruction is necessary, but it is not enough to create meaningful and effective learning experiences. New ideas must be practiced, applied, tested, and discussed. Using different technologies is another way to vary teaching strategies. Part of being a good teacher is knowing what teaching strategies to use, based on the content being taught and the needs of students. However, it is also important to be flexible and use the feedback students continually give us as to what strategies and pacing should be used. Because technology has made research literature widely available, I have access to many instructional strategies. It is my duty to continue to learn about and implement research-based strategies that have been tested.
In order to meet the needs of diverse learners it is important to understand the meaning of diversity. Diversity includes culture, physical appearance, learning style, values, and background. It is critical to learn about the differences that students bring to the classroom. It is critical to build a relationship with each of my students so that I can better understand their culture, interests, and struggles.
Because it is almost impossible for a single lesson to be perfectly adapted to the interests and learning style of every student, a variety of teaching strategies and assessment techniques must be used. It also important to identify students that require differentiation. Some students may need more scaffolding, while others will need more challenging, in-depth content. For students whom I am unsure how to help, I must ask the many resources available including ELL and special education specialists.
As a teacher, I receive continuous feedback from students as to whether my strategies are successful. It is my responsibility to use that feedback to modify what and how I am teaching.
A variety of teaching strategies must be used in order to meet the needs of every student. Direct instruction is necessary, but it is not enough to create meaningful and effective learning experiences. New ideas must be practiced, applied, tested, and discussed. Using different technologies is another way to vary teaching strategies. Part of being a good teacher is knowing what teaching strategies to use, based on the content being taught and the needs of students. However, it is also important to be flexible and use the feedback students continually give us as to what strategies and pacing should be used. Because technology has made research literature widely available, I have access to many instructional strategies. It is my duty to continue to learn about and implement research-based strategies that have been tested.
In order to meet the needs of diverse learners it is important to understand the meaning of diversity. Diversity includes culture, physical appearance, learning style, values, and background. It is critical to learn about the differences that students bring to the classroom. It is critical to build a relationship with each of my students so that I can better understand their culture, interests, and struggles.
Because it is almost impossible for a single lesson to be perfectly adapted to the interests and learning style of every student, a variety of teaching strategies and assessment techniques must be used. It also important to identify students that require differentiation. Some students may need more scaffolding, while others will need more challenging, in-depth content. For students whom I am unsure how to help, I must ask the many resources available including ELL and special education specialists.
As a teacher, I receive continuous feedback from students as to whether my strategies are successful. It is my responsibility to use that feedback to modify what and how I am teaching.
A poem that sums it up nicely...
Kids Who Are Different by Digby Wolfe, 1982 Here's to the kids who are different, The kids who don't always get A's, The kids who have ears twice the size of their peers, And noses that go on for days... Here's to the kids who are different, The kids they call crazy or dumb, The kids who don't fit, with the guts and the grit, Who dance to a different drum... Here's to the kids who are different, The kids with the mischievous streak, For when they have grown, as history's shown, It's their difference that makes them unique! |
Word SortA word sort is just one of the vocabulary review strategies that I find effective. It is especially helpful for tactile learners and those who like to debate. In this activity, I give students a set of 27 words on note cards and ask them to organize them in order to show how the words are related to each other. I put students in groups of four, and give each a role: 1 justifier, 2 word sorters, and 1 presenter. This ensures that all students have an active role. I like that there are not right or wrong answers for this activity, as long as students are able to justify their arrangement.
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Reflection-Shadowing a StudentThis artifact is a reflection that was written after a shadowed one of my freshman girl students for a day. As a bonus, I was also able to observe each of her teachers throughout the day. It was important to get more of an insider’s look at this generation, because so much has changed since I was in school. I was able to observe many outside factors that affect learning that I would not otherwise have been exposed to.
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Chapter Reflections on "Free to Be"“Free to Be – Understanding and Eliminating Racism” (by Thomas Peacock and Marlene Wisuri). This book discusses the importance of acknowledging and discussing racism in order to prevent, alleviate, and reduce it. In the document below, I have summarized and reflected on each chapter as I read. This book was a reminder that racism is still present in our current world. While reading this book I reflected on ways to approach race with my students. I particularly enjoyed the first chapter of this book because it pointed out that race is something that was invented by humans. We are all the same species, Homo sapiens, but have evolved different adaptations to different environments. This part of diversity is something I am able to easily connect to biology content.
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Culturally Relevant Reading ReflectionThese reflections were completed before, during, and after reading an article about culturally relevant teaching. The key point in this article was that successful teaching of low income, non-white student stems from changing how we think about social contexts, students, curriculum, and instruction. Teachers that practice culturally relevant teaching use everything they can learn about their students’ needs, abilities, and culture to redesign curriculum. There is no set way to help different cultures, rather teachers must first change the way that they think about students of color. Because students of color often have unfamiliar cultures and backgrounds, we must first get to know them. This will change how we think and allow us to customize what we do in the classroom to our students’ lives.
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TPA Instruction CommentaryThis artifact was taken from my TPA work. (The TPA is an assessment developed by Stanford that measures how a teacher plans, documents and analyzes student learning, reflects on their teaching, and adjusts future teaching. See here for more information.) For this commentary I analyzed video clips of myself and explained how my instruction (activities, discussions, and teaching strategies) motivated and engaged students. I explain the reasoning behind my lessons. I also evaluated how well students constructed explanations of their lab experiments and understand related academic language.
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Synthesis
The artifacts above allowed me to reflect on how a student learning is influenced by a student’s environment, background, and culture. This standard shows the importance of building relationships with students in order to understand factors that are influencing their learning. I can then adapt the content I teach so that it is students of all cultures and backgrounds can relate to it.
All of my instructional strategies have two goals in common: 1) to make students think 2) to maximize student learning. For this standard I have highlighted some of the techniques I use to further student learning. It is important to vary these strategy as every student learns differently.&nb
All of my instructional strategies have two goals in common: 1) to make students think 2) to maximize student learning. For this standard I have highlighted some of the techniques I use to further student learning. It is important to vary these strategy as every student learns differently.&nb