Standard 2: Learner Differences
The teacher uses understanding of individual differences and diverse cultures and communities to ensure inclusive learning environments that enable each learner to meet high standards.
Teaching to address learner difference means understanding the strengths, needs, and developmental point of each of your students. To address this, the teacher needs to utilize a variety of teaching strategies and activities that allow students to explore content and skills in a supported yet challenging environment.
With several of my students in Early ACCESS I worked on the concept of shape matching. Each of the children I am worked with has different needs, strengths, and interests that I needed to take into account when planning activities to work on the skill. Below are three of the different examples of shape matching tools I have made for families to practice with their child at home. The first picture is a textured shape matching game. I used this game with a child with a visual impairment. Therefore the high contrast between background and the shape as well as the texture make it easier for him to distinguish the shapes. the second picture is a Disney themed shape matching game. This was selected for a boy who typically requires some aspect of a preferred activity or character in order to engage him in new activities. Therefore, incorporating Micky Mouse Characters, from one of his favorite shows, made him more willing to practice the skill. The final picture is of the original shape matching game I adapted to create the first two images. This shape matching game is appropriate for many of the children I worked with. Additionally, some of these games were left in the homes for families who didn't have materials to work with matching skills or for children who did not master the skill well enough to start introducing generalization activities with materials in the home. More about the differences in homes and working with children from culturally diverse backgrounds is addressed in my reflection from week 8 at my Early Access placement.
Also in Early ACCESS I recognized learner differences through the goals our team made for my students' IEPs and IFSPs. These goals were determined from assessments, observations, and discussions with parents and the team about what they would like to see the child accomplish. Therefore, family priorities, child developmental levels, and a variety of other factors led to the creation of different goals for each student's plan. Even in the case of my two IEP goal pages below where the students were working on similar skills, it can be reflected that their goals recognized the unique learning situations each child experiences.
Recognition of learner differences has been equally as important in my work with students in the elementary setting. In third grade one way I recognize this is through the use of leveled guided reading groups. In my classroom I have three levels of reading groups. These groups are strategic (below grade level), benchmark (at grade level), and advanced readers (above grade level), as aligned with the Lead 21 reading program. All of my students use the same theme reader text during large group instruction, but during guided reading each group has their own reading level appropriate text. All three groups read about the same general topic though so we are able to have whole class discussions and work on building further connections together. Within group, my benchmark and advanced groups work much more independently. This can be seen in the benchmark section of my Guided Reading artifact. Both my benchmark students and my advanced students had a similar independent project to work on prior to meeting with me as a group. However, my strategic readers, typically require more scaffolding when working on reading strategies as well as comprehension. Therefore, the project the other two groups worked on independently, I worked with them on in a small group setting. In all of the groups, we met together to discuss what students had found and to preview what we would work on the next day. In this way, all of my students were able to complete a similar task, however, they were given the appropriate amount of support in order to be challenged while still experiencing success with the project as well.
Another significant component of learner differences is recognizing that each child comes to school with their own unique learning experiences. This means that each student has a different set of prior knowledge which is influenced by their culture and community. I have addressed this in several different ways, but the most prominent of these is through establishing necessary background and activating prior knowledge as shown in my final artifact. Through establishing student background on the topic, I was able to provide my students with supplemental examples and vocabulary to help scaffold their reading of a text on seahorses. As can be seen in the video, even after we had read a section of the text on seahorses from the Background Knowledge Part 1 artifact, I reviewed the prior knowledge we had gained at the beginning of my Background Knowledge Part 2 artifact. This allowed for deeper comprehension of the text for both students, and helped establish a foundation of information for the student with less background on the topic to work from when reading. This approach allowed me to build off of the unique backgrounds my students had with the content to better approach the goals I had in mind for decoding and comprehension in the lesson.
These materials show that I am able to recognize the needs of each of my students that would impact their ability to complete a task or learn a new skill. Additionally, I problem solve to create activities that fit within the context of the setting the child is working in and that will be engaging for the particular child I am working with.
With several of my students in Early ACCESS I worked on the concept of shape matching. Each of the children I am worked with has different needs, strengths, and interests that I needed to take into account when planning activities to work on the skill. Below are three of the different examples of shape matching tools I have made for families to practice with their child at home. The first picture is a textured shape matching game. I used this game with a child with a visual impairment. Therefore the high contrast between background and the shape as well as the texture make it easier for him to distinguish the shapes. the second picture is a Disney themed shape matching game. This was selected for a boy who typically requires some aspect of a preferred activity or character in order to engage him in new activities. Therefore, incorporating Micky Mouse Characters, from one of his favorite shows, made him more willing to practice the skill. The final picture is of the original shape matching game I adapted to create the first two images. This shape matching game is appropriate for many of the children I worked with. Additionally, some of these games were left in the homes for families who didn't have materials to work with matching skills or for children who did not master the skill well enough to start introducing generalization activities with materials in the home. More about the differences in homes and working with children from culturally diverse backgrounds is addressed in my reflection from week 8 at my Early Access placement.
Also in Early ACCESS I recognized learner differences through the goals our team made for my students' IEPs and IFSPs. These goals were determined from assessments, observations, and discussions with parents and the team about what they would like to see the child accomplish. Therefore, family priorities, child developmental levels, and a variety of other factors led to the creation of different goals for each student's plan. Even in the case of my two IEP goal pages below where the students were working on similar skills, it can be reflected that their goals recognized the unique learning situations each child experiences.
Recognition of learner differences has been equally as important in my work with students in the elementary setting. In third grade one way I recognize this is through the use of leveled guided reading groups. In my classroom I have three levels of reading groups. These groups are strategic (below grade level), benchmark (at grade level), and advanced readers (above grade level), as aligned with the Lead 21 reading program. All of my students use the same theme reader text during large group instruction, but during guided reading each group has their own reading level appropriate text. All three groups read about the same general topic though so we are able to have whole class discussions and work on building further connections together. Within group, my benchmark and advanced groups work much more independently. This can be seen in the benchmark section of my Guided Reading artifact. Both my benchmark students and my advanced students had a similar independent project to work on prior to meeting with me as a group. However, my strategic readers, typically require more scaffolding when working on reading strategies as well as comprehension. Therefore, the project the other two groups worked on independently, I worked with them on in a small group setting. In all of the groups, we met together to discuss what students had found and to preview what we would work on the next day. In this way, all of my students were able to complete a similar task, however, they were given the appropriate amount of support in order to be challenged while still experiencing success with the project as well.
Another significant component of learner differences is recognizing that each child comes to school with their own unique learning experiences. This means that each student has a different set of prior knowledge which is influenced by their culture and community. I have addressed this in several different ways, but the most prominent of these is through establishing necessary background and activating prior knowledge as shown in my final artifact. Through establishing student background on the topic, I was able to provide my students with supplemental examples and vocabulary to help scaffold their reading of a text on seahorses. As can be seen in the video, even after we had read a section of the text on seahorses from the Background Knowledge Part 1 artifact, I reviewed the prior knowledge we had gained at the beginning of my Background Knowledge Part 2 artifact. This allowed for deeper comprehension of the text for both students, and helped establish a foundation of information for the student with less background on the topic to work from when reading. This approach allowed me to build off of the unique backgrounds my students had with the content to better approach the goals I had in mind for decoding and comprehension in the lesson.
These materials show that I am able to recognize the needs of each of my students that would impact their ability to complete a task or learn a new skill. Additionally, I problem solve to create activities that fit within the context of the setting the child is working in and that will be engaging for the particular child I am working with.