The teacher is able to choose curriculum and adapt classroom instruction to accommodate the range of cultural, learning, and experiential differences in students and ensure that each student is challenged and successful. (InTASC #2)
The classroom is not a homogeneous grouping of students, and, in addition to developmental differences and exceptional learner needs, each student brings a different set of background knowledge, cultural experiences, skills, and strengths into the learning community that affect perceptions and ability to master the material. By identifying and understanding the differences among the students, I can select curriculum and instructional materials that will interest and engage each student and allow meaningful connections with the content. With these principles in mind, I compiled a multi-modal, multi-genre text set to provide a wide variety of resources on a topic and I incorporated a final project that enabled students to demonstrate their understanding of the unit through the personal connections they made. for each lesson, I collaborated with teachers of exceptional students to ensure that my lessons included accommodations that enabled students to have full access to the content.
“Storytelling with Textiles”
I compiled a multi-modal, multi-genre text set on the topic of “Storytelling with Textiles.” This set of resources provides students with multiple modes or mediums of information–print media, audio files, and visual artifacts–and offers them a variety of ways to connect with the topic information. The set also includes texts from multiple genres or categories, including picture books, fiction, how-to books, magazine articles, and news reports. In addition, the various reading levels of the texts included in the set enable students to access the topic content at their own development levels. The multi-modal, multi-genre aspects demonstrate to students that information can be presented in a variety of formats that can all be utilized for learning. The set also includes resources pulled from multiple cultures and experiences, which should allow students more opportunities to make personal connections based on their own backgrounds and interests. Finally, the set is dynamic, allowing for additions and deletions as new resources are discovered or needed or as others become outdated.
MAUS Final Project
Just as the methods of learning and the sources of information utilized will differ among students with varying backgrounds, their methods of demonstrating their mastery should reflect their interests and strengths. The final assessment for the MAUS novel study gave students options in selecting the type of project they would complete. Whether student interest was grounded in gaming, art, writing, social media, music, or podcasting, the final project allowed students freedom to choose their formats, as well as the focus of their analysis or interpretation. Students also had the option of proposing their own ideas for projects and meeting with me for approval. Exercising choice in their projects did not diminish the requirement to demonstrate their understanding of the content and their ability to apply that content in a new way.
“Failures of Flight” accommodations
I designed the “Failures of Flight” lesson plan to give 7th grade students an opportunity to practice their summarizing, paraphrasing, and quoting skills, as well as introduce them to citing their sources. The same lessons were taught to both advanced and collaborative classes. Therefore, in addition to considering the different cultures and experiences represented in the classes, I had to plan for a wide range of development levels, skills, and abilities. In collaboration with the subject teacher and the Special Education teacher, I identified the accommodations needed to make the lesson and the project accessible, engaging, and challenging for the students. These items included choosing resources with audio options, incorporating visual elements, making printed notes available, and developing templates for note-taking and the final project.