student one
behavioral/emotionally disturbed (ED)
Student one was a very athletically inclined individual who was solely motivated by competitive sports. This student needed structure and clear guidelines, but had quite the sense of humor. Student one had a very difficult time managing impulsive thoughts and actions and was not confident in his/her individual reading abilities. At the beginning of the year, independent reading time was the time I started to see behaviors emerge with this student.
student two
reading impairment
Student two was a very responsible individual who was very sarcastic and playful. This student was particularly motivated by peer approval and understanding the reasoning behind things. Student two was very mathematically inclined and had great comprehension of stories. This particular student's struggle came when transferring his/her thoughts into writing.
student three
visual impairment
Student three was an incredibly quiet student who flew under the radar and did not really speak in class much. This student was particularly motivated by adult approval and loved sharing things from his/her home life. This student required enlarged text and had difficulty showing adequate comprehension and reading independently for a set amount of time. Student three was a very intelligent individual who had a spark for sharing his/her learning.
student four
other health impairment (OHI)
Student four was another quiet individual, but a powerful writer. This student excelled in writing, but was at least two grade levels below in every other subject. This student had the desire to work toward his/her reading abilities and stamina, but often chose books that were not suited for his/her level. Throughout the year, student four struggled to stay awake during class, but had an open mind and welcomed strategies and suggestions.
Culturally Responsive Teaching
I fostered an equitable and accessible learning environment, first and foremost, by offering choice during independent reading time. I differentiated instruction and specific support that each student received based off each individual student's needs. I incorporated student input and interest into our goal setting. By doing this, students told me what they wanted or needed to achieve and I adapted to those needs, taking into account my personal observations and hopes for their learning.
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I included multiple perspectives by researching various strategies to motivate and engage my students. I also learned a lot in conversations with my peers and having problem-solving conversations centered around strategies I was implementing or could implement. I relied on our resource teacher and reading specialist to provide small group instruction multiple days throughout the week and asked for their observations about student engagement and motivation.
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For example, in order to address the multiple perspectives of my students, I got to know them and their personal background; their interests. One of my students was enthusiastic about hunting, hockey, and basketball while another was incredibly passionate about comic books and Mexican food. I incorporated this knowledge into our conversations to build a bridge between the two of us. This allowed me to connect with their world and gave them ownership over our conversation; it allowed them to feel in control and confident in what we discussed because they were able to be the expert and taught me things I did not know much about.
Diverse Learning Needs
These four students were very different learners. These students all had very different interests, different academic and behavioral needs, and were motivated by very different things. One student’s sole focus was behavior and having positive behavior in the classroom. This student was very image-oriented and had a strong, seemingly negative peer influence on his or her classmates. This student's goal was to be focused and on task during independent reading time and engaged in whole group instruction to be considered a positive leader in our classroom. I wanted to increase this student's participation and completion of in-class work and time on task, or doing what was expected. Another student had a visual impairment and was below grade-level in reading. A visual impairment required me to provide this particular student with enlarged text and move at a little slower of a pace to address the gaps in his/her learning. Building a relationship with this student was particularly important because he/she was very quiet and could fade into the background. Two of these students benefited from small group instruction because they were substantially below grade level in reading and the foundational support filled in some of the gaps so they were able to participate in whole group reading. Guided note taking supported all four of my learners because it provided each of them with consistent instruction and gave them an organized way to keep notes and strategies for reading. Extrinsic motivators were tailored to each of the students’ interests and varied from pieces of candy, lunch with me, gym time with our resource teacher, helping in the office, and getting to ring the doorbell attention getter for our transitions between subjects.
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Diverse learning needs were accounted for by basing my instruction off of their personal goals and their areas where they lacked confidence in their abilities. I used many different strategies for implementation; strategies that centered around motivation, organization, and relationship building. This provided many opportunities to meet each student where they were each day they walked into our classroom. By reading each students’ IEP, or individualized education plan, I was able to identify specific areas for growth and focus on these when creating individual goals with my students. Another resource I used in order to pinpoint areas for growth was breaking down MAP data. Students are typically tested three times a year, beginning in Kindergarten, to track areas of growth and achievement. I also accounted for diverse learning needs by building a relationship with each student, finding out what interested them, and incorporating that into my instruction to promote engagement, motivation, and, ultimately, achievement.