INTASC+Standard+03

__INTASC Standard 03__

The teacher understands how students differ in their approaches to learning and creates instructional opportunities that are adapted to diverse learners.

__Specific Category of Standard 03__

INTASC.3.B. The teacher knows about exceptionality in learning--including learning disabilities, visual and perceptual difficulties, and special physical or mental challenges. INTASC.3.C. The teacher knows about the process of second language acquisition and about strategies to support the learning of students whose first language is not English.

__Understanding Sentence__

The teacher realizes that his or her classroom is a diverse community with unique needs and plans activities that respond to the class's differing needs.

__Artifacts__


 * Service Learning and Reflective Journal: Working with a student with Attention Deficit Disorder
 * How-To Essay for incorporating English Language Learners into my classroom

__Reflect__

My service learning and reflective journal to INTASC.3.B. in that I worked 10 hours with a student with a disability. In my journal, I revealed how this impacted me as a future educator and how I can accommodate students with Attention Deficit Disorder in the future. Working with an exceptional student and making gains in the student's learning (as documented in the journal) is evidence that I have experience and know how to work with students with disabilities. My how-essay is a short paper (5 pages) on accommodating English language learners into my classroom. This includes reading and writing strategies, classroom procedure, respecting and responding to culture, as well as collaborating with parents, professionals, and the surrounding community to meet the needs of a diverse classroom. This directly relates to INTASC.3.C. in that it includes reading and writing strategies for students whose first language is not English as well as strategies for helping English language learners feel more secure in the classroom.

__Project__ Although I have learned this before, I have come to see how important it is to know how to accommodate all your students. When students come into your classroom, each of them brings some kind of emotional baggage and a different set of expectations. Working with the student in my service learning project and writing my how-to essay have helped me to think and analyze exactly what I need to consider when serving a diverse population in the classroom. This has greatly contributed to my evolving philosophy about how I want students to interact with each other and how I am going to build trust into my classroom. Unless I build trust and meet the basic needs of my student (like security), they will not be able to learn nearly as much as I would like. My student in the service learning journal is a prime example of this. These projects have also helped me to clarify just how much my attitude towards exceptional students and those whose first language is not English will affect how the rest of the class will treat and respect them.