Standard 2

	Standard 2. Understanding all Children in their many Dimensions
2.1	Know students as individuals, as learners, and be able to relate to them in a variety of ways
2.2	Be familiar with the cultures, histories, values of families
2.3	Know attributes of individual children/families with whom they work
2.4	Aware of range of students’ special needs and seek out information concerning strengths/resources to address developmental and learning needs
2.5	Use knowledge of second language acquisition, developmental variations, disabilities to support physical, emotional, social, cognitive, linguistic, intellectual, and creative development

            A teacher’s job is not just simply teaching a group of children the required curriculum for a particular grade; a teacher’s job is much more complex than that. A teacher must view her classroom as a combination of individual learners rather than a grouping of children who learn in somewhat similar ways. By understanding that each child within her classroom is an individual learner rather than a member of a group a teacher is able to identify and weave each child’s specific needs, interests, and cultures into her curriculum.

            I believe when a teacher takes the initiative to learn about her individual students, as well as their families, a teacher is provided with a improved insight of a child’s life she would have otherwise been oblivious to. A teacher is then able to utilize this information by transforming it from scattered bits of information about individual students into teaching techniques to reach all students within a classroom. She also must take this information to create engaging lessons that will trigger interest and curiosity about a subject for her students. Educators and experts in the field of curriculum development Tomlison and McTighe (2006) agree with this concept and explore this idea by stating that for effective teaching to take place teachers must “attend to at least four elements: whom they teach (students), where they teach (learning environment), what they teach (content), and how the teach (instruction). If teachers lose sight of any one of these elements and cease investing effort in it, the whole fabric of their work is damaged and the quality of learning impaired,” (p 2).

            During my sophomore year at Wheelock I was enrolled in Teaching Reading. For this class, I went to the King Elementary School in Cambridge, Massachusetts to tutor one student on four separate occasions. During the first session, I completed a ‘Reading Interests Inventory’ (artifact 2.1) with my tutee, May. The inventory asked several questions about May’s personal interests as well as what genre of books she found interesting and fun. During this meeting I conducted other reading tests with May in order to provide myself with an insight of May’s May’s strengths and weaknesses in reading. While completing these tests, I notice that May often ignored the use of contractions within reading (for example, if a sentence said ‘wouldn’t’ she would read it as ‘would’). In order to choose a book for a guided reading lesson I would create to help May with this flaw, I referred to the inventory to choose a book which correlated with May’s interests. By looking at her interests, I chose a book from the children’s mystery series, Boxcar Children, to use for my guided reading lesson. By having the inventory I was able to use a book to teach my guided reading lesson based upon her specific interests, rather than a random book she may have not enjoyed. I knew I choose the correct book for May when I only planned for May to read the first chapter but she asked if she could continue reading once my guided reading lesson plan was completed.

            I offered to attend my full-time practicum the day before students arrived to help my supervising practitioner prepare her classroom for the students. On this day, I did help her clean, organize, and prepare the classroom for the 21 third-graders who would enter the room the following day. But her main goal was to find each student’s cumulative record. Artifact 2.3 is my journal entry of this day which explains that after organizing the folders, my supervising practitioner requested that I find each student’s folder who had an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) and read through the IEP. She explained that these students would spend a majority of classroom time in the resource room (a room outside of the classroom where they would receive small-group instruction from a special education teacher) but it was still critical to be aware of which students had specific needs within the classroom.

            While organizing each child’s permanent record, my supervising practitioner asked that I write down each child’s name along with their reading level, math level, and other specific notes about the child left from their previous teacher. She explained that she found it valuable to have this information in close reach: in order to understand each individual student within her classroom. While in my seminar for full practicum we received a different type of inventory which stressed an importance upon a child’s culture and family life: rather than their academic performance. After readjusting the inventory I received in practicum to emphasize the information I found the most critical to learn about each individual student, I combined the previously developed class list into artifact 2.4, the class list I used throughout the semester.

            During my full-practicum, my supervising practitioner was absent several days throughout the semester due to family problems. Because our classroom schedule remained the same on each day and I was fully acquainted with the students, I chose to teach each lesson instead of the substitute. One morning when my supervising practitioner was out, I noticed that the resource room teacher did not arrive to take the children who receive services out of the classroom for math. I began the lesson (about adding three digit numbers) and received notice that this teacher was absent today and I would be teaching the students on my own. Previous to this, the students had left the room for each lesson that was taught and I had never experienced working with this group of children. At the conclusion of the lesson I asked for the students who left the room, as well as a few students who were struggling, to join me in the back of the room. Artifact 2.5 is my journal entry from this lesson where I explain how I adjusted the lesson for these students. By reading the IEP’s in advance, I was able to make a quick decision of how I would adjust this lesson for these students. By using manipulative and a visual chart, I was able to find the resources necessary to reach their specific learning needs.

             I believe that within this standard I still would like to develop my skills upon how to teach students with IEP’s. Even though during the summer I work with children who are on IEP’s for moderate to severe special needs I do not have ample amounts of experience adjusting curriculum for students who are on IEP’s due to learning disabilities. Once I have my own classroom, I know that I will have several students who have learning disabilities and are on IEP’s and I must be able to adjust my lesson plans for these students. Therefore, I am planning to read “The Complete Learning Disabilities Handbook” by Joan Harwell and Rebecca Jackson in order to develop skills and strategies to ensure that my students with learning disabilities are receiving the appropriate resources to accomplish all goals within my classroom. Overall, I believe a teacher has the ability to teach her students effectively once she takes the initiative to learn, discover, and understand how each individual student’s family structure, academic and social needs, as well as personal interests affect each child's learning within school. By combining all of these elements as well as linking them within her curriculum, a teacher is able to provide each child with the most efficient and valuable education they can receive.

Works Cited

Harwell, J; Jackson, R. (2008). The Complete Learning Disabilities Handbook: Ready-to-Use Strategies and Activities for Teaching Students with Learning Disabilities. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass

Tomlinson, C.A. & McTighe, J. (2006). Integrating Differentiated Instruction and

Understanding by Design. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.