INTASC+3

INTASC 3

Reflection of INTASC 3: Differentiation and Diversity For classroom instruction, it is important to always consider and plan activities based around the diversity of students. Within INTASC 3, instructors explore the idea of differentiation and diversity in the classroom environment. Considering the ideas of diversity and differentiation, we recognize the idea that many students will vary with academic ability, race, culture, and ethnicity. It is these aspects that we must consider with developing our instructional styles. Many students will need specific learning and academic accommodations such as extra time on exams, texts and directions read aloud, and technological aides for assistance. It is our job to be sure that these students are not only accommodated for these specific needs, but we must be sure that they are comfortable asking for assistance. We might also be faced with the challenge of instructing students who might not have English as their second language. For these English Language Learners, we must be sure that we incorporate specific images relevant to our lessons, constantly repeat directions, model specific activities, and review specific vocabulary important to our lesson in a more detailed and precise manner. These academic accommodations will not only assist the students with the specifications, but it will also assist every other student in the classroom. Visuals, models, and repeating directions are all meant to clarify what we are asking for an assignment. The differentiation is not only helpful to everyone, but it also allows for a comfortable classroom environment where every student receives the same opportunity for success. It is also important to consider the different backgrounds of our students in our classroom. Classes are becoming more and more multicultural, so it is important to be open to many different perspectives in the classroom and not hold any bias for a specific class, race, or culture. One activity to perform in an English classroom might be to have students create a poem about specific aspects that define them as an individual. Students can be open to reveal important aspects of their life, religion, culture, and individual backgrounds that might reveal different aspects of themselves that even many other classmates weren’t aware of. This activity not only introduces the students to each other on a deeper, more personal level, but it also allows the rest of the class to explore different cultures, religions and ways of life. Furthermore, it creates a very comforting and inviting atmosphere for a classroom environment. Another consideration to help incorporate differentiation and diversity into your classroom could be to incorporate more multicultural texts into the curriculum or even just as an available reading selection on the classroom bookcase. Differentiation and diversity play a major role within the classroom environment because it allows every student the best opportunity for success and it also allows the student to be viewed as an important individual within the classroom. Every student and every accommodation and background must have an influence on how we plan our daily lessons. If we are to connect with our students in order to motivate them and get them engaged, we must first discover their unique learning styles and background influences. With this knowledge, every student can feel appreciated, safe, and well accounted for with your instruction and classroom environment.



Reflection A: “The teacher integrates a multicultural perspective in instruction” Within INTASC 3, I have decided to showcase my lesson plan of a storyboard based upon specific events within the //Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave//. I believe that within this lesson, students are given the opportunity to explore specific aspects of Frederick Douglass’s life as an African American slave. This lesson plan demonstrates my understanding and implementation of INTASC 3, because I was able to not only use Frederick Douglass’s perspective from his Narration, but I was also able to discuss specific aspects of American History from the African American point of view. Within my lesson of Frederick Douglass and his Narrative, I have asked students to closely examine and understand the hardships that an African American slave had to undergo at such a time in our history. It is extremely important to explore different texts and perspectives in literature and writing within the classroom. In a world with so many ethnicities, religious views, political perspectives, and perspectives in general, it is important that we educate students on the many different insights and perspectives on in the classroom to try to eliminate bias, stereotypes, and misunderstandings of different viewpoints. By discussing and examining these different aspects, we will be creating an understanding and appreciation for different cultures and viewpoints, but we will also be creating an aspect of positive student learning. We might help students understand each other, the people around them, and perhaps even allow them to feel more comfortable within their environment. By planning, teaching, and analyzing different forms of multicultural texts and ideas, we are opening up a world to tolerance and appreciation of self and others for our students.



Reflection B: “The teacher creates instructional opportunities that are differentiated for diverse learners” As another artifact that is relevant to Differentiation and Diversity, I chose to showcase my Directed Reading Lesson for Jack London’s “To Build a Fire.” Within my Directed Reading Lesson, I was sure to include many forms of differentiation for the many different abilities within my classroom. Because fourteen of my students were reading at independent reading level, and six students were reading within the frustration reading level, I knew that there would need to be many different forms of differentiated instruction to make this lesson effective for all of my students. This artifact provides evidence of my mastery for INTASC 3 because I found different methods of instruction for my students to best assist with their learning. For example, I used a trade book, “Exploring the Unknown” by Bradford Washburn, in order to create motivation, and a second perspective of the cold weather conditions of the Yukon Territory so all students can get a better grasp on the material they were going to be reading. Another form of differentiation, and probably the most beneficial to all of my students was the method of heterogeneous groups. Again, because I have students varying in readability levels, I have chosen to group students in pairs of one frustration readability level student and independent readability level student. In doing so, I was giving the students the opportunity to learn from instruction and to learn from each other. The higher readability student could learn more by instructing the lower readability student if needed, and the lower readability student could learn much more from the higher readability student, ultimately giving both students a better understanding of the reading. This method and the other methods mentioned within the Directed Reading Lesson foster a positive impact on student learning because differentiation implies that we are altering our lessons to better suit the needs and accommodations of our students. After we have understood the best way that our students learn, we need to find and demonstrate different methods of instruction that best help the success and academic achievement of all of our students. In doing so, we will understand how to better plan, teach, and assess students to the best of our ability, in order to help students perform to the best of their ability.