8d: Demonstrates and understanding of and respect for all learners and staff

Professional Article: The artifact I have selected as evidence of this criterion is a professional article about teaching reading to ELL students. Although I have not had any students in my classroom up to this point who were learning English in addition to a mother tongue, with the changing nature of our population this is a very real possibility in the near future. I read this article as part of an assignment for a class titled Developmental Reading within my Masters' course sequence. Taking the time to focus on the needs of diverse learners and prepare myself to instruct all students most effectively is one way that I demonstrate understanding and respect for all learners.

Guest Speaker: An additional piece of evidence of how I demonstrate an understanding of and respect for all within our building can be seen in the picture uploaded here. This image was taken during the fall of the 2012-2013 school year. Our class had read a text about a boy who'd created a prosthetic device for a friend in order to allow the other boy to play baseball. While discussing the text with students I recognized their lack of experience with individuals with physical disabilities. To address this lack of experience, I invited my uncle, Scott Dight, in to speak with students. Scott shared his experiences with artificial limbs and answered student's questions. Demonstrating my respect of differences among individuals is a powerful way for students to learn to do the same.