Standard 1 - Teaching Diverse Students- The competent teacher understands the diverse characteristics and abilities of each student and how individuals develop and learn within the context of their social, economic, cultural, linguistic, and academic experiences. The teacher uses these experiences to create instructional opportunities that maximize student learning.

Health Impairments Presentation, Causes and Characteristics & Strategies for Learning writing samples.

The artifacts below are a presentation and two writing samples that I created about my given topic; Health Impairments, specifically Asthma, Diabetes and Cystic Fibrosis. The presentation displays the research that I did to better understand these illnesses and how they would affect the students and families that I will most likely come into contact with. Within that research, I developed an understanding of some of the hardships that families who are affected by these illnesses will face. The hardships I then put into three different categories and explored ways to support, accommodate and modify teaching instruction to fulfill those needs. The Causes and Characteristics paper is a full version of my understanding of these illnesses and the strategies for learning helped me go farther in depth on ways to help individuals affected by chronic illness.

In terms of standard connections, my artifacts provide strong evidence of my "prior knowledge and links new ideas to already familiar ideas and experiences." (1I) My daughter has a chronic illness (Congenital Heart Disease) and when thinking of the care and accommodations for future students, I activated my prior experience from caring for her with my research to develop strategies. While these illnesses are different the central focus is caring for and teaching the whole child. I believe my prior experience with health impairments also allows me as a mother to connect my belief that students with illness should be part of our classroom community and not made to feel any differently. This aligns with the standard "creating a learning community in which individual differences are respected." (IK)

Everyday at my current job and in life I live within this standard. My heart and passion lies with students who are diverse learners and that includes ELL students and gifted learners. These artifacts show that while I had some prior experience with some illness two of them I didn't know anything about. The love I have for differences is shown through my artifacts as I researched as an educator, student and parent for which accommodations, modifications and strategies I would use to ensure the best and safe learning environment for my students. Differentiation can be second by second decisions and through close and careful planning. I feel as though I have a natural instinct when it comes to the second by second decisions and the passion for the careful instructional planning that IEPs and 504 require and deserve. I look forward to learning more about Special Education laws and writing specific and concreate IEPs goals.

Above is an interaction and project that I created. I was able to interview a family whose child has a disability. The child suffers from anxiety as well as a specific learning disability. It was my pleasure to get to know the family in order to create this project. This experience really allowed me insight into the heart and mind of this family. I was able to learn about the supports that they have created for their child at home as well as at school. As the standard states, "The competent teacher understands the diverse characteristics and abilities of each student and how individuals develop and learn within the context of their social, economic, cultural, linguistic, and academic experiences." I was also able to investigate instructional techniques and strategies that I will definitely use in future instructional planning. As this standard states, "The teacher uses these experiences to create instructional opportunities that maximize student learning."