Standard 3 - Planning for Differentiated Instruction – The competent teacher plans and designs instruction based on content area knowledge, diverse student characteristics, student performance data, curriculum goals, and the community context. The teacher plans for ongoing student growth and achievement.
Civil Rights Movement Unit Plan
For Social Studies Methods, we were asked to create a unit plan based on a social studies trade book. The trade book I chose is called The Story of Ruby Bridges. This is the true story of a young African American student and her struggles as she attends a previously all white elementary school during the Civil Rights Movement. With this story, I was able to create an entire unit on the Civil Rights Movement. This is an important unit to cover because the material covered should be transferred in other areas of life. To ensure that the material would be transferable, I used the Understanding by Design pedagogy. To create my objectives, I used standards from the Social Science, English Language Arts, and Social Emotional sections of the Illinois State Standards. I created learning activities to help the students understand the content as well as formative assessments to check for understanding. A summative assessment was made in the form of a unit test.
This assignment really helped me to understand the amount of planning it takes to be a teacher. I was able to gain first hand experience by creating this entire assignment. It gave me a better understanding of what each lesson includes and how planning will keep my class more organized.
For this assignment, I was asked to create a lesson plan with accommodations and modifications. Diverse learners require some adjustments to be made in order to reach academic success. For this fourth grade Science lesson, the students are given materials to complete a science experiment with balloons, vinegar, and baking soda. The whole class was divided into groups and given the materials and instructions. For one student with Dyslexia, a paraprofessional was available to help with reading. This student was also given the option to use auditory tools to assist with reading. The student with ADHD was provided with fidgets during instruction time to help with focus, as well as extended time on assignments. This would be considered an accommodation. With this lesson, the whole group was given the same assignment, but some students were given accommodations or modifications to help them to be successful. This is the purpose of differentiated instruction. As teachers, we need to keep in mind that students do not all learn in the same ways, especially if they are diverse learners. According to Standard 3, "The competent teacher plans and designs instruction based on content area knowledge, diverse student characteristics, student performance data, curriculum goals, and the community context".