Meeting Diverse Needs

A teacher candidate proficient in Meeting Diverse Needs "Uses appropriate inclusive practices, such as tiered supports and scaffolded instruction, to accommodate differences in students' learning needs, abilities, interests, and levels of readiness, including those of academically advanced students, students with disabilities, and English learners."

No two students are alike, and everyone struggles with something. This is why it's so important to know and understand your learners and how they best operate in your classroom. When developing lessons and assignments, taking time to consider strategies and specific accommodations (should you need to make them) is in the best interest of your students because you're taking the time to help them get over a barrier that was blocking them from learning. In my opinion, if you are considering making an accommodation for one or a few students, think about turning that into an instructional strategy that the rest of the class can benefit from if they choose so (for example: using graphic organizers or giving students more agency in how they complete their assignment). These improvements can allow students who would struggle without them to flourish.

My style of teaching provides student with a lot of resources. I assign projects on Google Classroom that have detailed descriptions, presentations attached, alternate language versions of instructional material, rubrics, and more so that my students can have a wealth of information at their disposal when they view their task. This was effective because, though most students did not choose to utilize all of the material, those who did benefited from its inclusion.

Below is a sample assignment posting. There are instructions available in English and Spanish, there are slideshows that act as reference material for students, and there is a detailed rubric that displays exactly what I am looking for. Providing this material coupled with answering student questions in class and working with them to discover solutions are both key to creating a classroom that meets the needs of all its students.

We are starting a new unit! For the next few weeks, we are going to be playing around with Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets so you can learn how to use these tools. Knowing how to make documents and slide presentations is important to know not just for the rest of school, but for the rest of your lives!

In this assignment, you will be creating a Google Slides presentation about yourselves! You are going to design it with cool colors and animations to really make it yours. Over the next few days, you will:

• Fill out the information in the slide presentation about yourself.

• Add a theme using the theme button at the top of the slides screen.

• Add transitions to the whole presentation using the transitions button at the top of the slides screen.

• Select a text box or image to animate on each slide using the animate button at the top of the slides screen.

Make sure that you begin by putting in the information first, before animations! This will make adding colors, animations, and other designs easier because you'll know exactly the content you are working with.

Remember: You do not have to be an artist to be successful in our class!

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¡Estamos iniciando una nueva unidad! Durante las próximas semanas, jugaremos con Documentos, Presentaciones y Hojas de cálculo de Google para que puedas aprender a utilizar estas herramientas. Es importante saber cómo hacer documentos y presentaciones de diapositivas no sólo para el resto de la escuela, ¡sino para el resto de sus vidas!

En esta tarea, crearán una presentación de Google Slides sobre ustedes mismos. Vas a diseñarlo con colores y animaciones geniales para hacerlo realmente tuyo. Durante los próximos días podrás:

• Complete la información en la presentación de diapositivas sobre usted.

• Agregue un tema usando el botón de tema en la parte superior de la pantalla de diapositivas.

• Agregue transiciones a toda la presentación usando el botón de transiciones en la parte superior de la pantalla de diapositivas.

• Seleccione un cuadro de texto o una imagen para animar en cada diapositiva usando el botón de animación en la parte superior de la pantalla de diapositivas.

¡Asegúrate de comenzar ingresando la información primero, antes de las animaciones! Esto facilitará la adición de colores, animaciones y otros diseños porque sabrá exactamente el contenido con el que está trabajando.

Recuerde: ¡No es necesario ser artista para tener éxito en nuestra clase!