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.
I chose to put my focus on teaching strategies for autism in middle school and high school. This topic meets Standard 1 in the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards which is about teaching diverse students. I created one main artifact that being the teaching strategies presentation. I discussed three teaching strategies for autism in middle school and high school. I was able to present these strategies in front of my class and was able to show an example of one of them which was a version of Pictionary geared to promote communication skills as well as fine motor skills.
This artifact meets Standard 1 in the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards. This standard involves teaching diverse students. This standard goes on to say that it, “differentiates strategies, materials, pace, levels of complexity, and language to introduce concepts and principles so that they are meaningful to students at varying levels of development and to students with diverse learning needs.” This is shown in my presentation by giving ideas and strategies in order to have kids with autism succeed and learn to the best their abilities. My strategies provide support for kids with autism and allow them to stay on track and keep things organized.
I learned that autism can make things hard to stay organized. Two of my strategies addressed this. One of them was a way to keep these kids running on a schedule so a detailed daily schedule will greatly assist with the transitions related to moving between the classroom, lunchroom, and other destinations throughout the day. Students with autism perform best when they know how to break up their time between each tasks required to complete the exercise or project in front of them. My other strategy involves having the student put a picture of a pencil on the cover of his notebook or maintaining a list of assignments to be completed at home. This is so that they can stay organized and remember what they need to bring to class. The information that I was able to find about autism will help me as a future teacher. I hope that I am able to help all students stay engaged and prepared.