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.
During the couse Introduction to Exceptional Children, AEDU 216, I was asked to pick a disability to focus my study on. I chose to learn more about Down Syndrome, as I have previously and currently work with students with Down Syndrome and wanted to gain more insight and knowledge about how to best teach each student. This specific paper asked for me to take a closer look at Down Syndrome and that common characteristics and causes found within the disability.
This artifact aligns with Standard 1, Teaching Diverse Students. Although my main focus was on learning more about Down Syndrome, I was also able to meet Standad 1A, which is to become a teacher who "understands the spectrum of student diversity (e.g., race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status, special education, gifted, English language learners (ELL), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity) and the assets that each student brings to learning across the curriculum". Within learning more about Down Syndrome, I was also able to learn that each individual with the disability may vary in characteristics. Meaning, just becasue I know an important piece of information about a student does not mean that I know everything. I must take a closer look at who they are individually in order to best help them. Through research regarding Down Syndrome, I was also able to learn that many individuals with Down Syndrome suffer from delayed speech. By knowing this, I also learned how common it is for these students to use technology as a form of communication, thus helping me to obtain Standard 1G, which is to be a teacher who "understands how to identify individual needs and how to locate and access technology, services, and resources to address those needs". In my future classroom, I need to know the importance of being an advocate for my students and providing them the resources and support they need.
Overall, this artifcat has taught me the importance of research and the will to always want to learn. Prior to my research, I felt as though I was very aware of Down Syndrome but mistakingly learned more than I anticipated. This was an eye-opening assignment for me to complete because it taught me the importance of continuously learning in order to be the best teacher for my students.
During the couse Introduction to Exceptional Children, AEDU 216, I was asked to pick a disability to focus my study on. I chose to learn more about Down Syndrome, as I have previously and currently work with students with Down Syndrome and wanted to gain more insight and knowledge about how to best teach each student. This specific paper required for me to go beyond learning just what Down Syndrome is and mainly focus on teaching strategies, accomodations, and moditifications can be provided in order to give these students the proper learning environment.
This particular artifcat aligns with Standard 1, Teaching Diverse students. This paper helped me to meet this standard through learning various ways on how to better teach and support students with disabilities, particulaarly Down Syndrome. Standard 1B states that one needs to "understand how each student constructs knowledge, acquires skills, and develops effective and efficient critical thinking and problem-solving capabilities". Through becoming more informed on reseached-based practicies, I am able to learn about how students with Down Syndrome best learn in the classroom and therefore help them to the best of my ability. Standard 1D requires that a competent teacher "understands the impact of cognitive, emotional, physical, and sensory disabilities on learning and communication pursuant to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (also referred to as “IDEA”) (20 USC 1400 et seq.), its implementing regulations (34 CFR 300; 2006), Article 14 of the School Code [105 ILCS 5/Art.14] and 23 Ill. Adm. Code 226 (Special Education)". By furthering my research during this paper, I was able to learn visual and multi-sensory strategies that best align with the needs of students with Down Syndrome and how to allow the proper processing time. Finally, this artifact helped me to work towards understanding and mastering Standard 1J, which is that a competent teacher "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". Through learning different ways that benefit students' learning, I was not only able to see the importance of offering differentiated strategies but also learn many variations to teaching the same lesson.
Overall, this artifact has helped me to become more aware of the need to learn about my students in order to best address their needs. I have already learned so many useful teaching strategies that will not only be beneficial for students with Down Syndrome, but also many students suffering with attention span, the need for visuals, and slower cognitive processing.