During my time student teaching, I had the opportunity to create anchor charts in several subjects during lessons. Below are two examples of anchor charts that my students and I worked together on. Both the division and fiction anchor charts below were created at the beginning of a new lesson for math and a new unit for reading. During our math and reading time, I had several students that were ELL students, Title 1 Reading students, and those who were below academic level. The purpose of creating these anchor charts were to appeal and grasp all students' attention. For math, I had students not only assist me in filling out the anchor chart, I also had them copy down the anchor chart into their math notebook to use as a reference during lessons. For each anchor chart, I allowed students to sit on the carpet which is located in the front of the room where the whiteboard is so students could engage with the class.

Performance 1J of the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards states, "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." I knew when I began student teaching that I had a wide range of academic levels in the classroom. Students had admitted that they felt behind due to the pandemic in 2020. I knew that simply introducing a new unit or lesson would not be possible without visually connecting prior knowledge to what students would be learning. The anchor charts were the launch of the lessons as not only a preview of the new content, but to also be displayed in the classroom as a resource for students to use as well. Knowing the academic levels of each student, I started the new lesson and unit at the very beginning for those at a lower academic level to comprehend and those at a higher level to activate prior knowledge before beginning the lesson and unit.

One major takeaway from these anchor charts is that simple is better. These anchor charts may appear to look simple to some individuals. The point of these anchor charts is to display the core information that is needed because the goal is for students to take away the core information. The only additional detail I added to these anchor charts was the variety of colors and drawing an umbrella for the fiction chart. However the core information is presented in a way that is attractive and keeps the content to the point for students to retain. I received positive feedback from students after constructing these anchor charts. Students were also able to refer back to them during lessons and quickly find the answer they were looking for. If I had added additional detail, the charts may have appeared to be overwhelming and taking away the overall purpose away. By including the information that students need while making it visually appealing, the overall feedback was positive and retainment of knowledge increased over time.

In the fall 2021 and spring 2022 semesters, I completed special education courses that worked with ELIM Christian School's transition program. Education students from Trinity (under the supervision of the education professor) wrote and led lessons on community living to the students at ELIM via Zoom. I had the opportunity to teach a total of three times, one lesson being co-taught and the other two independently. Below I created a simulation on how to make a complete purchase from a vending machine. Using the modeling and guided practice approach, I modeled how to make a purchase from a vending machine and then had students from ELIM practice with me. From pervious conversations with the teacher, I was knowledgeable in the various disabilities present in the classroom and knew that worksheets were not a great option to use for a lesson. Instead, I used call outs such as, "potato chip" to assess student engagement and understanding. Although we were unable to be with the ELIM students due to the pandemic, students were assessed by their teacher on using a vending matching with one of the machines that are specifically in the school with toys and food. Both the lesson plan and Google Slides presentation that was used for the lesson can be accessed below.

Knowledge indicator 1G of the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards states, "understands how to identify individual needs and how to locate and access technology, services, and resources to address those needs." Prior to me leading the lesson for ELIM, I would take mental note of the students we were working with and what form of instruction they best respond to. Along with collaborating with the teacher from ELIM, I took time to observe student behavior from other lessons and created the lesson based on the needs of each student while still focusing on the main topic, making a complete purchase from a vending machine. With using technology, I knew Google Slides would be the best option since the PowerPoint could be shared on the screen for the students to view. However, each picture in the presentation came from SymbolStix. The purpose of SymbolStix is to provide those with communication deficiencies the opportunity to communicate by using pictures and symbols. The company, News2you focuses on special education curriculum that integrates the use of SymbolStix into the content. Teachers can use just SymbolStix to download and add to worksheets or print out for students to point to or use in the classroom. Using this technology and resource, I had more students participate since they use SymbolStix at school and are familiar with the images. In turn, the student participation, engagement, and involvement exceeded the expectations and the lesson went very well.

From creating this lesson using Google Slides, I learned how to adapt and modify curriculum. Working with ELIM was my first opportunity to work on adapting curriculum to student needs, but also modifying it to a level where students can understand what is being taught rather than viewing different visuals. I had understood what adapting and modifying meant, but I did not understand actually how to carry those out for an actual class. Writing this lesson and creating the content for it took a period of about four and a half days. An experienced teacher that knows their students would not take as long which now this is becoming second nature for me. I was reading each standard, making sure the plan was adapted based on the curriculum, but also modifying it for the students I was working with and their specific needs. It was tough no doubt, but it really was a learning experience for me to really understand how much time and work goes into preparing for a lesson for a special education class. Working with ELIM was a valuable experience, especially the transition program and tying in standards for lessons that are not relating to math or science. I took away a great amount of knowledge and feel more prepared for the field of education.