3. Planning for Differentiated Instruction

This artifact was created for my first day of student teaching. When my students were to meet me, I wanted them to understand what my expectations are for them and what they could expect from me as a student teacher. On my first day, I started off by introducing myself to my students. I gave students some information about myself such as my educational background and why I would be in their class until December 9th. Students also had the opportunity to learn some "fun facts" about me like my favorite food and that I went on my very first road trip in the summer. The last two slides were all about expectations. I established expectations for my students because I wanted them to know that while I am excited to learn and have fun with them, there still needs to be a level of understanding for their behavior and actions within the classroom. I also had explained that students should have expectations for me such as, preparing them for junior high, being there for them, and making the classroom a fun and exciting learning environment for them.

Performance indicator 3H of the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards states, "establishes high expectations for each student’s learning and behavior." The reason I chose this artifact for this standard is because I wanted students to take away that I hold each of them to a higher standard when it comes to their behavior and their learning. In my artifact, I explicitly focus on the expectations that I have for my students which goes hand in hand with my expectations for their learning. By showing students that I do have expectations for their learning and their behavior, it shows them that I am invested in each of them and care. Yes, I did want my students to get to know me, but I wanted them to know that I have expectations when it comes to student behavior and their learning. Creating this artifact and actually using it the first day at my placement sent a message to students about who I am. For the duration of my student teaching, I challenged students not only academically, but also morally. This created a very open dynamic between my students and I which allowed my students to grow and become ready for not just next year in junior high, but for the world ahead of them.

Creating this artifact taught me that establishing rules, expectations, and boundaries for students the first day of school or when you are a first time student teacher really is imperative for the remainder of time you are with your students. If I did not create expectations and hold each of my students to a higher standard, there would be no structure in the classroom when I taught and students would not feel that I was invested in them or even cared. Having expectations is not something that defines you as the typical mean teacher, but it shows students that the classroom is the place to learn and you care about each and every one. My students not only were respectful, they were always eager to show me something they learned from class or how they made a connection to what we learned while they were at home or within their community. My expectations allowed students to grow not just in terms of academics, but how to be a better person for the world that lies ahead of them.

When I taught math during student teaching, I was able to lead lessons on exponents, multiplication, division, and fractions. With any subject, I understood that there would be students who were confused and did not care for math. The thinking behind math being taught now is "why and how we do math" rather than solving multiplication and memorizing. This comes with a challenge as students can use multiplication charts in class but have trouble performing two digit by one digit multiplication. I created a digital video (found below) as a resource for students when we completed division using partial quotients. Using an online whiteboard, I did a step by step tutorial on how to solve a division problem that will have a remainder. I connected the concept of partial products when completing multiplication problem and showed the relation to partial quotients. I reviewed concepts in the video that students learned previously such as multiples, two by two digit multiplication, and how to properly write a division problem with knowing what a dividend, divisor, and quotient is. At the end, I gave students another problem to try on their own if they needed additional practice. Using the online whiteboard allowed for unlimited space and a variety of colors to choose from that would grasp student attention and highlight different steps of the problem that I know students struggled with. Having this online tool allowed for students to be able to see the division lesson being retaught as if it was in person with a real white board, except for being online.

Knowledge indicator 3E of the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards states, "understands the appropriate role of technology, including assistive technology, to address student needs, as well as how to incorporate contemporary tools and resources to maximize student learning." With having multiple students confused on partial quotient division for various reasons, I used technology with the knowledge of understanding that each student learns differently and if students needed to watch a video digitally on this concept, I would create one for them. The way my students learned was very wide ranged and required adaptions to curriculum and modifications at times. I knew that my one student had needs such as learning visually whereas another learned best using the computer. The goal of teaching is for students to grow academically and as a individual that will be ready for the society that awaits them. When there are students that are confused or not learning as much as possible, making changes is necessary. To maximize my students and their learning, I needed to use additional tools and resources for those who may require a different format for the content being taught. Using this online whiteboard not only is visually appealing, but it allows students to learn if this is their style of learning and have more visuals.

I learned that integrating technology to instruction and curriculum is imperative to teaching. Now more than ever, technology is major part of the world and most everyone uses a cellphone, tablet, computer, etc. Not all of the curriculum has a technology component which is not wrong, but if there are students who learn best by watching videos, there needs to be some sort of resource that not only teaches the curriculum, but in the way that the teacher is teaching it. There are many videos on YouTube that are math tutorials but not all of them explain the concepts the way it was taught in class. I often asked my students their preferred way of learning and while many of them said visually and by reading, a few liked to learn using the computer. By the end of the unit, the majority of the class was efficient when solving division problems, but this video was created as a resource in case students needed it to relearn or rejog their memory of how to divide with partial quotients. Technology does not have to always be used for every single lesson, but it is still important to have it built in for lessons or extension of lessons that will benefit students which was done here.