In my zine project, I applied the Knowledge Indicator 1A which states, "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."

The Zine project was something I was extremely passionate about. I wanted to make others aware of the injustice, inequality, and diversity that others feel in their worlds every day. I learned that my students are going to come from all walks of life, and I have to be prepared to teach students who have had different life experiences than me. This zine project covers many topics like diversity and equity, race and identity, ableism and classism, and gender and sexism. There are many controversial topics in there, but it is important that teachers know that they exist. I want to be a teacher to a really diverse group of students, so I need to know the differences that people around the world have and some issues they may run into.

I applied the Knowledge Indicator 1D which states, "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)."

For my Introduction to Exceptional Children class, I got the opportunity to research students with physical disabilities. I learned about physical disabilities and different teaching strategies that would help support students with physical disabilities. Some examples of strategies I learned would be, giving students choices, modifying tests or assignments, and giving formative assessments. All of these may be implemented in the classroom to help all students learn, not only students with physical disabilities. This research helped me to further understand that all students are different and might benefit from different styles of teaching based on the individual. 

If you would like to see the paper, it is linked under the image.

In my student teaching, I was able to teach a lesson on personal safety to high school students. This artifact relates to Performance Indicator 1L which states, "uses information about students’ individual experiences, families, cultures, and communities to create meaningful learning opportunities and enrich instruction for all students." 

I read the scenarios to students, and we had a great discussion about what they would do in the scenarios. We also talked about the safest thing to do in each situation as well. I believe that this teaches to this indicator because I specifically used these scenarios because they related to these students and their lives. I had an idea of the things they have experienced or may experience in the future, and I wanted to ensure they knew how to be safe in different situations. The students did great with this, and it brought great discussion! I learned about my student's lived experiences and how they are different from me.

The link to all scenarios is under the image.