Meeting Diverse Needs

How I did it:

Adapting my teaching to different students is what I believe needs some growth but I have also adopted a great survey that allows me to reflect if I am meeting diverse needs in my classroom. I encountered all kinds of students including ELL and IEP students who were accompanied by an aide in the classroom to help where needed. Although many classrooms have this aide, the teacher must focus on how their material can be altered to involve these students in the lessons. Some modifications may include separate worksheets, extra help sessions, and collaboration with students and parents to adapt a plan that's right for their child. Although the teacher may not always be heavily involved in these scenarios, it is important for them to keep in mind that each of their students is a unique individual with unique needs. This does not stop at ELL and IEP students, even those not on specialized plans still have other needs. There are 4 main types of learning styles, visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and reading/writing. Catering to all of these learning styles is one of the many responsibilities of a teacher. This means differentiating your homework, in class assignments, labs, and even lectures. The entire school year should not be dedicated to visual/auditory learners through constant talking at the students through lectures. Instead, the instructor should offer different types of assessments including video forms, projects, worksheets, lectures, and labs. This also goes into the formative assessments near the end of the unit, formative assessments should allow for choice to evaluate all students' understanding. This means that there should be multiple approaches to the project, some examples being a slideshow versus a physically built project.