Mary Hawkins

Rationale/Reflection

InTASC Standard: The teacher uses understanding of individual differences and diverse cultures and communities to ensure inclusive learning environments that enable each learner to meet high standards (InTASC, 2013).

Brief Description of Evidence:  

During my fall semester of 2021 in my EDUC 224 Introduction to Scientific Inquiry class I created a letter to a parent discussing differentiation. The prompt was that this parent had emailed inquiring about differentiated instruction for her child, which was something the parent’s sister’s child was receiving at another school. We were to create a reply to this inquiry in the form of a letter/email. I took the opportunity to ensure that the parent and I were on the same page of what differentiation can be and sent some resources to her. I also included in the letter what was already being implemented in my classroom as far as differentiation went. I wanted to keep the line of communication open so I included that I welcomed any further questions/concerns from the parent, or even an in person meeting if they truly felt necessary. 

Analysis of What I Learned: 

This assignment gave me the opportunity to learn more about differentiation in the classroom and the situations where it is a helpful tool to understand. Differentiation can be done in a variety of ways and it helps create an equitable learning environment for the students. I also found that differentiation can be done for students even without a structured plan like an IEP or 504. Along with the new knowledge of differentiation I also was able to learn how to construct parent-teacher communication. I have never had to do this before but found it surprisingly easy to create a professional, open, dialogue that I may be able to refer back to. This also opened opportunities to ask questions of real life scenarios where parents may come back with an unhappy response, or even no response at all, and provoked thoughts of how I would handle such situations. The assignment made me think about how students may not receive the same attention at home, and some students’ parents may not know what is going on in the classroom or how their child is doing. Based on this realization it made me think about how, as an educator, I need to be aware of what each child is receiving at home. For instance, if a child is able to receive help on homework from their parent or family member they will be able to grasp a subject quicker or easier compared to a student who may not. It also made me realize that if a student has a more absent guardian then they may not be able to be qualified for an exceptionality as quickly as a student whose guardians monitor them more closely. It’s an educator's place to be an advocate for their students to communicate with their families and other teachers to ensure we are doing everything we can to give them an equitable education. This assignment, although based on differentiation, gave me more insight into Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. (Mcleod, 2022). I got a better understanding because as I looked into how to ensure a student was able to understand the material presented to them I knew they needed their other needs met first. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs begins with the student’s physiological needs, or their need for sleep, food, shelter, etc. and as we move up the hierarchy we see that the student must have safety, a sense of belonging, and esteem, before reaching self actualization. (Mcleod, 2022). This relates because when ensuring that a student has the opportunity to meet the high standards expected of them they must have all of their basic needs met first. Each of the needs the student will need will change based on their abilities, home life, and various skill levels. 

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How This Artifact Demonstrates my Competence on the InTASC Standard: ​

This artifact demonstrates my competence by recognizing that some learners will do better under different circumstances and being able to accommodate them is a large part of our job. It is not always being able to give a different test style, it can also be understanding the different viewpoints a student has and validating their thoughts, or even finding ways to explain content differently. Differentiation can also be a good way for students to share with each other how they learned and what was most beneficial/challenging for them. It was important, in this case, to look at the parent’s concerns and address them to give them full confidence that their learner was taken care of. Differentiation can help create a more inclusive and equitable environment. In creating a more equitable environment it is also important to look at the community the students are in, they all come from diverse backgrounds and while they’re in class together, the instruction they get at home could look very different. It’s important to understand that a student may not necessarily be falling behind, or even advancing, simply based on what happens in the classroom. As an educator we must take into account what is happening in the students’ lives outside of the classroom in order to better assist them in learning. 

Citation:

Mcleod, S. (2022, April 4). Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html

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Council of Chief State School Officers. (2013, April). Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium InTASC Model Core Teaching Standards and Learning Progressions for Teachers 1.0: A Resource for Ongoing Teacher Development. Washington, DC: Author.