Narrative
In my classroom, I work hard to promote equity in all areas of the classroom. These include equal rights in the classroom, equal treatment by the teacher and by others, equal access to the learning material, and equal opportunities to be successful. I worked to set up goals for each of my students. As seen in the provided mathematics lesson, practicing differentiation allowed me to provide each student with the appropriate level of work they should be instructed at. By differentiating the work, each student is held accountable for completing each assignment in the given amount of time. Students feel proud to have "finished!," as they love to say, the given task and it leaves students feeling motivated because the work was both not too difficult for them to follow and achieve at and not too easy that they were able to breeze through it without deeply thinking. This directly promotes the achievement of all students in the classroom.
The differentiation of this lesson was done according to data I had taken on my student conferencing rubric from previous lessons (a sample of this rubric is seen on the lesson plan). Through using these rubrics, I was able to assesses the significance of student differences and use my professional judgment to determine if instructional adjustments are necessary. You will see slight modifications between the differentiated guided practice work which I deemed to be appropriate for the different students’ abilities.
Students were often reminded to “try their hardest and that will be what really matters.” I noticed that students often use the word "perfect" in the classroom and they were very concerned with doing their work "perfectly.” Some students often were upset because they were unable to draw the perfect square with 4 exactly equal sides in math, for example. I explained to students that I am never asking for perfect work; that I am not asking students to always come to the correct answer; that people simply are not perfect. I further explained that what they can do, though, is give perfect effort, meaning giving all of their effort into the work at hand or the lesson. Students understand that giving this "perfect effort" will help them to better understand the concepts.
For students who had more difficulty giving “perfect effort,” this was handled with the sticker chart seen above. Students using these sticker charts (I had 3 in my classroom), earned a sticker for their chart in accordance with the effort they put forth each day. For some students, this might mean staying on task for the entire math block or focusing on their reading for the designated reading time and for others this might mean writing in complete sentences rather than bullets when responding to a prompt. A certain number of stickers per week, per month, or in a row would mean that the student earned a “reward.” The number of sticker differed between students according to their effort ability level and the reward differed as well. Before setting a student up with a sticker chart, I spoke with the student’s parent and discussed the positives of this program. Parents were very supportive and often decided to let their child earn something at home, too, for a certain number of stickers. It is the student’s responsibility to bring their sticker chart up to my desk at the end of the day to earn their sticker; I do not remind students to bring their sticker charts up as I work to promote student responsibility, as seen in my philosophy of teaching.
These samples demonstrate best practice as they directly demonstrate my ability to differentiate instruction to promote equity in my classroom. I demonstrate the importance of assessing student’s individuality and differences and finding a way to tailor instruction to reach all students and I promote the idea that effort is a key factor to achievement and learning. My students felt individualize instruction and felt my strong belief in their abilities.
Standard D - Promotes Equity
| Indicators | Evidence |
1. Encourages all students to believe that effort is a key to achievement.
2. Works to promote achievement by all students without exception.
3. Assesses the significance of student differences in home experiences, background knowledge, learning skills, learning pace, and proficiency in the English language for learning the curriculum at hand and uses professional judgment to determine if instructional adjustments are necessary. 4. Helps all students to understand American civic culture, its underlying ideals, founding political principles and political institutions, and to see themselves as members of a local, state, national, and international civic community. |
1. I created a sign for the room that reads "Perfect Effort." I noticed that students often use the word "perfect" in the classroom and were very concerned with doing their work "perfectly" and some students often were upset because they were unable to draw the perfect square with 4 exactly equal sides in math, for example. I explained to students that I am never asking for perfect work; that I am not asking students to always come to the correct answer; that people simply are not perfect. I further explained that what they can do, though, is give perfect effort, meaning giving all of their effort into the work at hand or the lesson. Students understand that giving this "perfect effort" will help them to better understand the concepts.
2. Set up goals for each student. Through differentiation, I am able to provide each student with the appropriate level of work they should be instructed at. By differentiating the work, each student is held accountable for completing each assignment in the given amount of time. Students feel proud to have "finished!," as they love to say, the given task and it leaves students feeling motivated because the work was both not too difficult for them to follow and achieve at and not too easy that they were able to breeze through it without deeply thinking.
3. Made modifications to lessons for individual student needs. For example, in math lesson on “Benchmark-10 addition and subtraction,” I used rubrics from previos lessons to determine student ability groupings and created differentiated worksheets for a range of student ability-levels.
4. Taught unit on "Discovering Justice" in which we addressed the words "liberty," "freedom," "equality," and "justice." This unit addressed civic culture as students were taught the foundations of our country and its "rule book," or the constitution, the meaning behind the American flag, and how the country’s government functions. Students gained an understanding of their role as citizens of Watertown, Massachusetts, the United States, and the world.
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