Adapts the learning environment to accommodate the differing needs and diversity of students
1. I have a student, H, with whom I worked closely this semester as he was a part of my focus group for the internship inquiry. I chose him originally because he is one of the lowest performing in the class and is ESE as well as an ELL, but he is an extremely sweet kid who loves school and learning. I wanted to give him some extra one-on-one attention. Because my inquiry focused on learning styles, I learned a lot about H—he prefers working in small groups, he says he is a kinesthetic learner, he likes hands-on activities that allow him to work with paper cutting, gluing, coloring, etc. Due to the nature of the inquiry, I was able to adapt my lessons to meet his needs, working with him in a small group setting and having the chance to break things down to ensure he understood the material. He also got more of a chance to share his thoughts and expand on any questions he had. The lesson seemed to be good for him. Here was his activity sheet from a hands-on experiment he completed in science about thermal energy.
2. One of the students in my class, J, has autism. I was a little nervous at the beginning of the semester simply because I had not worked with a student with autism in many years, and did not know him well enough to gauge his functionality and needs. I enjoyed getting to know him thus far and learned that certain things can and will set him off, resulting in crying spells. I have been practicing with him breathing techniques when he gets up. He knows to stop, take a deep breath, and calm down. Additionally, I do my best at all times to accommodate him by differentiating when he gets upset. He likes for things to work perfectly for himself, so mishaps set him off. Once, during my observation, he started to have an episode because he made a mistake on a foldable, so I quietly approached him and told him, “That’s okay the way you have it. Look, you can keep going just like that. Would you like to do that?” and he calmed down and agreed.