Rationale 1:

Learner Development of Comparison

While at my Language Arts methods placement at William Penn Elementary I taught a first grade lesson where the students were required to determine the sequence of events of a fictional story. Due to their limited cognitive, linguistic and social development, this lesson was highly structured around their ability to succeed in this task. Based on their cognitive level, I decided to teach a whole group lesson where I read a story to them and together we discussed the sequence of events as they happened in the story. We then wrote a short summary of the story on the white-board based on my paraphrasing of student responses to my probing questions. (See PDF for lesson plan) During my student teaching placement at Quail Hollow Elementary, I taught a 5th grade lesson on the sequence of events. This lesson factored in their higher cognitive, linguistic, social and emotional development. For the fifth graders, we watched a complicated short film where students were encouraged to take notes. After viewing the film, students were split into groups and given strips of paper that contained key events of the story. Students were then asked to collaboratively arrange the strips of paper into the correct order based on their recollection of the events that happened in the short film. Teaching these two lessons on a similar content area re-enforced the importance of taking into account students’ varying developmental abilities when planning lessons so that students stay within their zone of proximal development. This ensures a highly engaged group of students.

Rationale 2:

Diverse Learner Development

Experiences

I spent four weeks of my student teaching experience at Moss Elementary school. The student population at this school is comprised mainly of refugee and recent immigrants to the United States. This provided me with many unique opportunities to take into account the students’ cognitive, linguistic, emotional and physical areas of student development. For example, every morning we had a whole group meeting where we would share stories about what was happening in our lives. These conversations would often lead students to share information about their families that would help me to better understand their behavior and increase community understanding between the students. Often what the students would share would provide windows into their home life environment that allowed me to differentiate when considering their developmental needs. Such consideration would allow the lessons to be more engaging because they were targeted to this diverse group of students.

Standard 1 Learner Development

The teacher understands cognitive, linguistic, social,

emotional, and physical areas of student development.

Mr.Eggington

The teacher understands

cognitive, linguistic, social,

emotional, and physical

areas of student

development.

Multi-Tiered Systems of

Supports (MTSS)

Utah’s MTSS is designed to support educators in developing evidence-based practices that support students learning. This website is a great resource for Local Education Agencies to understand the support offered by the Utah State Board of Education to provide high quality, equitable education to all students.

Teared

Instruction/Intervention

The Response-to-Intervention model uses a teared instruction model. This allows for students needs are met based on the nature and severity of a student’s difficulties. Tier 1 ensures that all students receive a high-quality education. Tier 2 targets students who are not making adequate progress in the core curriculum. Tier 3 involves an intensive intervention that targets the students’ skill deficits until the problem is remedied and to prevent future problems.

Utah Parent Center

The Utah Parent Center is a nonprofit organization formed by parents of children with all disabilities to help them connect with the services and agencies that might best help and support each other. Their staff is comprised of parents with disabilities of all ages who understand the unique challenges parents of children with disabilities have in navigating the systems of support. They hold regular workshops, provide online training, hold an annual conference attended by hundreds of parents and professionals. They are there to support and coach parents through the raising of their child with special needs to bring out their full potential.