MAT 735 : Meeting the Needs of Diverse Learners Problem Statement: Each year I have one or two gifted (QUEST) students in my classroom, as well as three to five extremely high level students who didn’t qualify for QUEST but are still complex abstract thinkers. Each year I find several of them underachieving in one or more core subjects. The grade level curriculum is not motivating these students to learn. Basically, one fourth of my students require additional stimulus that is currently not provided to achieve their potential.

MAT 735 : Meeting the Needs of Diverse Learners Advocated Solutions: 1. Survey students about their interests and attitudes towards learning the core subjects. 2. Assess students’ levels in core subjects & intelligences. 3. Create specific classroom arrangements based on students’ needs. 4. Set high expectations by underachieving students choosing a curriculum based multiple intelligence extension activity. 5. Break activity into a series of small tasks to be completed by students’ individual pace. 6. Respond positively to students’ questions, and praise students verbally for work well done. 7. Students self assess on activity and conference with the teacher.

MAT 735 : Meeting the Needs of Diverse Learners Implementation Plan: Professional Goal The teacher will effectively incorporate strategies for high/gifted students in the classroom to increase classroom participation and raise academic performance to 90 percent. To teach will understand how high/gifted students become underachievers in the classroom. Learner Goal The student will be able to increase positive productivity in underachieving area(s) through new strategies/activities introduced in the classroom. The student will be able to improve productivity and academic performance through the use of specific strategies/activities introduced by the teacher.

MAT 735 : Meeting the Needs of Diverse Learners Artifact 1: Student Interest Survey The Artifact is an attitude survey to determine students’ feelings, perceptions, and beliefs about school and personal interests. The survey consists of open ended questions. The survey asks general and specific questions about student interests to use for motivation activities throughout the year.

MAT 735 : Meeting the Needs of Diverse Learners Artifact 2: Multiple Intelligences Survey The artifact is a student activity to identify their own multiple intelligences. The class and I completed the inventory discussing any questions as we progressed through the activity. It’s important to know all of my students not just a select few. The inventory put everyone on the same level since there are no right or wrong answers.

MAT 735 : Meeting the Needs of Diverse Learners Artifact 3: Multiple Intelligences Comparison Students complete an activity where students check their own learning strengths and then go around the room meeting with all other students and checking down their multiple intelligences. Finally students compare their own results with everyone in the class. When students, including underachieving high/gifted students, perceive a relationship between their own interests and learning with that of their peers, they are motivated to perform better. During this activity I can observe students’ interactions with each other for consideration later when I study their activity sheets and surveys to design classroom seating.

MAT 735 : Meeting the Needs of Diverse Learners Artifact 4: Extend Your Mind Activity Based on the academic performance and participation of the lesson or unit, if the high/gifted student is underachieving, I would talk with the student objectively advising what I am seeing and promote a modification. I would provide a couple of activity choices as an alternate or additional activity to increase challenge, interest, and participation in the subject. Activities selected are based on the multiple intelligences inventory, interest survey, appropriateness to the student’s needs, and curriculum objectives. The student and I will fill out a mission form together to help facilitate their expectation goal and organize the student through much of the activity. The activity is broken into several smaller tasks in a sequential order so the student doesn’t feel overwhelmed. The activity is to challenge and increase participation and academic performance but not overwhelm with details and long length. Students work at their own pace or given a timeline for each task.

MAT 735 : Meeting the Needs of Diverse Learners Artifact 5: Extend Your Mind Reflection The final conference at the end of the activity is after the student has self assessed their work and learning. The student would present the activity to me and discuss with me the responses filled out on the self assessment form. Collaboratively the student and I would determine if the student met the objectives and goals. The student will be able to make any final changes or corrections to the activity to improve academic performance and meet the academic goal. Celebration of the student’s success will be letting the student present their activity to the class, parents, the principal, or a former teacher. Celebrating reinforces the student’s work and achievement with the intent of transferring those positive effects to their overall learning and self worth.

MAT 735 : Meeting the Needs of Diverse Learners What if… So, what if this ideal plan didn’t go as planned? What if the student wasn’t completing the activity as discussed?  The first item I would discuss is giving the student ownership over their learning and over the activity. I would find out why or what was causing the student to be off task. We would brainstorm what the student could do and make any revisions or changes to the activity to get the student back on track. The idea is to be flexible and listen to the student.  If the student just didn’t want to do the activity, then I would let the student come up with his or her own activity as long as the objectives were being met and the student was staying on task. Some students are more creative than others and need a freer reign to express their learning. As long as it was school appropriate, met the learning objectives, and I approved it, it should be fine.  The point is to get them interested in successfully learning the objectives or indicators that they were previously underachieving. The student and I will conference on an as needed basis that I would require until student success is achieved.

MAT 735 : Meeting the Needs of Diverse Learners Artifact Reflection Each of the artifacts relates to the following proposition: NBPTS Core Proposition Met: Proposition 5: Teachers are Members of Learning Communities One of my beliefs is to never stop learning. Learning how each student learns based on his/her multiple intelligences and helping them realize how they best learn creates a learning community between the teacher and students. Establishing a continuous open dialogue is critical to sustaining a successful learning community. Conferencing with students helps me to know them better and they learn not only more about themselves but how to talk with adults.

MAT 735 : Meeting the Needs of Diverse Learners Final Reflection The change this intervention would bring to me as a teacher is focusing more on meeting individual students’ needs and how they best learn. The fact that one lesson strategy fits all doesn’t apply in the inclusive classroom. Flexibility, listening, objective observing, and increasing my teaching repertoire are the key tools I have found I need in the inclusive classroom. The change I would hope to see in my students is the students seeing how they best learn and finding intrinsic reward in meeting a learning goal.