Standard 2: Knowledge About Students
Accomplished teachers demonstrate an understanding of the cognitive, affective, and kinesthetic development of students from early childhood through young adulthood and into lifelong learning. Teachers should recognize individual student interests, aptitudes, and needs to inform age-appropriate instructional decisions.
This paper, completed as an assignment for my seminar class during my student-teaching, demonstrates my understanding of differentiation in the classroom. It features my personal definition of differentiation and ideas for how I can use differentiated instruction in my lessons. It also illustrates a time when I used a differentiated assessment, allowing students to respond either verbally or through movement, and how I witnessed it helping a student with unique educational considerations to express his learning.
This is an email I sent to a general classroom teacher about an observation I had had about one of her students. This shows that I am paying attention to students' individual characteristics and unique needs, and that I am aware of common issues in children's growth and development.
