Blog #4

Part A: Hallmark #4-Flexible use of time, space, and materials. Scenario that does NOT adhere: Mrs. Hall has a 4th classroom with the desks lined up in rows giving little excess space for group or independent work. She has a tight schedule with in her class and gives exact amounts of time to finish assignments. If a student needs more time to complete his/her work, they sometimes are able to take it home.All her materials available to students are at a 4th grade level, including the reading material. Scenario the DOES adhere: Mr. White has a 3rd grade classroom with desks placed in groups of 4. This helps to create more space in the classroom for independent and group work as well as giving areas in the classroom that have space for a classroom library and art corner. His materials provided in the classroom are at a variety of levels so to accommodate the differences in his students. He breaks up the day by varying his time given on assignments to include extra time for student who need that extra.

Hallmark #12-Qualitative rather that quantitative tasks. Scenario the does NOT adhere: In Mr. Smith's 5th grade class he is requesting the students to create a science project for the science fair. Because his students are on a wide range of levels, he has decided to cut back on the requirements of the assignment and keep the requirements at a 4th grade level so that his students who struggle with assigned projects can get the work done. He is not expecting anything more from his students that are at the top of the class. Scenario the DOES work: Mr.s Robinson is having her students do a book report on a fantasy fiction. Because she has such a wide range of students within her class, she is offering a wide variety of options for the students to give their report on a book that they have chosen. Some of the options are a written report, a video, an oral report where the student may dress up as a character in their book, a poster that encourages people to read the book, and many more.

B3-The strategies "I would like to learn more about"- After reading pages 78-87 and reading about the various strategies to use with curriculum instruction that helps respond to students needs, I found that there are many that I would like to learn more about. The one that I think is extremely important because as teachers we are dealing with so many ELL students is promoting language proficiency. This is something I that would definitely like to learn more about to help my ELL students be successful in their learning. Teaming with resource specialists is another strategy that I feel would be very beneficial to learn more about. As a teacher, you are not able to be a specialist in all topics and learning styles. Being able to work with various specialists that may help you and your students where you need more expertise is critical.
Using tiered approaches to teaching is an instruction strategy that I feel is essential to your students success and for me to be a successful teacher, I need to become an expert on this strategy. Students have various learning abilities and getting the same outcome from each student will only happen if as a teacher I am able to scaffold my instruction to accomodate the varioius learning styles and abilities I will have in my classroom.