EDLC 510

Teaching Strategies for Diverse Learners Essay Assignment Instructions

Overview

Classrooms are filled with students from diverse backgrounds with various ability levels. Educators need to embrace the diversity among their students through the examination of instructional strategies. This assignment will allow you to investigate strategies for teaching students with specific academic and emotional needs. You will have an opportunity to consider how all these strategies can be used at the same time to meet the needs of all students.

Instructions

For this assignment, you will write a research-based essay of at least 1,200 words that describes a plan for teaching a diverse class how to view, interpret, analyze, or represent information from a learning standard selected from your endorsement area and grade band.

· If you are pursuing the MAT in elementary education, you may select a standard from any one of the four core subject areas (English, Math, Science, Social Studies) in grades K-5.

· If you are pursuing the MAT in middle grades education, you may select a standard from your endorsement area in grades 6-8.

· If you are pursuing the MAT in secondary education, you may select a standard from your endorsement area in grades 9-12.

For example, a student in the MAT Elementary Education program might select Virginia Math Standard 3.7b – The student will estimate and use U.S customary and metric units to measure liquid volume in cups, pints, quarts, gallons, and liters.

After selecting the standard, the student will then choose an integration area (view, interpret, analyze, or represent) that can be used to teach the standard. For example, if a student chose to represent as the integration area that could be used to teach Virginia Math Standard 3.7b , then the student would explain how representation could be used to help students understand the relationship between each unit of measurement. The standard and integration area should be addressed in each section of the paper. When you identify strategies for each diverse group of students, you must apply the strategy to the standard and the integration area. For example, if you identify the strategy of independent projects for working with gifted students, you must explain how you would use this strategy in the context of teaching Virginia Math Standard 3.7b through representation.

Integration areas may be defined as follows:

· View – Providing visual support during instruction (e.g., showing images of historical events).

· Interpret – Having students explain the meaning of something (e.g., writing a story summary).

· Analyze – Having students examine something methodically and in detail (e.g., finding examples of persuasion in advertisements).

· Represent – Creating a description or portrayal of someone or something (e.g., using coins to show $0.23).

You must select a standard from the Virginia Standards of Learning for this assignment. You may not use standards from any other state. Use the provided link to access the Virginia Standards of Learning.

You will present research-based strategies for teaching your chosen standard and accompanying integration area to students from the following groups: gifted learners, struggling learners, English language learners (ELL), and students who have been impacted by trauma.

Your essay should be organized into the following sections:

1.
Instructional Overview – In this part of the essay, you will describe your class (grade level, number of students, school characteristics, etc.), the standard you have chosen to teach (copy the entire standard into the essay), and how you plan to integrate viewing, interpreting, analyzing, or representing information from the standard into your instruction. This part of the essay is an overview that will provide the background necessary to prepare readers for the detailed instructional strategies presented in subsequent sections of the essay.

2.
Gifted Learners – In this part of the essay, you will describe at least two research-based strategies for teaching gifted learners. The description of these strategies must be aligned with your chosen standard and integration area. This part of the essay should also include a brief description of gifted learners and some of the characteristics of gifted learners.

3.
Struggling Learners – In this part of the essay, you will describe at least two research-based strategies for teaching learners who struggle with academic content. The description of these strategies must be aligned with your chosen standard integration area. This part of the essay should also include a brief description of struggling learners and some of the characteristics of struggling learners.

4.
English Language Learners – In this part of the essay, you will describe at least two research-based strategies for teaching English language learners. The description of these strategies must be aligned with your chosen standard and integration area. This part of the essay should also include a brief description of English language learners and some of the characteristics of English language learners.

5.
Students Impacted by Trauma – In this part of the essay, you will describe at least two research-based strategies for teaching students impacted by trauma. The description of these strategies must be aligned with your chosen standard and integration area. This part of the essay should also include a brief description of the impact of trauma on students and some of the characteristics of students who have been impacted by trauma.

6.
Conclusion – In this part of the essay, you will summarize the strategies shared throughout the essay and discuss how a teacher might incorporate several of these strategies into one lesson through differentiation. Consider small groups, learning stations/centers, differentiated assignments, and other strategies. Use research to support your differentiation strategies.

This essay should include at least four scholarly resources published within the past five years. An APA formatted resource list should be included with the essay.

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