Standard 1:  Diversity of child/adolescent development, learner needs, and equitable and culturally responsive practices. The teacher demonstrates knowledge of the diverse ways in which students develop and learn by providing learning opportunities that support students’ intellectual, physical, emotional and social development.

Indicators:

• Identifies individual, student and group differences (e.g. intellectual, cultural, social)
• Gathers data from multiple sources on how students learn
• Draws on students’ stages of development, learning styles, strengths and needs, to design instruction and inform educational programs
• Draws on students’ experiences and family and community influences to design instruction and inform educational programs
• Demonstrates understanding of and sensitivity to issues of diversity and equity during the design and assessment of instruction
• Makes appropriate accommodations and modifications for individual students who have specific learning differences or needs
• Uses appropriate services or resources to meet learners needs

ARTIFACTS:

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Functional Life Skills Art Class: At Pownal Elementary I had the privalege of being able to teach in their "Functional Life Skills" art class. This was a class designed to give students with special needs a little extra time in the art room. Our lessons focused on large reaching motions, often using different tactile & sensory materials. Each of the students in this class would also participate in their grade's normal weekly art class, however the lessons provided in the FLS class were specially crafted for intellectual or fine motor skill difficulties.

Exceptional Students Placement: In 2013 I took a course called "Exceptional Student in the Classroom" which explored the challenges and skills of teaching students with exceptionalities in the general education classroom. Through this course I was able to do an observational placement in a high school resource room as well as one-on-one instruction for students with IEPs. 

My Moment in Maine Workshop: This workshop was a collaboration with the Telling Room in Portland, ME. They had been doing a writing project with the fifth graders of Dyer Elementary School, asking them to tell a story about a moment of time during their life in Maine which would be called “My Moment in Maine.”  This was a very culturally diverse group of students and their stories reflected their heritage beautifully. The end result of this project would be a compilation of all of their stories made into a published book. We were asked to come up with an art project that would add a visual element to their “moments in Maine,” and so the students each created a collage to illustrate their stories.