2A.3:          Meeting Diverse Needs 

One of the most important aspects about being a teacher, is learning how to meet diverse needs in heterogeneous classrooms. It can be incredibly difficult to achieve this in a language classroom, giving the varieties of fluency levels. I have learned so much this year about scaffolding, and making student groupings that will be beneficial to all students.

Evidence:

I designed projects that would be meaningful to all students, and still challenge all of my students. Projects where students had choice, varying levels of language difficulty, and still were engaged in a meaningful learning experience. This is an example of that: Migrant Poems. All students had the same tasks, but native speakers were given longer passages with more challenging vocabulary.

2B.1:          Safe Learning Environment

Low affective filters are critical to the building of a collaborative and inclusive classroom culture that I am looking for. Discriminatory language and any form of ridicule or bullying will not be tolerated int he classroom, period. I make every effort to include student voice, areas of interest, and to include all viewpoints in that classroom. Without this effective language learning cannot take place.

Evidence:

Students get to know each other, which I believe encourages respect. All students get to know each other well through the different projects we have, and the presentations on ourselves and our families. This example is of students telling their immigration story.

2D.2:          High Expectations 

Perhaps the most important aspect of my teaching philosophy is to have high standards for all students. I am very passionate about not only teaching the “gifted” students, but giving the same mindful planning and rigor to the curriculum of the students who are often seen as incapable of completing challenging work. Many of the students in my Spanish 3 class, came to my class with the label of being students who could not learn, these students were some of the most thought provoking students in the class, you just had to catch their attention.

Evidence:

This is a CSI reading activity, where students explain their comprehension through a Color, a Symbol, and an Image. Many students were more willing to express their opinions in this format, rather than long winded open responses. I saw this as a first step, and a way of getting to know their thoughts while still challenging the students and making them think critically.