Samantha Safran

ETE 485

Standard 1: Teaching Diverse Students:

The first Illinois Professional Teaching standard is teaching diverse students. This means

that the teacher is able to accommodate for each student’s individual needs and takes into

account the ways in which each child learns. Teachers also need to be aware of students’

cultural backgrounds as well as their social, economic, cultural, linguistic, and academic

experiences and how these could affect their learning.

At Bradley, I have had the opportunity to experience being in classrooms that have

diverse students as part of my ESL endorsement. These were challenging at times, as most of

the students spoke very little to no English. It was also quite difficult to get used to being in

schools in Peoria since they are very different than what I grew up with. Coming from a

primarily Caucasian area, being in schools that were made up of primarily African American

students was a bit of a culture shock for me. It was also difficult for me to be in schools where

students came from primarily low-income families as money wasn’t an issue for my family

growing up.

One way that I have accommodated for cultural differences in the classroom is through

a project that I had to do for one of my ESL endorsement classes. The project had me talking

about my background and comparing it with the background of a child in my ESL placement

class. I had to interview an ESL student and ask her questions about her cultural background.

Through this experience, I was able to learn more about her and see how her cultural

background was different from mine.

The second Illinois Professional Teaching Standard states that effective teachers need to

have an in-depth understanding of the content areas in order to create meaningful experiences

for the students. This means that I need to be well prepared to teach lessons that incorporate

the different content areas and have a good idea of how I am going to go about teaching them.

One way in which I have demonstrated my content area and pedagogical knowledge

thus far is through the edTPA in Novice Teaching. Since I am in a Pre-k blended classroom, there

are a wide variety of learning needs that need to be addressed. When creating lesson plans, I

had to ensure that the lessons were engaging and hands-on for the students as well as

developmentally appropriate for the age group I was working with.

Unit plans are another way that teachers can integrate the different content areas into

their lessons. In ETE 215, one of our projects was a Thematic Unit Plan. My group members and

I chose to use 2nd grade as our age level and winter as our theme. We said that our unit would

take about two weeks to complete and that since our theme is winter, the unit should be

completed during wintertime, which begins in December. We each had to plan a winter themed

lesson incorporating a different content area. By doing this, I was able to see the way in which

the different content areas could be incorporated into different lessons and how these lessons

were able to fit together in order to create one cohesive unit plan.
Standard 3: Planning for Differentiated Instruction:
The third Illinois Professional Teaching Standard focuses on the way in which the

teacher plans and designs lesson plans based on content area knowledge, diverse student

characteristics, student performance data, curriculum goals, and the community context.

Differentiation is the way in which I plan and accommodate for student’s individual needs.

These needs may include, but are not limited to ELLs and students with ELN.

I have had many opportunities to plan for differentiation in my program this far. One

way is in my lesson plans for novice teaching. Many of the students in my novice teaching

placement have IEPs and some have behavioral problems as well. There is also a student that

has Down Syndrome and is mostly nonverbal. In my accommodations for my lessons, I had to

make sure that each need was addressed, and that the lesson could be adapted depending on

the ability level of the student. For one of my lessons, I wrote about having the student with

Down Syndrome mimic letter sounds or point to a picture of the letter.

Another way that I provided for differentiation was through a project in ETE 236. Me

and my group members chose to do a presentation on figurative language and ELLs. We each

researched different articles that talked about this and how this makes it even more difficult for

ELLs to acquire language. One thing I found interesting was that one of my group members

talked about ways in which you could teach vocabulary to ELLs by using graphic novels. We also

had to create a lesson plan on figurative language that could be used to teach ELLs. Although

our group chose to use 5th grade which is not a grade that I will be able to teach in the future, I

still found this project to be helpful in learning to differentiate instruction for ELLs.
Standard 4: Learning Environment:

Standard four focuses on the importance of creating a safe and healthy learning

environment that promotes cultural and linguistic responsiveness, emotional well-being, self-

efficacy, positive social interaction, mutual respect, active engagement, academic risk-taking,

self-motivation, and personal goal setting. All areas of development need to be considered

when designing an appropriate learning environment. These areas include, but are not limited

to social/emotional, physical, and cognitive development.

In ETE 328, my group members and I had to create a learning environment for

infants/toddlers, preschool, and primary aged children. We also had to create an outdoor

learning environment that was developmentally appropriate. For each learning environment,

we had to include a visual representation of what the environment would look like as well as a

detailed description of the environment and what was included in it. We also had to choose

either preschool or primary and create a list of materials and their costs for each of the learning

centers. We had six centers which included: math, science, listening and music, computer,

library/reading, and art. I was in charge of the infant/toddler learning environment as well as

the library and computer centers. By looking up different materials I could include in my

learning centers, I was able to get a better idea of how much teachers typically spend on their

classrooms as well as how much work goes into creating the learning environment.
Standard 5: Instructional Delivery:

The fifth standard focuses on differentiating instruction by using different strategies that

support student learning. It is important for teachers to accommodate for the different learning

styles of students and teach them effective problem solving skills. These skills can provide

students with a better understanding of how to approach the problem in order to solve it.

In SCI 104, I had to create a lesson plan that promoted learning through inquiry in order

for students to to problem solve and use critical thinking skills. My group chose to do our lesson

on erosion through the use of a chocolate chip cookie. The lesson plan had the students

breaking up a chocolate chip cookie using a Q-tip and a toothpick and then pouring water on

the cookie. This lesson promoted inquiry because the students had to think about what they

thought would happen when they use the Q-tip and then the toothpick. They also had to think

about what would happen when they put water on the cookie and had to experiment will all of

the items that they were given. The teacher’s job was to introduce the concept of erosion and

allow the students to experiment on their own. Through inquiry, the students were able to

come up with their own conclusions about the experiment.

The sixth standard says that teachers have reading, writing, and oral communication

skills in each of the different content areas and address student reading, writing, and oral

communication needs while teaching. It is important for me to have these skills and model

them appropriately for my students.

In my Early Childhood Special Education class, we were able to practice writing IEPs and

goals that go along with them. This was a part of the case study project that we had to do in

groups. Having the opportunity to practice these different types of writing allowed me to

improve my writing skills and get a better sense of the writing styles that teachers use.
Standard 7: Assessment:

The seventh standard focuses on the teacher’s ability to use both formative and

summative assessments in order to see student progress. These assessments allow teachers to

accommodate student needs, monitor progress, measure growth, and evaluate student

outcomes. It is also important for the teacher to make decisions based on data relative to the

needs of students.

In my classes here at Bradley, I have learned different ways to assess students and have

also been able to practice some of them. Checklists and rubrics are two effective tools that

teachers can use as assessments. I have also learned about authentic assessment which allows

students to be actively engaged in what they are doing while being assessed. In ETE 443, we

had to do a case study and had to use two different types of assessment tools. The two

assessment tools that I used were the Vineland Social Emotional Early Childhood Scales (SEEC)

and the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development. Using these assessments allowed me

to see the different ways in which teachers can assess students and allowed me to get a better

understanding of why assessment is so important in Early Childhood.

The seventh Illinois Professional Teaching Standard focuses on the teacher’s ability to

work with others in order to foster cognitive, linguistic, physical, and social and emotional

development. The teacher works with, not only other professionals, but with students, parents

or guardians, and community members as well. Communication is key when it comes to

working with other people, and is a skill that teachers need to have.

In my ETE 443 class, we had to work as a class to prepare for the Sharing a Vision

conference where some of us, including me, got to present. We worked in class to create trifold

boards that focused on six different assessment tools. The tool that I worked on was the

Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. I had to work with a partner and type up information about

the assessment tool that could be placed on a trifold board. Me and my partner, along with the

rest of the class, also had to create a handout on our assessment tool that would be given to

people that stopped at our table at the conference.

By preparing for and attending this conference, I was able to work with other classmates

and gain experience in a professional setting.

The last Illinois Professional Teaching Standard states that it is important for teachers to

be ethical and reflective while also exhibiting professionalism, providing leadership in the

community and advocating for students, parents or guardians, and the teaching profession.

We talked about self reflection in a lot of my classes and how it is important to self evaluate.

In ETE 120, we had to use Weebly to create a portfolio based on an aspect of Early

Childhood that we want to advocate for. I did mine on play and its importance to Early

Childhood development. We had to research in order to find articles on our topic to use in our

portfolio. These were used as evidence in order to demonstrate why we are advocating for the

topic we chose. The data gathered from the articles was also used to show how the topic is

relevant in Early Childhood and how it is being talked about in regards to education today.

This project allowed me to get a better idea of the reasoning behind play in Early

Childhood and why play is so important in children’s development. I was also able to learn more

about the role of play in Early Childhood and the ways in which play has a positive impact on

children and the way in which they learn.