Instructional Planning
Instructional Planning
One possibility for a differentiated instruction could be found in looking at the activity relating to the political election advertisements. While the topic is effective and denotes the understanding of whether the advertisements are truthful, it could be a wonderful idea to allow some students to actually write a political election advertisement themselves and then have the classmates reflect on whether the advertisement is in fact truthful. This differentiation instruction addresses the element that students may need another may to complete the activity if they learn in different ways than one another. For example, this allows those students who need to practice their writing to do so, while simultaneously allowing those students who may not understand the concept of a political advertisement to see what one looks like rather than searching without first possessing the knowledge of the concept.
Instructional Element Differentiation:
Since the student named Michael has a very low reading level and a low writing level, the activity on the political announcement would be a great avenue for him to practice writing, (IEP Michael, 2016). One way to change an instructional element that could appeal to Michael would be to allow Michael to bring in a current example of a political advertisement that interests him. This would allow him to gain more interest in his homework once again. By doing this, Michael would be able to write a reflective essay on what aspects of the advertisement interested him and how those interests related to the whether he thought the article was truthful based on his beliefs. This would be a great way to get him back involved and increasing his way of expressing himself in writing. This essay would address the need for Michael to work on bringing a concept he is fascinated with to his writing and allow him to practice expressing himself.
Provided IEP Recommendations:
The lesson plan that was provided is a unique topic, but it is not something that is age appropriate for the students that it is set out to teach. Unfortunately, many students do not have an interest in politics until much later. In fact, it is wise to use topics that may peak the student’s interests more such as global travel monuments or theme parks they may be interested in. Through using these themes to teach important concepts, the teacher will be able to reach the students and make them absorb more in the long run. The element of the lesson plan that could be changed is the political advertisement with just a generic advertisement, for example. This would allow students to both research and write about many different products and explore the concept of whether they are being represented truthfully. This would do a great deal for the student’s interest in the project and their learning in the long run.
Revise the Original Assessment:
The lesson plan that was the sample falls into a common trap that many lesson plans do. It did not allow the children who were struggling or have learning disorders to be engaged by the assignment, (10 Common Challenges and Best Practices for Teaching Students With ADHD, 2016). Since these children are younger, an activity related to politics is likely not going to interest them enough to be engaged and rise to the occasion. Only the elite students in the class are going to be reached by this assignment. For this reason, there needs to be an element that is more interesting to the students. What I would suggest for this age group is to find a general advertisement for their favorite toy or theme park and assess whether they feel the advertisement is accurate. By doing this, the teacher will be able to engage more members of the class and would be able to satisfy the IEP requirements that address the differing levels of the students in that the activity would enable those who need to practice writing to do so, while allowing some of the students who may be further ahead to reflect on the student’s writing. This is one way to get different levels involved in the process in order to satisfy the IEP requirements.
With regards to Michael, Michael would be tasked with finding a political advertisement that interested him, which would allow him to practice the reading skills that he is lacking and gain creative inferences from what he is reading. Then he would be able to put those skills to use by writing as well. This would allow him to grow a great deal and turn his weaknesses in writing and reading into strengths. This is a special accommodation for Michael based on the IEP because he is isolated to work on the skills that the IEP saw as a weakness for him. He is targeted on both reading and writing, which are not his strong suits academically. This activity greatly benefits Michael as a student because he is able to build a solid academic foundation on his weaknesses and then progress with his classmates to the next level.
IEP Requirements to Mix with Special Ed and Regular Classrooms:
The idea when trying to meet IEP requirements is to try to have the most understanding from the students. For this reason, there has to be the thought process put into each and every lesson plan related to the importance of mass understanding rather than the importance of a few. It is for this reason that there should be a lesson designed that is less sophisticated and not related to politics. By doing this, the teacher will be able to also engage students that may have learning disabilities as well. The teacher for special education students and the teacher for the regular classroom both have to deal with the IEP requirements in creating lesson content that relates to different academic levels. This assignment is not different in that the two teachers would collaborate together with the advertisement truthfulness idea and foster ways such as the non-politics example provided to make the varying levels of their students engaged in order to meet IEP requirements. This could be through an advertisement about toys from an amusement park and then branch off into a list of four to ten potential activities that would utilize their student’s different levels.
References
10 Common Challenges and Best Practices for Teaching Students With ADHD. (2016). Scholastic. Retrieved from: http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/10-common-challenges-and-best-practices-teaching-students-adhd
IEP for Michael. (2016). Provided by Professor. Retrieved from: Course Materials.
