Course Description:
Success in the classroom is not just a matter of knowing your subject; it is a matter of knowing your students. Having a working knowledge of the human development of students in regard to mental, physical, social, and emotional development can be critical to the success of the teaching and learning experience.
Early practitioners believed that students came to the classroom as a blank slate ready to be filled by the all-knowing teacher. Today’s educators know that students come to the classroom with a variety of experiences and prerequisite skills for learning, and that the teacher is more coach and mentor than imparter of all knowledge.
This course will provide teachers of any grade level and discipline with realistic information, strategies, and practices related to teaching students today. Participants will look at the factors that make students diverse and the instructional implications for teaching to diverse populations. Information on building resiliency, fostering a sense of community within the classroom, the importance of teaching to student modalities and the effects of poverty on student learning are included. Emphasis is placed on working with:
1. English Language Learners
2. Students from poverty
3. Urban learners from poverty
Instruction is focused on providing participants with information and practice that will lead to self-awareness and classroom implementation of effective strategies for working with English Language Learners, students from poverty and urban learners from poverty.
The successful practitioner of Working With Today’s Diverse Learners will:
- Identify areas of bias in the classroom, in the curriculum, and within themselves.
- Choose appropriate tactics for removing bias.
- Gain an understanding of the special needs of students from diverse backgrounds and with language deficits.
- Understand that all students come to the classroom with a set of beliefs based, in part, on their past experiences.
- Incorporate ideas for reaching all students in the classroom.
- Create lessons in which students’ differences are acknowledged.
- Build and foster a sense of community within the classroom.
Objectives:
Participants will know: (declarative knowledge)
- The terminology related to teaching diverse learners.
- The issues facing teachers who work with students of diversity.
- The connections between Multiple Intelligences Theory and helping today’s students to be successful.
- The research-based recommendations for working with students from poverty.
- How modalities and learning styles affect student learning.
- The steps for building resiliency in students.
- The implications of bias behavior through words and actions.
- Why relationships are important and what constitutes a positive relationship.
- Participants will be able to: (procedural knowledge)
- Create and explain a plan for eliminating bias in the classroom.
- Identify and plan for the elimination of bias within the classroom, curriculum, teaching tools, and the students themselves.
- Identify and plan for the elimination of areas of personal bias.
- Create a teaching plan that demonstrates an understanding of individual differences in students, including contextualizing and pluralizing content.
- Transfer the information on modalities and learning styles to create and implement a plan for teaching.
- Identify and use instructional practices that are effective for diverse learners.
- Design and implement a lesson plan that differentiates for diversity.
Grading Requirements:
A = Complete all assignments and receive a cumulative score of 14 or above on the rubric.
B = Complete all assignments and receive a cumulative score of 11-13 on the rubric.
C = Complete all assignments and receive a cumulative score of 9 – 10 on the rubric.
Grades will be sent from California State University – Bakersfield in three to six weeks following completion of the course.
Procedures:
Participants will use the information on Today’s Diverse Learners to build powerful lessons that motivate and teach at a quality level. Lessons demonstrate good teaching practices by including activating prior knowledge, tutorials, assignments, and Learning Log reflections. Participants will use information from the instructor along with readings from the bibliography and exploration of reference materials to build their knowledge about and use of the factors involved in quality learning.
The course is designed to be interactive between and among the instructor and other participants. Participants will design and implement several tools related to the teaching and learning involved in how learning occurs. They will use the Toolbox and Conference Center to share and compare ideas with other participants, and they will write their reflections in the Learning Log. The instructor will offer feedback through e-mail and the Conference Center.
Content:
Lesson 1 – Terminology and Concepts Related to Diverse Learners
Lesson 2 – Terminology Test
Lesson 3 – Impact on Learning
Lesson 4 – Connections to Brain Research
Lesson 5 – Connections to Multiple Intelligences
Lesson 6 – Modeling and Guided Practice for Working With Today’s Diverse Learners
Lesson 7 – Application in the Classroom
Lesson 8 – Post Test
Lesson 9 – Reflections
Evaluation:
Assessment Tasks:
• Task 1 – The learner will complete the Terminology Test with a mastery level of 90%.
• Task 2 – The learner will list at least three questions that he/she has in regard to working with students today.
• Task 3 – The learner will provide the criteria in their school for at-risk students and the kinds of intervention strategies in place for those students.
• Task 4 – The learner will develop three ideas for teaching to visual learners.
• Task 5 – The learner will create a chart of the students in his/her classroom with their individual differences.
• Task 6 – The learner will identify three personal goals for the learning.
• Task 7 – The learner will write about the individual differences within his/her own classroom.
• Task 8 – The learner will evaluate his/her learning on the brain, where the information has been obtained and how current the research.
• Task 9 - The learner will use the chart provided to show how they will eliminate threat in the classroom.
• Task 10 – The learner will provide ways to change his/her lessons using the information on storage systems of the brain.
• Task 11 – The learner will describe how he/she will use the information on the self-system of the brain to tap into the students’ motivation to learn.
• Task 12 – The learner will identify his/her beliefs about IQ tests.
• Task 13 – Using a graph provided, learners will develop three ideas for using each of the eight intelligences.
• Task 14 – Learners will identify how they will assess their students’ ability to use multiple intelligences.
• Task 15 – Learners will discuss how they will look for bias in their own classrooms and what they believe is the role of the classroom teacher in eliminating bias.
• Task 16 – Learners will create a chart for the various types of bias and will identify those biases in their own classrooms. They will create an action plan for eliminating bias.
• Task 17 – Learners will build a list of class norms based on the information studied. They will discuss the implementation for those norms.
• Task 18 – Learners will plan and implement a lesson with differentiation for diversity.
• Task 19 – Learners will evaluate their lessons.
• Task 20 – The learner will complete the Post Test with a mastery level of 90%.
Bibliography:
Bo Bartelt, D.W. (1994a). “The Macro Ecology of Educational Outcomes.” School-Community Connections: Exploring Issues for Research and Practice, edited by Rigsby, L.C., Reynolds, M. C. & Wang, M. C. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Bartelt, D.W. (1994b). “The Macro Ecology of Educational Outcomes.” The CELIC Review 3, 1: 2-3.
Covey, S.R. (1989). Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Feuerstein, R., et al. (1980). Instrumental Enrichment: An Intervention Program for Cognitive Modifiability. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman.
Gardner, H. (1997) The Frames of Mind: Theory of Multiple Intelligences. New York: Basic Books.
Gibbs, J. (1994). Tribes. Santa Rosa, CA: Center Source Publications.
Haberman, M. (1996), “Characteristics of Star Teachers.” Instructional Leader, 9(6), 1-3.
Henderson, N., & Milstein, M. (1996). Resiliency in Schools: Making It Happen for Students and Educators. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Jensen, E. (1998). Introduction to Brain-compatible Learning. Del Mar, California: The Brain Store Inc.
Jensen, E. (1997). Completing the Puzzle: The Brain-compatible Approach to Learning. Del Mar, California: The Brain Store Inc.
Johnson, D. W., Johnson, R. T., & Holubec, E. J. (1991). Cooperation in the Classroom. Edina, MN: Interaction Book Company.
Kotulak, R. (1996). Inside the Brain. Kansas City, MO: Andrews McMeel.
Latham, A. S., Gitomer, D. & Ziomek, R. (1999) “What the Tests Tell Us About New Teachers”, Educational Leadership. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. 56:8, 23.
Massey, M. (1979). The People Puzzle. Boulder, CO: Morris Massey Associates.
McCune, S.L., Stephens, D.E., & Lowe, M.E. (1999). Preparing for the ExCet. Hauppauge, NY: Barron’s Educational Service.
National Association of Secondary School Principals. (1996). Breaking Ranks: Changing an American Institution. Reston, VA: NASSP.
Payne, R.K. (2001) A Framework for Understanding Poverty. Highlands, Texas: Aha! Process Inc.
Perry, B. D. (1995). Children, Youth, and Violence: Searching for Solutions. New York: Guilford.
Sousa, D. (1997). How the Brain Learns: New Insights into the Teaching/Learning Process (Audiotape). Reston, VA: National Association of Secondary School Principals.
Sousa, D. (1995). How the Brain Learns. Reston, VA: National Association of Secondary School Principals.
Sprenger, M. (1999). Learning and Memory: The Brain in Action. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Stratton, J. (1995). How Students Have Changed: A Call to Action for Our Children’s Future. Arlington, Virginia: American Association of School Administrators.
Sweeney, L. (1992). “Research Links Violence on TV with Aggression,” Christian Science Monitor, April 7, 1992.
Teachman, Jay D., Paasch, Kathleen, Day, Randal, and Carver, Karen. Poverty During Adolescence and Subsequent Educational Attainment. Duncan, Greg J, and Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne, Editors. Consequences of Growing up Poor. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation, 1997. p. 443
Tileston, D.W. (2000). Ten Best Teaching Practices: How Brain Research, Learning Styles, and Standards Define Teaching. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press Inc.
Tileston, D.W. (2003). What Every Teacher Should Know About Today’s Diverse Learners. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press.
Tomlinson, C.A. (2001). The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
U.S. Department of Labor. (1991). Scans: Blueprint for Action. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Wang, M.C. & Kovach, J.A. (1996). Bridging the Achievement Gap in Urban Schools: Reducing Educational Segregation and Advancing Resilience-Promoting Strategies. VA: Association for Supervison and Curriculum and Development.
Williams, B. (1996), Closing the Achievement Gap: A Vision for Changing Beliefs and Practices. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum and Development.
Yancey, W., & Saporito, S. (1994). “Urban Schools and Neighborhoods: A Handbook for Building an Ecological Database.” Temple University.
Web Resources:
http://www.ascd.org
http://www.mcrel.org
http://www.multi-intell.com
http://www.ncte.org
http://www.nwrel.org
http://www.thinkingmaps.com
http://www.nea.org
http://www.dwtileston.com
For more information, please contact: info@whateveryteachershouldknow.com
10. What Every Teacher Should Know About Diverse Learners