Internship Assignment #2: Teachers are committed to students and their learning

1.

Identify the *learning needs of students in your classroom. Document how you will
accommodate students based on the identified needs.
I document and follow each students required IEPs, modifications, or 504 plans
regulated by the federal department of education so each student excels at their own pace.
Examples of this practice in my courses would be modifying assignments to fit their individual
needs. I adjust the group projects such as IEP students reflection papers need to be only one
detailed page of what they learned as in comparison to their peers that need 2 pages of
information. Another example would be students that struggle with technology or are limited
due to their personal choices I have them create a keynote or pp presentation as compared to
their classmates that use web based sites due their restriction to internet. I also have all students
complete a multiple intelligence test to assess what types of learners I have in my classroom.

2.

Include a unit of study and clearly describe at least two (2) instructional strategies and two (2)
assessment strategies you developed specifically to meet the identified *learning needs of
students. Be sure to provide a rationale for your instruction and assessment decisions that is
supported by research or best practice.
A unit that I concentrated on is my peer debate project. I give the students the material
via lecture and demonstrations of professionals that use these types of skills in their every day
career; politicians, lawyers, public administrations, government officials, etc. Students close
the gap from book knowledge to real life when performing the project. First students are
required to research topics of interest that their group would like to debate on and we narrow
down the choice to one main topic. Students are then randomly chosen to form a group of four
to debate the topic depending on their stance (for or against). This is where inquiry based
learning is at its best when students are doing the researching and learning on their own. Next
is the presentation and speaking portion of the project. All students are required to present at
some point in the debate could be opening statement, point 1, or point 2, closing, or rebuttal
stages of the project. I demonstrate and model what students should be focusing on. A judging
panel will come to the final event to determine a winner based on many different criteria.
Organization, research facts, speaking and presentation format and skills, closure statements,
and sportsmanship. I also have my students perform a final reflection on what they learned
front the project and experience which is another form of assessment; peer reflection. The
rational of this assessment and the learning needs of this project fall under best practices as the
project moves forward the learning knowledge is increased.

3.

Evaluate the impact of instruction and accommodations on student learning. Be sure to use
assessment evidence or data in your evaluation. Include at least two ideas for the redesign of the
unit and explain how the redesign will improve student learning.
The students were amazed on how much time it takes to research both sides of the debate. The
students got really engaged researching the facts and data before the competition begins which
is very helpful for each team if the opposing side brings up potentially false information during
the debate. The impact of instruction was immense to students after the project was complete.
The students appreciation of what people that perform this job in the real life do really opens
their eyes on what it takes to do this career. One idea to redesign the lesson would for the

students to go on a field trip to see a person doing this job in real life such as a court case at the
local courthouse. Another design idea would be to invite a professional government official
into my classroom for a meet and greet session to discuss essential skills and traits needed to
perform their career on a day to day basis. This gives students a real life connections to this
career options. According to Larmer: a well developed project has two criteria. First, it must
be meaningful to students as a task that that want to research and complete. Second, it must
fulfill an educational purpose. A productive project based learning environment is both welldesigned and well-implemented which requires a lot of insight from the instructor. (1) I feel
that I try to make all my classroom projects worth while and valuable to my students going into
the future.
1. Larmer, J., & Mergendoller, J. (2012). 8 Essentials for Project Based Learning. Educational
Leadership, 68(1). Retrieved March 28, 2015, from
http://bie.org/object/document/8_essentials_for_project_based_learning