THE TEACHER UNDERSTANDS HOW LEARNERS GROW AND DEVELOP, RECOGNIZING THAT PATTERNS OF LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT VARY INDIVIDUALLY WITHIN AND ACROSS THE COGNITIVE, LINGUISTIC, SOCIAL, EMOTIONAL, AND PHYSICAL AREAS, AND DESIGNS AND IMPLEMENTS DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE AND CHALLENGING LEARNING EXPERIENCES.

In SPED 440 we were assigned to write a differentiated lesson plan for a classroom that had specific focus students with special needs and accommodations. For this project I had to not only come up with a lesson but also make sure that lesson fit all of the needs and accommodations of my students. The lesson plan was on using proportions to calculate percent and sales tax. In this lesson I used UDL to explain my multiple means of representation, action and expression, and engagement throughout the lesson. I was also required to explain what scaffolds I had built into the lesson and how I met identified needs of the focus students. This project helped me understand how learning and development vary and how I should accommodate these varying students in my lesson plans and in my future classroom.

Artifact 2 - Cooperative Learning Lesson

Although Cooperative Learning during a pandemic is difficult I was able to do carry out some cooperative learning lessons in my two Student Teaching placements. Specifically, in my second Student Teaching placement in Springville I taught a cooperative learning lesson on key terms of circles. Students had already learned this material and this lesson was a review lesson on the key terms of circles. For this lesson I had the students work in groups and answer questions together. Students worked together to find the key terms of a circle and then had to piece together a puzzle that had pieces of information about the circles on them. This lesson demonstrates my understanding of different learners' needs because students are working to answer questions but then also being able to see and interact with those answers and piece them together. This helps students see how the key terms of the lesson fit together and how important it is to see the pattern. It also accounts for different strategies for students' learning styles and how students can see the material in a variety of ways.

Artifact 3 - Cooperative Learning Project 

In EDUC 330 we completed a cooperative learning project that used different cooperative learning techniques from our textbook to plan a cooperative learning lesson for students. For my project I used Domain and Range which my Algebra students in field block were currently working with. The cooperative learning strategy that I used in my lesson was called Numbered Heads Together. This activity made sure that each team member knew the answers to the activity and how the group got those answers. The strategy fostered peer learning, collaboration, and scaffolds of the material they had been working with all week. This project shows my work with learner development because I had to understand how I could work in groups but still make sure all group members were gaining information during the activity. Since the lesson was structured to make sure all the students knew the answer and reason why, students who were very familiar with the material gained experience teaching it to students who may have been confused. This helps the students that may be confused learning the material and will help the students who were teaching it by further working with the material in a different and more challenging way.