Though this assignment could fall into many categories, the one chosen is principle four stating, "The teacher understands how students differ in their approaches to learning and creates instructional opportunities that are adapted to diverse learners." Classrooms are typically very diverse, and full of individuals who bring in their own ideas and methods. Each child is going to differ from others in the room and the mantra "one size fits all" is simply not the case here. There are three primary learning strategies, three learning styles and eight accepted intelligences, and that's only the beginning. A child's ability to learn may also be impacted by their family or home life, socioeconomic status, or hometown and the list goes on. Being aware of these various factors and adapting one's teaching methods accordingly can be the difference between teaching and engaging a child or not or could even see an "at-risk" student through graduation.
 

This activity was created in Content Area Instruction (CI 6321) as a collection designed to incorporate literacy into a content area while stimulating a variety of intelligences and learning styles. Between these eight activities, often overlapping, one finds the theories of behaviorism, constructivism, and cognitivism. There are kinetic, auditory and visual activities and each of the eight intelligences is represented: aural, logical, visual, kinesthetic, natural, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and verbal. In addition to having the oppportunity to stimulate a multitude of students who might often be overlooked, these also incorporate literacy in one form or another and often include both technology and other disciplines.

Initially a mentally taxing assignment, once one begins to think "outside of the box" it becomes easier to do so. Many of these were exciting and engaging to consider executing and would certainly break up the monotony of the typical school day. There are a wide variety of both approaches and needs that should be considered when creating activities and/or lesson plans to avoid leaving out less "conventional" learners who are often overlooked.