To ensure the learning success of students, educators apply their understanding of how youth learn best to the classroom context. In practice, this includes providing comprehensive and scaffolded tasks that engage students personally in the learning by providing voice and choice. Students requiring extra scaffolds or other support strategies need to be given what they need in order to meet learning goals. Adapting my lessons and course activities to meet the learning needs of my students is a core strategy to ensure the classroom becomes a positive, safe, and inclusive learning environment for all students.
Artifact #1: Email to an ELL student for extra support
In my English 9 class during PYP, I had one ELL student who was in Canada for the first time. For this reason, her speaking, reading, and writing skills were at the elementary level, and especially in the first weeks of the quarter, communication with her was a challenge because she had a limited output or means to communicate her needs. At about week 3 of the quarter, I adopted the habit of emailing this student regularly to update her about the activities/readings/viewings of the next day to give her some opportunities to read ahead and prepare. The email shown here is an example of how I prepared her for the class activities the next day: I provided the text(s), as well as some comprehension questions to guide her reading/viewing as she prepared for next day’s class. This is an example of how, as an educator, I will need to come up with ways to support students who need extra preparation before class.
Artifact #2: Research task on street drugs effects on the nervous system
This research activity on how street drugs affect the nervous system is an example of multiple deeper learning choice activities I gave my Anatomy & Physiology 12 students. After learning some core concepts about a particular organ system, I usually created mini-projects for students to explore, extend, and apply these core concepts in a self-determined task, which usually culminated in a sharing round of mini-presentations with their peers. In giving students choice opportunities to extend their learning to creative, new contexts, students who may otherwise have felt bored or undermotivated were more engaged and able to exhibit what they were truly capable of. These applications allowed students to conceptualize curriculum content in newer, real-world ways, allowing them to practice making connections to Big Ideas in the Science curriculum around concepts of gene expression, micro- and macro-organization of life, and homeostasis. In a way, the choice activities used earlier in the Biology course culminated in the summative project of the organ systems portion of the Anatomy & Physiology 12 course: students chose one scenario which threatens to “throw off” human homeostasis, and explore how the nervous system and one other organ system of their choice work together to reestablish homeostasis. In this way, deeper learning opportunities were interwoven throughout the Anatomy & Physiology 12 course to ensure students were making meaningful connections to the content and skills.
Conclusion
Understanding and applying knowledge of student development involves giving students adequate support and scaffolds, as well as opportunities to apply and extend their learning. Learning occurs at the zone of proximal development, where students are given opportunities to challenge themselves and explore what they are interested in and curious about, but also where students are supported enough by their teacher that the learning is accessible to them. Personally, I appreciated being given practical ways to practice applying my knowledge of how youth develop and learn to the classroom context to engage my learners. In my teaching practice, I would like to seek professional development opportunities and resources that provide ideas for engaging struggling learners better in academically rigorous Science courses and supporting ELL students better in the high school English classroom.