Diversity
The modern classroom has significantly changed; however, how much of this change takes diverse learners along? The answer will vary in each classroom, school, district, state, etc. When I enrolled in the Instructional technology program at Kennesaw State University, I was a middle school special education teacher. A significant passion and responsibility of mine was to minimize the diversity gap for my students in the classroom. This responsibility involved ongoing support through classroom accommodations, progress monitoring as stipulated in students’ Individualized Education Program (IEP), and annual review of student progress on academic goals and objectives for students to demonstrate mastery of specific goals like their non-special education peers.
As my role changed to an Instructional Technology Specialist, I have an increased responsibility to model and facilitate the use of digital tools to enhance learning experiences for all learners on a school-wide level. This humbling role comes with specific responsibilities to support diverse learners and enhance cultural understanding among staff. Through co-planning and co-teaching with teachers of various content areas and grade levels, I model and facilitate best practices that support teachers within their Professional Learning Communities (PLC). Some of these best practices are centered around Personalized Learning principles and the Technology Integration Matrix with consideration for how they apply in various content areas. As an embedded coach, I provide ongoing support and professional development to teachers for integrating digital tools and resources that support diverse learners to demonstrate academic mastery. The following experiences highlight some of the ways in which I support teachers to support their students:
As my role changed to an Instructional Technology Specialist, I have an increased responsibility to model and facilitate the use of digital tools to enhance learning experiences for all learners on a school-wide level. This humbling role comes with specific responsibilities to support diverse learners and enhance cultural understanding among staff. Through co-planning and co-teaching with teachers of various content areas and grade levels, I model and facilitate best practices that support teachers within their Professional Learning Communities (PLC). Some of these best practices are centered around Personalized Learning principles and the Technology Integration Matrix with consideration for how they apply in various content areas. As an embedded coach, I provide ongoing support and professional development to teachers for integrating digital tools and resources that support diverse learners to demonstrate academic mastery. The following experiences highlight some of the ways in which I support teachers to support their students:
- Developed personalized professional development for teachers to model and facilitate personalized learning for diverse learners
- Embedded coaching to co-teach and co-plan with teachers to design instructional materials and deliver instruction to diverse learners
- Create authentic learning opportunities that enhance global awareness and allow students to interact with community members in different parts of the world using video conferencing tools such as Skype.
- Collect, analyze and interpret Technology Integration data; used the data to hold one on one discussion with teachers on how to improve instruction for diverse learners.
- Summer field experience tutoring with a 5th grade English Language Learner from Nigeria.
- Grant proposal writing to seek funding for embedded coaching and maker gear for hands on learning activities for students.
- Collaborated with school administrators to identify best practices in maximizing the 1:1 device initiative – deployment and implementation.