Characteristics of Diverse Learners

I went in to the course, expecting to learn about different ways to incorporate visuals, kinesthetics, and auditory components into lesson plans, and was enthusiastic when I saw that our focus was much deeper in to the unique talents, needs, and characteristics of students. In my day to day work, I am mostly with students who have higher needs, but so many of these topics focused on the "typical" student as well as the "atypical". It was all encompassing to see the advantages and disadvantages that the students face. I was astounded by how many different disabilities that so many of our students have. Although attention disabilities are common in my work, learning about fragile X syndrome, down syndrome, and hearing my peers share their experiences and what has worked well for them was immeasurably helpful. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to learn more about many of the most common disabilities in order to be a better teacher and citizen.

Creating the Universal Design Lesson Plan brought the particular needs of many students to the fore-front. I examined how pertinent it is to be cognizant of many options and needs in order to not discriminate against any student. Lesson plans were something that were easy to throw together and after you conducted the lesson, you went back and made changes. It also left you to have to make last-minute quick decisions in order to include everyone. Ultimately, it felt like no matter how ingenious you are at snap decisions, you were doing the student an injustice. With the Universal Design Lesson Plan, it allowed me to better prepare myself for all situations and put me a step closer to creating a fair classroom.

The classwork homework sections were always easy to connect with the over-arching goal of being able to diversify our teaching in order to meet the diverse needs of the students. The annotated bibliographies helped me continue researching some of the important topics that I see everyday. The scientific data also offered a unique perspective and great knowledge that  is difficult to obtain when working with a small sample of students.  The self-study and interview reminded me that although our goal is to keep our private lives separate from our work, we can not entirely separate ourselves from our actions. Our experiences and beliefs create our identity and play a large part in our reactions to various situations. I learned that no matter how hard we try to segregate them, it is in our best interest to embrace them and dig deeper. It is only when we know our past that we can predict our reactions and maintain a strong sense of professionalism.

As a new graduate student, my focus in my undergrad with writing was MLA, and in the first class I was told numerous times that the standard format for all graduates would be APA. This was overwhelming and I was unsure if I would be able to keep the different formats separate. Although I struggled with the in-text citations, it was helpful to go over some of the common mistakes in class and problem solve with peers. I would have loved to have had more time to go over APA in-depth, however I understand the the curriculum for this course does not allow for an entire APA section.

Going over the legal implications of our jobs and specific duties made it clear that being better informed is always in your best interest. I would incrementally pick up legal information in my current job, however having the chance to ask any legal question and receive responses that were often tied to interesting stories made it much more instilled in to my knowledge base.

Overall, I learned that every student is different and unique and it is my responsibility to recognize the differences and then treat every student in a fair and respectful manner.