Brief Description of Evidence:

During the spring semester of 2023 in my EDUC 230 The Exceptional Child class, a classmate and I created a lesson plan. We had to create a lesson plan that included modifications/accommodations for a fictional student with an Individualized Education Plan (IEP), named Victoria. The lesson that we created was focused on reading comprehension and language arts because this is the area that Victoria struggled with the most. We created a KWL (What do you know, what do you want to know, and what have you learned) chart and had the students fill out the first two columns before we began. Our lesson was over thunderstorms and we had a short story about them. We split the students up into pairs of two and had them read the short story together. After they read the story with a partner, we read the story to the students stopping at the end of each paragraph to ask a question. My partner would ask a question from their worksheet and we would have the students highlight the answer. After we read the story to them the students completed their worksheet with a partner. 

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Analysis of What I Learned:

Creating this lesson taught me how to create modifications and accommodations for students that need them. Since Victoria struggled with reading comprehension we made sure to go through the list of questions and have students highlight the answers. This helps Victoria and other students process and analyze the information. Having the students work with a partner also allows them to help and learn from each other. This goes along with Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory. His theory states that “...observation and modeling play a primary role in how and why people learn” (UC Berkeley). I learned that it takes a lot of planning to meet the needs of each student and help them grow. One thing I would do differently is create a hands-on activity for this lesson. I think in order to help Victoria understand the material easier my partner and I could have differentiated our teaching strategies a little more. 

How This Artifact Demonstrates my Competence on the InTASC Standard:

I demonstrate my competence for InTASC Standard #6  by using multiple methods of assessment. I created a KWL chart to track how much my students have mastered and what they still need help with. By doing this I was able to monitor their learning progress which will help guide me in future lessons as well. This would also allow the student to self-monitor their own growth and learning. I also created a worksheet to test reading comprehension. If I do this lesson again I would add on a game for the students to play to test their knowledge as well. During the reading the students first read with a partner. I then read to them, stopping at the end of each paragraph to ask a question and allow the students to highlight the text. This helped the students grasp and understand what the text was saying. My partner and I also used a short answer worksheet that ensured the students had understood the reading material.