Adaption Application through IDEA

 

Adaption Application through IDEA

Instruction

I strive to develop this important piece of AGAPE each day.  I feel that adaption is the “How” of teaching. We must develop each concept, so our students understand the importance of learning different skills. Over the past few months, I have put a lot of thought into the depth of my lessons. I have realized that I do not push the topic/concept as far as they can go. I do not take the time to allow my students to contribute through choice and discussions as much as I should.  Lessons should be adapted for all students. I differentiate my lessons by ability each day. I feel that leveled differentiation is a strength of mine.  I am missing the constructivist piece when I differentiate. I should also differentiate by interest and choice.

Discipline/Content Area

Adaption is present in math when my students solve problems on their whiteboards. When they complete the problem, we share the many ways to get the answer. This is a major change from when I first started teaching. We are now excepting many ways to get to the correct answer.  I would like become more adaptive in my language arts class. There are many opportunities that I am not taking right now. I would like to add authentic learning opportunities where they discover the essential questions through discussions and book talks.

Environment

Classrooms are set up for a very small percent of our learners. Most second graders struggle to attend for long periods of time while sitting in a desk. Most seven and eight year olds have a hard time comprehending through only listening. I must adapt my curriculum to meet the needs of all students. I need to make sure that I use a variety of instructional strategies while thinking about diverse learning styles. I must adapt my environment each day to the mood of my classroom. My energy level should change with theirs.

Assessment

Assessments must be adaptive. We have many different students who need to be assessed differently too. I am so excited to get standard based report cards next year! I struggle giving percentage grades to my second graders. The standard based reporting with explain what each child has mastered and what they are working towards. I feel that it is difficult to apply adaption to standardized tests. I don’t think that standardized tests are sensitive to diverse learners.

In twenty years, I still think that I will be developing adaption within my classroom. This piece of AGAPE will always change and that is an important part of understanding adaption. We must adapt to what our students need in order to be successful.