Accommodating Diverse Learners in the Classroom: A Curriculum Theory Approach, Lecture notes of Accounting

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IYT2, Introduction to Curriculum Theory, Task 2 Introduction Curriculum theory provides a bridge between research and the experiential nature of teaching and learning. Instructors use curriculum theory as a means to transfer subject-specific content to learners within intellectual frameworks. These frameworks facilitate the development of one’s own personal philosophy of curriculum and the development of frameworks that best meet the needs of different learners. I have completed my fourteenth year of teaching secondary band (6th^ through 8th^ grades) and I have had some experience teaching English language learners, gifted students, students with learning disabilities, and social or behavioral challenges. Potential Challenges I have taught several hundreds of students at this point in my career. The vast majority of them pose no extreme challenge in my instructional setting. However, as is always the case, there are a few that have required me to accommodate. I had taught at a high school (9th^ through 12th) for seven years. One particular year I was asked to teach an Alternative Learning Environment (ALE) course. I traveled to two different classrooms to teach these students one class period a day. The first class had severe learning and cognitive disabilities and I was informed by the instructional aides not to bring instruments as many of them lacked the fine motor skills and coordination required to play band instruments. They encouraged me to have plenty of music selections to play for them. The second class was higher functioning but had mild learning disabilities. These students had much higher coordination so I found small xylophones that I could transport and I taught these students some of their favorite songs on the xylophone. I have had a few English Language Learners in my classroom as well and my solution to accommodate them is to find a student that is able to translate and make sure they sit next to them so they have someone that can translate anything I say right away. Any handouts I give to the students, I make sure to have Spanish and English (to date, I’ve only had Spanish speakers in my classes) vocabulary. I will also speak with them whenever possible in my limited Spanish. For social and behavioral issues, which I have had a few, I find it best to reach out to the parents and to the counselors to get as much background info about the student in question. I also don’t assume anything about the student. I speak with the student very clearly and precisely about what my expectations are and what the class expectations are (class contract I mentioned in Task 1). Then, I conduct class as I normally would. The majority of the time, there is no issue. A few times, I have had to use my notes from the parents and/or the counselor to assist with how to best handle any outburst.

Personal Philosophy of Curriculum I feel the assessment ranking system of my personal philosophy would allow me the greatest opportunity to accommodate any exceptional needs students. For the ELL students, I can translate any and all info I hand out to the students. For higher functioning ALE students I can modify the tasks required and the instrument learned to earn a higher rank. This would require me to come up with a completely separate list of tasks and ranking sheets but would be necessary to meet any modifications they may have. For the social and behavioral students, I don’t anticipate any modifications needing to be made unless it is specifically mentioned in their Individualized Education Plan but if they are mentioned, it would not be difficult to make any necessary changes. Instructional Setting For ELL, anytime I hand out information pages it would be translated in their native language. I would also place them next to someone else that would be able to translate for them. Anytime I speak with them one on one, I would do my best to speak with them but also try to get them to speak with me in English. I would slowly progress from everything translated to just half. Slowly but surely I would remove the translation all together. The same would be true for speaking. I would gradually speak with them more and more in English and only converse with them in their native language to make sure I was saying something correctly. For higher functioning ALE students, I would adjust my ideological preference in this case by borrowing from the Learner Centered ideology and have a bin or box of specific instruments for them to play. These instruments would require little instruction, and would be something they can still learn to play musically with the rest of the band. Depending on which instrument they choose, I would have very specific ranking sheets for them. I could even change the rank names to something I know or their aide knows they enjoy. It could be favorite colors (white, blue, red, green, orange, yellow, black) or foods (hot dogs, mac and cheese, cake, candy), anything they enjoy. The tasks on the ranking sheets would look completely different from the other students in class. For social and behavioral students, I would give them all the same materials as any other student but their accommodations would involve how I interact with them and how I respond to their behavior and social cues. Curriculum Ideology I would use the Learner Centered ideology when creating the initial exposure to the instruments for the higher functioning ALE students. Having them pick what they like would allow them to enjoy what they do. I would be using the Social Efficiency ideology for the social and behavioral students when I adjust how I interact with them. Small tasks and frequent feedback after each one will most likely benefit these students. I would also be using the Social Efficiency ideology for the ELL students but in a different manner. I would be giving them as many opportunities as possible and as many different contexts as possible to practice using their second language.

Curriculum Ideology: Justification Using the Learner Centered ideology gives the ALE students a voice and allows them to choose what they will be learning. Because my class is an elective this would most likely be the only choosing they get to do throughout their whole day. And because I would be providing a unique set of task sheets with each of the instruments, the students can choose to go to any other instrument in the box whenever they decide they would like to try something else. Using the Social Efficiency ideology for the social and behavioral students will be beneficial by allowing them to feel validated after each task they accomplish successfully. It will also allow me to construct and mold a version of behavior by approving correct behavior responses and ignoring incorrect behavior responses. The Social Efficiency ideology would have the same effect on the ELL students though in a different method. I would still use the positive reinforcement but it would be when the student uses their second language, English. Since the ultimate goal would be to get the student to be able to read, write and speak English as fluently as possible, I must use every opportunity to praise them when they converse in English no matter how small. This ideology would afford me the opportunity to do that on a daily basis.

References Schiro, M. S. Curriculum Theory: Conflicting Visions and Enduring Concerns. [Western Governors University]. Retrieved from https://wgu.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781452272092/