Goal 3: Teachers differentiate instruction with respect for individual and cultural characteristics.

3a Identify strategies for differentiating instruction based on student differences.

• Refer to my paper on reading disabilities where I examine various types of disabilities that can hinder students in an English class. In this paper I point out resources that can be used to help these disabilities as well. I also go through some online sources where teachers can get more information on reading disabilities. I wrote this for a research paper in my education psychology course and was able to apply it this year as I oversaw 3 students with dyslexia in my classes.
  
• Refer to my journal on multi-cultural education where I write about what I am learning in my multi-cultural education class and how I can apply it to my classroom. In this paper I comment on the various diverse learners in my class due to race, sexual preference, or religion on a near daily basis. Everyone learns differently and I believe that as an educator we must be continually reflecting on what we can do to reach each student on those individual needs. This journal allowed me to continually reflect, adjust, and experiment with my teaching styles for students from different backgrounds.
• Refer to my personal traits paper where I reflect on my personal background as a learner. In this paper I talk about what parts of my personality will be helpful in my teaching career as well as what parts of my personality I need to work on in order to become a teacher that reaches all students. By self reflecting I am able to point out my potential faults before they happen. Being honest and conscious of what I do well and what needs to be worked on keeps me continually growing as a teacher. By knowing the different strands of education that I teach with automatically I am able to work on the ones that I am challenged by improving my overall teaching.
  
• Refer to my paper on the different learning styles of students. In this paper I reflect on my personal learning styles and how I dealt with high school. After doing this I state how that I can change the way that teaching is done in order to better reach all students with multiple intelligences. This paper illustrates my knowledge of the multiple intelligences as well as illustrating how I can use them in my teaching. This paper shows that I have the knowledge necessary to be a teacher that differentiates on a daily basis.
  
• Refer to the section of my teacher work sample where I talk about the various kinds of learners in my classroom and how I differentiated instruction accordingly. In the teacher work sample I prove that my philosophies and ideas that I talk about in the papers above are put into practice by the formative assessments that I gave the students. The formative assessments show that I drew on different ways of learning in order to teach the standards of my class. I also point out the different kinds of learners in my class showing that I was taking learning styles into account before I began my unit.
• Refer to the graphic organizer that I used in my Science Fiction class. I used graphic organizers for all the texts that we unpacked throughout the year. These allowed me to differentiate and help students that struggled with their reading skills.
  

3b Design instruction that incorporates characteristics of the local community's culture and that is appropriate to students' individual and special needs.

• Refer to my paper on the presentation of Father Oleska for my multi-cultural education class where I explore the various types of cross cultural communication in Alaska. In this paper I explore the parts of education that need to be recognized in order to reach all students as well as the historical aspects of Native Alaskans in public education. This paper shows that I am able to listen to an expert, analyze the content, and apply it to my own teaching.
  
• Refer to my final paper for my Education Seminar class where I explore the aspects of a diverse classroom. In this paper I talk about how to create a classroom community where everyone is able to come to the table on an equal level. I also talk about how to create an atmosphere where everyone is able to learn by differentiating instruction for all students. I finish by stating my personal goals as a teacher so that I can remain conscious of where I want to be headed in order to maintain a productive career direction. This paper shows that I value a classroom where all students are able to pull in their background and link the education to it.
  
• Refer to my post assessment for the Alien unit (page 2) that my science fiction class did. You will notice the amount of options that the students were allowed to do gives them enough room to truly pull in their personal background and skills. This differentiation allowed students to truly succeed from any learning style or cultural background. The amount of options gives students the ability to succeed.
• Refer to my drawing assignment. I instructed the students to draw a relevant scene while we were reading Frankenstein. I split the students up into different groups and assigned them specific page numbers. After doing this I hung the pictures up around the room so that we had a visual for everything that happened in the story. This helped the students that struggled with reading the advanced text and gave us a visual aid for visual students.
  
• Refer to my paper on teaching on the Navajo Reservation where I talk about how I changed instruction in order to better accommodate the cultural relevance of the community I was living in. In this paper I demonstrate that I am able to take a situation that is uncomfortable, and create a community within my classroom. I was able to be open to learning other cultures and adapting my teaching accordingly.
  
• Refer to my teacher work sample section where I recognized the various cultural backgrounds of my students and consciously modified my lessons in order to take in the backgrounds of all students. In the formative assessment part of the teacher work sample you will see demonstrations about how I modified assignments for ESL and ELL students.
  

3c Apply local and Alaska knowledge to the selection of instructional strategies, materials and resources.

• Refer to my paper on how I brought in the various aspects of Alaska History into my instruction and used local knowledge to drive my instruction on various levels. In this paper I refer to the unit that I taught on Japanese Literature, and how I brought the students to an understanding of the different culture by identifying it with Alaska studies.
  
• Refer to my writing assignment that I gave out in Science Fiction class. This is a typical assignment that I made for the students, and you will notice that there are multiple places where the students can bring in their personal background into the work. I keep the writing assignments loose enough to incorporate personal experience, but keep enough structure to support students that are struggling. In this situation a student could write about any character that is in their personal life or someone that they identify with.
  
• Refer to my teacher work sample where I recognize local Alaska knowledge and pull in various parts for my instruction. In this sample I bring up the background of Juneau Alaska and how it affects teaching. I also comment on the school and how the community is affecting the teaching that goes on. I demonstrate that I am not only conscious of Alaska background in my instruction, but I change my lessons with the knowledge of student background.
  

3d Appreciate multiple perspectives and value individual differences.

• Refer to my evaluation where my host teacher, supervisor, and my self evaluation all reflect the appreciation of various cultural and individual differences and how it guided my instruction. You will see on my evaluation that I rank above the average teacher in this category showing that the people who have observed me throughout the year saw me use multiple perspectives in my lessons everyday.