Artifact # 8
Inquiry Project Presentation informs prospective teachers about meeting the needs of the diverse learners in the classroom. The presentation was designed to help me develop a sense of well-being and speaker traits, while the audience learned about the characteristics of behavioral disorders.
Context
The Inquiry Project Presentation handout was created on Microsoft Works.
I created and presented my inquiry along with two other colleagues during
my Block experience at ASU. The instructor gave us a large topic
and we had to decide what we wanted to learn and present about the topic.
We studied 3 types of behavioral disorders which included Autism, ADD/ADHD,
and Emotional Behavioral Disorders. My individual responsibility
to the group was to inquire about Emotional Behavioral Disorders.
We identified appropriate readings and resources to support our investigation
about the disorders and collected and analyzed relevant data. The
data was then put into presentation form that was presented to the class
of prospective teachers. It was required that our presentation fill
one hour and 15 minutes time, in order for us to rehearse the steps and
familiarize ourselves with planning a lesson of that length. Once
the presentation was complete, we reflected individually on the presentation
and how well our audience learned.
Impact
The Inquiry Project Presentation aided me, a prospective teacher, in
learning about the ongoing process of inquiry, as well as focus on understanding
and responding to questions that I have about meeting the needs of diverse
learners in my classroom. I grow professionally by assessing my teaching
methods and my audiences’ knowledge of the subject at the end of the presentation.
Other teachers can utilize this presentation information to solve several
of their own inquiries about some of the diverse learners in their own
classrooms.
Alignment
The information page presented to the prospective teachers during the
presentation houses informational web sites about children with special
needs. These web sites offer ideas that accommodate the needs of
these special children (Tech Competency 13.2).
Many teachers are bombarded with anxiety as they try to teach children
who cannot speak English. Teachers can utilize the information page
and find web sites that present ideas to aid in ESL learning as well (Tech
Competency 13.3). Through the inquiry process my group members
and I discovered that there are professionals at state universities, particularly
ASU, who will give advice about how to go about dealing with students who
have behavior disorders. There are also local, state, and national
centers that help students overcome their behavior disorders (Tech
Competency 13.4). During the presentation we used a TV and VCR
to play a clip from the movie, “Rainman.”
This clip provided us with an interesting way of presenting characteristics
of Autism (Tech Competency 12.6).
The prospective teachers that I presented my inquiry project to already
had some experience with the ideas of working with students with behavior
disorders. Therefore, I was able to gain knowledge from them while
they discussed their thoughts and ideas about the topic during the presentation.
They learned from me and I from them. This project provides an opportunity
for me to learn to contribute to my own professional growth and to have
ownership for what I will from an assignment. The reflection process
allowed me the opportunity to assess my teaching and my students learning.
Learning how to be reflective and self-assessing about my practice will
be critical for my continued growth and learning. I also learned
about the process of lifelong learning outside the classroom. I want
to model this lifelong learning for my students and promote self-motivation.
This project has provided me the opportunity to discover my ability to
do so (INTASC #9).