Educators understand and apply knowledge of student growth and development.
I have been fortunate enough to have sat in on Behavioural Support Plan meetings, school based team meetings, many staff meetings and a grade 7 IEP’s transition into high school meeting. I spent a lot of time learning about the different needs in my classroom, so I could plan to support my students to the best of my abilities and still trying to improve in this avenue of work. There was a significant amount of diverse learners in my EDUC-490 practicum classroom and I tried to ensure that to identify the outliers in the classroom and begin to develop ways I can reach out to all the learners to in the classroom. I thought about Shelley Moore’s bowling pins video and Katie White’s text Softening the Edges as a references in my approach to planning and instruction of learning.  Shelley Moore’s metaphorically represents the pins as the students and the bowling ball as the teacher. Shelley says “Professional bowlers do not aim for the head pin. They do not aim for the middle. They aim for the pins that are the hardest to hit. The probability of pins getting knocked over is higher, if they aim for the pins on the edges, because these pins help the others… fall down. If those outside pins weren’t there, it would be harder to get a strike.” Katie White also reiterates this philosophy by focusing in the outliers in the classroom environment to allow the all gaps to be filled within to allow all learners an opportunity for an equitable learning experience. When planning lessons I would attempt differentiate learning to be more inclusive and connect students to learning including the outliers within the classroom.
