Running head: REFLECTIVE JOURNAL

Eva Yu-Ti Huang #260574607

Reflective Journal on EDTL 609 Diverse Learners

Before attending this class, I taught students with one version of lesson plan each
time when I went to my class. When I heard of inclusive education for the first time, it
was difficult for me to imagine having students with diverse needs sitting in the same
classroom. The workload must be heavy and difficult for a teacher to handle. After the
class, now I know if I can plan my lessons and activities wisely including differentiation
and adaptation for diverse students, it would be a win-win situation for both me and my
students. The course pack and this class have offered clear and specific guidelines for me
to design and plan my newest versions of lesson plans. I know that in Canada,
exceptional students are not only students with disabilities but also gifted students
(Hutchison, 2002). Therefore, when I design activities to help students catch up, I should
also design activities to help gifted students keep learning without getting bored by
simple tasks. According to backward design (Wiggins & McTighe, 1998), I should set the
learning goal of each unit and consider student needs before plan the lesson. One-sizefits-all is never a good option when our classroom is full of students with diverse
backgrounds and learning needs. We should differentiate our instructional strategy wisely
and accordingly (Chapman & King, 2008). While differentiating our instructional
strategy, we dont want to exclude student from participation. Therefore, educational
differentiation and adaptation within inclusive education should be the ideal choice for
most of our students. However, according Response to Intervention (RtI), some students
should also have their own individualized education program while being included in
regular classes (Karten, 2005).

Running head: REFLECTIVE JOURNAL

Eva Yu-Ti Huang #260574607

In my daughters school, I know some students are called out from time to time to
receive extra intensive instruction. I observe the real case of RtI, which is a multi-tiered
intervention strategy, including layers of instruction that increase in intensity, such as
decreasing in group size and increasing in amount of instruction (Vaugn & Bos, 2012,
chapter 3, p. 58). Marek wondered in class on May 5th about the better time to
differentiate our students. He pointed out that we should do that as early as possible.
Karen suggested to have a pre-assessment two weeks before the instruction or at least
right before we start our lesson. This information is new but valuable to me, because I
used to assess my students after the instruction to receive their learning results. I will now
plan my lesson with proper anchor activities and various types of inputs, such as visual
and kinetic inputs. After I differentiate my students according to their readiness and
interests, I then assign them to different activities and inputs in order to ensure their better
learning.
Knowing how our brains function and what the exceptional students fundamental
problems are open my eyes and make me redefine the misbehavior and disabilities.
Our brains are designed for survival as well as novelty and therefore constantly searching
for stimuli (Sousa, 2006). Thus, I should offer interesting class. My lesson should also be
meaningful and authentic, which means they should apply what real people do in real life.
During my internship, I have students design their own cooking show, pretending that
they are chefs with potential TV viewers as their audience. Students enjoy it very much.
As to the students with specific learning disabilities, I am very interested in dyslexia. I
am a second language teacher and trained to teach my students to read. According to
Shaywitz, 2003, speaking is an innate ability that comes naturally. Reading, in contrary,

Running head: REFLECTIVE JOURNAL

Eva Yu-Ti Huang #260574607

is an ability that needs to be learned. Valeriia mentioned during our recoding activity on
May 26th that it seems most second language teachers are trained to teach students how to
read, but not the first language teachers because most of them think it is part of an innate
ability. I should keep this in mind and try to apply various strategies while teaching my
students to read. I should also consider some students dyslexia and incorporate
appropriate and suitable pedagogical procedure for reading training. For example, in
order to read well, students should feel the prosody rhyme first, in other words, read
fluently (Vaugn & Bos, 2012, chapter 8). I think I am going to use this strategy in my
ESL class. I am sure it will help my ESL learners a lot on their reading skills. It is like
what is said, a strategic teacher has strategic students, therefore we need to teach
students metacognitive strategy, such as reciprocal teaching (Palincsar, 1986) for reading
comprehension in both first language and second language teaching environments.
Another specific learning disability that is common and every teacher will need to
deal with is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, ADHD. After better understanding
the characteristics of ADHD, I know that I should not move away the students with
ADHD from any stimuli (Smith, & Tyler, 2013). Otherwise, they may act out without
any self-control. Jessie mentioned in class on June 9th that if there werent school, ADHD
would have never existed. It is an interesting comment, since school is the only place
requires children to sit still and listen for a sufficient amount of time. Autism though is
another story. People with autism can be noticed quite easily whether in school or not.
My friends son is autistic and she has had trouble teaching him to talk. After he was
diagnosed and properly assigned to special education, he could talk and behave so much
better than he used to. It makes me understand that everyone can learn as long as properly

Running head: REFLECTIVE JOURNAL

Eva Yu-Ti Huang #260574607

pedagogical procedure and strategies are applied. When a teacher complains about
students problems and difficulties, they should also take some time to learn about
the deep down factors that have caused these difficulties. To be responsible, a teacher can
learn proper strategies to help and facilitate every student learn no matter what learning
difficulties they have. I once thought coding students is a way of finding excuses, but
now I understand it is a way of searching better approaches for students learning.

References
Chapman, C. & King, R. (2008). Differentiated Instructional Management: work smarter
not harder, Corwin Press, CA. Pp123-169
Hutchison, N.I. (2002) Educating exceptional students: The Canadian experience.
Chapter: Educating exceptional students: The Canadian experience. Pp. 2-30
Karten, T.J. (2005). Inclusion Strategies that Work. Chapter 4: Next, Writing and
Applying the IEP (Individualized Education Program). Pp. 97-107
Palincsar, A.S. (1986) Metacognitive strategy instruction. Exceptional Children, Volume
53 (2), 118-124
Shaywitz, S.E. (2003). Overcoming dyslexia: a new and complete science-based program
for reading problems at any level. Everyone speaks but not everyone reads. Pp.
45-58

Running head: REFLECTIVE JOURNAL

Eva Yu-Ti Huang #260574607

Smith, D.D. & Tyler, N.C. (2013) Instruction to Contemporary Special Education: New
Horizons. Linguistic Diversity, pp. 68-71. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder, pp. 168-181, 181-194. Autism Spectrum Disorders, pp. 342-359
Sousa, D.A. (2006). How the brain learns 3rd Edition. Chapter 1: Basic brain facts.
Chapter 2: How the brain processes information. Pp. 15-75.
Vaugn, S. & Bos, C.S. (2012). Strategies for Teaching Students with learning and
Behaviour Problems. Chapter3: Response to Intervention. Pp. 54-78
Vaugn, S. & Bos, C.S. (2012). Strategies for Teaching Students with learning and
Behaviour Problems. Chapter8: Assessing reading: fluency and comprehension.
Pp. 232-284
Wiggins, G. and McGighe, J. (1998). Understanding by Design. Chapter 1: backwards
design. Chapter 1: Backward Design. Pp 13-34