Learning Task 2 Understanding Learner Diversity

PPST Domain 1 and 6 Domain 1.3 Diversity of Learners

Strands 3.1.1 Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of differentiated teaching to suit

learners, gender, needs, strengths, interests, and experiences.

Program Outcomes of 6.2.C Facilitate learning using a wide range of teaching methodologies and
Teacher Education delivery modes appropriate to specific learners and their environments.

CFSAT – Competency 3.b.2 Employ strategies that cater to students learning styles and to elicit active
Framework for Southeast Asian learning
Teachers for the 21st Century

Desired Learning Outcomes

● Identify the needs, strengths, interest, and experiences of the learners.

● Demonstrate knowledge and understandings of differentiated teaching to suit

learners: gender, needs, strengths, interests, and experiences.

Essential Questions
● What is meant by developmental characteristics and diversity?

● How do learners differ?

● What activities and strategies must be applied to suit learners’ differences?

A. Developmental Characteristics, Needs, and Interests

Revisit the Learning Essentials

Here are the principles of development relevant to this episode:
1. Development is relatively orderly. Development follows directional patterns such as,
from head to toe (cephalocaudal) and from the center of the body then outwards
(proximodistal).
2. Development takes place gradually.
 3. All domains of development and learning – physical, social and emotional, and cognitive
– are important, and they are closely interrelated. (NAEYC, 2009)
4. Development proceeds toward complexity, self-regulation, symbolic or representational
capabilities. (NAEYC, 2009)

Observe, Analyze, Reflect

Activity 1.1. Observing learner characteristics at different stages
To realize the Intended Learning Outcomes, I will work your way through these steps:

Step 1. Observe learners from different levels.

Step 2. Describe each of the learners based on my observations.
Step 3. Validate my observation by interviewing learners.
Step 4. Compare them in terms of their interests and needs.

Observe
Use the observation guide and matrices provided for you to document your observations.

An Observation Guide for the Learner’s Characteristics

Read the following statement carefully. Then write your observation report on the provided space.
Physical
Observe their gross motor skills how they carry themselves, how they
move, walk, run, go up the stairs, etc.
Are gross movements clumsy or deliberate/smooth?
How about their fine motor skills? Writing, drawing, etc.
Social
Describe how they interact with teachers and other people.
Note how they interact with peers. What do they talk about? What are
their concerns?
Emotional
Describe the emotional disposition or temperament of the learners
(happy, sad, easily cries, mood shifts)
How do they express their wants/needs? Can they wait?
How do they handle frustrations?
Describe their level of confidence as shown in their behavior. Are they
self-conscious?
Cognitive
Describe their ability to use word to communicate their ideas. Note their
language proficiency.
 Analyze
Write the most salient developmental characteristics of the learners you observed. Based
on those characteristics, think of implications for the teacher.
Example:
Level Salient Characteristics Implications to the Teaching-Learning Process
Observed
Preschool Preschoolers like to
● Therefore, the teacher should remember to use music
move around a lot.
Age and movement activities not just in PE but in all
range of subject areas.
learners
observed ● Therefore, the teachers should not expect
(3-4) preschoolers to stay seated for a long period of time
and must utilize strategies that will capture their
interests.

Teacher might think some games that involves physical

activity at the same time related to their lessons.

● The socioemotional elements of learning, such as

mood, behavior, and stress level, are also positively
correlated with increases in daily physical activity.
Level Salient Characteristics Implications to the Teaching-Learning Process
Observed
●
*Adjust the table, add, or delete rows if you need to.

Reflect
1. While you were observing the learners, did you recall your own experiences when you
were their age? What similarities or differences do you have with the learners you
observed?
The similarity is the fact that I also get quickly tired in school.
2. Think of a teacher you cannot forget for positive or negative reasons. How did she/he
help or not help you with your needs (physical, emotional. Social, and cognitive) How
did it affect you?
He would always try to give an activity that is really challenging but not difficult so we
can solve it on our own.
3. Share you other insights here.

B. Focus on Gender, Needs, Strengths, Experiences, Culture, Religion, Socioeconomic

Status, Other Circumstances, and Indigenous People

Revisit the Learning Essentials

Here are the principles and concepts relevant to this episode:
1. Principles of Development
a. Development and learning proceed at varying rates from child to child, as well as at
uneven rates across different areas of the child’s functioning. (NAEYC 2019)
b. Development and learning are maximized when learners are challenged to achieve at
a level just above their current level of mastery, and also when they have many
opportunities to practice newly acquired skills.
 c. Differentiated instruction is a student-centered approach that aims to match the
leaning content, activities and assessment to the different characteristics, abilities,
interests, and needs of the learners.

2. The PPST highlighted the following factors that bring about the diversity of learners:
a. Differences in learners’ gender, needs, strengths, interests, and experiences
b. Learners’ linguistic, cultural, socio-economic, and religious backgrounds
c. Learners with disabilities, giftedness, and talents
d. Learners under challenging circumstances which include geographic isolation,
chronic illness, displacement due to armed conflict, urban resettlement or disasters,
child abuse, and child labor.
Effective teachers are knowledgeable about how issues related to the factors mentioned
affect learners. The teachers develop in them sensitivity and empathy. They remember that the
learners respond and perform at different levels. The teachers assure that their gender identity,
culture, and religion are respected, their strengths are recognized, and their needs will be
met. These teachers declare to all that everyone has the chance to learn and succeed. They
create a learning community where everyone can work together and contribute regardless of their
abilities, capacities, and circumstances.
Teachers who celebrate and leverage student diversity in the classroom:

● use strategies to build a caring community in the classroom

● model respect and acceptance of different cultures and religions

● bring each of the student’s home culture and language into the shared culture of
the school
● provide more opportunities for cooperation than competition

3. Focus on Indigenous Peoples

A young teacher’s approach to indigenous peoples starts with a keen awareness of one’s
own identity, including one’s beliefs and cultural practices. Through serious reflection,
one may realize that the self is a product of all the influences of key people in one’s life
and the community, real and virtual. Similarly, learners from indigenous groups carry
with them their beliefs, views, and cultural practices. One’s attitude needs to be that of
openness and respect. Nobody should view one’s own culture as superior. We aim to
make teaching-learning facilitative rather than imposing.
a. From your professional education subjects/courses, most likely you have discussed
indigenous peoples in the Philippines. You learned that our country has about 110
ethnolinguistic groups, majority of which is in Mindanao, some in Northern Luzon
and fewer in the Visayas (UNDP Philippines, 2010). They represent about 10-20% of
our total population. There are two big indigenous peoples groups which have several
 smaller ethnic groups within them, the non-Muslim groups called the Lumads in
Mindanao, and the Igorots in Northern Luzon. Among others, we have the Badjaos,
At, and Tumandok, Mangyans, and Aetas.
b. Republic Act 8371 (1997), the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act, recognizes and
protects the rights of indigenous cultural communities (ICC) and Indigenous Peoples
(IP). Our country was admired by other nations for enacting this law. However, years
later, so much still has to be done to improve the lives of millions of people from
indigenous groups (Reyes, Mina, and Asis, 2017).
c. Guided by RA 8371, in 2015 DepEd issued DO 32 s. 2015. Adopting the Indigenous
Peoples Education Curriculum Framework. Most useful for you as a future teacher to
remember are the 5 Key Elements of an Indigenous Peoples Education
Curriculum (DO 32 s. 2015 enclosure pp 15-18)

1. Curriculum design, Competencies, and Content. Interfacing the national

curriculum with Indigenous Knowledge systems and practices (IKSPs) and
Indigenous Learning Systems (ILS) the design of a culturally appropriate and
responsive curriculum has the following features:
a. Anchors the learning context on the ancestral domain, the community’s world
view, and its indigenous cultural institutions.
b. Includes and respects the community’s expression of spirituality as part of the
curriculum context.
c. Affirms and strengthens indigenous cultural identity.
d. Revitalizes, regenerates, strengthens, and enriches IKSPs, ILS, and indigenous
languages.
e. Emphasizes competencies that are needed to support the development and
protection of the ancestral domain, the vitality of their culture, and the
advancement of indigenous people’s rights and welfare.
f. Supports the community’s efforts to discern new concepts that will contribute
to the community’s cultural integrity while enabling meaningful relations with
the broader society.

2. Teaching Methodologies and Strategies. A culturally appropriate and

responsive curriculum recognizes that the ancestral domain where IKSPs are
experiences, lived, and learned is the primary learning environment and learning
space of indigenous learners.

3. Learning Resources. Instructional materials, and other learning resources shall

be developed and utilized in line with the described curriculum content and
teaching learning process.

4. Classroom Assessment. Assessment shall be done utilizing tools appropriate to

the standards, competencies, skills, and concepts being covered. Their design and
use shall address the needs and concerns of the community and shall be developed
with their participation.
Observe, Analyze, Reflect

Observe
An Observation Guide for the Learners’ Characteristics

Read the following carefully before you begin to observe. Then write your observation report on
the space provided on the next page.
Find out the number of students. Gather data as to their ages, gender, racial groups, religion,
socio-economic status, and family situations.

During tutorial:
How much interaction is there? Describe how the students interact with one
another and with the tutor/teacher. Are there some who interact more with you than
others?
Describe the relationship among the learners. Do the learners cooperate
with or compete against each other?
Who among the students participate actively? Who among them ask for
most help?
When a student is called and cannot answer the teacher’s question, do the
classmates try to help him? Or do they raise hands so that the teacher will call them
instead?
After Tutorial:
Analyze
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Observation and Interview Report
the following factors and other not mentioned:
Gender, including LGBT
Mental capacity
Language and cultural differences
Differences in religion
Socio-economic status
 Reflect

1. Reflect the time when you were in elementary or high school. Recall the high and low
achievements in your class. How did your teacher deal with differences in abilities? Was your
teacher effective?

2. What dispositions and traits will you need as a future teacher to meet the needs of the
learners?