Portfolio Part 2: Bella Thayer

Portfolio Part Two

Content Knowledge and Instructional Practice

Bella Thayer

Vermont State University- Castleton Campus

Spring 2024
Introduction:

Content and instruction are essential aspects of education that all educators need to be

versed in. However, it is not enough to simply memorize the content of a field and repeat this to

students. Educators must find a way to incorporate content in a way that is engaging and

meaningful for students. In order to do this in a way that is effective, educators must plan

instruction very intentionally in order to incorporate instructional strategies.

In terms of history and social studies education, it is important for educators to be able to

accurately express the central concepts of the discipline. Many students report feeling that

history is a boring subject that is lacking creativity. Educators can change this perspective of

students by creating more engaging lessons and instruction that incorporate creativity and inquiry

based learning. This allows students to interact with the content in a way that engages them, and

can allow for students to express their learning in a variety of ways.

Educators need to be able to engage all students to meet rigorous learning goals. One way

in which educators can try to achieve these goals is by utilizing Universal Design for Learning.

This design of learning allows all students to be engaged, and also allows educators to meet the

needs of all learners. Universal Design for Learning also allows educators to assess students

more accurately. Students are given a variety of choices in terms of expressing their learning.

Because of this students express their learning in a way that best fits them, and as a result

educators are more accurately able to assess the learning of all students.

Instructional practice is one of the most vital skills for educators to have as much

experience with as possible, as the practices utilized within the classroom often determine how

successful students will be within the class and in their learning.

PC 4.1 Candidates accurately communicate central concepts of the discipline.

Description

It is a common held belief that the subject of history consists of simply memorizing dates,

names, and events of the past. This way of thinking about history has resulted in many students

who do not see the value in studying the subject. In large part this is due to the concepts of

history not being accurately communicated to students. Those who chose to study history enjoy

thinking creatively about the subject in order to come to conclusions that no one else has, they

also enjoy making connections to the present day, as well as studying the subject in order to

better understand politics and society as a whole. In large part this is because those who study

history study the concepts, in terms of making new connections, studying causes and effects, and

challenging previous perceptions, rather than the content. Asking questions about the past that

have not been asked can often result in rewarding research that allows a person to feel more

connected to the content, and allows them to understand it in a much deeper way. In order to

successfully communicate the concepts of the discipline to students ,educators need to find a way

to translate their enjoyment of the discipline into the content and into students' learning.

Salient Evidence & Analysis

History is a complex discipline within the school curriculum, and studying history can

result in stronger critical thinking skills, improved analytical skills, greater expression of

creativity, and a stronger ability to make and identify connections. However, many students

view studying history as studying a linear timeline of events and people. When history is taught

in an extremely linear way it can result in a disconnect between the content and the concepts of

the discipline. This is discussed in the article Students’ Attitude Towards Studying History and
Teaching Practices (2021). This article focuses on how this linear style of teaching history can

result in an attitude among students in which they do not see how the subject has any relevance

in the present or future. This article cites multiple studies in which students have reported similar

responses each time. These responses consist of: the belief that history is a “dead” subject, the

belief that history will have no value in future careers, and repeatedly history was ranked overall

as one of the students least favorite subjects (Issar, 2021).

If history is not believed to have any impact on students present then those students who

care about content they can connect to their lives will find no value in learning it, and if history is

believed to have no impact on students future then students who care about content that will be

useful to them after high school will also find no value in learning about it. This article suggests

that student inquiry is one of the most effective ways to allow students to see the relevance and

creativity within the subject. In an inquiry based model of teaching history students are able to

connect history to their own lives and interests. Students are able to focus on the history of their

own families, sports they enjoy, industries they participate in, and pop culture that impacts their

everyday lives. When teaching history in this way students are able to see deeper connections

between the past and present, as well as the patterns that appear in history. Students are able to

explore the creativity in history, and as a result see how history as a discipline impacts every

aspect of their lives (Issar, 2021).

One of the most vital concepts taught in a social studies classroom is democracy. The

goal of secondary social studies education programs is to create civically responsible citizens,

and in order to do this students must understand the central concept of democracy. The article

The Conceptual Teaching Trajectory and Conceptual-Semantic Gaps in Social Studies Education

discusses the importance of democracy within social studies education as well as the barriers that
prevent students from fully being able to understand this concept. One of the largest barriers,

according to this article, is students' lack of exposure to multidimensional concepts.

Multidimensional concepts are those such as democracy, culture, and politics, among many

others, that do not necessarily have correct or incorrect answers. Within these concepts there are

multiple perspectives, motivations, and biases that need to be identified and acknowledged. But,

for the majority of students' academic careers, especially before the secondary level, they are

exposed to very “one-dimensional” concepts. This way of communicating concepts to students

works in the disciplines of science and math; however, when used to teach social studies these

methods are not effective and do not allow students to fully grasp the concepts of the discipline

(Dogan, 2021).

This article describes democracy as being taught in four ways: democratic terminology,

democratic individual, democratic state, and the history of democracy. It is essential that students

understand all the facets of this concept in order to understand the concept as a whole (Dogan,

2021). The same can be said for many concepts in social studies, as students first have to

understand the differing perspectives and aspects of a concept. In order to grasp this it is

important that students understand that there are multiple “correct” perspectives, and it is

important for students to identify the motive behind various perspectives. The article emphasizes

the point that teaching from a textbook has been proven to be an insufficient way of

communicating the multidimensional concepts of social studies (Dogan, 2021). Instead teachers

must foster active discussion among students in order for them to hear other perspectives first

hand. It is also essential that educators provide a plethora of resources in order for students to be

exposed to as many perspectives as possible.

 Exposing students to a variety of sources, especially primary, and a variety of styles of

engagement allows students to better grasp concepts. In teaching a lesson that compared the

current civil rights movement to the classic civil rights movement students were exposed to a

variety of perspectives. Students engaged with primary sources such as images from protests in

the mid-twentieth century, speeches from infamous civil rights leaders, modern day poetry such

as that of Amanda Gorman, and current day civil rights imagery. Students were also able to

interact with videos, text, images, and participate in class discussion. Exposing students to the

various dimensions of civil rights allows them to fully understand the topic beyond a textbook

definition, and in turn accurately communicates the concept.

UDL Lesson Plan Black History

Reflection

Communicating the central concepts of social studies is one of the single most vital skills

an educator in the discipline can possess. In order to communicate these concepts effectively an

educator must do more than give a definition or a single perspective. Instead, social studies

educators must foster environments in which students are exposed to multiple perspectives and

multiple ways to engage with said perspective. The more exposure students have to this the

better they will understand all facets of the concept. The central concepts of social studies such

as history, geography, politics, economics, civics, and many more, are all complex topics that

require a student to comprehend multiple points of view. Educators must go beyond

memorization of names, dates, events, and terms and in addition allow students to interact with

various ideas and beliefs surrounding these central concepts.

PC 5.2 Candidates integrate cross-disciplinary skills (such as critical thinking, creativity, and

collaborative problem solving) to help learners demonstrate their learning in unique ways.

Description

Although it is the goal of educators to engage all students with all content within the

classroom, this is not always possible. However, utilizing cross-disciplinary skills within lessons

allows learners to engage with the content in different ways that they may not have been able to

otherwise. These skills allow learners to express their learning in a variety of ways, and in turn

this benefits both the student and educator. Students are benefited as they are able to interact with

the content in a way that is meaningful to them, and demonstrate their learning in such a way.

This also benefits educators as it allows for an accurate assessment of all students' learning. If

there is only one form of assessment used then the educator will not be able to accurately

understand the learning of all students within the class. It is essential to implement collaborative

problem solving, creativity, and critical thinking within the classroom in order to ensure that all

students are learning in a meaningful and effective way.

Salient Evidence & Analysis

Assessment is one of the most vital duties of educators. They must assess students on a

very frequent schedule, and most educators are assessing students in some way each day.

Assessments are necessary to track student learning, track gaps in learning, understand how well

students are grasping certain concepts, and ultimately determine a students readiness for the next

stage of their life or academic career. It is important that educators are assessing students in a

variety of ways in order to accurately determine the learning of all students. Because of this,

educators need to encourage students to demonstrate their learning in unique ways. One article,
titled A Scoping Review of Universal Design for Learning in United States Allied Health &

Medical Education (2024), focused on the benefits of Universal for Design Learning (UDL)

within the classroom and how this method of teaching benefits students. The article states that

UDL “can support students of all abilities, and when the UDL framework is included in the

design of classroom environments, diverse learning needs are addressed and all learners are

given the opportunity to learn in various ways” (Gawron, et. al, 2024). Universally designed

learning is a cross-disciplinary skill in itself as this method of teaching can be used in any

discipline and is effective with all learners.

The article also highlights the importance of multiple means of expression within the

classroom, and in turn multiple means of assessment. This article focused on the benefits of

encouraging students to express their learning in unique ways, and the benefits of educators

assessing multiple means of student work. Instead of making accommodation for specific

students on an individual basis, the methods of UDL support and accommodate all students

(Gawron, et. al, 2024).

Universal Design Learning incorporates critical thinking, creativity, problem solving, and

collaboration as it is designed to ensure that content is presented to students in multiple ways,

students interact with the content in multiple ways (including with each other), and students are

able to present their work in multiple ways. Another article, Learning From a Pandemic:

Redesigning with Universal Design for Learning to Enhance Scientific Skills (2023), discusses

how this design for teaching benefits classrooms in a post-pandemic culture as many student’s

learning disabilities were exacerbated in the COVID-19 pandemic. The article discusses the

benefits of this design for learning when stating “UDL allows progress toward removing

obstacles and promoting classroom equity by offering content through multiple means of
engagement, representation, action, and expression” (Montgomery, et. al, 2023). Ultimately, this

article examines the many benefits of UDL and specifically points to its ability to allow

classroom educators to cater to the learning needs of all students, and how this style of learning

improves confidence and performance among students.

Incorporating cross-disciplinary skills into lessons benefits students as this allows them to

practice skills that are applicable in multiple scenarios, and may benefit them in their future. In

addition, this allows learners to express their learning in unique ways which engages students far

more than using one standard form of assessment. If students are not engaged with the content,

they may be able to engage with the method of learning or by expressing their learning in a way

they feel best represents them. I have utilized this type of lesson planning in almost all of my

lessons, and one instance in which it was very successful was in a middle school lesson on the

reform movements of the 19th century. In this lesson students were encouraged to use critical

thinking and creativity in order to express their learning. Students had the opportunity to express

learning through images, illustration, writing, and verbal communication. This allowed for

optimal student engagement and for me to be able to accurately assess the learning of all

students. This lesson was able to cater to the learning needs of all students because of the UDL

design.

Reform Movement UDL Lesson Plan

Reflection

Universal Design for Learning allows educators to implement cross-disciplinary skills

within the classroom to engage all students and all styles of learning. This type of lesson

planning allows educators to intentionally plan for these skills, such as creativity and problem

solving, to be utilized within the lesson. This allows students to accurately express their learning,
and allows educators to accurately gauge students' learning and understanding.

Cross-disciplinary skills are some of the most essential skills that students learn in school. These

skills allow students to be successful in their future as these skills are applicable in multiple

fields. Because of this, it is essential that secondary educators are utilizing these skills within

their classroom and lessons.

PC 6.2 Candidates analyze an individual student’s work over time using multiple methods of

assessment to adjust instruction.

Students A, B, and C- During this portion of my educational portfolio I will be analyzing and

reflecting on the work of three students I selected to follow during my student teaching

experience. In order to protect their identity, they are simply referred to as Students A, B & C.

This description is to provide the reader with background knowledge of who these students are

as individuals and their learning strengths and needs.

Student A:

Student A is a senior in high school and a very high performing student. She is 18 years old and

is highly respected among her teachers, and this can be seen in the amount of freedom she is

granted by them. This freedom often takes the form of allowing her to leave the classroom to

complete her work in other areas of the school such as the library. This student turns in all of her

work on time and it is always completed to a very high degree. She is a strong member of FFA

within the school and travels to compete for the school. She is very interested in plants and

agriculture and spends as much time as she can in the school greenhouse. This student plans on

attending college after high school and has already committed to a college away from home. She
has fewer friendships, but the friendships she does have are very close. She has no issues

interacting with her peers and is social when she needs or wants to be.

Student B:

Student B is also a senior in high school, and she is currently 17 years old. This student is social

with her peers and has a very close group of friends. She plays varsity volleyball and varsity

basketball. She has many friends on both teams and has been playing both sports for many years.

This student is somewhat different from others in the way that she did not enter the school

district until seventh grade. This meant that entering the district was a larger transition, but she

was able to transition smoothly and has made many new friends. This student is an honor roll

student although she does often ask for help on her assignments. She is very knowledgeable

about the content being taught, but she struggles slightly more with producing work. This student

has two siblings who are much older than her, as well as parents that are divorced. This does not

seem to impact her performance in school as she is planning to attend college to become an

echotec. She is looking to stay somewhat close to home when attending college, although she

still wishes to live on campus.

Student C:

Student C is a lower performing student. He is a senior in high school and is seventeen years old.

This student plays varsity soccer and is well liked among his peers. He has very little trouble

with socialization; however, his work is often not turned in, or is completed to a very low degree.

This student does try his best to produce work and learn content, but he struggles in school.

Student C does not have a 504 plan or an IEP. However, his mother communicates often with

school but does struggle with understanding boundaries and who to voice complaints with. This
student is also focused on what he may do after high school, and is likely going to enter the

workforce in some capacity.

Description

Analyzing individual student work is essential in order to meet individual student

learning goals. This can be rewarding for both students and educators. Educators are able to

adjust their teaching in effective ways and see this reflected in student work, and students are

able to learn in a way that is meaningful to them. In order to do this educators must assess

students in multiple ways as this allows for the most accurate assessment. Each student learns

best in a different way and each student struggles with different concepts, because of this

educators must analyze the work of individual students. This is most meaningful when analyzed

over time as this allows for long term progress toward learning goals.

Salient Evidence & Analysis

Tracking student work over time can provide many benefits to both educators and

students. This can benefit educators as they are better able to track student progress and in turn

determine how the student learns best and which concepts they struggle with. Students are able

to benefit as this can improve their academic performance through instruction and can help to

motivate students to meet their learning goals as they are able to see their progress. The article

Becoming a Great High School: 6 Strategies and 1 Attitude that Make a Difference (2018)

discusses the benefits of tracking student learning to adjust instruction. This article states that

tracking students' learning can “aid teachers in analyzing their instructional effectiveness”

(Westberg, 2018). This points out the key point made: student data is needed in order for

educators to adjust their instructional strategy and provide effective instruction.

 This article discusses analyzing student work in the form of graphing their performance.

This data can be used positively with students as they are able to visually see how they are

making progress toward goals. In addition, this allows educators the same as they are able to

track individual success graphically in order to make progress toward learning goals (Westberg,

2018). It is vital to use multiple means of assessment in order to adjust instruction effectively.

This is because students perform differently on various assessments depending on how they learn

best and express their learning best. Some students may express themselves best through writing

while others may express themselves through speaking or visuals. For this reason educators must

assess students in multiple ways.

Another article, titled Students learning performance prediction based on feature

extraction algorithm and attention-based bidirectional gated recurrent unit network (2023),

discusses how important it is to analyze student work to adjust instruction. The article states that

student data can be used to “analyze the influencing factors of students’ performance and predict

their grades can help students identify their shortcomings and optimize teachers teaching

methods” (Yin, et. al, 2023). This article focuses more specifically on graphing student

assessment data over time and the benefits of doing so. This graphing can allow for more

accurate interpretation of progress and easier communication with stakeholders.

“In the teaching process, teachers should teach with the characteristics of students at this

age, and take their current level as a starting point” (Yin, et. al, 2023). In order to meet students

where they are and adjust instruction properly educators must analyze individual students' work.

This analysis allows educators to determine the best educational strategy for individual students

and make the needed interventions and adjustments (Yin, et. al, 2023). In order to create a
meaningful learning experience for all students teachers must analyze individual work and

continue to do so over time.

In my experience teaching I was able to analyze the work of students over time in a

Senior Economics course. The pieces of work I selected to analyze included a written piece of

work in the form of a business proposal, a visual piece of work in the form of a business card,

and another writing sample from a future career project. The first pieces of work were collected

in February, the second in March, and the most recent in April. This allowed me to track the

progress of students over time, and use multiple means of assessment to do so. Student A

performs better in writing assessments than visual assessments. The instructional goals for this

student was to improve her writing to a more professional degree. Her writing has improved over

these past months and this is reflected in her future career writing. Student B challenged me to

adjust my assessment and instructional strategy as simply reading and writing were not

converting the marketing concepts in class to this student. Instead, I chose to do a visual based

project with her and here she performed much better as she was able to use the marketing

techniques herself and reflect on them verbally. Student C generally struggles with expressing

himself through writing which can be seen in the career project writing. I adjusted my instruction

and assessment to break down these writing assignments further and this allowed him to better

express his learning as can be seen in the business proposal writing.

Sample Student A, B, C.pdf

Reflection

Analyzing student work over time provides a variety of benefits to both students and

educators. Educators are able to improve their instructional strategies and students are able to

improve their academic performance. In order to do this effectively educators should assess
students in a variety of ways as this allows educators to best understand each student's learning.

All students express themselves differently and educators must be able to determine all students'

learning accurately. Analyzing student work individually in order to meet learning goals can

prove to be rewarding and motivating to both students and educators as both are able to improve

their and adjust their skills.

PC 7.1 Candidates plan instruction by drawing upon knowledge of content areas to meet

rigorous learning goals.

Description

When working with students at the secondary level, educators are in the unique position

of working with students as they shape their understanding of the society and world around them,

as well as their place in society. As students are developing this perspective it is the

responsibility of social studies educators to provide students with an education that allows them

to become democratic, financially literate, and critically thinking citizens. In order to do this,

educators must possess strong knowledge of their content, including the essential themes, and be

able to deliver lessons that successfully reflect this. There is a large amount of evidence to

support the claim that students benefit more from educators with stronger content knowledge. In

my experience I have collaborated with other educators and education professionals to develop

my ability to create lessons that draw upon knowledge of content areas.

Salient Evidence & Analysis

 Strong content knowledge is an essential quality needed to be successful as an educator.

In secondary education there are many opportunities to teach higher level classes, such as

Advanced Placement classes, that require educators to possess a plethora of content knowledge

and design effective lessons based on this content knowledge. Furthermore, content knowledge is

essential in any social studies classroom as there are essential learning outcomes that all students

need to meet; however, teaching a variety of students requires differentiated instruction and

strong content knowledge is vital in providing this instruction to high performing students.

The article, Developing an Understanding of Secondary Social Studies Teacher

Candidates’ Economic Pedagogical Content Knowledge (2023), has established that among

social studies educators content knowledge in economics is lacking most. This is due to a lack of

economic credit requirements in teacher preparation programs. This may not obviously impact

an educator's ability to successfully teach many concepts in history. However, one of the most

essential goals of a social studies teacher is to be able to successfully “prepare students to be

participatory members of a democracy” (Kieninger, et. al, 2023). In order to do this educators

must be equipped to teach lessons that discuss and develop economic concepts, regardless of a

state or schools requirements, as this allows students to become economic citizens. It is

important that teachers are able to take this content knowledge and apply it in lessons in ways

that relate to students and in ways that allow students to “apply economic reasoning in practical

situations” (Kieninger, et. al, 2023).

This article focused on the importance of economic content knowledge in social studies

education. However, it is important to recognize that content knowledge in all aspects of social

studies including history are required for an educator to be able to successfully teach students

how to be democratic citizens.

 Not only is strong content knowledge needed to teach all students how to become

members of a democratic society, it is also needed in order to successfully provide differentiated

instruction to students. An article, titled Considerations for Professional Learning Supporting

Teachers of the Gifted in Pedagogical Content Knowledge (2023), discusses how important it is

for educators to have a strong content knowledge base, and to continue to build upon this base or

seek out support to expand content knowledge. The article places a particular importance on how

this content knowledge is needed in order to meet the needs of high-potential students. This is

primarily because high-potential students need to be provided instruction that is “high-quality

content based curriculum” (Weber, et. al, 2023). In order to truly provide a meaningful learning

experience to high-potential students, educators need to be equipped with the skills to plan for

differentiated instruction and be able to “deeply engage with the concepts of the discipline”

(Weber, et. al, 2023).

In terms of providing differentiated instruction to students, group activities can often be

beneficial as this allows all students to interact with the concepts as well as the ideas of each

other. Grouping activities also allow educators time to work with students on a more individual

level. In a lesson on reform movements of the early-mid nineteenth century reform movements I

was able to engage more deeply with those students who required a higher level of rigor. This

allowed students to make connections to other points in history, as well as connections to the

current day. These students were also able to learn more about the individuals involved in the

movements rather than simply the change the movements brought forth. Having a strong

knowledge of this content and this time period in American history allowed me to plan and

provide successful differentiated instruction in order to meet the needs of those students with

very high learning goals.

 Thayer Filmed Lesson.mp4

Reflection
A large part of being an effective social studies educator is being able to interact with not

only the facts of history, but also the principles, themes, and concepts that are essential to the

discipline. Students who require a rigorous level of coursework in social studies also require

educators who are able to conduct thorough and accurate historical research and provide students

with deep understanding of the themes both in history and in the present in terms of their impact.

Effective educators in this regard must be able to discuss these themes to a high level and have a

large amount of knowledge about them. It is vital for educators to be able to plan instruction that

incorporates this knowledge of content in order to best provide instruction to all students, not

only those who are high-performing.

PC 8.1 Candidates use a variety of instructional strategies to make the discipline accessible for

diverse learners.

Description

Although general educators may not focus as heavily on the goals of students with

disabilities as special educators, it is still the moral and legal duty of each educator to provide

instruction that is accessible to all students. Educators must always be aware of IEPs and 504s

within their classroom and do their best to keep up to date with these students' goals and the

progress they are making. Educators need to ensure that these students are learning their

discipline in an effective and accessible way. Incorporating multiple means of engagement and
assessment into each lesson and each unit is one of the most effective ways educators can teach

diverse learners.

Salient Evidence & Analysis

It is well understood among educators that students are able to learn in a more

meaningful way when they are able to make connections to the content. There are many ways

that social studies educators are able to make connections to their students. Educators often make

reference to local buildings or industries, family or ancestors that may have fought in wars,

relevant social justice issues, and relevant issues in the media. However, the majority of these

common connections may only apply to one group of students, while excluding culturally

diverse learners and in turn not allowing them to connect to the content in the same way. The

article, Using flexible grouping instruction to create culturally relevant PK-12 learning

communities for culturally and linguistically diverse learners with exceptionalities (2023),

discusses how educators can overcome this in the classroom and allow diverse learners to make

connections to the content and concepts within social studies. This article focuses heavily on

culturally responsive pedagogy in order to foster differentiated instruction that allows for

instructional success.

The article sites two intentional grouping strategies as being particularly successful when

used in the classroom with diverse learners. These strategies are Numbered Heads Together

(NHT) and Carousel Brainstorming (CB). The article defines these as “cooperative learning

strategies that promote peer media- tion, provide active engagement, and create a community of

learners” (Hunter, et. al, 2023). NHT involves grouping 3-5 heterogeneous students and asking

them ten questions related to standards or content. Students are given 2-3 minutes before the
teacher provides the correct answer allowing for ample time for students to discuss. This

grouping can allow students to work together to make connections by hearing other students'

perspectives. In addition, the article states that this form of grouping can be beneficial to

educators in fostering student voice. CB is similar to NHT in the way that it works best when

students are put into groups of 3-5 heterogeneous group; however, CB goes more in depth into

the discussion and questioning with students as they are only given four questions to discuss

together, and are not given a “right” answer from the teacher. Both of these forms of grouping

can be very helpful for educators in diverse classrooms to be able to effectively teach all

students, and allow all students to connect to the content. These forms of grouping allow students

to explore their own voices and identities through academic conversations and allows educators

to increase academic performance as well as student behavior (Hunter, et. al, 2023).

Another article, titled High-Leverage Practices: Teaching Students with Disabilities--and

All Students Who Need a Learning Boost (2021), deals with a very similar topic of how to best

teach students with disabilities. This article particularly highlighted the difference in teaching

these students after returning from the COVID-19. The author discusses the change in students

behavior after the pandemic, and how this has forced educators to come together to work

collaboratively. It highlights how students with disabilities learn best when the educators

working with them are coordinated and utilizing an inclusive model of teaching and planning.

This model includes instruction strategies called high leverage practices (HLPs). These are

practices that experts in education have deemed “foundational to effective instruction”

(Brownell, et. al, 2021). These methods help educators with managing student behavior, and

ensuring that students with disabilities are receiving the quality education they deserve, and

legally have a right to.

 The article breaks these 22 HLPs down into four categories: collaboration, assessment,

social/emotional/behavioral, and instructional. Explicit instruction is one of the most well

researched HLPs and has been proven to increase students' strategic thinking, skill learning, and

problem solving. It is helpful to break down tasks, set clear and achievable lesson goals, provide

opportunity for student response, model the work, provide guided practice, and promote student

independence. In addition to explicit instruction, feedback is also an HLP that allows general

educators to better teach special education students, and help them meet their goals. Effective

feedback with students should be constructive, goal derived, timely, positive, and respectful.

Open communication with students can be a very strong tool for educators when done correctly

and effectively. There are many more HLPs including establishing the norms of your ;learning

environment, providing scaffolding, using flexible grouping, and many others. It is important

that educators are aware of the instructional practices that are most essential, and that educators

practice these in order to provide a learning opportunity for each student in a class. “Explicit

instruction and feedback stand out as must- have practices to produce strong outcomes for the

broadest range of students” (Brownell, et. al, 2021). Educators must be aware of the best

educational strategies in order to implement them in their classrooms and provide effective

instruction for diverse learners, such as students with disabilities.

Multiple means of assessment and engagement are two of the most effective ways to

ensure a lesson or unit is reaching all students. This may look different each day and in each

classroom, but the idea that an educator must have multiple tools at their disposal to use with any

learner at any time is at the core of these concepts. In my experience as an educator I have kept

track of these various tools to use with students and within the classroom. Many of these

strategies have been helpful with diverse learners in terms of both ELL students and students
with disabilities. The online platforms, such as Google Translate and Google Docs are

particularly effective with ELL students as they allow for the translation of any assignment or

reading (print text or online). These platforms also serve as effective tools to allow non english

speaking students to interact with their peers. In addition, instructional tools such as brain breaks

and bouncy balls can serve as effective ways to help students who may struggle in school to

focus and feel more in control. Exit tickets are also an effective instructional strategy as they

allow the educator to assess what each student got out of the lesson, and assess how each student

has progressed in terms of learning and their own goals. These strategies have allowed me to

successfully work with diverse learners, in turn making the discipline accessible to a broader

range of students.

Bella Thayer 2024 Instructional Tool Kit

Reflection

Within a social studies classroom, it is especially important to be aware of diverse

learners. This is because so many of the topics in social studies can be eurocentric, and when

teaching diverse learners this can put them at an unfair disadvantage. For example, it would not

be fair to give a student from Cameroon a geography test that includes five locations in Europe

and North America but only one in Africa. In addition, many of the concepts within social

studies require a lot of previous knowledge and have many parts to them. For this reason, it is

important that educators break down concepts and track student learning over time in order to

ensure that this learning is truly taking place in a meaningful way. It is essential that educators

are aware of the differences in learning that exist within the classroom and do their best to

accommodate these differences.

Final Reflection

In order to teach students in an effective and meaningful way educators must use content

as a way to engage students and encourage connections. These connections to content are

particularly important in social studies and history as these connections are what allow students

to stay engaged. In order to use social studies content as a way to engage learners, teachers must

understand the central concepts and use tools of inquiry to interest and teach students. Teachers

should encourage students to think creatively about the concepts, and educators' lessons and

instructional strategies should reflect this creativity.

Teaching social studies allows educators to make connections to global and local

communities and in turn encourage students to think critically about how to solve related issues.

Social studies is a discipline that focuses on varying perspectives and involves central concepts

such as thinking critically about enduring issues. These aspects of the disciple allow educators to

apply content in a way that connects to students. Whether it be economics, history, or civics the

concepts in all of these subjects impact students lives directly and it is important for teachers to

understand the concepts and be able to convey them effectively through instructional strategy.

Educators should have experience using multiple means of assessment and instruction in

order to meet all learners' needs, and teach them effectively. When this is executed properly

educators are able to reach students in meaningful ways that conveys concepts and content in a

way that students will understand.

 Works Cited

Brownell, M. T., Ciullo, S., & Kennedy, M. J. (2021). High-Leverage Practices: Teaching

Students with Disabilities--and All Students Who Need a Learning Boost. American

Educator, 44(4), 12–19.

Dogan, Y. (2021). The Conceptual Teaching Trajectory and Conceptual-Semantic Gaps in Social

Studies Education. International Online Journal of Educational Sciences, 13(5),

1603–1619. https://doi.org/10.15345/iojes.2021.05.019

Gawron, K., Tomlinson, M., Mohan, N., & Van Puymbrouck, L. H. (2024). A Scoping Review of

Universal Design for Learning in United States Allied Health & Medical Education.

Open Journal of Occupational Therapy (OJOT), 12(1), 1–14.

https://doi.org/10.15453/2168-6408.2146

Hunter, W. C., Barnes, K. L., Taylor, A., Rush, C., & Banks, T. (2023). Using flexible grouping

instruction to create culturally relevant PK-12 learning communities for culturally and

linguistically diverse learners with exceptionalities.Multicultural Learning and Teaching,

18(2), 307-320. https://doi.org/10.1515/mlt-2021-0007

Issar, K. (2021). Students’ Attitude towards Studying History and Teaching Practices. Education

Quarterly Reviews, 4(3), 45–50.

Kieninger, Katherine & Kopish, Michael. (2023). Developing an Understanding of Secondary

Social Studies Teacher Candidates’ Economic Pedagogical Content Knowledge. Journal

of Social Studies Education Research, 14(3), 1–25.

Licht, E., & Muhammad, K. G. (2023). A Call for Anti-Bias Education: To develop the next

generation of civic leaders, educate children early and in age-appropriate ways about

their identities and key concepts about race. Learning for Justice, 5, 28–31.

Montgomery, T. D., Green, B. M., Oliech, C. G., & Evanseck, J. D. (2024). Learning From a

Pandemic: Redesigning with Universal Design for Learning to Enhance Scientific Skills

(Practice Brief). Journal of Postsecondary Education & Disability, 37(1), 73–79.

Westerberg, Tim R. (2018). Becoming a Great High School : 6 Strategies and 1 Attitude That

Make a Difference. ASCD.

Weber, C. L., & Mofield, E. L. (2023). Considerations for Professional Learning Supporting

Teachers of the Gifted in Pedagogical Content Knowledge. Gifted Child Today, 46(2),

128–141. https://doi.org/10.1177/10762175221149258

Yin, C., Tang, D., Zhang, F., Tang, Q., Feng, Y., & He, Z. (2023). Students learning performance

prediction based on feature extraction algorithm and attention-based bidirectional gated

recurrent unit network. PLoS ONE, 18(10). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0286156