I think this standard wants me to recognize the importance behind using a variety of

instructional strategies as a part of each lesson. Not only does this make the learning more

engaging and meaningful, but using different instructional strategies within one lesson also

addresses the set of diverse learner needs present in a classroom. Furthermore, these instructional

strategies should include a combination of lecture, small group and whole-class discussion,

activity, and written and oral work. Through these different strategies, it is important to

encourage critical-thinking about the material by using probing questions and having students

summarize for comprehension in addition to a teacher-based summary. However, this standard

also highlights the importance of constructive feedback in addition to the variety of instructional

strategies. Constructive feedback is a vital component to helping students improve their learning

by encouraging personal reflection through positive criticism and improvement

recommendations.

For this standard, I chose to use a video of myself teaching as the artifact to demonstrate

my understanding and application of the standard. In this video, it is evident that I “understand

how to use diverse instructional strategies and assessments that include an appropriate balance of

lecture, discussion, activity, and written and oral work.” Following the warm-up discussion, the

presented lesson is introduced with a lecture reviewing previously covered material. However,

the students are then broken into pairs to discuss pictures of children soldiers from the Civil War

and quotes spoken by these soldiers about what life was like during the war. By working in pairs,

each student is given an opportunity to actively participate in a discussion on the material. They

are asked to write down their ideas discussed and then, as a pair, the students orally present their

assigned picture and quote for the rest of the class. Following each presentation, I generally

asked a couple questions to check for student comprehension. These actions demonstrate that I
understand how to “conduct effective classroom discussion by managing groups, asking

questions, eliciting and probing responses, and summarizing for comprehension.” Although I

have used this artifact in practice, my teaching will change in the future to further meet this

standard by providing more constructive feedback to help students improve their comprehension

and presentation of information. Additionally, the class in the video did not have many students

whose first language is not English. However, in the future, it will be important to “assist

students who communication skills may be impeded by learning, language, and/or cultural

differences, especially those whose first language is not English.” The instruction may need to be

adapted for those students. For example, in this case, students whose first language is not English

should be paired up with a student who can effectively present the information discussed.

Therefore, these students’ thoughts are still included in the activity, but the individual

requirements are slightly different.

After demonstrating how to use a variety of instructional strategies as a part of each

lesson, I feel more prepared to teach and learn in a diverse society. ‘Diverse’ can be defined in

multiple ways. For one, it can be interpreted as linguistically diverse environment. With a

linguistically diverse student population, it is important to use a variety of instructional

techniques so that these students are still actively included in the learning environment. ‘Diverse’

can also be interpreted as an academically diverse environment. By satisfactorily meeting this

standard, I have demonstrated how to use different materials and teaching strategies to enhance

the instruction for students who are below-grade-level, on-grade-level, and above-grade-level.

During instructional planning time, it is therefore necessary to consider the diverse student

population and how to enhance the instruction for each individual student. This will prepare me

as a prospective teacher to provide the best education for a diverse group of students. I look
forward to using this knowledge in my future and am confident that my future experiences will

build upon these understandings as well.