Accommodations Example

In the following description of my unit on The Spread of Communism, I will discuss curriculum and base modifications on two-high incidence disabilities occurring in my classroom.  As mentioned in the introduction to this work sample, two students in the class experience learning disabilities.  First, M’s disability focuses on attention difficulties.  He has Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and exhibits an inability to concentrate for moderate periods of time.  Second, N’s disability regards reading comprehension, and she possesses a reading ability below her grade level.  The following pages will explain how I differentiated curriculum in order to modify lesson content, processes, and products for these two students and for the remainder of the students.

Content

Tomlinson (2001) defines content as the “input” of instruction.  It represents the body of information, concepts, and ideas educators want their students to learn.  Not all students can gain the same level of understanding from the same exact content.  For this reason, content must be modified in order to grant similar learning opportunities to each student in the class.  Modification takes place in two major ways:  One way is through adapting lesson objectives, meaning changing the makeup of the curriculum.  The other way is through adapting the methods through which lesson objectives are obtained.  The name for these types of adaptations is differentiation, and is the modification method I chose to pursue and discuss in this unit.

1. Varied Resources.  The first content modification strategy I chose was the scaffolding of primary resources.  In the second lesson of the unit, the class studied transcripts of the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences.  Both documents originated as very challenging primary resources that would have confused most students.  I wanted to convey the overall concept of compromise, and the challenges that accompany it, in detailing how Eastern Europe was to function after the fall of Adolf Hitler.  It was important to avoid teacher-centered instruction during this lesson for fear of losing M’s attention and in order to make the texts more reachable for all students, especially N.  I solved the problem by including only excerpts of the transcripts that contained the most important ideas and discarded the rest.  Also, in preparing the documents, I looked for words that I thought would confused the students and placed definitions in brackets after the words.  My intent was to scaffold the texts in order for students to access new words.

Finally, I planned this exercise as a group activity to increase the motivation and involvement of M.  Roles were assigned in each group, and a chart to organize important information was provided.  This strategy was designed to keep M focused and organized, as both are challenging for students with ADD.

Another example of scaffolding primary resources involves my lesson on fear and threats during the Cold War.  The focal point of this lesson was a pair activity in which students analyzed and interpreted three pieces of propaganda from the Second Red Scare of the early 1950s.  Accompanying each picture were questions, scaffolded so each pair could take what they see, discover the symbolism behind the picture, and make inferences about the picture’s impact on the Cold War.  I used pictures in order to present primary documents in a way that would help N and the two ELLs in the class, and I planned the exercise as group work in order to teach interpersonal communication, and also so a partner could keep M on task.  (I planned his pairing ahead of time.)

2. Audio and Video Technology.  The second way in which I modified instructional content was through the use of multimedia technology.  When this strategy is used to present content similar to that which appears in a textbook, students can gain greater meaning by having direct visual experience with the information communicated (Salend, 2008).

In the first lesson on Korea, I showed the class a DVD on the causes of United Nations involvement in Korea in 1950.  While they viewed the documentary, students answered questions on a worksheet given to them, providing guidance in identifying the key reasons the United Nations became involved.  After the video, they shared their answers in a class discussion then completed questions they were unable to answer alone.  In order to ensure M would not lose focus, and to ensure N would not fall asleep from becoming overwhelmed, I stopped the DVD periodically to ask additional important questions not included on the worksheet.  Doing so provided students the opportunity to think about information they did not understand, to teach each other through their responses, and to allow me to assess grasping of the information presented.  Frequent pausing allowed M to stay on task and clarified N’s confusion on several occasions.

In the second lesson on Southeast Asia, I prepared a PowerPoint presentation on the use of guerilla warfare by the Vietcong during the Vietnam War.  The lesson objective was to help students understand how communism defeated capitalism in the country.  The slides were placed in a specific sequence to create a story with accompanying captions.  As I showed the pictures on each slide, I also told the story (which I created in planning the lesson), which detailed how a group of American soldiers discovered a Vietcong underground tunnel, but still managed to lose the Vietnam War due to not knowing the land like the native Vietcong did.  While this lively story and slideshow took place, I added comprehension, reflection, and prediction questions in order to activate students’ observation and critical thinking abilities.  Also, the purpose of the slideshow, questions, and story were to keep M’s attention, to ensure N could gain historical meaning about the Vietnam War, and so the rest of the class could learn about a no-so-fun topic in a fun way.

Process

Instructional process can be thought of as “sense making”, or the method in which learners process content and skills.  Process is a crucial component of learning because it is what grants learners ownership of information.  Just as not all students acquire the same information from the same content, neither do they process content in the same way.  People learn differently and at different rates, so modification of instructional process is just as important as modification of content (Tomlinson, 2001).  Differentiation is the method of modification I chose in creating lesson process.  The following are examples of how I implemented this concept.

1. Problem-Based Learning.  My first strategy for differentiating process was through problem-based learning.  Salend (2008) describes this strategy as centering curriculum around practical and authentic problems that are relevant to students’ own lives.  The goal of the curriculum is for students to learn and use the skills necessary for finding solutions to the problems posed.

In my introductory lesson to the Spread of Communism unit, I opened with a pair activity requiring students to reach a compromise on a problem in which both sides disagreed about the solution.  Each student in the pair was given a sheet of paper with the problem and another sheet with a solution.  The goal was for students to reach an agreed upon compromise through negotiation.  When they reached this compromise, they wrote it down and shared with class after the activity.  Through this problem-based activity, I gained students’ motivation because the topic was something to which they could relate, and I allowed students to demonstrate learning through speaking, writing, and analysis of a problem.  Because the topic was relevant to each student, and all participated—including M.  Because it used verbalization as a main skill, N was able to utilize one of her strengths.  Finally, because the concept of compromise was also the chief skill explored by members of the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences, once students utilized the skill, they were able to apply it to explaining the key challenge of the conferences, and learn why the Cold War started.

In my lesson on NATO, the Warsaw Pact, and the Berlin Blockade, students participated in an experiential activity.  (See Experiential Lesson Plan with Modifications.)  The activity divided the classroom in two by a physical barrier that two students constructed.  Next, students from both sides were given directions for a map activity (which also contained modifications) and were instructed to begin.  Half of the room could not start because they were separated from the section of the room containing the map, corresponding question sheets, and art supplies.  With the problem fully noted, students began devising ways to obtain materials from the other side.  One strategy involved students from the fully supplied side passing maps and markers over the barrier.  After informing students that this idea was forbidden, frustration set in.  After about five minutes, I stopped the activity and we discussed feelings of students on both sides—connecting the exercise to the feelings of Berlin residents during the time of the Berlin Blockade.  By creating an activity requiring full class participation and an intriguing situation, I kept students’ attention.  Further, by making M and N the “blockade builders”, I prevented them from losing attention and interest during the exercise.  Finally, by using kinesthetic, verbal, auditory, and visual learning techniques, I met every student’s needs and encouraged critical thinking to take place in a way that M and N could easily succeed.

2. Graphic Organizers.  The other method for differentiating process used in this unit involved graphic organizers as instructional tools.  Salend (2008) describes these tools as simply illustrations presenting relationships among key ideas.  There are a great number of types of graphic organizers at any teacher’s reach.  Some examples of such are word webs, timelines, and Venn diagrams.  The two types I used were word webs and timelines.

Word webs contain the main topic or theme in the center of the organizer, with sub-themes or important topic components branching from the center.  In my lesson on Containment, I used a word web to organize key ideas embedded within a text on Containment, the Truman Doctrine, and the Marshall Plan. To make the text accessible to everyone, I used the same strategies as noted in the Content section of this unit description.  Students were divided into groups of three, and each student was given a copy of the reading and a blank word web.  I instructed students to write “Containment” in the center circle of the web to model the organizer’s use.  In their groups, the students read the text aloud, discussed important ideas, and filled in their webs.  After completing the activity, I facilitated a class discussion in which students shared their opinions about important information from the text.  By modifying the text, by providing a word web, and by modeling the word web’s use, I modified the activity for N, so that she could comprehend the reading.  I assigned roles to each group member, giving M the job of “reader” in order to keep him involved in the activity.  During the class discussion, M and N were able to participate because they were granted modifications that met their needs in the previous part of the lesson.

The other example of graphic organizers as differentiated tools in my unit took place in the lesson on Ho Chi Minh’s rise to power in Vietnam. The class was divided into groups of three and given text on Ho Chi Minh’s political career.  The groups were homogeneously tiered, so the higher ability groups received college textbook excerpts, the average ability groups received articles from the History Channel website, and the lower ability groups received slides from a PowerPoint picture presentation found online.  With these resources, students completed graphic organizers tiered to their groups.  After taking notes on the organizers, groups were given markers and chart paper to create timelines of events in Vietnam’s change from imperialism to communism.  Groups posted their timelines on the classroom walls.  The idea of tiering texts and organizers allowed me to differentiate content and process for all students, giving them access to the same key ideas.  The timelines served as both process and product, because in addition to being assessment pieces, they also served as tools that guided the development of chronological thinking.  The organizers helped N make sense of the slideshow, and the timelines were things M found engaging (as he likes to draw and create artwork).

Product

Tomlinson (2001) states the overall importance of instructional products as not only being tangible proof of students’ understanding, but also as being the element of learning most connected to ownership of that learning.  Two forms of demonstrative learning products are open-ended responses and performance assessments.  I will provide instructional examples of each concept below.

1. Open-Ended Response.  Open-eneded response refers to the variety of ways students can demonstrate understanding, connect ideas and concepts, and solve complex problems—all through writing (Lenz & Deshler, 2004).  One open-ended response product I used throughout the unit on the Spread of Communism was the reflective journal.

Reflective journaling allows students to express their thoughts, opinions, and understanding through organized writing assessments.  In my second lesson on Korea, I assigned a reflection questions that students completed in their journals for homework.  I collected these journals at different points in the unit to assess students’ progress.  The question I asked was, “How might the outcome of the Korean War—and the Cold War—have changed if the United Nations used nuclear weapons as MacArthur had intended?”  The purpose of this question was to create further scaffolding of students’ thinking from that day’s lesson on the end of the Korean War.  In answering this question, students used higher level thinking through making predictions based on prior knowledge.  The writing assignment allowed N to use the graphic organizer she completed in class to back up her thoughts, and to be creative with the assignment—knowing there was no right or wrong answer as long as she provided good support.  This creative outlet encouraged almost all students to write, which is a skill most of the students do not feel comfortable with.  While there do exist students in the class who can easily write more, I limited all journal entries to one paragraph, so as to not lose M’s attention since he has trouble focusing longer than about 15 minutes.

Another example of reflective journaling in my unit takes place in Lesson 9—on communism in Southeast Asia.  In this lesson, I assigned an opinion question for homework.  The question asked, “Was the United States justified in fighting in Vietnam?  Why or why not?”  The difference between this question and previous question is that persuasion was the tone used rather than pure prediction. Again, I only asked for one paragraph in order to keep everyone’s focus, and made the question open-eneded, without a right or wrong answer, in order to keep N and the rest of the class encouraged in their writing.  It’s more important to start small work upward.  By doing this type of exercise on a regular basis, students used content and personal perspectives to improve their writing skills.

2. Performance Assessment.  Lenz and Deshler (2004) note performance assessment’s importance to inclusive instruction as a way that students can demonstrate mastery of their learning through real and applicable means.  These assessments differ from other assessments in that they appear more relevant to students and are a better indicator of true learning.  The major way in which I used performance assessment in my unit was in the form of an “authentic assessment”.

Authentic assessments take many forms.  Mine served as an assessment tool prior to the unit exam, which was not performance based.  This assessment exercise allowed students to demonstrate knowledge in multiple ways.  First, students had the option to write a letter to US President Johnson to tell him whether or not he should send US troops into Vietnam.  Second, students had another option to create a cartoon demonstrating their opinions of US support in the war.  Finally, students could create subway advertisements (similar to a recurring course theme:  propaganda) that supported their views of involvement in the war.  In all three options, students were required to show understanding of certain big picture ideas about the Cold War and about alliances.  The authentic assessments were graded based on a rubric and according to specific quantifiable criteria.  Differentiation and modifications are easy to identify in this project, because students were given options in what to create, were allowed to choose a side of an issue based on evidence, and were allowed to connect prior knowledge to their opinions in this assignment.  M stayed on task because he was able to create a subway ad—which kept his attention span in check, and N wrote a letter because she likes to communicate her opinions and wanted to challenge herself through writing.  In the end, both students demonstrated that they gained meaning from the Vietnam War through showing why the war divided America and why it was an extension of the Cold War—the objectives for the Southeast Asia lessons.