Plan for Addressing Learner Diversity

Section 1:
I have had the great opportunity to work in the Granite School District at
Granite Park Junior High and have found that within each of my classes there are
students with differing and varying needs in each of these class. It does not matter
if it is ESL, ESL History, general U.S. History or U.S. History Honors, each class are
made up of students that are unique and therefore have unique needs.
Starting with the ESL or English as a second language class, talking with both
the teacher and the students have found that while they are all defined as level 2
ELLs their abilities vary. Some students are able to articulate their needs and
understanding of English very well orally but struggle with presenting their thoughts
in a written form. Others are able to present their understanding in a clear written
form that as errors that are similar to a native speaker, but struggle with articulating
themselves orally. With this information the teacher and I are continually looking for
ways to present information and activities for the students to engage in that are
stimulating and helpful for all levels. For example, we have a writing worksheet that
they work on in groups. Some groups take the full twenty minutes to complete the
assignment, while other groups finish in ten minutes. Those who are done early we
are working to help them apply the knowledge about English grammar to their daily
journal entries through teaching them about personal editing of one's written work.
Those who take the whole time, we work slowly through the worksheet and focus on
what they are able to do. This is because these students will get down on
themselves and compare themselves to their peers. Many of these students are also
in my ESL and general history classes. I have discovered that because English is
their second or third language they are very much more aware of their strengths
and weaknesses within the language. Many of them have expressed to me and to
their teachers that it is the academic language that they struggle with.
The academic language is something that we focus more on in terms of
content based academic language in history. My ESL History class is the level two
ESL history class, which means that these students have the language skills to be
able to navigate and comprehend the events of the past in English. However, the
academic language such as historical movements or events such as mercantilism,
imperialism or the Columbian Exchange are very difficult for them to grasp. It is not
because they are not intelligent but it because of the language that is used and the
way that we present these historical facts. Many times history teachers and
historians want to present a narrative or explain a movement with history examples.
This can work if it done in a chronological order and with simple and easy to follow
concepts. The difficulty comes in with the application of these concepts and
movements today. This is a vital part of he historical learning process but it must be
done in such a way as to make sure that students grasp what is going on. This is

best done through student-centered instruction where the students create their own
connections between their present and the past. For example, as a class we
discussed the exchange of diseases across the Atlantic Ocean between the
European settlers and the native peoples in the Western Hemisphere. As students
were working to diagnose their patients with the diseases that crossed the Atlantic
to the different parts of the world, students kept making the connection to the
spread of Ebola. During our debriefing students wanted to know more about the
spread of diseases such as Ebola and how they can protect themselves. This
allowed us to present the different diseases and many of their vocabulary words
such as immunity, contagion, endemic and epidemic in a clear and relevant way. It
also allowed the students to ask and answer insightful questions about the role that
disease plays in our daily lives.
The application of information to students daily lives is not just important to
ELLs but to students within a general class as well. My general U.S. history class is
full of students who have a variety of gifts and challenges. For example, some of my
ELL students are in my general history class because while their language skills are
limited, their academic skills are advanced. There are also a few students who are
categorized as special education. These students need a little extra time and help
but they are resourcefully and like their peers ready to help each other and other
students within the class. Finally the rest of the students, while defined as
mainstream also have a variety of background knowledge and exposure that they
bring with them into the classroom. Some students have a lot of exposure to certain
areas or events of history, while other have very little to none. Those with little to
none thrive when the subject matter is presented to them with relevance and
comparison to events in today's world. However, as stated before it is important to
keep it simple and to make sure the connections made or explicitly explained. Those
with exposure to the events or subject in question are an asset to the class in that
they are able to bring their insights and understandings to the narrative at hand.
This is critical to the creation of a classroom environment where historical inquiry is
allowed to grow and blossom. There is misconception within historical teaching that
there is only one interpretation or way to present the events of the past. It is
believed that this part of the historical narrative should only be presented to gifted
and talented students or college age students. This belief is false and a detriment to
all students. Pre-teenagers are learning about abstract thought and this is a time in
their lives that they are taking the concrete and connecting it to the abstract.
Allowing students to do this no matter how intense is vital to understanding and
valuing the past.
The students within the honors history class are inquisitive and energetic
about the study of history but so are most students when given the chance. The
key here is that their enthusiasm is such that it allows them to take a deeper look at
the historical narrative. This is accomplished through a student-centered type of
teaching. This includes allowing them to ask questions, answer question and help

guide even direct instruction or lecture based instruction. Many of these students
have more specialized interests within the historical past such as medicine,
engineering, art, etc. It is a good idea to not just direct instruction or station
teaching but also to allow students to do more guiding learning with individual and
group projects that allow students to teach their peers and their teacher. This also
allows for a deeper and more individualized look at the historical past.

Section 2:
Curriculum Adaptations
There are two main adaptations that are essential for all students to succeed.
The first is making connection between the curriculum standards. The way that the
state and national historical teaching standards are organized is by eras and events.
While this allows for thematic teaching across the chronological timeline, however,
this is extremely confusing and hard to follow for even the most advanced historical
students. Therefore even more so for students of history with very little background
knowledge of the historical topic in question. I will be adding some content mini
lesson to create connections between the different eras and events within those
eras. For example, I would want to talk about the structuring and development on
the United States government with the Articles of Confederation to connect the end
of the American Revolution to the development and implementation of the
American Constitution. It is important that students understand that the American
government of today did not come out of thin air. It was a process of trial and error
that included some "failure" from which the framers of the constitution learned
from. This allows students to do more than memorize the facts of the past but to
create their own understanding of the historical narrative and how the past is just as
interconnected at the present and the future. This is just one way to help all
students to succeed in history.
The second is to modify the speed with which the content is covered. This
helps students to stay engaged. If you go too slow you lose the students that finish
and grasp the concepts quickly, but if you go too fast you loose though that need
more time to process the information. It is important to gauge the level engagement
of students. You do need to stay as close to the given curriculum map as possible
but this needs to be done at the right level for the students to succeed. My concern
with slowing the entire curriculum down is that when the high transient population
at many school, when students move from one school to the other they will find
themselves even further behind their peers. Some would argue that this does not
matter because historical time periods can be taught in isolation. This is true if your
only goal is to present the basic surface material. However, if you want to allow
student to gain the ability to think critically and apply world events past, present

and future to their own lives then as stated above connections between eras and
events is essential to help students see history at a timeline of human experience
instead of pockets of isolated, unrelated events.

Instructional Adaptations
With the use of connections and modification of speed with which to take the
curriculum, there are instructional strategies that need to be included. With the fact
that more material is being covered and the timeline is flexible to some extent, then
the instruction need to be more student exploration based. This includes practices
such as information stations, cooperative learning groups where students are able
to use jigsaw assignments to help each other learn about different vocabulary,
components of events or events within an era. This differentiation is based on the
level of depth students should go within the given curriculum. Those with little to no
background knowledge and limited English skills would be looking at history through
the academic language, while those with a lot of background knowledge will expand
their knowledge through a closer look at the even time. This deeper knowledge
could be obtained with the same resources but with guiding questions that are a
little more explicit and open-ended.
So while ELLs would be looking to define the basics of who, what, when and
where, other students would be taking the knowledge of who, what, when and
where and answering the questions of why and how these events happened. An
example of this is a general history class could be seen in two ways. The first is
having three different worksheets that each students receive with questions that
are geared towards their skills. The second would be everyone having the same
basic questions with two to three bonus questions that ask for more depth
explanations in order to answer. These adaptations would be on going. Since I am a
new teacher I don't feel that I have all the experience yet but I do feel that as I get
to know my students and what their strengths and weaknesses are I can adapt my
instructional methods to present the curriculum in the best way possible for that
given class.

Communication Adaptations
Communication is defined as how the teacher and the students interact with
one another and express their needs, desires and feelings to each other. This is an
important area to adapt for a diverse instructional environment on account of the
fact that the traditional forms of the communication may not work. For example, the
traditional teacher to student communication where teachers talk, students listens

and answer with simple and concise answers does not allow for teachers to truly get
to know their students and their needs, like and dislikes, nor does it allow students
to really get to know or trust their teachers. The historical classroom is suppose to
be a safe place where one's opinions and understandings can be expressed with the
fear of reprisal or reprimand from both peers and their teachers. If we want students
to think critically and use the past to create their own picture of the past, we need
to open to accepting views that differ from their as long as they can support their
argument with historical facts. On the other hands students need to feel safe to ask
their teachers or peers for clarification of an assignment, event or concept that they
might not understand. Communication is the key to successful education.
To adapt it for diverse learning I would work hard to make sure that in writing
and presenting instructions, that I can explain it in more than one way and that
those ways are not to complicate. I would also be aware of how the students are
reacting to the instruction and if I see that they are struggle to get started or to
comprehend or answer I would also do some modeling of what I would like them to
do. This modeling can be done through either having some prepared examples,
performing the action myself or guiding them through the first question or task with
them. I would then be continually walking around to help students individually to
understand the instructions. I would also make sure that if the instructions were
unclear or ambiguous to one period, I would modify them before the next class.
Communication adaptations like instructional adaptations are a continuous process
of changing and adapting to a given group of students needs.

Technology Integration/Adaptation
The role of technology within the classroom and how comfortable students
feel with using it is an important component of diverse learning and teaching. For
example, for all sage and utips testing students need to be able to use a computer.
This skill includes being able to log into the computer, clicking on the correct icon
for the test and being able to navigate and answer the questions within the test.
Students no matter their academic ability may struggle with this skills either
because of limited exposure to and use of a computer or due to not understanding
English well enough to know what the words log in, click or type. The other problem
for students is that if they need to take it home to complete they will have to stay
after school to do so and many students can not do that due to family obligations
such as babysitting younger siblings, take the bus home and can not wait the hour
and a half for the activity bus. They could use the local library but the closest one
for schools like Granite Park is on 3300 south and 900 east. This means that while a
web quest would be a fun way to introduce online research tools to students,
students access to technology outside the classroom as to be taken into account.

There is also the question of student and teacher access to technology within
the classroom. Many of the newer schools are coming equipped with smart boards
or laptops that students may use in their classes, but this rare and cast a lot more
money than most schools have. Also every school has at least one computer lab but
with the increased level of testing that many of the core subjects are experiences,
being able to reserve and use these labs has become more difficult. Also at Granite
Park their lab as 36 computers but there are classes with as many as 41-45
students. This means that there is no way that technological historical activities can
not be done individually but are not impossible. They have to be done in a group
effort and should be adapted over a two day span with a non-technological
component for those who are not on the computers to fulfill. Finally, teachers need
to be aware that technology does not always were perfectly and we must be will to
adapt when things breakdown.
However, technology is a great tool to help students of all levels be able to
enhance their understanding within the historical narrative. This can be
accomplished through web quests, online field trips, and online research scavenger
hunts with primary sources and digital archives. These are just a few of the ways
that technology can enhance historical learning.

Section 3: The Star Spangled Banner and the Battle for Baltimore
1. The Star Spangled Banner (ESL History)
a. Lesson Goal:
i. Expose student to the story of the song and help them
understand why this song is our national anthem.
b. Content Objective
i. Students will be able to describe the events that are described
by the "Star Spangled Banner"
c. Language Objective
i. Students will be able to define what a national anthem is.
d. Rationale
i. This allows students to learn the history of the War of 1812
through the words and events within the Star Spangled Banner.
e. Content: ESL U.S. History
f. Instructional Procedures
i. Focusing Event(s)
1. Focus on the words of the four stanzas of the poem
through reading them aloud
2. Watch a winning singer of the Star Spangled Banner
Competition of the Smithsonian Institute.

3. Present the events of described in the song in a picture

form.
ii. Teaching Procedures
1. Begin with students writing in the journals for four
minutes about what they know about the national
anthems of the home countries.
2. Students will be given a copy of the words and as a class
we will red through and repeat the lyrics of the song.
3. We will go through the vocabulary worksheet to define the
following words:
a. Anthem
b. Bursting
c. Dawn
d. Hailed
e. Gallantly
f.

Gleaming

g. Glare
h. Perilous
i.

Proof

j.

Rampart

k. Spangled
l.

Streaming

m. Twilight
4. Students will watch the winning singer of the Star
Spangled Banner Competition perform the anthem twice,
once without the captions and one with.

5. Students will get into their assigned groups and have a

five minute conversation about what happened within the
lyrics of the song
a. there are four stanzas and each group will be
assigned a stanza.
b. As a group they will draw a picture of the events.
6. We will then put the pictures in the order of the stanzas
and sing the
song together to see if the words and pictures match.

iii. Students Participation

1. Students will participate in the class reading of the lyrics
of the song
2. Students will help define the vocabulary words of the song
3. Students will work in groups and participate in a group
discussion about the events in their stanza of the song
4. Students will create as a group a picture of these events
5. Students will present their picture to the class and sing
with the class
iv. Closure
1. Students will have a chance to sing their own national
anthem
2. Write a reflection in their historical journals about the Star
Spangled Banner and what they think of it.
g. Evaluation
i. Evaluation will done through the pictorial summary students
present to the class and through the write reflection on the
events of the lesson.
h. Plans for:
i. Enrichment: Students who finish early will be able to take a look
a closure look at the bombardment of Fort McHenry through the
exploration of the Smithsonian's online exhibit on the Star
Spangled Banner.
ii. Remediation: Students will be able given more time to find the
answers on their vocabulary sheets. In group work, the group
will be required to make sure that their peers are on the same

i.

page and are all in agreement on how they will draw their
picture.
iii. English Language Learners: They will be able to draw pictures of
the vocabulary if they are not completely comfortable writing
the definitions in English.
References to levels of Bloom's Taxonomy
i. Level 1: Definition of key words within the lyrics
ii. Level 2: Explanation of the events within the songs
iii. Level 3: Summarize and present these events in a visual form

2. The Battle for Baltimore according to the Star Spangled Banner (General
History)
a. Lesson Goal:
i. Show how the battle for Baltimore is presented in the Star
Spangled banner .
b. Content Objective
i. Students will be able to explain the events that Francis Scott Key
saw during the Battle for Baltimore.
c. Language Objective
i. Students will be able to define what a national anthem is and
how the Star Spangled Banner become ours.
d. Rationale
i. This allows students to utilize their historical thinking skills of
using and analyzing primary source materials to explain the
events of the past.
e. Content: U.S History
f. Instructional Procedures
i. Focusing Event(s)
1. Review of the Capture and Burning of Washington D.C.
2. The role of the author Francis Scott Key
3. The events of the Battle for Baltimore
4. The importance of the flag
ii. Teaching Procedures
1. Students will begin with a starter. They will answer the
question: With Washington D.C., the nation's captial,
captured and burned, do you think the United States
should surrender to the British? Why or why not?
2. Next students will get out their historical journals and get
into their assigned groups. They will go over the
vocabulary sheet of the words from the song.
3. Each student will be given a number and a copy of the
Star Spangled Banner

4. Students will report to their new groups with their lyrics

and journal to take notes on their aspect of the story of
the Battle of Baltimore.
a. Bombardment of Fort McHenry
b. Francis Scott Key, an eye witness
c. What is the Star Spangled Banner
d. Why Baltimore
5. Students will then to their original groups and report
their findings.
6. Each group will then write 3 paragraphs summarizing
the events of the
Battle of Baltimore and the role the
Francis Scott Key played.
7. As a class we will listen and watch the winner of the
Star Spangled
Banner Competition perform.
8. Students will then draw a picture with a caption of the
events as
presented in the song.

iii. Student participation

1. Students will work in groups to define vocabulary,
discover and explain historical facts and summarize those
facts in a written form.
2. Students draw the events and describe the events that
they present.
iv. Closure
1. As a class we will answer the following questions:
a. Why is the Star Spangled Banner so important to
these events?
b. Is this song still important today?
c. Where have you heard this song sung?
g. Evaluation
i. Students will be evaluated in how the present their information
to their peers, their notes within their journals, their explanation
of the visual representation of the events and their participation
in the class discussion.
h. Plans for:

i. Enrichment:
1. Students who finish early will be allowed to explore the
more of the resources on the Smithsonian Star Spangled
Banner website, if it is individual work and will be asked to
help their fellow group members in the group situations.
ii. Remediation
1. Students will be given more time to finish their individual
work and will be given individual instruction and help as
needed.
2. In their groups, their peers will be repsonsible to make
sure that everyone in the group has a voice and input into
the written assignment. This can be done through
allowing them to be the scribe or to vocalize the events or
facts that they feel are important.
iii. English Language Learners
1. Students will be allows more time to finish their
assignment and to present it in simplified English or an
oral English form if need be. They will also be given
individual instruction and aid as needed.
2. IN group work, each group member is responsible for
making sure that no group member is left behind. This
means that everyone is given a chance to give input and
express what they think is important. This can be done
through allowing the students to act as scribes or to more
time to express their views in oral English.
i.

References to levels of Bloom Taxonomy

i. Level 1: Identify the event of the Battle of Baltimore
ii. Level 2: Explain these events with the words of Francis Scott Key
as one resource
iii. Level 3: Summarize the important events and the role the Key
and his lyrics played.

3. Why is the Battle of Baltimore so Significant to the history of the United

States (Honors History)
a. Lesson Goal
i. Students will be able to explain not only why the Star Spangled
Banner is our national anthem but also why the Battle for
Baltimore is so significant to our history when the war of 1812 is
largely forgotten.
b. Content Objective
i. Students will be able to synthenize the events of the Battle for
Baltimore into a coherent timeline.
c. Language Objective
i. Students will be able to explain what a national anthem is and
why the Star Spangled Banner is the national anthem of the U.S.
d. Rationale
i. These students should be able to look at the events and lyrics of
the song in context of the historical narrative and identify reason
why it is still significant for us today.
e. Content U.S. History Honors
f.

Instructional Procedures
i. Focusing Event(s)
1. Review of the Capture and Burning of Washington D.C.
2. The Bombardment of Fort McHenry and the role of Francis
Scott Key
3. The events of the Battle of Baltimore
4. The significance of the battle to the history of our country
5. How does a song become a national anthem
ii. Teaching Procedures

1. Students will begin class with a starter that answers the

following question: Should the U.S. surrender to the
British after Washington D.C. is destroyed? WHy or why
not?
2. Students will get into their assigned groups and work
together to define the vocabulary words given.
3. Each group will be assigned a stanza of the poem and be
given background information on one of the following
historical facts:
a. Fort McHenry and the british bombardment
b. The Star Spangled Banner, the flag, how it was
made and why
c. The Battle for Baltimore, the land movements
d. Francis Scott Key and his song
4. Each group will create a visual or oral presentation of
the facts they are given.
5. Each group will present their presentation.
6. As a class we will watch a short film on the star spangled
banner and the Battle for Baltimore.
7. As a class we will work together to answer these questions
in our historical journals:
1. What is this battle important?
2. How does this song tell the story of the battle?
3. What do you think Francis Scott Key was feeling as he
wrote these words?
4. Why do you think this song became our national anthem
iii. Student Participation
1. Students will work cooperatively with their groups.
2. They will help present their information to the class

3. They will answer the questions with the class in both oral
and written forms.
iv. Closure
1. Students will help to create a definition of a national
anthem based on our findings about the Star Spangled
Banner
g. Evaluation
i. Students will be evaluated through their group presentations
and their writing in their historical journal. In the writing the
focus is not grammar but content.
h. Plans for:
i. Enrichment: Students will be able to look at and explore the
information on the Star Spangled banner website. In their groups
they will be asked to help the other members of their group that
may need a little help.
ii. Remediation: Students will be given more time to complete
individual work and will have a chance to ask peers in their
groups for help. They will also be given the chance to work with
their groups to create their presentation. This can be done
through filling out the presentation worksheet or through taking
notes on what they are doing so as to present it to the class
clearly.
iii. English Language Learners: Students will be given more time to
finish individual work. In their groups they will be able to ask
other members of the gorup for help and to be involved in the
presentation of their facts. I will also be walking around to help
clarify anything for them or others who may be struggling.
i.

References to levels of Bloom Taxonomy

i. Level 1: Name the events of the Battle of Baltimore and the
players within them
ii. Level 2: Select the important events to present

iii. Level 3: Illustrate the events through a visual or performancebased pesentation.