Entry 2- Learning Differences

The candidate uses understanding of differences in individuals, cultures, and communities to ensure
inclusive learning environments that enable each learner to meet rigorous standards.

Creating an inclusive learning environment stems from a teacher who seeks to give each student
an environment where they feel as if their opinions, ideas, discoveries, and thoughts are valued and
important. This can be achieved by the teacher including the students in the process of creating a
unique classroom culture that helps each student feel “at home”. The students are, however all unique
individuals, so creating one homogeneous classroom culture will require that students are respectful
and collaborative with their classmates. We can also be more inclusive of other cultures and views by
teaching our students about peoples from different cultures and areas of the world. Music lends itself so
well to cultural inclusivity through pedagogies like World Music Pedagogy, as well as the amount of
quality music examples from different countries that students can interact with. Being culturally
responsive doesn’t need to stop at introducing cultures students aren’t familiar with. A student from a
specific culture can share music from their culture with the class, or the teacher could interact with the
culture of the school, or the already established culture of the grade level they are teaching. Teachers
will then be able to include these elements into their normal instruction. Inclusive environments are
found when everyone feels they have an equal opportunity for collaboration, contribution, and a mutual
respect for others’ ideas.

Throughout my time student teaching, I have been able to work with students from K-12th grade
in the music classroom. In the elementary school, I have taught a unit directly relating to another culture
from across the world through World Drumming. I was also given the opportunity to observe the classes
that I was teaching in their regular classroom, which helped me gain insight on the class culture that the
students were bringing with them to the music classroom. At the high school, some of the students
would eat lunch in the office with my CT and I, giving me insight on what the students were focused on
outside of band. I was able to tie this knowledge into many of my secondary lessons.