Madam Professor

 Student post(Kristen)- Answer the response guideline questions relating to student post
Where Are You Headed?

I am a 4th grade teacher in Georgia, I teach reading, and social studies. I have been teaching for three years now, and it’s truly a calling that I have had since a young child. I learn something new each day about teaching, whether it be how I can differentiate instruction to how I can add more research based assessments. I knew that it only made sense to pursue my Master’s degree. I walked across the stage feeling happy when I received my Bachelor’s degree, but it was also a feeling that my educational journey is just beginning. I feel excited, accomplished, and nervous. I just want to make sure that I give my Master’s degree my all. I feel that my work life, and being a parent of a two year old has its own set of challenges, but with preparation, dedication, and time management I feel that it will be worth while, successful, and meaningful.
I hope to gain positive feedback, meaningful classroom ideas that engage all my students. I always push my students to set no limits, so this time in my life I’m doing this for my self. I can recall the look on my students faces when things get rigorous, and they feel like giving up before even starting, that what this experience can feel like, but I know once I get started it will come familiar, and flow. I appreciate the opportunity to even have this discussion board to post authentic discussions on our expectations,apprehensions, and goals.
Question? How can I reach all learners, and get parents on board with knowing that education is the foundation to all avenue’s of life?
  
Response Guidelines
Read the posts of your peers, and respond by completing the following:
Begin each response with a positive reflection on an idea or viewpoint expressed by the learner.
Add your own perspective or a relevant reference from the literature.

Student post (Veronica)
Where Are You Headed?
 
   This is a new career path that I am starting here at Capella, and I have some concerns of what is expected and if I will be on the correct path with my responses throughout the courses. I feel confident with the informational resources available from the library, but also know that there are many skills that need improvement. I have started to make adjustments to a partial plan of study habits and rearrange calender dates to help keep me on track. I am definitely aware of the time that is available after work each day and weekends; it is crucial that I do not get behind. As I enter this course I am open to learning new styles, techniques and able to make more adjustments as needed. Reading is a strong point for me because I enjoy it as a past time thing to do. I will treat my course reading material like its a need for me to grasp the information and put it into a practice. Writing skills may need some work and I am glad to learn about Purdue, OWL, Turnitin, and the variety of resources available to submit papers for review. This will aid in strengthening my skills to get better and show more clarity for audiences reading my papers. 
     It was not an easy task for me to start another program; I struggled back and forth with myself for a few months about if I should or shouldn’t continue my education at this time. I finally decided that it was in my best interest to grow intellectually and mentally now and not later. The factors that gave me the “big yes”, in my inner self is one of personal interest and beliefs. I strongly believe that in order to understand students of diverse cultures, I must learn how to reach them from where they are first. Learning the strategies and utilizing the skills will help me grow in those areas. Knowing when technology changes and updates in our society is a must for teachers, students, and parents. 
Question: How do Educators incorporate learning curriculum to fit students from different backgrounds and social environments? Are there training tools and guidelines?

Response Guidelines
Read the posts of your peers, and respond by completing the following:
Begin each response with a positive reflection on an idea or viewpoint expressed by the learner.
Add your own perspective or a relevant reference from the literature.

Student post (Samantha) Answer the response guideline question below related to post
Diversity and multiculturalism 

Through my student teaching experience, I have learned to form “solid” understanding of diversity in sexual orientation and gender roles. I am a straight, 22-year-old female who had to instruct a LGBTQ class as a part of my student teaching experience. When I first began, I was extremely ignorant and had little knowledge of the different sexual orientations and of the LGBTQ community. Honestly, at first I did not feel very comfortable teaching the class because I did not want to say the wrong thing and look like a fool or upset any of the students. My students ranged from 7th-12th grade and were all had a very diverse sexual orientation. With a lot of research, and time spent with these students, I had grown to become much more comfortable, educated, and supportive of the LGBTQ community. It was not until I learned about the horrifying struggles these children had gone through and what they still go through every day, that I became much more educated on the topic of diversity in sexual orientation and gender roles.
I have more of a “muddy” understanding of incorporating multicultural perspectives into curriculum, instruction, and assessment. I feel as if I am not one to be able to see eye to eye with the diverse cultures within a classroom if I have never truly experienced what it is like to be “in their shoes”. I have experience with a diverse group of children but did not have the opportunity to spend a long enough time with them to really get to know what it is like to be them and how understanding their backgrounds could impact the curriculum, instruction and assessment within the classroom.
The knowledge I have based on diversity and multiculturalism would help me to create a happy, inclusive and positive classroom environment. I do not discriminate and love to build a strong relationship with students so they all can feel comfortable within the classroom. My areas of gap within incorporating the multicultural perspectives into the curriculum, instruction, and assessment can have a negative impact on my instructional practice. Yes, I am confident that my students will all generally get along and will have fun and feel comfortable in my classroom, but my knowledge gap may have a negative impact on the students overall understanding of the mandatory curriculum.
If I were to strengthen my knowledge and skills in incorporating multicultural perspectives into curriculum, instruction, and assessment, my students will have a much better educational outcome when being assessed on the mandatory curriculum of the district. Not only will the students have better grades, but I will feel more accomplished in what I am there to do in the first place. As an educator, my goal is to enhance the students’ knowledge and help them receive high scores but also to create a positive, comfortable, fun and friendly environment so the students enjoy coming to class.

Response Guidelines
 Identify similarities and differences between your colleague’s KWL chart and your own. To what do you attribute those differences?
Provide one suggestion for your colleague in regard to how to address what he or she wants to know about these topics.
To Compare chart I have attach both chart