Educ 402- Imaginary Diverse classroom

*Credit to my reading group in Educ 402 who helped create this diverse classroom*

James Gordon Jr. (10) – January 31^st
Canadian/ Australian
Identifies as a male
Parents are divorced
Reads above grade level
Diagnosed as being colour blind, but it has not been a major issue in his learning other than art and art related exercises.

Sarah Wong (9) – November 2^nd
Second generation Canadian/ Singapore
Single child
Identifies as female
Speaks Cantonese, Mandarin, Malay, and English; there are minor issues with reading and writing such as vocabulary differences
Extending empathetic skills
Extracurricular: Excels at performing classical piano and competitive badminton High anxiety around new people and exercises she feels are difficult. 

Tamara George (10) – February 14^th
Aboriginal—local First Nation
Identifies as female
Speaks some local dialect
Raised by grandparents
Two older sisters also have similar IEPs 
Enjoys sports
Open to working with others; highly empathetic 
Exhibits difficulty reading: IEP established in Grade 2 focussing on one-on-one practice with Learning Resource Teachers; in class, emphasis on distinguishing letter sounds both visually and auditorily;  extra time spent on sight words (pre-teaching vocabulary and concepts); repetition and rephrasing, syllabication; visual teaching methods; chunking information; direct teaching of language and structure—both written and oral; reinforcement of speech intelligibility, expressive language, and auditory comprehension.

Lebron Kimathi (10) – July 17^th
Kenya, Christian
Identifies as male
Excels at sport, plays videogames 
Undiagnosed ADST: behavioural problems are largely monitored by the classroom EA. There is no extra funding. 
Bossy and fidgety, which makes partnerships difficult.  

Zachary Partyka 10 February 13^th
Polish, Catholic
Extending reading and writing and sports
Reserved personality; rarely speaks out or volunteers in class.
Is very sensitive to bossy behaviour from teachers or peers.

Amira El Masry (9) – December 29^th
Afghanistan, Muslim
Refugee – arrived in Canada 6 months ago –
little English languagePositive attitude
Good at labelling images such as on maps 
ESL assessment shows language skills are beginner, but her attitude suggests that she will gain knowledge quickly with peer learning (at the lowest levels). 
Brings a strong sense of appreciation for education to the class, which improves the class mood. 

Tallulah O’Brien
 9 years old, identifies as female, Irish-Canadian
Tallulah is Deaf.  She has a full-time interpreter, but a lot of the students in class have been with her since kindergarten and know basic signs.  She has some verbal skills, but chooses not to speak.  As this is an aspect of Deaf culture, which Tallulah and her parents (also Deaf) are very involved in.
Rationale: IEP – As Tallulah is Deaf, any auditory lessons must have a written/visual alternative so that she can partake in them.  Tallulah should be given extra time to understand and process instructions, as well as ask questions, as her questions and the teacher’s information has to go through the interpreter.  Lessons, activities, and assignments should be created with both the interpreter and Tallulah’s Deafness in mind
Tallulah loves to read, and writes very creative fictional stories.  She gets along great with her peers
Tallulah often needs extra time to understand math assignments, but will make it known when she doesn’t understand and needs more explanation

Page Richardson
10 years old, identifies as non-binary, Italian
Page began identifying as non-binary last year.  They use they/them pronouns
Page is outgoing and a class clown.  They are friends with everyone, but will distract the class and derail a conversation when given the chance
Paige excels at math, but struggles with paying attention to lessons
 Rationale: Page benefits from sitting at the front of the classroom.  They are less likely to distract their peers in this location and more likely to pay attention to class.  Page also benefits from additional and higher level math work.  On Thursday afternoons, they go to the grade 5 class and participate in math activities there.  They also benefit from direction once finished their work.  If given specific tasks (i.e. helping their peers, making an exemplar for a future lesson, etc.), Page will be less likely to distract those who are still working.

Penny Spark
9 years old, identifies as female, German-Spanish
Penny has a tendency to act out in class when things don’t go her way or when the schedule is changed without enough notice.  Penny and her siblings are in the foster care system.  She has supervised visits with her mother every few weeks, and the rate of her acting out increases in the days after these visits. She will scream and swear at the teacher and her classmates, and throw things around the room.  She has never hurt another student, but her actions will occasionally hurt herself.
Rationale: Penny benefits from structure, especially having the schedule for the day written on the board so she knows what to expect.  If something in the schedule has to change or fire drill that is supposed to be a surprise to students is happening during the day, Penny benefits from being given as much notice as possible.  She has strategies (take a walk, sit in the quiet corner with noise cancelling headphones, breathing exercises) that she can use when she starts feeling herself start to reach her breaking point, and will sometimes use them
 Penny loves doing art and PE, but needs extra encouragement to participate in math class

Mason Garcia
10 years old, identifies as male, Mexican-Canadian
Mason is very knowledgeable in science, and is especially interested in volcanoes and outer space
Mason likes to be “cool”, and will join in on whatever his friends are doing to make himself look cool.  This can work for the benefit of the class (i.e. when his friends are very invested in the lesson) or detrimental (i.e. when other students are being disruptive, he will join in)
Rationale: Mason benefits from being sat with quieter students, since he will take on the traits of the students he sits with.  Mason also benefits from being allowed to use his interests in space and volcanoes in his work, as that will increase his engagement in an assignment even if his peers don’t seem to think the assignment is “cool”

Eloise la Fleur
9 years old, identifies as female, French-Canadian
Eloise has a twin, Elaine, who is in this class as well
Eloise is involved in a number of extra curriculars including gymnastics, figure skating, cello, and others
 Rationale: Eloise’s parents are very involved in her school work and expect her to do well in everything.  Normally, Eloise has no issues with this, as she excels in most subject areas.  However, sometimes her extracurriculars are too much, and she can be exhausted in class.  Eloise benefits from having time to complete work in class, so she won’t have homework piled on top of her already hectic schedule

Maya Hope
10 years old, identifies as female, Swedish
 Maya is very scatterbrained, and is always losing her supplies.  She is also very easily distracted and has trouble paying attention
Maya is a natural peace-maker.  She gets along with all of her classmates and uses her positive attitude and kindness to resolve any conflicts among the class
Rationale: Maya benefits from written instructions for activities and assignments, as she can refer to anything she might have missed in class.  Maya also benefits from having the blinds closed as often as possible during class or to sit with her back to the window.  This gives her less distractions and will help with her ability to focus

Karissa Selwyn 
Identifies as: Female 
10 years old 
Canadian, Swedish 
Strengths: Shy but good sense of humour, enjoys independent tasks 
Weaknesses: Struggles to work cooperatively as a group and gets easily aggravated (needs reminders for self-regulation) 
Rationale/Needs: Karissa benefits from self-regulation techniques taught in class such as belly breathing, butterfly breathing, and bumblebee breathing. Karissa enjoys choosing her own calm-down strategies such as going for a walk, sitting on a yoga ball or drawing in the calm-down corner. 

Max Ricardo
Identifies as: Male 
10 years old
Spanish 
Strengths: Very confident young individual, is a natural leader and often helps direct other students in the classroom 
Weaknesses: Max’s first language is Spanish and often has difficulty with English language conjunctions and grammar. Max is able to speak English; however, he has difficulty reading and writing in English without error. 
Rationale/Needs: Max benefits from reading with a partner in class to help him improve his reading skills. He also gets pulled out for one of one support with the school ELL resource instructor. Max often refers himself to the classroom word wall and enjoys using visuals to support his reading and writing. Max does not appreciate his work being used as an exemplar because he is well aware of weaknesses in terms of his peers’ abilities. 

Emmett Fitzgerald
Identifies as: Male
10 years old 
Canadian, Christian
Strengths: Emmett is an extremely gifted student who is quite intelligent and performs above grade level. His strongest subject is Math. 
Weaknesses: Emmett often gets in arguments with other students about his religious beliefs. Emmett follows the belief system of his parents and does not accept other students views or opinions. Teacher often has to contact parents about Emmett’s actions towards other students and often receives a negative response from the parents. 
Rationale/Needs: Emmett benefits from lots of social emotional learning skills in order to better connect and respect other students. Emmett also sees the school counsellor once every two weeks to discuss his concerns, troubles and opinions on other students’ beliefs that he does not align with. Emmett benefits from writing about his feelings in his journal and reading them to the teacher when he is feeling like he isn’t heard or supported. 

Lyla Alexander 
Identifies as: they/them
10 years old 
American 
Strengths: Lyla is a very energetic and positive student. She cheers up a room when she walks in and always has a positive attitude. Lyla excels in arts and creative writing. They is a very imaginative, happy student. 
Weaknesses: Lyla often second guesses themselves in subject areas like math, science, and social studies. They lacks confidence in subject areas that are not of interest to them. Despite their answers or attempts often being correct, they still require lots of reassurance that they are on the right track. 
Rationale/Needs: Lyla benefits from lots of one-on-one check ins with the teacher and classroom EA for emotional support. Lyla also benefits from simple and direct instructions or jobs. They do not do well with too much detailed instruction and will get overwhelmed. Lyla also benefits from instructions being written down in point form order on the classroom whiteboard to ensure they are on the right track. 

Johnathan Wesley (IEP)
Identifies as: Male 
9 years old 
Canadian, Indigenous 
Strengths: Johnathan is a very friendly and generous young boy. When creating crafts, he likes to share them with other students and staff members in the school. He is always polite and stands up for other students. 
Weaknesses: Johnathan is diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and struggles with articulating his wants and needs. He also has difficulty with attention and memory and requires constant reminders and prompts. 
Rationale/Needs: Johnathan works with a part time EA in the morning until mid-afternoon. The EA helps get him into his daily routine and create his visual/picture/tactile agenda. Johnathan has the hardest time in the morning leaving his dad from drop off and often takes an hour to get settled with the rest of his students. There is a reward system in place for Johnathan. He receives Mario and Pac-Man stickers when he completes a job because those are currently his favourite characters.
I.E.P: Johnathan has an I.E.P because he is a student diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and requires extra support in the classroom. Johnathan was taken away from mom and does not have any contact from her. Johnathan is currently staying with dad who is a recovering addict. Johnathan’s goals are to get through the day without any outbursts, to keep his hands and feet to himself peacefully, and get his jobs done. Johnathan struggles with remembering the alphabet and his speech is often slurred. He does a great deal of visual work with the EA and there are visual labels throughout the classroom to help Johnathan describe his needs. In terms of writing goals, Johnathan is able to copy over outlined letters and often supports his writing with drawings.