Explicitly teaching students how to be mindful and pay attention to their breathing, thoughts, and feelings is a powerful tool. "Mindfulness activities can help teachers and students reflect on their assumptions and behaviors in ways that can help identify and reduce bias" (CDC, 2023). Tying mindfulness to equity further cements a student's feeling of safety in the classroom.

Personalized learning is not meant to have each student working independently on digital tools at their own pace. It is essential that "personalization can and should take place within whole-group instruction, which involves cultivating a collective consciousness" (France, 2021). Personalized learning looks like whole group instruction, small group work in homogenous AND heterogenous groups, and individual time to reflect and set goals.

Current grading practices in many schools "inadvertently perpetuate achievement and opportunity gaps, rewarding our most privileged students and punishing those who are not" (Feldman, 2019). Standards based grading is a way for educators to examine the equity of the grading practices in their own classroom. Standards based grading removes any behaviors from impacting grades and focuses on the learning achieved at the end of a unit rather than all of the formative work along the way. This promotes equity for all students by removing barriers to success such as implicit bias, lack of space or support to successfully complete work at home, and testing anxiety.

While differentiation is a broad topic focusing on a unit's content, product, and process, special attention can be given to incorporating student interests into content to promote engagement and equity amongst students. "Designing tasks with open-ended elements for students to fill in the blank with interest/experience-based content" (Hockett, 2018) allows students to engage with content in a way that is interesting and applicable to their individual lives.

An important part of learning is knowing how to work through problems, which can be done more successfully by understanding one's own thinking and neurology. Metacognition allows for "kids to self-regulate when faced with challenges, especially unexpected ones" (Jacobson, 2024). Students who have experienced trauma can use metacognition to build resilience.

Students need to be able to get themselves unstuck in situations rather than succumbing to frustration or helplessness. Problem-based learning "helps tie struggles to strategies so that the students will not only see value in working harder but in working smarter by trying new and different strategies and revising their process" (Mills & Kim, 2017). The classroom provides a safe opportunity to practice getting stuck and frustrated; they have a community of learners available to help them work through getting unstuck.

Project-based learning is not the same as just doing a project at the end of a unit. "The project work creates a genuine need for students to learn grade-level content and skills, while working collaboratively, thinking critically and engaging in reflection and revision" (PBL Works, n.d.). Projects also help students see their impact on their community as the project is shared or implemented outside of their classroom walls.

In competency-based learning, “empowering all students to master relevant skills that help them develop ownership over their learning is the most important work a school can do to prepare students for the world beyond it" (Hudson, 2022). While competency-based learning goes well with standards-based grading or project-based learning, it is a fundamental shift in school rather than just the teaching method. Competency-based learning focuses on student agency, equity, and transfer.

Unfortunately, many times differentiation in a classroom means that “learners who struggle with a subject area are denied rich experiences that could help them see authentic uses of skills in the world outside of school” (McCarthy, 2023). This causes students to become disengaged as they are tasked with memorization and content review. To ensure that all students are receiving the same opportunities for success, ALL students must receive "equitable critical thinking challenges" (McCarthy, 2023).

Utilizing the various strategies and skills identified in this presentation allows teachers to create a successful and inclusive classroom environment. An inclusive classroom environment that is built with a focus on collaboration, safety, equity, and achievement will reduce "academic anxieties and build [students'] confidence as they receive positive recognition for what they bring to the community of learners" (Willis, 2007). Achieving this for all students should be an important measure of a successful classroom.

France, P. E. (2021, June 1). 3 dimensions of personalized learning. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/3-dimensions-personalized-learning

Hockett, J. A. (2018, June). Differentiation strategies and examples. Tennessee Department of Education. https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/education/training/access_differentiation_handbook_6-12.pdf

Hudson, E. (2022, January 11). An introduction to competency-based learning: What, why, how. Global Online Academy. https://globalonlineacademy.org/insights/articles/an-introduction-to-competency-based-learning-what-why-how

Jacobson, R. (2024, February 5). Metacognition: How thinking about thinking can help kids. Child Mind Institute. https://childmind.org/article/how-metacognition-can-help-kids/

McCarthy, J. (2023, April 20). Using differentiation to challenge all students. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/differentiation-challenge-all-students/

Mills, K. and Kim, H. (2017, October 31). Teaching problem solving: Let students get "stuck" and "unstuck". Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/teaching-problem-solving-let-students-get-stuck-and-unstuck/

PBL Works. (n.d.). "Doing a Project" vs. Project Based Learning. Buck Institute for Education. https://www.pblworks.org/doing-project-vs-project-based-learning

Willis, J. (2007). Brain-friendly strategies for the inclusion classroom. Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/cusp-ebooks/reader.action?docID=306610

1. Compare and contrast personalized learning with differentiation. How are each seen in your classroom or professional setting?

2. Discuss the interconnections between problem-based learning, metacognition, and growth mindset. How might explicitly teaching these skills together benefit students?

3. How can project-based learning be used in classrooms to differentiate for all students and include students who have been impacted by trauma?

4. Can competency-based instruction be easily linked with standards-based grading? How might the linking of these two concepts promote inclusion in a school?

Every one of the ideas addressed in this gallery is an effective tool to help educators build a better, safer, higher achieving classroom environment. These tools are tailored to meet the needs not just of students that historically do well in school, but also those with marginalized identities. The ideas highlighted here are perfect to ensure that all students, especially those who have experienced trauma, are valued and able to achieve to the highest of their ability.

Department of Graduate Education,

Concordia University, St. Paul

Master of Arts in Trauma and Resilience

CI 525: Innovation in Learning and Teaching, Cohort # 409

Professor Britt Gulstrand

June 9, 2024