Mod 20 Discussion: Goals for This Course Revisited

At the start of this course, I set several goals for myself: to deepen my understanding of culturally responsive practices, to learn strategies for identifying and reducing bias in instruction and assessment, to strengthen my lesson planning for diverse learners, and to improve classroom management in culturally diverse settings. I also wanted to grow in my own cultural competence as an educator.

Some of these goals I had already begun working toward before this course. Being part of a dual language department, I had prior training and real-life experience with ESOL strategies such as scaffolding, peer grouping, and the importance of building background knowledge. For that reason, certain modules felt familiar to me, especially those on classroom routines, scaffolding for ELLs, and behavior management in diverse classrooms. While I already had a foundation in these areas, the course helped me put language to practices I was already using and gave me more structured frameworks to rely on.

One goal that was definitely strengthened was identifying and addressing cultural bias. I found the readings and checklists on anti-bias curriculum especially helpful. They gave me a clearer process for evaluating texts and assessments, something I had not been as intentional about before. I feel more confident now in noticing subtle ways bias can affect my students and making appropriate modifications.

Another area of growth was in lesson design and differentiation. Although I had been modifying lessons for ELLs based on language proficiency, the assignments in this course pushed me to be more deliberate in scaffolding and to think beyond language into cultural context. The practice of designing lessons with embedded supports and connecting them back to research-based best practices met my original goal of becoming stronger in planning.

Overall, my goals were met, though some were more about refining what I already knew while others pushed me into new areas of growth.