This document provides information about Jill Cameron's philosophy and approach to promoting equity in her teaching. It includes a statement of her philosophy on equity, an example lesson plan demonstrating differentiated instruction, and a reflective essay further explaining her views. Her philosophy focuses on understanding each student's individual needs and celebrating diversity. The lesson plan shows how she modified a math game to allow students working at different levels to participate meaningfully. The reflective essay discusses how she came to recognize the diverse needs and backgrounds of her students beyond superficial characteristics.

1. Standard D:
Promotes Equity
Teacher Candidate: Jill Cameron
Statement of Philosophy on Equity
Lesson showing Differentiated Learning
Sample of Assignments which Highlight Modifications
Reflective Essay No. 4
“Equity does not mean everyone gets the same. Equity means everyone gets what they need.”
(Quote is paraphrased from a statement made by Rick Riordan, children’s author.)

2. Statement of Philosophy on Equity
It is my belief that what is equitable is not always fair and what is fair is not always equitable. This idea drives
my personal approach to equity in education. As a part of my practice, I strive to know my students and more specifically
what they need to be successful lifelong learners. In order to meet student needs, I employ not only research based
pedagogical practices, but personal strategies developed through careful study and interaction with my students, their
families, and the greater community. It is only by knowing where they come from and what they bring to the classroom
that I will be able to reach them.
To this end, I believe it’s important to note the role of diversity in the classroom. Diversity is one of our greatest
strengths. Yet like the definitions implied by the word itself, diversity is an ever moving target. It may manifest along
academic, gender, creed, ethnic or socio-economic lines, but all students have something unique to offer that enriches
the classroom experience by challenging misconceptions, promoting personal growth and a healthy community, and
encouraging thoughtful dialogue and critical thinking skills. I endeavor to develop an equitable teaching practice by
celebrating and supporting these differences in the classroom through relevant instruction and personal reflection.
The heart of my philosophy is this: teachers are a student advocates. They build their students up by helping
them to develop the tools they need tobe successful; a word which has a different definition for all who seek it. To
update a statement made by Rick Riordan, I would like to say that my philosophy can be simply explained as such;
“Equity does not mean everyone gets the same. Equity means everyone gets what they need.”

3. Lesson showing Differentiated Learning
Date: 2/27/13
School: The Peirce School, Arlington MA Grade: 1
Class: Math
Topic: Twos, Fives and Tens
Class Composition: The class is made up of students, between the ages of 6 and 7 who come from the surrounding
neighborhood. There is limited racial diversity and some ethnic/theist diversity with no language barriers. The socio-
economic profile is roughly flat and there are varying degrees of academic readiness. In math, students display a
particularly wide range of ability, though this can be addressed with simple support in most cases.
STANDARDS:
Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks Operations and Algebraic Thinking, grade 1. P.38
o Add and subtract within 20.
 Relate counting to addition and subtraction (e.g., by counting on 2 to add 2).
 Add and subtract within 20, demonstrating fluency for addition and subtraction within 10. Use
mental strategies such as counting on; making ten (e.g., 8 + 6 = 8 + 2 + 4 = 10 + 4 = 14);
decomposing a number leading to a ten (e.g., 13 – 4 = 13 – 3 – 1 = 10 – 1 = 9); using the
relationship between addition and subtraction (e.g., knowing that 8 + 4 = 12, one knows
12 – 8 = 4); and creating equivalent but easier or known sums (e.g., adding 6 + 7 by creating the
known equivalent 6 + 6 + 1 = 12 + 1 = 13).
Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks Number and Operations in Base 10, grade 1. P.38-39
o Use place value understanding and properties of operations to add and subtract.
 Add within 100, including adding a two-digit number and a one-digit number, and adding a two-
digit number and a multiple of 10, using concrete models or drawings and strategies based on
place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction;
relate the strategy to a written method and explain the reasoning used. Understand that in adding
two-digit numbers, one adds tens and tens, ones and ones; and sometimes it is necessary to
compose a ten.
 Given a two-digit number, mentally find 10 more or 10 less than the number, without having to
count; explain the reasoning used.
Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks Speaking and Listening, grades PreK – 2. p.37. #1-3:
o Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 1 topics and texts with peers
and adults in small and larger groups.
 Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., listening to others with care, speaking one at a
time about the topics and texts under discussion).
 Build on others’ talk in conversations by responding to the comments of others through multiple
exchanges.
 Ask questions to clear up any confusion about the topics and texts under discussion.
o Ask and answer questions about what a speaker says in order to gather additional information or clarify
something that is not understood.

4. Understanding Learning Goals/Instructional Objective:
Essential Questions:
Learning Goals: (p. 88 of Number Games and Story Problems. TERC)
Students will develop strategies for organizing sets of objects so that they are easy to count and combine
Students will develop a sense of the size of the numbers up to 100
Essential Questions:
What are some strategies for organizing sets of objects so that they are easy to count and combine?
How does the size of a group of 10 compare to the size of smaller groups (like twos and fives)?
The Learning Experience/Task/Challenge:
lesson overview and task description:.
Upon returning from library, students will be instructed to sit around the edges of the morning meeting rug to begin their
50 minute math block. Over the last few months, the first grade has collectively focused on the idea of “base 10” and is at
point at which the teachers would like to build on the concept. To this end, the lesson will start with an informal
assessment to be treated as a test by the students. I will introduce the assessment on the rug. To begin, I’ll place a large
hundreds chart on the rug and take out a few opaque geometric blocks, and then I will lead the students through a short
mental warm up. I’ll start by giving the students a number and asking the group to mentally calculate what “10 more” than
the number given would be. Volunteers will take the geometric blocks and place them over the answer on the hundreds
chart. We will discuss the answers and look for patterns. The purpose of this warm up is not just to introduce the concept
but to inform me of where the students are and who needs what type of support in order to complete the assessment. Once
I’m satisfied that the students are thinking in the right vein and ready to engage, I will introduce the worksheet. We’ll
review the instructions as a group, run through an example or two and then I’ll allow time for questions. Once the
directions are understood, the students will go back to their seats and complete the worksheet silently (as if it were a
formal test). They will have roughly 15 minutes to complete the worksheet and I will provide verbal and nonverbal cues to
help keep them on task during those 15 minutes.
If students finish early, they’ll be allowed to read or explore the hundreds chart silently. Once the majority of the class has
completed the worksheet, I’ll call everyone over to the rug to begin the second portion of the lesson. If some students are
still working on the assessment, they’ll be required to complete it before joining the rest of the class on the rug. Once
we’re settled I’ll introduce the class to a “game”. The game is really just an exercise that employs dice, counting cubes
and game mats designed to hold 30, 50 r 100 cubes. The idea is that the students will, with a partner, roll two dice, add the
dots on the top of the dice together and then add the same number of cubes to their game mat. To introduce this idea, I had
a volunteer “play” the game with me while other students offered strategies and advice on what moves to make once the
dice were down. I gave the students about 15 minutes to play as many rounds of the game as they could and then we
reconvened on the rug to discuss what we learned.
Work products generated:
Students will hand in an assessment to be graded. (I’ll provide a copy of the assessment on Wednesday)
attached any worksheets:
See above

5. Materials and Technology to Support Teaching & Learning
Materials and quantities:
22 assessments, 22 pencils, 22 erasers, 22 dice, 11 game mats, counting cubes
Technology- ID if and how technology will be used to support learning: N/A
Physical Space- describe arrangement of physical space:
Students will begin on morning meeting rug and move throughout the classroom to and from their clustered desks during
the duration of the lesson.
Instructional Procedure
Identification and/or Time Teacher Role/Key Things to Student Role/Response Anticipate
Purpose of Allotme Remember/Prompts, Questions & the full range of student thinking
Teaching/Learning nt Probes and responses
Phase
Review 2-3 I will gather the students on the Students will sit around the
minutes morning meeting rug and lead a brief morning meeting rug and
review of our last math lesson. participate in a class discussion
reviewing Monday’s lesson
(patterns)
Introduce today’s topic 5-10 Before introducing the assessment, I will Students will be seated around the
minutes warm the students up with a few edge of the rug, displaying good
exercises uses a 100s board. Then I will listening skills. They will be
introduce the assessment/worksheet, required to participate in the 100s
review the instructions, go through an board activity and ask questions
example and provide time for questions about the assessment
Practice 15-20 I will dismiss the students back to their Students will work silently at their
minutes seats and monitor them for seats and are allowed to ask
understanding while they complete the questions as needed. They will
assessment. About 15 minutes in, I will need to put their names on their
start giving verbal and nonverbal cues to papers and pass them in to the
indicate that they should complete the ‘”finished bin” when complete.
worksheet and start transitioning to the Once done students will have the
next part of the lesson on the morning option of reading or exploring the
meeting rug hundreds chart, silently, while they
wait for the next direction.
Introducing the game 2-5 I will introduce the game by showing the Students will listen and ask
minutes students the playing pieces and giving a questions when appropriate. One
brief overview. More importantly, I will student will act as a model and
use a student volunteer to help me play “play” the game with me to help
a round so that the students can see teach his or her classmates the
how the game is to be played. I will ask rules.
for student input after each roll to
ensure that those not “playing” are
actively engaged. There will be time for
questions

6. Practice/gameplay 10-15 I will assign students partners and then Students will cooperate with their
minutes actively monitor the classroom, partner to play the game. They will
providing support and redirection be expected to stay on task, share,
where/if needed and keep their voices at a
respectable volume. They will also
be asked to help clean the
classroom after gameplay is over.
Review/assessment 3-5 10-15 minutes before the end of the Students will clean up their
minutes period, I will have the students clean up workspace and return to the rug.
their workspace and return to the rug They will participate in a discussion
where we will review the lesson of the lesson and provide examples
together of what stumped them and
strategies they used to when they
were stuck/or when they
succeeded.
Equity, Diverse Learners & Culturally Relevant Instruction:
Instruction will include many opportunities for movement and collaborative work. The goal of this is to help support those
children who learn through discussion or are kinesthetically inclined. The game also provides visual, spatial and tactile
support to those who need it.
Differentiation: students will work at varying paces on this project. There will be extra work provided for the students
who work at a faster pace and I will be able to assess those that go at a slower pace during the initial activity. Students
will also be supported by being able to counting blocks and dice during the game. Some students may be permitted to use
hundreds boards if they are really struggling with the assessment. Our IEP student will not be in the room for this lesson.
Literacy and Communication:
The roll 10 game will provide lots of opportunity for verbal communication and problem solving.

7. Sample of Assignments which Highlight Modifications
This lesson, a part of the TERC program, naturally lent itself to differentiation. The last portion, the “game”, included 3
sets of game boards or mats; one with 30 squares, one with 50 squares and one with 100 squares. For example:
30 Board: 50 Board
100 Board

8. All of the students were familiar with hundreds boards, however, they weren’t all familiar with the spatial concept of
100. Students at the lower level could use the 30 board and move up as they felt more comfortable. Conversely, those
at grade level could start with the 50 board and those above the level could start with the 100 board. If these options
were too easy, the teacher can increase the degree of difficulty by only allowing students to complete a row when their
dice roll gave them a number that would fill the exact number of remaining spaces.

9. Reflective Essay No. 4
On the surface, the first grade classroom that I taught in appeared to have little diversity. However, on after a
week of observation and discussion, with both my supervising practitioner and the children, I realized that my first
impression was grossly inaccurate. The class offered a wealth of diversity, and challenged my initial understanding of the
word. I now know that I brought bias to the room; I viewed diversity through the lens of my personal experience in a
racially diverse urban school and used that experience to make a judgment on the makeup of the student body. I
learned to leave my preconceptions at the proverbial door; entertaining them did not serve my desire to deepen my
practice, nor did it serve the student’s right to a quality and challenging education during my student teaching tenure.
Understanding this from the start helped me better meet the needs of my students through proactive and responsive
differentiation of instruction.
This is the diversity to which I referred: there were 23 students in the class and there were more boys than girls.
Most students came from upper socioeconomic backgrounds, more than a few were bilingual, first generation
Americans, others were performing above grade level, some were repeat students still struggling below grade level, one
had an IEP, but most students were at level. These are all shallow scenarios that I was prepared for, what I wasn’t
prepared for was the hidden diversity: or the impact that the children’s’ home lives would have on their needs in the
classroom, and how I would need to modify my interactions with them to make the lessons meaningful. It is because of
this that I don’t believe that my most important interaction and efforts at differentiation can be shown on a lesson plan.
Before I became fully immersed in learning who my students were, I learned who needed extra support and who
needed to be challenged. These two things are ultimately the same; they can be easily identified through surface level
interactions. The degree to which the student must be supported does require more in depth observation,
documentation and discourse, which fortunately for me was initiated by my supervising practitioner and had been
ongoing since the start of the school year. To help these two types of students succeed I did a number of things; for the
upper level children I provided alternative worksheets, or often, a challenge at the end of a lesson, given to all students,
which would provide them with the opportunity to apply and extend the knowledge they gained during the lesson. I
made certain that the challenges were optional so as not to single anyone out in an obvious way. For the below level
students, I attempted to provide the same discretion because I believe it is important to their success and continued

10. interest in learning that they not feel “less than” their peers. For these students I also provided alternative worksheets, I
scaffolded lessons to ensure that they would have tools and anchor charts available in obvious places to support their
needs, I encouraged their involvement as student volunteers during modeled instruction, often worked with them one
on one, and I made sure that they felt that their opinions were heard and valued. In fact, I encouraged all students to
participate in class discussion and worked to create an environment in which students learned how to communicate
with one another respectfully and openly.
Communication is an extremely important skill to develop at any level, but especially in the first grade. It’s
essential for children who are at the cusp of the concrete operational level of development, but still in the
preoperational level to learn to communicate as they start to develop logical thinking and a sense of abstract thought.
It’s also important that they use these skills to foster a sense of shared experience. A few of my students spoke different
languages at home. Fortunately for them, that is something with which my supervising practitioner and I can identify
with at varying levels. I tried to make sure they felt proud of their heritage by establishing a common ground. There
were always culturally relevant books available in the classroom, and each day before we all said goodbye, I offered a
new way to say it, whether it was in French, Spanish, polish, or Czech. The students loved this and actively sought to use
these new words, or provide their own. Most importantly, it fostered an inclusive environment.
While on the topic of communication, I would like to touch on the thing that I found most challenging about
being in a heterogeneously grouped classroom, and it had nothing to do with the gender breakdown of the students. I
found that helping students to succeed, despite the challenges they faced at home, to be the largest challenge I faced.
Communication amongst other teachers, the administration, the onsite social worker, the afterschool care provider and
the child’s parents was essential to supporting the child’s basic needs in the classroom. One example was particularly
heartbreaking; he had no home support. He badly wanted to succeed and please people, but didn’t have the tools to
make it happen. The child was so starved for attention that he was unable to differentiate between positive and
negative attention. Incidentally, he was also one of the lower level repeats, which likely occurred largely in part due to
his home life. This means that he was a beneficiary of differentiated instruction; however, he was also benefited by
having a teacher who thoroughly believed in classroom equity. For example, given that many of his peers came from
middle to upper socio-economic homes, they often had elaborate, organic, and highly nutritious snacks. This child had a

11. casein, or milk protein allergy, that manifested in a raw looking rash which was evident all over his (usually) exposed
arms. On more than one occasion, he came to school with string cheese, a yogurt and no lunch money. As a result, both
his teacher and I notified the office and school nurse and made sure that we had alternatives available should he need
them, and he often did. This may not be differentiation in the traditional sense, but I believe it should still be considered.
A child spends most of their waking hours in the classroom and everything that happens in the school is an essential part
of their education. Equitable teaching goes far beyond instruction. It is exemplified by making sure every student has the
tools that he or she needs to succeed, be it a different set of math problems, an extra challenge, or something as simple
as an edible snack.