As an educator I have been able to raise student achievement by understanding how pupils differ in their approach to learning and the barriers that impede their learning. I have been instrumental in bringing cutting edge initiatives to my school such as Literacy in the Content Area, Content Literacy Continuum and Creating Independence through Student Owned Strategies. As a teacher, understanding and meeting diverse student needs is important and individualizing instruction is essential for increasing achievement. I have been responsible in closing the achievement gap by helping create the Forward Bound program, which is a school within a school for credit deficient students. The academic program was setup to allow for credit deficient students to be reached at an earlier age and follow a flexible schedule to meet their unique needs. Those unique needs include working for credit, teen parenting, taking care of …show more content…
When I started to teach grade nine students, I was amazed at how many students had poor academic skills, infrequent attendance and failed their core classes. I found if students failed one class first semester the scenario always got worse. I decided to create a team of teachers that would go over student profiles and work with students to make positive changes in their lives. For each student we set up a series of interventions specific to their needs and a student profile that followed them throughout their high school days. The most important component for the Student Success Team was to find each student two mentors. One mentor was an adult who built a strong and caring relationship with that student and was their go to person for all struggles. The second was a peer who was a good role model, tutor, and an inspiration. Once students started to see people cared, someone had their back, and we are not going to let them fail, they started to rise to the