InTASC and Licensure/Content Standard Artifact with Implications for Future Teaching

Artifact: Study abroad ELISA program

InTASC Standard #2: Learning Differences; the teacher uses understanding of individual
differences and diverse cultures and communities to ensure inclusive learning environments that
enable each learner to meet high standards.
Licensure/Content Standard(s):
Exceptional Children #2: Characteristics of Learners
Exceptional Children #5: Learning Environments
Early Childhood: #1c: Learning Environments
Early Childhood: 6a: Immersion in Field
Description of Evidence and How it Demonstrates the Standard(s): The ELISA program is
an international student teaching partnership through Franciscan University. Through the
program pre-service teachers get a chance to work in a foreign classroom with diverse learners.
Implications for Future Teaching: The ELISA program is a wonderful partnership between the
Austrian school system and Franciscan University allowing pre-service teachers the opportunity
to experience diverse learning environments. The program is two-fold with classroom and
tutoring aspects. The pre-service teacher works weekly as an aide in an English classroom at an
Austrian school. The pre-service teacher also tutors a few Eastern European students studying in
Gaming, Austria alongside the Franciscan University students. Stepping into an Austrian middle
school was most certainly a novel experience for me. I welcomed the opportunity to experience
first-hand what education looks like in a foreign country. The demographics of the American
people are quickly changing. America is becoming more and more diverse and American
classrooms look much different than they did 30 years ago. Between the rise in immigration and
refugees entering the country, todays teachers have to learn to manage diverse learning
environments. Many students now have English as a second language and come from very
different cultures. I believe that a teacher should be able to understand where her students are
coming from and a bit about their cultures to ensure that they feel welcomed and supported in
her classroom. Through the ELISA program, I was able to experience being the foreigner in the
classroom. Though I was in an advanced English classroom, the students primary language was
still German, which I did not know, and put me at a disadvantage outside of my comfort zone. I
was able to approach learning from a different perspective and step into my future students
shoes and experience diverse learning environments first-hand. Through this experience, I now
feel more prepared to meet the challenges of the diverse learner in my classroom.