Louie Vargas

Professor Suk
Education Field Experience EDUC 230-01
Spring 2016
Rationale Statement
Statement of Standard Two- 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 (NJPTSB, 2014, pg 2).
Name of Artifact: Ice Breaker
Date of Artifact: February 11, 2016
Course: Education Field Experience EDUC 230-01
Rationale Statement:
This artifact is the Ice Breaker activity. The purpose of the Ice Breaker activity is
to introduce myself and learn about my future students. This is an important activity to
conduct at the beginning of the school year because it will ease anxiety among students
and make the classroom a much more comfortable environment. The Ice Breaker my
future students and I will conduct in my class will be a snowball fight. The directions for
the snowball fight are simple. Everyone in my class will take a sheet of paper, and write
facts about themselves on each sheet. They can write as many facts as they like on
each sheet, but they must include their learning styles, ethnicities, personal beliefs,
strengths, and weaknesses. Next, everyone in the class will wad up their paper into balls
and have a snowball fight. At the end of the snowball fight each student will pick up a
paper wad and read the facts on the paper. After the student reads the facts, he or she
will try to guess which student threw the paper wad based on the facts. This activity
directly relates to Standard Two of the Professional Standards for Teachers in many
ways. One of those ways is via Performances Standard 2.1 which states, The teacher
designs, adapts, and delivers instruction to address each students diverse learning
strengths and needs and creates opportunities for students to demonstrate their learning
in different ways. I believe my Ice Breaker meets this criteria as it is fun and unique way
for me to learn many things about my students, including the diversity of the classroom
and individual learning styles. I can utilize the information received from my students to

accommodate their educational needs to the best of my ability.

When I originally wrote up the instructions to my Ice Breaker I planned to have
the students only write interesting facts about themselves. As I continued to read
Standard Two I realized I had to include learning styles, ethnicities, personal beliefs,
strengths, and weaknesses, and did so. This made me think back to all the ice breakers
I have been a part of in school, and how those ice breakers asked for more than just
facts about myself. My previous teachers also wanted to know my learning style,
ethnicity, personal beliefs, strengths, weaknesses. This made me realize that my initial
belief about ice breakers were all wrong. Teachers do not conduct ice breakers just so
they can learn what my favorite TV shows are, but so they could learn how they could
better serve me as educators and learn my educational needs. Not only did this make
me learn how effective ice breakers are as a tool, but it gave me a newfound respect for
all the teachers I have had in the past, as they do try their best to accommodate their
students learning differences from day one.
This Ice Breaker activity will be used in my future classrooms with ease. I would
like to spend the entire first or second day of class conducting my ice breaker in all my
classes. The only thing needed to complete this activity is paper, pencils, and students
eager to share themselves with myself and their peers. I believe my future students will
have a fun time with this activity and not only will I learn about my students, but hopefully
it will also bring them a little closer together.
References

Board, New Jersey Professional Teaching Standards. (August 2014) New

Jersey Professional Standards for Teachers and School Leaders. Retrieved from
http://www.state.nj.us/education/profdev/profstand/teacherstandardsoverview.pdf

http://www.hopkins.k12.ky.us/MadisonvilleNorth.cfm?subpage=1330777