Activity Week 1 - Differentiation

Greetings internet friends,

Today I am writing about differentiation. What is differentiation, you ask? According to Carol Ann Tomlinson differentiation is “a sequence of common-sense decisions made by teachers with a student-first orientation”. In the video below she explains that a good teacher will accomplish this by:

1. Creating engaging learning environment

2. High-quality curriculum & clearly defined learning goals

3. Ongoing assessments (pre-assessment, formative assessment)

4. Response to students needs

5. Effective classroom management

Now that we know what differentiation is, how can one apply it in the classroom?

To illustrate this I chose 4 example students from chapter 2 of the textbook “How to Differentiate Instruction in Academically Diverse Classrooms”. For each student I will address their specific needs, how a teacher might address their needs using principles taken from chapter three of the textbook, and some anticipated challenges that may arise during the process.

Student 1 - Santiago

Santiago wants to read aloud, wants to ask for more books about the people in history, wants to add his questions to the ones the other kids ask in discussions. He doesn't, though. His friends are down on school. It's not for kids like us, they say. Where would grades get you? they ask. Maybe they're right. He knows he won't go to college or get a big-deal job … but he secretly thinks about it. And he wants to know things. But it's hard to ask.

1) Specific Student Needs: Santiago needs an advocate. He’s surrounded by people who don’t appreciate his natural inclination to read or his curiosity. He needs someone to cheer on his curiosity and show him the value of good grades, a college education, and how a good job will affect his standard of living. He wants it. He just needs someone to support him and cheer him on for him to pursue it.

2) Application of Principles From Chapter Three: I would “raise the support system to match the ceiling of expectations”. Santiago secretly has a higher expectation of himself, he just doesn’t have the support system necessary for him to act on it. He needs multiple adults reinforcing the importance of good grades and a college career in order to help him achieve them. I would also “teach with a growth mindset”. This would help Santiago assess where he is and how he can get where he wants to be, adding value to the work he puts in academically. Through a growth mindset he will see his own potential and become more excited to work towards it.

3) Anticipated Challenges: I anticipate that it will take Santiago some time to be receptive to me as the teacher raising the support system to match the ceiling of expectations. I’ve worked with students in the past who were in similar situations. They became receptive, but it took a few weeks for them to figure out how to look cool to the people who don’t think they should do well in school while also doing well in school. Patience and the right delivery got them to open up and connect, but it took a few weeks.

Student 2 - Noah

Noah hates reading. He misbehaves sometimes, but it's not that he wants to. He's just tired of seeming stupid in front of everyone. He thinks he sounds like the dumbest kid in the class when he tries to read aloud. The weird thing is that he understands what the pages are about when somebody else reads them. How can you not be able to read something but still understand it? And how can you be a normal 4th grader and not be able to read?

1) Specific Student Needs: Noah needs a reading skills intervention. He also needs to not be expected to read out loud in front of his peers when he doesn’t have the skills to do it yet. He lacks confidence because he isn’t sufficiently skilled to read out loud in class but he is asked to anyways.

2) Application of Principles From Chapter Three: I’d “use many avenues of learning” as the text suggests. “Some students learn best with their ears, some with their eyes, some with touch or movement—many with a combination of inputs.” It sounds like Noah would learn well by listening as others read to help familiarize him with how to understand what he’s reading. I’d want to give him some more tools to help him learn as well, such as using decoding strategies to help him remember the rules of pronunciation.

3) Anticipated Challenges: I think Noah would be slow at first to receive extra help because he feels vulnerable. Starting by just having him read along with someone else reading out loud would be a good place to start, and then work up to incorporating more tools and decoding strategies so that I’m not giving him too much all at once to make him feel even more uncomfortable with his reading skills.

Student 3 - Livvie

Livvie knows she doesn't learn like the other kids do. She knows people think she's "slow." She has a special teacher who comes to class to help her or takes her to a special room to learn things. She likes that teacher. She likes her main teacher, too. But she doesn't like the fact that having two teachers makes her feel different. She doesn't like the way her peers look at her when she leaves to go to the special room with the special teacher. She doesn't like that what she studies there seems so different from what everyone else in her "real" class studies. She doesn't like feeling like she's on the outside so much of the time.

1) Specific Student Needs: Livvie needs to feel comfortable in her learning environment. Currently she feels out of place, that she’s too slow of a learner and that she’s not learning the same things other students learn when she is working with a special education teacher. She also needs to feel that there is a practical application of the special help she receives from her special education teacher.

2) Application of Principles From Chapter Three: I think teaching Livvie about the growth mindset would help a lot.

Currently she feels like people think she’s slow and she doesn’t see value in the extra help she receives. If she changed her mindset from thinking she’s slow and different to everyone is different and that’s OK because we all grow at differently it would take some of the pain out of how she interprets her skills. To implement a growth mindset for students like Livvie the textbook says they “need (1) teachers who believe in them and communicate that belief to them, (2) consistent engagement with interesting work that is just a bit beyond their current levels of competency, and (3) the support necessary to achieve success with that work.” I’d communicate how I believe in her, give her more engaging and interesting work that’s slightly difficult but doable, and work hand in hand with her special education teacher to help he achieve success.

3) Anticipated Challenges: It will take some assessments of her current skill level and personality in order to find more engaging and interesting work for her that’s just a bit beyond her current level of competency. It will also take time for her to make the switch from how she feels now to a growth mindset, so I’ll have to assess her emotions as I try to make this switch with her and act accordingly to bolster her up.

Student 4 - Anna

Anna is curious. She asks a lot of questions at home. There are so many things she wants to learn about. (Who invented trees? Why are the Jedi good and the Sith bad? Why do people from different parts of the world have different-colored skin?) These things almost never come up at school.

1) Specific Student Needs: I suspect that Anna is so curious at home but not at school because at school the course content doesn’t seem practical or connect with her natural interests the way it is presented. She needs analogies, comparisons, practical applications that she finds interesting. I also suspect that she’s a high achiever due to her curiosity, but if I don’t catch her curiosity at school she won’t connect with the course content the same way she connects with the content of the questions she brings up at home.

2) Application of Principles From Chapter Three: The textbook suggests to “be sure to balance rigor and the joy of learning”. I think that could revolutionize Anna’s situation. She finds joy in learning at home but not at school. If I worked in concepts she finds interesting into the course content she could be just as curious and excited to learn at school as she is at home. I can do this by using analogies, comparisons and practical applications she finds interesting, such as the Sith and the Jedi or why different people from different regions have different colored skin. That way she’d be emotionally connected with what she’s learning at school.

3) Anticipated Challenges: It will take some practice to get the right balance of incorporating her interests into the course content. Sometimes it’s really easy because it aligns with the Common Core content I’m supposed to teach. Other times it will take more planning ahead of time to find the right analogy or comparison that she’ll find interesting and that works to better illustrate the course content.

Now that you've read these four examples of students receiving differentiated instruction I hope that you will feel more comfortable putting this best teaching practice into action with our own students.

Until next time,

Mike

References:

Carol Ann Tomlinson. 2016, February. Five Key Aspects of Differentiated Learning [video

file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TRGl3iXoAE&list=PLOXUrDMSVPHnDeKVZTOfi2pjWMegTcRCD

Tomlinson, C. A., & Tomlinson, C. A. (2017). How to differentiate instruction in

academically diverse classrooms.