Week 2 - Welcome to my Differentiated Classroom
Greetings parents,
My main goal with this post is for you to understand is what your students will experience in my government class. The main thing that might be different from my class and the government class you took in high school is I use a teaching technique called differentiation. I know, differentiation is a jargony term. Carol Tomlinson, a pro in the field, describes differentiation like this:
“At its most basic level, differentiating instruction means "shaking up" what goes on in the classroom so that students have multiple options for taking in information, making sense of ideas, and expressing what they learn. In other words, a differentiated classroom provides different avenues to acquiring content, to processing or making sense of ideas, and to developing products so that each student can learn effectively” (Tomlinson, 2017).
The goal of my differentiated classroom is to provide several different ways every student can learn the same material. We aren’t one size fits all. Every student enters my class with different past experiences, personalities, levels of prior knowledge of the topics and levels of skills. Because of this, I adapt classroom activities to help each student learn the way that comes naturally to them.
Now you may be wondering, how might the tone of my classroom be different than a more traditional classroom? Let me tell you. There are 5 characteristics I strive to create in each one of my classes, which I again borrow from Carol Tomlinson (Tomlinson, 2017).
Everyone feels welcome and contributes to everyone else feeling welcome.
I want all my students to feel that they belong, and that their fellow students belong, too. I post projects they’ve completed on the wall. We have class discussions sharing what we have in common and what is different.
Mutual respect is a non-negotiable.
I teach government. Many people have lost the ability to listen to someone they disagree with in a respectful way when it comes to politics. In my class we listen with respect. We disagree with respect. We don’t take it personally. We recognize that we don’t disagree with the person, we disagree with the person’s take on a given topic. I also stress that often, our political opinions are based off our previous experiences, so if someone disagrees with us we should welcome the explanation of why they disagree and assess the information they present because they've probably had different experiences than us. Even if we still disagree it's a great learning experience as to why we disagree.
Students feel safe in the classroom.
Characteristics 1 and 2 can only happen if everyone feels safe. Class debates only work when everyone feels safe and respected. Through mutual respect we prevent not only physical danger but emotional danger as well. We trust each other to respect what we share in class, and to keep that trust and respect when we disagree because through the conversation we understand where each other are coming from. This respect is cultivated and comes with daily practice.
There is a pervasive expectation of growth.
My goal is to help every student achieve their fullest potential when it comes to learning, not just the course content, but the skills which will enable them to fact check, navigate our democratic system, communicate efficiently and validate their opinion long after they complete my class.
I teach for success
I try to make things as clear, concise and articulate as possible. My goal is for students to learn the course content and increase their academic skills.
Now that I’ve explained what I will do in class, I want to explain how I will do it. There are various instructional arrangements and strategies I will use. Each class I start with a whole class activity to assess my students prior knowledge. I then go into a short lecture to present new information. Next students perform personalized activities to review and teach the information back, either as individual work or small group work. We do another full class discussion. I then repeat sharing new information and either individual work or small group activities. Often, with the activities, I don’t care how my students present the information, I just care that the information is accurate and fully answers the prompts that I give them to ensure that they fully understand the material.
To kick start the 5 characteristics I strive to create in each of my classes I get to know my students. The first day of class my students will complete a questionnaire about themselves. That will give me a little background about what will come easy and what may be a challenge, as well as the unique mix of nature and nurture that makes them who they are. I love learning about the cultures, languages, backgrounds, and interests each student brings into the class. On the first day, my students will play a few getting to know you activities including a bingo game, interviewing someone they don’t know, and a full class discussion regarding what they remember from world history, US history, and their middle school government studies. This will help them know each other as well as let me know them better. The better we all know each other, the easier it will be to achieve the 5 characteristics I strive to achieve in each class.
A note to the parents of advanced learners. I want to push each and every student to continue to grow, learn, become better at fact checking, navigating our democratic system, communicating efficiently and validating opinions. Wherever their skills are now they can still grow and improve. I want the work to be slightly difficult but doable to help them grow. For each student some things come easier and some things are a bit more difficult. When we do activities that are a bit more difficult I will ensure that they have a support system (Tomlinson, 2017).
If you have any suggestions for me to help your child succeed please let me know. I want to listen to you. I also want you to know that this school is a good fit for your child. When I push your child to help them grow I will also give them the proper support. We will do group work where students can work together and share their skills with one another. If the situation calls for it I will make accommodations. My main goal isn’t to make learning difficult, it’s to lead my students to learn. That means when it does get difficult I will give them the tools to succeed.
Before you go I want you to know what homework and grading will be like in my class. My goal is to have little homework. I don’t want them to have extra work on top of what we do in class every day. That being said, we do essays and class presentations every other week in class. If they don’t complete the essay or the preparation for the class presentation during the time allotted in class they will need to complete it as homework. Also, I will suggest making flash cards for review of course content at home when it will help your student commit the content to memory. Sometimes good old fashioned review is the first step to understanding what something is before it can be practically applied.
When I grade in class I use grading rubrics. I first tell my students exactly what I want them to do with step by step directions. I then show them how they will be graded by reviewing the grading rubric. Here are two examples of rubrics your students will see in my class:
I hope you now know what your students will expect in my differentiated classroom. If you have any questions or information you want to share with me, feel free to email me, call me, or speak with me at our open house next week.
Warm regards,
Mike
References:
Tomlinson, C. A., & Tomlinson, C. A. (2017). How to differentiate instruction in academically diverse
classrooms. Moorabbin, Victoria: Hawker Brownlow Education.
