Part 1- What is Differentiation? (Heacox)
In order to have differentiated instruction in a classroom instruction needs to be rigorous, relevant, flexible and varied, and complex. Rigorous instruction is providing motivating and challenging instruction to students that are ready to go over and above the work that they are doing day by day. It is also providing instruction for students that are at or below grade level. Those students will have instruction based on where they are. All students are given instruction that is challenging based on their current level. The instruction is motivating, yet not over challenging such that the student gets overwhelmed or under challenged. Relevant instruction is providing students with specific instruction that is essential to their learning. During this time they should be provided with individualized activities that are targeted to what their needs are at the time. Flexible and varied instruction allows students to pick what it is they are interested in learning more about. This is a time for the teacher to use different strategies that can be used in group, pair or individual work. Complex instruction is challenging and engaging but not crazy over the top difficult. This type of differentiation is making instruction thought provoking and relevant to the student.
The primary roles of the teacher using differentiation in the classroom is to be both the facilitator and the collaborator. As the facilitator a teacher has three responsibilities; being in charge of determining and providing the differentiated instruction, grouping the students for this work, and using time wisely as to what will help the students the best. As a collaborator, the teacher needs to work in conjunction with other teachers, ideally in your same grade level, to come up with ideas to differentiate the curriculum for your students. When first starting to differentiate in the classroom it can be overwhelming, so it is best to share ideas and divide up the tasks. Working with the specialists in the school is also a great way to add more resources to the activities and instruction.
I discovered several important things about differentiated learning. First, that students are not the same. Everyone learns a different way, each students is on different levels and is interested in different things. It is up to us as teachers to gather this information on students and use the information in a way that helps us assist the students in their learning endeavors. It is also vitally important to offer levels different levels of active engagement and challenging work for all students. Students on all levels need to be strategically challenged in order to keep them engaged in their learning. Students also need to be involved in how and what they are learning.
Differentiated instruction to me means teaching that is strategically geared to the student on their level in a way that they will understand, find relevant, that is challenging, and meaningful. Understanding that students do not all process information the same way, teachers needs to have a variety of teaching methods at their finger tips. By placing students into groups you can teach to their abilities utilizing their strengths and interests.
The main elements of instruction that we can differentiate are the content, process and product. The content or "what" is being taught: methods, topics, concepts, or skills; is what the curriculum is wanting you to teach based on district and state mandated standards. You can differentiate in this area based on what the students know or don't know based on pre assessments of the unit. If you are in a literature unit woking on dramas, let the students pick their own drama to read and write about based on their interests. If students need a push, you can preselect a few dramas and have them select one from the group. When it comes to process of instruction this is also the "how" to teach the students. In this set of instructions, you would assign groups or individuals a specific way of acquiring and working through the knowledge needed for the final assignment. The final product could be creating something, acting something out, or giving a speech. Whatever it is this is the point where they can decide what way, based on your instruction, they will go to find and develop the information. The product is the end result and it could be a letter, play, book report, or picture. This is where all of the work the students have been doing comes together and can be presented in a format so that the teacher and others can look at it and understand what the student (s) have learned about the topic.
There are many different ways that teachers gather information on their students in order to differentiate their classroom instruction. The four main categories that a teacher would want to understand about their students are: academic history, interests the students have, the preferred ways the students want/need to learn, and the current level of knowledge and skill. When looking at a student's academic history, a teacher is looking for things such as strengths and weaknesses, are they over/under achievers (why), or were things too easy/difficult or just right. The next step is to understand the students (and families) by getting to know them. What are they interested in, how do they enjoy learning, or how do they not like learning? When a teacher understands that a students learns much more accurately with hands on activities rather than taking notes; you would not have that student sit all day and listen to lectures and expect them to understand everything that was said. By asking students what they are interested in you can find out a lot about your students: favorite genre to read, do they like art class or gym, do they like to play outside or inside, or what is their favorite sport or board game. When you understand your students you can differentiate lesson specifically to an individual student or group of students. When students feel like they are a part of the educational process they enjoy learning more and their effort level will increase. The last way to gather information about students is to give short pre assessments in a subject area or have students fill out a KWL (what I Know, what I Want to know, what did I Learn) chart. The K section of the chart helps a teacher to understand what a student or students already know about a subject. The W section helps to identify what the student or students want to learn about the subject area. The L section helps to identify what the student or students learned about the subject area. Another way a teacher can understand what their students know or do not know yet is be simply observing them either informally or formally. Once you have all of this information on your students you can then begin to differentiate lessons and activities for each of them. Keeping in mind how they learn the most accurately, what they enjoy, their educational level from past experiences, and the current subject; a teacher can group students in pairs or more and provide work for these students based on their specific level.
When creating unit objectives and lesson plans an instructor must know and understand the academic levels of the students. When an instructor is developing the unit objective(s) they must understand that these questions are the specific skills that the students will learn in relation to the essential question. These unit questions help to answer the Essential question. The instructor can differentiate the unit questions so that the students can understand what the essential question is asking. Then the instructor takes the unit question(s) and forms daily lesson plans based on the unit questions. During the lesson planning the instructor can set exit points for differentiation. There can be times when some of the class works on taking their classifying and turns it into a poster and another group turns their compare/contrast into a chart or diagram. The instructor can base this on a group's differentiation level. The entire class will benefit from seeing everyone's finished project and explanation but some will be able to go over and above the work that others could not and some students could do the basic work better than others. The great thing about differentiation is everyone works on their level to their ability and comfort level.
If my principal asked me why I invested time in creating guided questions when creating lesson plans I would tell her that they help me decide what will be learned and how it will be learned on any given day, they keep my lessons organized and in a specific order, and I can understand what the students will be learning through their eyes and not mine. When I am planning my lessons I start with the guided question and base my lesson around the question. I know I need to present material to all of the students that will answer the question, therefore my lessons stay on track and in an order that I feel will make the most sense to the students. When I follow the guided questions that I have made and the lesson plans that I have created I can identify activities that will allow the students to learn the information and retain the information. This is the point that I can add differentiation for the students so that they are all learning how they need to and that they understand the information.
Of the many elements of creating guided questions, the four elements that I find the most important are placing proper emphasis on the most important content, supporting differentiated learning, improving teaching through preparation, and putting learning ahead of activities. I feel that when instruction is guided by an outcome, the heart of the lesson is geared toward answering that specific question and not going off on other topics because they could fit in this section. The students will be able to answer the question at the end of the lesson and that is the goal. Also by having instruction prepared in a lesson plan the teacher knows exactly when and where to differentiate for students. Sometimes this will be giving students notes that they need to fill in, other times it could be coming to a table to do small group work, some pairs of students will create a poster and others will create a presentation. But at the end all of the students will have seen and understand the same information and be able to answer the guided question.
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