REACHING ALL CHILDREN IN THE CLASSROOM: AN OVERVIEW OF
DIFFERENTIATION STRATEGIES
Aubakirova Zh.M., Belyavskaya L.I.
Nazarbayev Intellectual School, Kokshetau aubakir.zhan@mail.ru
“You’ve been doing a lot of these things intuitively.
Now, do it intentionally.”
Sharon Schultz,
NEA IDEA Cadre (IN)
Differentiation is a process that enhances student learning by matching students’ characteristics and differences with changes of various instructional components such as: learning objectives, grouping practices, teaching methods, assignments and resources and materials. Differentiation recognizes that every student is unique. It also acknowledges that special learning experiences to nurture high potential must extend beyond the classroom into the home and community. As such, teachers, students, and parents are partners in a total talent development program.
Teachers are the key players in providing challenging and interesting differentiated learning opportunities for their advanced/low in advance learners. As a part of lesson planning for effective differentiation, they should consider in particular the following items for a lesson plan:
• assessment of student needs
• student grouping
• availability of suitable materials
• effective instructional models
• effective instructional strategies
• effective questioning techniques
What about students? Students, too, are partners in shaping all parts of their classroom experience. This can be achieved by:
• developing awareness of their strengths, interests, and learning styles
• setting high standards for themselves and others
• making choices that enhance their learning and promote growth
• working together with teachers and other students in setting goals, monitoring progress, and analyzing successes and setbacks
To differentiate means to recognize students varying background knowledge, readiness, language, preferences in learning, interests, and to react responsively. Differentiation is a process to approach teaching and learning for students of differing abilities in the same class. The intent of differentiating instruction is to maximize each student’s growth and individual success by meeting each student where he or she is, and assisting in the learning process.
Activity 1
Where are your strengths?
A diagnostic test for multiple intelligences.
Participants check statements that apply to them and define their intelligences according to a visual graph. There should be eight multiple intelligences, such as linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily/kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic intelligences. Each intelligence has its suitable statements and a student checks statements that apply to him.
1. Linguistic Intelligence _____ I like reading
_____ I like grammar
_____ I like listening to stories
_____ I like to keep a diary
_____ I am good at writing
_____ I am good at speaking
_____ I am good at English
_____ I enjoy hearing good lectures
_____ I learn by speaking, listening, reading and writing
Having finished all statements of eight intelligences a student counts the total number. According to this number a student draws the number on a visual table with different colors. The key point of this activity is a teacher as well as a learner have visual representation of multiple intelligences. If a learner gained maximum scores with a musical intelligence, then it shows that it is his/her strength in terms of intelligences.
1.
linguistic 2.
Logical-
Math 3. Spatial 4. Musical 5.
Bodily-
Kinesthetic 6.
Inter-
Personal 7.
Intrapersonal 8. Naturalist
Differentiation by support:
A varying amount of support can be offered to pupils in a variety of ways. Weaker pupils can be supported through instruction/prompt modification. The more able pupils will need to feel challenged too, their input possibly providing support for weaker pupils, or be given more challenging instructional tasks or additional contextualised problems.
Differentiation by task:
Tasks are set according to learners’ abilities. They may differ in content or structure.
This may be as simple as having a choice between a variety of questions getting progressively more difficult. Or learners can attempt completely different tasks covering the same topic.
Activity 2
This activity is targeted at the topic Types of Academic Writing/Integrated Program/English 12 grade. Each participant has a table with 10 descriptions of different types of writing. Teacher sets a countdown clock for 3 minutes, more or less, depending on what you think works. Begin by putting one of the 10 sheets A to J face down in front of each student. Once the clock starts they must read quickly and decide which description it fits and write the letter on the page next to it. They write reasons about identification the type of writing/ what helped them to identify the type of writing, at least 3 points. After 30 seconds they must turn it over and pass it on to their left. They keep doing this till they have seen all 10 texts. Suggested types of texts:
• A letter of inquiry about a device
• A fairy story for young children
• A transcript for presentation
• An evaluation of different systems
• A funny story about a real event
• An instruction for a technical device
• A technical description from a text book
• A Curriculum vitae
• A letter of complaint
• An extract from an adventure story for older children
Differentiation by outcome
Each learner is set the same investigative, creative and/or open-ended task. Learners produce a variety of solutions/designs dependent on their ability, strengths and learning preferences.
Simple examples would be for learners to design and answer their own problems/questions about a topic being studied.
Learners being given investigations may just test and report results, whilst the more able may be able to generalise and justify more easily.
Activity 3
Group work: flexible groups according to their intelligences.
Participants pick one piece of writing (the one they are comfortable with) from the previous activity so that to present its summary according to the multiple intelligences task. Each group is supposed to use one type of outcome presentation. Suggested ways of presentation:
Prepare a report
Write a play or essay
Create a poem or recitation
Construct a model or representation
Solve a problem together
Survey or interview others
Project a characters point of view
Describe a sequence or process
Classify, rank, or compare
Interpret evidence or data
Design a game to…
To conclude, there are some suggestions for teachers’ consideration:
To differentiate successfully, teachers could use the following strategies in their classrooms:
• Create a positive classroom atmosphere that is student-centered.
• Group wisely for instruction. Use flexible grouping – a mix of whole-class, group, and individual instruction.
• Use multiple texts and supplementary materials in lessons.
• Allow students to have choice in learning.
• Use individual learning and independent projects.
• Use Bloom’s Taxonomy to develop learning centers by organizing work around each level (knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation).
• Use different ways of teaching from the textbook; text alteration.
• Make student work real and relevant.
• Deliver challenging, high-level, fast-paced instruction to the gifted and talented.
• Group the gifted and talented together for subjects in which they are talented.
• Set appropriate and achievable individual student goals.
• Involve students as planners and organizers of lessons.
• Use role-play and drama in the classroom.
• Teach students critical thinking skills.
References:
1. Heibeck, T. (2008). How to use multiple intelligences to reach every child.
Retrieved November 1, 2008 from http://www.teachervision.fen.com /intelligence/teaching-methods-and-management/4802.html
2. Kozleski, E. (2003). Guidelines that make differentiation possible for teachers to attain. Retrieved November 1, 2008 from, www.urbanschools.org/events.docs/Penn320062.ppt
3. Hall, T. (2002). Differentiated Instruction. Wakefield, MA: National Center on Accessing the General Curriculum. Retrieved October 22, 2008, from http://www.cast.org/publications/ncac/ncac.diffinstruc.html