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Susan
Craig, Ph.D.
Topic: Differentiated Instruction (Archives)
I find math the hardest discipline
to differentiate with flexible grouping. I find that I am really
teaching 2 or 3 groups within my classroom, with little change.
How can I differentiate and still have flexible grouping and not
have to make 3 separate lesson plans each day?
What
is meant by differentiated instruction?
I
teach fourth grade and I have three reading groups going. Everybody
pretty much fits into one of the groups except for two children
who are on IEPs. When I've been in this situation before I've
always sent them to a resource room for reading. Now the resource
room teacher says that I can't anymore and I'm responsible. I'm
not helping these children. How can I get the resource room teacher
to take them?
Can
I use an aide to teach one of my groups?
Q.
I find math the hardest discipline to differentiate with flexible
grouping. I find that I am really teaching 2 or 3 groups within
my classroom, with little change. How can I differentiate and
still have flexible grouping and not have to make 3 separate lesson
plans each day?
A.
One of the hardest parts of differentiating instruction is identifying
the concept you are teaching. So the first step is to ask yourself
"what is the concept or big question I want students to explore?"
In math for example, it might be prediction and estimation or
the interrelationship of parts.
Next,
determine how you will differentiate: by student preference,
by skill, by method of exploration or application, by product.
In some situations, you may decide to have students with similar
skill levels explore a concept using 3 different applications.
In other lessons, you may decide to have all of the students
use the same method to explore the concept being taught. In
this instance, differentiation would occur in terms of the performance
criteria you set for students at different skill levels.
As
for needing 3 lesson plans a day, try to think about having
1 plan that addresses a core concept, using 3 or more application,
products or levels of mastery.
As
an example, to explore prediction and estimation, some students
might use traditional math problems, others might develop an
hypothesis that they test using survey data from classmates.
A third group may explore the same concept graphing the accuracy
of weather predictions in a certain geographic area.
Q.
What is meant by differentiated instruction?
A.
Differentiated instruction is a system of instructional planning
which provides students with a variety of options for learning
a concept and demonstrating their knowledge of it. Variable
pacing and flexible groups are givens.
There is planned
variation for each lesson based on student characteristics such
as interest or readiness level, as well as in terms of the content,
process and product of instruction.
Q.
I teach fourth grade and I have three reading groups going.
Everybody pretty much fits into one of the groups except for two
children who are on IEPs. When I've been in this situation before
I've always sent them to a resource room for reading. Now the
resource room teacher says that I can't anymore and I'm responsible.
I'm not helping these children. How can I get the resource room
teacher to take them?
A.
I think you may be asking the wrong question. A more useful
one is how can you use a combination of flexible grouping and
differentiated process to involve all of the students.
Most children have
different areas of strength and weakness which fall under the
umbrella of "reading group". Do a task analysis of
what's expected during each reading activity and see if there
are options to more flexibly group students based on the task.
For example, a child who needs pre-teaching or re-teaching to
understand a story being read can get that assistance using
voiced software. A child with great ideas but poor motor control
could be paired with another student to write stories or respond
to written questions about the text.
Use your special
education teacher as a resource for ideas about how to vary
the content, process and products of instruction for all students,
rather than someone who can provide direct services to a small
number of students.
Q.
Can I use an aide to teach one of my groups?
A.
I would encourage you to use paraprofessionals to increase the
participation of all children in classroom activities. Paraprofessionals
should be working under your supervision to implement daily
lesson plans which you and other licensed or certified staff
have developed. They should not be responsible for planning
for individual students, nor should they be a child's primary
instructor. What they can do is provide pre-teaching re-teaching
activities, set up the accommodations children may require,
or prepare materials that children may benefit from.
So to answer your
question, paraprofessionals can't teach one of your groups,
but they can certainly take groups to complete activities which
introduce topics or reinforce instruction which you are providing.
For more information
see : Tomilson, C. (1996) Inquiry Kite for Differentiated Instruction
of Mixed Ability Groups. ASCD
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