Differentiated Instruction

http://thinkafricabusiness.com/why-differentiated-instruction/

In the classrooms of today teachers constantly hear about differentiated instruction. YOU HAVE TO DO IT! IT MUST BE DONE! Educators just entering into the education program might wonder what it looks like to have a differentiated classroom, let me tell you it’s amazing. I am currently in a classroom where we engage our students in differentiated instruction on a daily basis. “What does it look like?” you may ask. Well it looks like a lot of things.

http://edtheory.blogspot.com/2016/04/differentiated-instruction.html

On the walls there are pictures and text so that students who learn in different modalities can experience what suits them. We engage our students in activities that require them to use visual, kinesthetic, auditory, and tactile techniques. This ensures that all students get what the need. Every day, we engage students in 10 minutes of activity through an app called GoNoodle so that they can stay engaged and awake, we do this after math when their brains may get a little sleepy. We ensure that they aren’t at their desks all day long, they are up, moving around the room and engaged in something. We include Think-Pair-Shares, quick draws, think and writes, reading, hands-on activities, you name it we try to do it. This is because we want to meet the needs of all learners which is why many people are in favor differentiated instruction, because they understand that not all learners learn same way.

http://www.mrstruittspage.org/differentiated-instruction.html

There are those that would disagree with differentiated instruction like Daniel Willingham  a professor at the University of Virginia, who is also a cognitive psychologist and a neuroscientist. Willingham argues that differentiated instruction increases educator work and frustration levels for the falsely believed ideology that students learn in different ways. He goes on to explain that though some people are better with visual, auditory, or kinesthetic things, when they h
ave to learn certain tasks that require one of these skills differentiation isn’t really helpful (i.e. when learning about a map all students have to learn it visually. According to Willingham, using auditory or kinesthetic tactics aren’t required here) (Bryant, 2012). There is a video that is included with the post I got most of this information from that is very compelling that I will include here: https://youtu.be/sIv9rz2NTUk but I have to say I’m not compelled to stop differentiating instruction.

              
 Though Willingham may have a valid argument and it is a lot more work for educators, the students appear to enjoy learning more when instruction is differentiated. If nothing else differentiation gets the students out of their seats and interested in learning! It makes a difference in the classroom I’m currently in and I will certainly differentiate when I obtain my own classroom.

References

Bryant, J. (2012). Is Differentiated Instruction a Useless Fad? Retrieved November 09, 2016, from http://edge.ascd.org/blogpost/is-differentiated-instruction-a-useless-fad

Student Motivation

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When looking at student motivation it is essential to evaluate each individual student. As an educator this can be hard when planning lessons for 25-30 students. So what do you do? Initially, get to know your students and try to understand their interests and how they learn best (i.e. are they kinesthetic, visual, or auditory learners?). Then, based off of this information, differentiate instruction. During my student teaching observations I can say that I have honestly seen quite a bit of differentiation, especially in my current classroom. It is amazing to see how differentiated instruction really engages all of the students. I’ve seen clear differences between the inactivity of students sitting at their desks with only a few participating and the engaged, active students working in small groups or even whole group activities, it is amazing. Differentiation does a lot for student motivation, essentially, differentiation sets up the classroom to be a motivating environment. Through the use of this concept students are provided with choices, interactions with others, collaboration, self-involvement in curricular goals, and development of real world connections.

That being said, personally, I include differentiation within my instruction. I ensure that there are different types of activities within my lessons for all learners. I also try to ensure that I provide my students with a safe space to share their ideas. I let them know that participating and sharing are essential in collaboration, even if they don’t have the right answer their participation is key. Additionally, I let my students know that I don’t know all of the answers either, I think it is important for them to realize that no one knows everything and that’s okay. If students understand that they have a safe space they will be more willing to participate and try. During my first placement I had a few students who were very quiet and meek, as we developed a warm and embracing classroom community many of them began to open up. During math lessons I felt that some of our lower students were struggling, at first they wouldn’t ask questions, but I stressed the importance that they tell me if they didn’t understand. I let them know that if they had any problems I wanted to answer them, I didn’t want them to get left behind and I WANTED them to understand. I literally spent 10 minutes explaining to them that I wanted them to ask questions, I NEEDED them to ask questions if they didn’t understand, that I wanted to see everyone’s hands in the air when I was looking for answers and if they couldn’t raise their hand to give me an answer I wanted them to tell me what confused them so I could help, from then on they felt motivated to ask questions. BOY DID THEY ASK! I was so happy though, my struggling students started to GET IT because I was able to spend the time with them that they needed and my stronger students could help assist as well. I think providing that support and letting them know that I cared promoted the motivation necessary to help create understanding.

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There is much more that goes into keeping students motivated, but I think the essentials are differentiation and a supportive environment. We must utilize differentiation to meet all students’ needs for motivation and instruction while creating a safe place for students to explore and question without feeling like they will be ridiculed.