Essential question: What evidence am I collecting for my final project – and for what purpose?
For my final project my evidence is going to be minimal unfortunately. I have had 9 days to teach the unit, and on average 5 of 16 students have been missing each day. This had drug out the timeline of the project making it impossible to teach. With weather being nice students are out hunting. I have also had 2 students miss almost the entire 2 weeks. I really don't know what to do. Students seem to fit right into the flow easily and participate but I am not getting the data I need. I will try continuing the unit next week but up to half my class or more may be absent due to our district dance festival. I will try to use who is left but my class may be extremely small.
I do have data from the start with 3 Kahoot games, I also have question responses on actively learn, the research and planning, observations, a few videos of students, and finally I have the reflections from each day we have worked. Unfortunately I will most likely be lacking the best evidence (video lab report or written lab report). One good piece of evidence is that only 1 student has been off task during this unit. Students really like it and even stay after school to work. Some of my hardest to reach students have even come in to work after school and are totally engaged in building their house. Here are 2 videos of students explaining their projects. Here are the notes I have been keeping each day. This has more detailed info but is a little lengthy. Plus it does not necessarily relate directly to our essential question this week.
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Essential question: What are my challenges and successes in implementing my unit? Challenges: I did not have a lot of challenges this week. A big challenge will be trying to get the unit complete in 2 weeks. Students are taking a lot longer than anticipated to do some of the tasks. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Some tasks are more confusing to begin with so students are slower at getting started. Once students understand the task they work towards completion. Even though it is taking time, students are working and asking questions. I consider this a success as well as a challenge. From Kahoot, actively learn, and ED puzzle I realized students did not understand the differences between heat, thermal energy, and temperature. Because of this I spent some extra time explicitly talking about the differences as well as allowing some time for students to look up some info on this topic. Another challenge was the internet connection. At the end of the week connection was really slow and students were being kicked out of Kahoot. This affects my data. Even so, we played 3 Kahoots and students averaged 60% correct. Successes: I made a guide to help scaffold the research process. This guide included questions that helped students focus their research. In the past I have tried a more free research but students struggled with what to do next. This guided research helps students know where to go. My students need practice with research and this is helping to build their skills. Instead of me being bogged down by questions students were able to help each other and I was able to assist as needed. For example, one group still struggled with the differences between heat, thermal energy, and temperature. They took the notes yesterday and when they read them today they were confused. Many groups used their notes on heat, thermal energy, and temperature to answer questions on their research. It was AWESOME to see students remember they had done notes and then to go back an use them. I think this is a great benefit of designing a lesson using the UBD template. Everything is interconnected and not used only once. Learning is a continual process. I took a lot of more detailed notes and included them below. Essential question: How does my unit plan integrate best practices and theory of differentiated instruction?
Below is a video of the final activity I plan to use as a performance assessment.
Before teaching this unit I would like to create a bubble map showing each type of energy we learned about in the last chapter. That way students can see all the types and realize that we are focusing on one type in the next chapter of the book: thermal energy. We have already learned what thermal energy is, we just haven't applied that learning yet. I want to see what they already know.
For teaching this unit I want to give students some background information through an assigned reading and some videos. In the assigned reading students will be asked to highlight and take notes through an online program called actively learn. Then they will respond to questions. I will give feedback as they respond and if they get the answers wrong they can ask for a reset. Then I will ask students to log-in to EDpuzzle and watch some videos. The video will pause and ask students to respond to questions. If they student does not know the answer they can rewatch that part of the video. Finally I will wrap up the teacher focused part with a Kahoot game to assess student understanding before moving onto the project. If students do poorly on the Kahoot I will go back and reteach the parts they do poorly on. Tomlinson (2014) says that instruction will work better if you use assessments to direct the class to the learning targets. The next phase of the unit will be a project. I wrote approximate days for this but different parts may take longer or shorter and I will adjust as needed. For this project, students will construct a house out of paper and other material and will measure the temperature of various parts of the house to see heat loss. The end goal is to create the most efficient house while keeping cost low. Smith and Thorne (2009), state that students need options, and to feel included in decisions, rather than being told what to do. In this project students will only be told the goal, not how to meet the goal. This is where the students have to determine what is best and how they approach the problem. This means no cheating. Jarrett (2016) says that if students are engaged then they will put in the the work. School is no longer about the grade but rather about solving the problem. If students aren't focused on the grade they will be doing their own work according to Kohn (2008). Here are the steps for the project:
In my lesson I have reading, videos, questions to respond to, hands on application, and writing components. "If we provide a variety of ways to explore the content outcomes, learners find different ways to connect" (McCarthy 2014). References Jarrett, K. (2016, February 11). Middle School Maker Journey: Assessment in an Ungraded Classroom. Retrieved March 26, 2016, from http://www.edutopia.org Kohn, A. (2008). Who’s Cheating Whom? Phi Delta Kappan. Retrieved March 26, 2016, from http://www.alfiekohn.org/article/whos-cheating/ McCarthy, J. (2014). 3 Ways to Plan for Diverse Learners: What Teachers Do. Retrieved January 27, 2016, from http://www.edutopia.org Smith, Grace E., and Throne, Stephanie. Differentiating Instruction with Technology in Middle School Classrooms. Eugene, OR, USA: ISTE, 2009. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 15 January 2016. Tomlinson, C. (2014, May). Chapter 1. What Is a Differentiated Classroom? Retrieved January 27, 2016, from http://www.ascd.org Williams, K. (n.d.). 8 Lessons Learned on Differentiating Instruction | Scholastic.com. Retrieved January 27, 2016, from http://www.scholastic.com Essential question: How can I use both formative and summative assessment to enhance (or at least not interfere with) intrinsic motivation?
This week was a little hard for me. I was traveling and lacked good internet connection. I finally returned home yesterday after getting stuck in Bethel for a night. So here is my blog post a little late.
My mind went in circles this week. How should a teacher grade? Is there a right or wrong way? To be honest I still can't answer this question, but I can share what I learned. Grading is an inadequate report of an imprecise judgment of a biased and variable judge of the extent to which a student has attained an undefined level of mastery on an unknown proportion of an indefinite amount of material.
Assessments are at the core of most grading. Assessments are hard to create. Tomlinson (2013) states that “because assessments are constructed by human beings and taken by human beings, they are always likely to be imperfect measures of a student’s true knowledge of a topic.” There are 2 main types of assessments: Norm-referenced (NRT) and criterion-referenced (CRT) tests . According to Linda Bond (1996) the reason to use an NRT is the classify students. This may be useful in helping to decide where to place students in the classes that a school offers but may do little in the classroom. CRT's do the opposite. They are used to compare but are used to determine what students know.
This podcast provided some great information about grade fairness and on how to make grades more meaningful. Dr. Thomas Guskey posed this question, “Would another professional come up with the same grade?” He suggested that we should not rely on the mathematical algorithm coming from the computer gradebook. We know the students the computer does not. So then how do we grade? His idea is to eliminate percentages and go to categories. For example:
This search for more information on how to assess students led me back to something similar from an earlier week where I was able to explore design thinking. The main point of Middle School Maker Journey: Assessment in an Ungraded Classroom by Kevin Jarrett was that if students are engaged then they will put in the the work. School is no longer about the grade but rather about solving the problem. This is the whole point of education. If students aren't focused on the grade they will be doing their own work accoding to Kohn (2008). Students are more likely to resort to cheating if they see it can lead to good grades. Kohn also states that "cheating is relatively rare in classrooms where the learning is genuinely engaging and meaningful to students." So the more creative and interesting activities you include in your classroom the more likely students will actually be learning. The hard part is grading in this type of classroom. Jarrett says they use reflections to base grades. These reflections help students think critically and also help teachers to better coach their students. He also points out some helpful rubrics called the KIA rubrics (Key Indicator of Ability). These rubrics asses the following:
References
Bond, L. A. (1996). Norm-and Criterion-Referenced Testing. ERIC/AE Digest. Retrieved March 26, 2016, from http://www.ericdigests.org/1998-1/norm.htm. Davis, V. (2016). Fair Grades, Dropping Grades, Grading Versus Knowledge @coolcatteacher. Retrieved March 26, 2016, from http://www.coolcatteacher.com/11735-2/ Jarrett, K. (2016, February 11). Middle School Maker Journey: Assessment in an Ungraded Classroom. Retrieved March 26, 2016, from http://www.edutopia.org Kohn, A. (2008). Who’s Cheating Whom? Phi Delta Kappan. Retrieved March 26, 2016, from http://www.alfiekohn.org/article/whos-cheating/ Tomlinson, Carol Ann, and Moon, Tonya R. (2013) Chapter 6: Assessment, Grading and Differentiation. Assessment and Student Success in a Differentiated Classroom. Alexandria, VA, USA: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development (ASCD). ProQuest ebrary. Web. Retrieved March 26, 2016, from http://egandb.uas.alaska.edu:2081/lib/uasoutheast/reader.action?ppg=135&docID=10774725&tm=1428975296051. Essential question: What is brain-based learning and how can it inform problem based learning and differentiation? According to Jensen (2009), geneticists say that up to 30-50% of behavior in an individual can be explained by genetics. This leaves 50-70% that is explained by environment. Children in poverty are especially susceptible to adverse environmental circumstances. A nice acronym to remember risk factors affecting those children in poverty is EACH:
So how can we help all students? "Brain-Based Education is the purposeful engagement of strategies that apply to how our brain works in the context of education."-Eric Jensen Brain-based learning is quite complex. Our brains work in such a fascinating way, and no 2 people will react to the same situation in the same way. So how can teachers use this information in their classroom? Some things we cannot change, but there are things we can do to try to help. Jensen (2009) suggests the following:
This made a lot of sense but my next question became what does this look like in a classroom? I found a great article titled Energy and Calm: Change It Up and Calm It Down! by Desautels (2016). She explains that our brains are wired to put survival above all, including learning. This makes total sense as you have to be alive to actually learn. She says "research repeatedly shows that quieting our minds ignites our parasympathetic nervous system, reducing heart rate and blood pressure while enhancing our coping strategies to effectively handle the day-to-day challenges that keep coming." So how do we do this? Either through quieting strategies (Controlling breathing, closing our eyes and using other senses to feel an object, visualization, or listening to sound) or brain breaks (these are times where no new learning should take place). Our brains need breaks and this is a key aspect of brain-based learning. What else can we do in our classrooms? Teaching social and emotional skills can also be key. According to Weissberg (2016), "social and emotional learning (SEL) provides a foundation for safe and positive learning, and enhances students' ability to succeed in school, careers, and life." Not all students come to school knowing how to interact with others. This means as teachers we need to give them skills so group work and classroom interactions will be positive. This is huge will PBL because the whole idea is that collaboration must take place. If students don't have the skills to collaborate then PBL will not be successful. There are also many other benefits that Weissberg outlines:
So all of this is great but none of it relates to content that needs to be taught. In 4 Ways to Promote Growth Mindset in Project-Based Learning Parsons (2016) discusses how we might change our perceptions as teachers and in turn create an environment where students thrive. There are 2 types of mindsets: fixed mindset and growth mindset. In a fixed mindset students give up easily and don't take on challenges. Growth mindset promotes the opposite. Below is a great image from Parsons article. So what are the 4 ways to promote growth mindset?
References Desautels, L. (2016, February 23). Energy and Calm: Change It Up and Calm It Down! Retrieved March 11, 2016, from http://www.edutopia.org Jensen, Eric. Teaching with Poverty in Mind : What Being Poor Does to Kids' Brains and What Schools Can Do About It. Alexandria, VA, USA: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development (ASCD), 2009. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 8 March 2016. Jensen, Eric. Teaching with the Brain in Mind (2nd Edition). Alexandria, VA, USA: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development (ASCD), 2005. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 8 March 2016. Parsons, C. M. (2016, March 03). 4 Ways to Promote Growth Mindset in Project-Based Learning. Retrieved March 11, 2016, from http://gettingsmart.com Weissberg, R. (2016, February 15). Why Social and Emotional Learning Is Essential for Students. Retrieved March 11, 2016, from http://www.edutopia.org Essential question: What practical structures could we use to implement PBL (problem-based learning) in our classrooms?This week on my Twitter feed 3 articles popped up about PBL. I figure this must be a sign that it is time to give it a test run. I have been interested in it but a little scared to try it. I am worried that there will not be enough of me to go around. There are many definitions of PBL but I like this one the best: "PBL means learning through experiences" (Solomon, 2003). So my initial thought is what kind of experience do I want to give my students? The world is changing and so are the standards required of students and teachers. Markham (2013) states that "everyday there is less standardization of information, making it nearly impossible to decide what a tenth-grader should know," Our curriculums do fit with the outside world and this is why we need something like PBL. What is so special about PBL? Simons (2006) says students must work through a problem before they learn all of the content. In doing this students are forced to find information out for themselves and they are required to figure out what they need to learning. This is a big change in education. Traditionally teachers have held the knowledge and they present it to students. Then students must learn this knowledge from the teacher. A couple of the posts I found on Twitter led me to Edutopia. One article by Weyers (2016) talked about design thinking. I love this concept especially in a science classroom because it a process that I teach in class. Below is a graphic of the process. Students are first give an problem and then they create solutions using the process shown in the graphic. I really like this structure an think it would be very helpful for my students. My main concern is that we would struggle with prototypes due a difficulty in the ease of getting materials to a small village. This video was really helpful to me because I was able to see what design thinking would look like in action. It was also great to hear students opinions on the work that they were doing. Due to both student and teacher optimism I really want to try to incorporate this into my final project. The second post I read on Edutopia by Wolpert-Gawron (2015) was very cool considering out topic last week of including games in the classroom. This article talked about how to gamify a PBL unit. This requires a lot of planning. A teacher plans many tasks and then students work their way through them. A key aspect is that there is lots of student choice. Once one task is complete a new task opens up and students are rewarded for the content and skills they learn along the way. A site this teacher used is Rezzly for content delivery in the form of a game and Popplet to show students how they would progress through the lesson. I have never used either of these but am intrigued by both and wonder if I might be able to test either one in my final project? So why do PBL? According to Jones (2006) some of the advantages of PBL include:
References
Ertmer, P. A., & Simons, K. D. (2006). Jumping the PBL implementation hurdle: Supporting the efforts of K–12 teachers. Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-based Learning, 1(1), 5. Retrieved from: http://docs.lib.purdue.edu Jones, R. W. (2006). Problem-based learning: description, advantages, disadvantages, scenarios and facilitation. Anaesthesia and intensive care,34(4), 485. Retrieved from: http://www.biomedsearch.com Markham, T. (2013, May 20). Inquiry Learning Vs. Standardized Content: Can They Coexist? Retrieved March 04, 2016, from http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift Solomon, G. (2003). Project-based learning: A primer. TECHNOLOGY AND LEARNING-DAYTON-, 23(6), 20-20. Retrieved from: http://pennstate.swsd.wikispaces.net Weyers, M. (2016, February 18). Tools for Differentiating Instruction in PBL. Retrieved March 04, 2016, from http://www.edutopia.org Wolpert-Gawron, H. (2015, September 29). Project-Based Learning and Gamification: Two Great Tastes That Go Great Together. Retrieved March 04, 2016, from http://www.edutopia.org Essential question: How are games providing new opportunities for differentiation in the classroom? This week I was introduced to Minecraft. I have heard of it, but have never really delved into the possibilities it can offer, especially in education. According to Ossola (2015) "History teachers make Minecraft dioramas, English teachers have kids act out Shakespeare plays in a model of the Globe Theater, and art teachers let students recreate famous works of art in the game." Now this really started to sound interesting. The major downfall is that Minecraft is not free. I also learned MinecraftEdu does not work on ipads. This is a major downfall as I only really have ipads in my classroom. I also did not realize the amount students could learn just by playing a game like Minecraft. According to Granata (n.d.), Minecraft can teacher "students to type by allowing them to communicate with each other in the game and showing them how to do online research by trawling the vast Minecraft forums for specific information." This intrigued me even more because my students struggle a lot with research. I think a main problem with the population of my students is that they are ELL students with very low reading levels. When they see lots of words, they just give up. This could change if they really wanted to do something, so game like Minecraft could prove to be invaluable when trying to teach my students about research. This could also be true for coding, which was mentioned in one of our assigned articles. To learn things students must experiment and if they can't figure it out they must research to learn how. In both Minecraft and coding students learn digital citizenship. According to Stiff (2015), this can be teaching student about how to be smart and responsible on the internet and to not give out personal information. Students are so trusting that this can be a huge concept to help them stay safe as they explore thing online. One gaming site I came across this semester is Zondle. It is not a whole world you create, like Minecraft, but it is very useful in helping to engage students in the task at hand. Just last week I had a student who had already played the games and taken the quiz. I assigned new work and he refused to do it but would play the Zondle games. He liked it that much. This is more than I usually get from this particular student. Usually he tries to watch anime instead, but this time he was willing to do something related to class. I was impressed at how much a simple game engaged him. Ms. Cuje gives a great description of Zondle on her blog, Tech Tools Buffet. I have not played with Zondle a lot but she talks about how you can send different content to different students. Even if you didn't do that there are 49 games to choose from and students work at their own pace so differentiation is built into it. Regardless, I have found it to be great for review! I have even had students request it after only using it once in the classroom. There are just so many options in the classroom. What options you have depend on the resources you have available. The biggest issues with games according to Dutton (n.d.) are a lack of funding and lack of teacher knowledge on how best to use the electronic resources they have available. When thinking about electronics teachers are often concerned about how to monitor students. If you add the element of differentiation this can make one's head spin, if not thought out carefully. According to Guyne (2007), "School districts encourage differentiation of instructions, but teachers are concerned about behavior-management and control issues." If a teacher's concern is on management, then what are some tools that could be used to help with management.This idea combined with our discussion on Twitter this week brought me to Classcraft. This was not something I had thought fit here, but after more research realize it could be an integral part of differentiation. I recently was introduced to Classcraft, and just started it about 2 weeks ago. It is basically an upgraded version of ClassDojo. It works great for older students, specifically I am using it with my high schoolers. Students must be grouped and I can change the grouping whenever I see it necessary. Students in each group have different roles and the students work together as a team to help each other. It is hard to understand all of the nuances of the game at first, but as you move along you realize how each part is connected. The goal is to get to level 18. If a student reaches that level they win. I have not decided what they will win so that is a mystery for now. Reward are built in as powers. The game comes with presets but you can change these as you need. Students also get points to upgrade their characters. Some students really get into it and others don't really care. So far Classcraft has been very positive in my classroom. We are still learning how it works but it has been very effective for improving behavior in some students. I had one student practically jump out of his chair today so he could clean up the room to earn some extra points. Here is a 5 minute video explaining Classcraft and what I have learned about it so far. Sorry but I could not get it to be 2-3 minutes. I tried my best but didn't know what to cut out as it all seemed important. References
Cuje, S. (2015, April 21). I am in Love with Zondle! Retrieved February 26, 2016, from http://techtoolsbuffet.weebly.com/newly-discovered/category/differentiation Dutton, L. (n.d.). Differentiate Learning and Electronic Games. Retrieved February 26, 2016, from http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Differentiated_learning_and_electronic_games Guyne, R. H. (2007, November 1). The Educational Benefits of Video Games. Retrieved February 26, 2016, from http://www.techlearning.com/news/0002/the-educational-benefits-of-video-games/64111 Granata, K. (n.d.). Teachers Take Advantage of Minecraft in the Classroom. Retrieved February 26, 2016, from http://www.educationworld.com/a_news/teachers-take-advantage-minecraft-classroom-60294258 Ossola, A. (2015, February 6). Teaching in the Age of Minecraft. Retrieved February 26, 2016, from http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/02/teaching-in-the-age-of-minecraft/385231/ Stiff, H. (2015, February 6). Monforton Teacher Instructs Coding to Kids. Retrieved February 26, 2016, from http://www.belgrade-news.com/news/article_6716d926-ae2a-11e4-959b-13ebce844c1c.html Essential question: How do we prepare parents for differentiation in the classroom?
This week I felt like a lot of stuff related back to my week #1 infographic. It is really about painting a clear picture of what a differentiated classroom will look like, so students and parents feel comfortable with the idea. Based on this I created a game to really help others grasp what differentiated instruction is and is not. Foucault (2008) says "differentiated instruction helps teachers avoid student anxiety and boredom that can be evident in one-size-fits-all curriculum." She then goes on to list qualities of what differentiation is and is not. These are what I used for my game.
The hardest part for where I teach is communicating with parents about the work their kids are doing. I'm not sure many parents would understand what I am teaching so it is that much harder to explain my goals to them. Tomlinson (2001) mentions two other key factors that I am sure apply to the community I teach in. I know the parents of my students stay away because their treatment at school may have not been the best, and/or they don't speak english very well, so it is hard to communicate. She does mention sending home bulletins or newsletters and I wonder if this would be effective for the community I live in. The other two assigned readings A Parent's Guide to 21st Century Learning and Wonderful Wednesdays, by Caltha Crowe, I did not really connect with. In A Parent's Guide to 21st Century Learning there are many good ideas but most are not practical for where I teach. I definitely agree that students need the 4 C's: collaboration, creativity, communication, and critical thinking. I just think it will look a lot different than the ways mentioned in the article. I think a lot of these skills would need to imbed the Yup'ik culture to be successful. Currently I am involved a program called PREPARES educators and I believe it will be a bridge in helping students to learn science while also allowing them to contemplate how this knowledge will help them give back to their community. In bush Alaska we just don't have the same resources as those connected by roads. In Wonderful Wednesdays I really wasn't sure how I could include anything similar in my classroom. Crowe provided a great example for elementary, when a teacher has the same students most of the day and can have parents in at various times. In a high school classroom, where classes are only 55 minutes, it would be very hard to incorporate parent volunteers. For one, I just don't see parents coming in. I think reaching out to parents through a website, video, newsletter or something of a similar nature would be far more effective in connecting high school parents to the classroom. Many parents just would not feel comfortable with the higher content. They might stop in for a minute but they would be very leery about being an active part of our classroom. After reading the required text I decided to see if I could find suggestions on how to start the process. The IRIS Center (2010) provided the following list of things teachers should be sure to explain:
Low Prep Differentiation:
High Prep Differentiation:
Now the focus is on what do I want to try next. Differentiation is exciting but it also makes my head spin a little. It forces me to be creative, which I love, but my mind just spins with ideas. So much to try and not enough hours in the day to make it all happen. References Brooks, D. (2010). Partners In Learning. Retrieved February 05, 2016, from http://performancepyramid.miamioh.edu/node/503 Crowe, C. (2004). Wonderful Wednesdays - Responsive Classroom. Retrieved February 05, 2016, from https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/wonderful-wednesdays/ Foucault, A. (2008). Differentiation Tips for Parents. Retrieved from the St. Michael–Albertville Schools, Minnesota website http://www.readingrockets.org/article/differentiation-tips-parents A Parent's Guide to 21st Century Learning. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/pdfs/guides/edutopia-parents-guide-21st-century-learning.pdf Tomlinson, Carol Ann. How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-Ability Classrooms. Alexandria, VA, USA: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development (ASCD), 2001. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 1 February 2016. The IRIS Center. (2010). Differentiated Instruction: Maximizing the Learning of All Students Retrieved from http://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/di/cresource/q3/p09/ Essential question: How do you make decisions about your own actions for students in a differentiated classroom? What is your criteria for intervention, and/or for letting learning happen? This week I had trouble deciding what to make a mind map of. There was just so much to include. I decided to try to mind map what my classroom is like. For my classroom, the environment can be one of the toughest categories. One of the best things I can control is by providing structure to my classroom. According to Williams, it is important to provide clear expectations and directions so students know what to expect. One of the downfall to my classroom environment is that I teach science, but my classroom was designed as a shop. I can't change this so I must make the best of it. I have a large room and it does at least have a sink. I am also blessed with many supplies which help me to do more hands-on activities like labs. I also do not have comfortable seating as suggested by Tomlinson (2001), but I have a lot of floor space that can be used when students don't need to be at a desk to complete their work. This allows students to do their work. I prefer to give students many different types of work in class to try to reach all students by using video, reading, lecture, labs or activities, and sometimes a project of the students choosing. "If we provide a variety of ways to explore the content outcomes, learners find different ways to connect" (McCarthy 2014). It also makes class go by so much faster and I don't have to deal with many complaints. Students love doing different things. I can always tell when I have done too much notes, as I hear about it. Because I try to do many different things I think it is also very important to use many forms of assessment. I would like to work more at using the results of assessments to guide my instruction. Tomlinson (2014) says that instruction will work better if you use assessments to direct the class to the learning targets. I just wish I had more time to collect and look at the data. The BBC, Methods of Differentiation in the Classroom, mentions using grouping to help students achieve. Different roles can be assigned and students of different ability learn to work and learn together. I group in many different ways. I try to have minimal whole-class instruction besides the first 10 minutes. After that I either have students work in partners, individually, or I assign them to group that will rotate through a series of stations. This really helps me to focus in on one group of students. Choosing to intervene I think is the hardest part. I don't think I do a great job. Johnson (2009) says that it is hard for teachers to differentiate because we are ingrained to be "fair" and in our minds this means we teach everyone the same. This is definitely something I struggle with. Then Johnson goes on to discuss which students we should intervene on: the top, middle, or low? It is really about everyone. It is meeting everyone where they are at. He gives a great idea of treating all work like it is a rough draft. Give students feedback and allow them to redo the work until they get it right. One of my favorite resources is Actively Learn, and online resource. Unfortunately you do have to pay, but it is only like $13 a month. It allows a teacher to choose a reading assignment and then the teacher can add directions, video, additional questions, or links. Students complete the questions and teachers can grade in real time. Once you grade students can request a reset to try again. It really helps some students to think further rather than just stopping at the bare minimum. References
Johnson, B. (2009, March 02). Differentiated Instruction Allows Students to Succeed. Retrieved January 28, 2016, from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/differentiated-instruction-student-success McCarthy, J. (2014). 3 Ways to Plan for Diverse Learners: What Teachers Do. Retrieved January 27, 2016, from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/differentiated-instruction-ways-to-plan-john-mccarthy Methods of Differentiation in the Classroom. (2010). Retrieved January 27, 2016, from http://www.bbcactive.com/BBCActiveIdeasandResources/MethodsofDifferentiationintheClassroom.aspx Tomlinson, C. (2014, May). Chapter 1. What Is a Differentiated Classroom? Retrieved January 27, 2016, from http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/108029/chapters/What-Is-a-Differentiated-Classroom¢.aspx Tomlinson, Carol Ann. How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-Ability Classrooms. Alexandria, VA, USA: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development (ASCD), 2001. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 26 January 2016. Williams, K. (n.d.). 8 Lessons Learned on Differentiating Instruction | Scholastic.com. Retrieved January 27, 2016, from http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/8-lessons-learned-differentiating-instruction Essential Question: What is differentiated instruction? Differentiated instruction will look different in every classroom because every classroom has a diverse group of students. However there are some distinct features that make instruction differentiated. There is so much to talk about so I will just mention the ideas that really "stuck" with me.
When I think of differentiated instruction my immediate thought goes to individualized. I knew this wasn't true but that mental picture does not leave my mind. After reading more about differentiated instruction I am hoping my mind will not immediately think individualized. According to Tomlison (2001), "differentiated instruction offers several avenues to learning, it does not assume a separate level for each learner." She says it is more like a one-room-schoolhouse. To me this makes me think of multi grade level classrooms in the bush, or smaller communities elsewhere. One thing I really like about differentiated instruction is that it is student-centered. Instead of just teaching the same thing another way, it is better to look at student needs and interests to get students understanding. You can differentiate lessons in 3 areas: content, process, and product (Carlson, n.d). I always think about the product, what students produce at the end of the lesson, but I really haven't thought about the content and process. When thinking about the products a neat idea is to give students more choice. Smith and Thorne (2009), state that students need options, and to feel included in decisions, rather than being told what to do. This really makes sense to me, and I feel like this would really help with classroom management. Two other key features of differentiated instruction include flexible grouping and frequent assessment. These two features are slightly connected. I always think about grouping students based on assessment, but sometimes it can be important to give more choice, or to group interests together. This will help students to experience a "wide range of contexts" (Tomlinson & Allan, 2000). The assessments you use to help group students should be more than once a year. You should be constantly making observations and collecting student work to modify groups. Groups should be more "fluid." (Tomlinson, 2001). References Carlson, A. (n.d.). What Is Differentiated Instruction? - Examples, Definition & Activities. Retrieved January 19, 2016, from http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-differentiated-instruction-examples-definition-activities.html Smith, Grace E., and Throne, Stephanie. Differentiating Instruction with Technology in Middle School Classrooms. Eugene, OR, USA: ISTE, 2009. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 15 January 2016. Tomlinson, Carol Ann. How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-Ability Classrooms. Alexandria, VA, USA: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development (ASCD), 2001. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 15 January 2016. Tomlinson, C., & Allan, S. (2000, December 1). Chapter 1. Understanding Differentiated Instruction: Building a Foundation for Leadership. Retrieved January 19, 2016, from http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/100216/chapters/Understanding-Differentiated-Instruction@-Building-a-Foundation-for-Leadership.aspx |
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