A note from Ben's Blog.

I had a chance to visit a blog of a friend.  On his blog he made several really good points about differentiation.  The idea that stuck out to me the most was the fair vs. equal chart.   It is important for students and parents to understand the difference between fair vs. equal in a class room setting.  Not all situations in a classroom are going to be equal, but they can be fair.  Children of the same age come in all different shapes and sizes and ability levels.  One student may need more help in math, while that same student excels in science.  That student would get more help in math then they would in science making his/her learning fair and equal.

The Hallmarks of Differntiation

There are 9 Hallmarks for differentiated classroom success.  With the use of these hallmarks you can create a "Best Fit" link between curriculum, instruction, and student learning.  It is important to implement the hallmarks with out them you are not truly differentiating in your classroom.

Hallmark 1: A Strong Link Between Assessment and Instruction- This hallmark helps to know that assessment and instruction go hand in hand, this can be accomplished by using backwards design to create lesson plans, assessments should measure your instruction, informal and formal assessment should constantly be going on in your classroom, and if needed you should tweak your instructions.

Hallmark 2: Absolute Clarity about what the Teacher wants the students to know, understand and be able to do- about what is truly important to learn in this unit- Imagine this as a road map.  The teacher must be clear of what is being taught in order to reach his/her goal.

Hallmark 3: Shared responsibility for the classroom is between teacher and students, in the foal of making it work for everyone- This hallmark works like a set of stairs.  We start on the bottom step with the teacher and the student working together.  On the next step the student knows what his goal are, by doing this you take the next step and give the student responsibility and involve them in completing their goal, and finally you have autonomy for learning.

Hallmark 4: Individual Growth is emphasized as central to classroom success- This is emphasized as central to classroom success.  Individual Growth = Classroom Success.

Hallmark 5: A "Way up" usually through multiple and varied pathways, and never a "way out"- Imagine this as a ladder, the teacher is always scaffolding simultaneously  in the classroom by giving at least two learning options.  It is important to always teach "up" to the students and never "down".

Hallmark 6: "Respectful" and engaging work for all students.  Teachers should give enticing work for every child. " we want them to "think out side the box".  Students should work through different pathways.  For our fast finishers we should give them more challenging activities to test their knowledge.  The ELL's want to do their work, but may not know how to do it, we need to help them with that.  Students that are Gifted and Talented need to be challenged so they aren't bored at school.  Lastly our special needs students need to feel included in the activities that are going on in our classroom.  We should never single them out or make them fell less smart then other students in our classroom.

Hallmark 7: Proactive thinking and planning for different pathways-  We need to plan ahead for our students.  If we know that they might struggle with a topic that we are teaching we can plan in advance for different ways to teach the topic more effectively.

Hallmark 8: Flexible grouping- This creates a colorful classroom by creating groups in many different ways.  We should never have a one size fits all group.  By grouping children more effectively depending on the learning task and purpose of the group we can balance the needs and productivity of the classroom.

Hallmark 9: Flexible use of time, space, and materials.  We need to remember that there is more than one way to do things.  Making good use of time, space and having materials organized and grouped together by subject can help us move quickly throughout the day.  We need to remember to be flexible with our time.

By using these hallmaks in the classroom we can be successful teachers.

Different Learners Different Lessons

Teachers that differentiate in their classroom teach to the learners level. The curriculum while still important is not what the teacher focuses all of her attention on.  The teacher should start teaching where the child is academically, not at the beginning of the curriculum guide.  An easy way to do this is by adding in the interests of the students.  By doing this students are able to make a connecion to what the teacher is teaching, and are more engged through different learning modalities.  It is important that the teacher challenges all students to compete against themselfs and not other studnents in the classroom, by doing this the student has more confidance in what they are learning and doing.  The student is also able to learn quicker.

"Esentially, teachers in differentiated classrooms accept, embrace, and plan for the fact that learners bring many commonalities to school, but that they also bring the essential differences that make them individual." Different Learners Different Lessons by Carol Ann Tomlinson

What the students need in differentiation.

We as teachers need to understand that students have basic needs that must be met in order to learn. Maslow taught us that we need to feel safe, and feel like we belong before we can learn. In recent years researchers have told us that emotions trump all things including learning. This is important to me as a teacher, because I need to make sure that my students are emotionally fed by making sure that my classroom environment is positive to all of it's members. I recently read an article that I enjoyed about how a teacher made sure that her classroom was emotionally taken care of. Every Friday she allowed her students to put in a request on paper of who in the classroom they would like to sit by, and who they would like to work with in groups the following week. The teacher said that by doing this she is actually doing an analysis of who never gets chosen to be worked with or sat by, and who is the bully in the class and who always choose the same people week after week. I want to implement this in my classroom to help foster a positive atmosphere, and to give students a choice in who they work with. Other things that students seek are Affirmation, Contribution, Power, Purpose, and Challenge. When we allow students to feel like successful in a classroom they will learn more.