Since I started teaching four years ago differentiated instruction has been the goal for my classroom. As I learn more about best practice instruction, I now know a teacher is falling behind if they are not aware of student needs/levels/abilities/interests and how to address them. In college I was told differentiation was how I should be teaching, but no instructor gave a clear explanation of what I should be doing. It has been a trial by fire experience for me and I wanted to share my top five tips to getting started!
1. Use Small Group, Rotation Learning
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| My Rotation Board |
The number one step for me starting to differentiate my classroom was teaching in a rotational model. NO MORE WHOLE GROUP INSTRUCTION! Now this definitely involves more planning. Creating four stations throughout the room that have active, engaged learning happening takes more behind the scenes work. Also, it takes more modeling at the beginning of the year to make sure students know what is expected. Keep at it and once your class gets into the flow the benefits are immediate.
If you need to approach something from a different perspective for a kiddo it is one hundred times easier to stop, regroup, and try something else in a small group. See a kiddo needs an extra challenge? Make his math problem go next level by asking him to draw an illustration or diagram. Whatever the scenario, you can observe it quickly and act swiftly in small groups.
2. Projects, Projects, Projects!
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| Barge Building Competition |
There is nothing that will provide a student with more opportunity to acquire content, process learning, and make sense of a concept than a hands-on project. So many types of learning are addressed when you go hands on.
Look at the different ways our barge building competition helped us understand buoyancy.
Visual - Seeing the Water, Seeing the Coins Spread over the Surface of the Boat, Comparing Two Boats
Kinesthetic - Feeling the Foil, Building the Boat
Interpersonal - Working with Others
Linguistic - Communicating with Others, Using Science Vocabulary in an Organic Setting
Logical/Mathematical - Trial and Error
It goes on and on. The point is that more natural learning opportunities take place during a project than a lecture.
3. Don't Be Scared of Talking, Don't Be Scared of Sound.
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| Math Rotation |
The thing about teaching a differentiated classroom is that it can be a loud, messy, dirty, crazy, and fun place. All of these things can take place and learning can still happen! Humans are social creatures who enjoy learning together. I have found that as long as the kiddos are excited about what we are doing they will stay on task. Sometimes it gets a little noisy but if I hear academic conversation taking place, please talk away.
4. Use Technology!
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| Listening Station with Kindles and a CD Player |
There are literally thousands of websites and digital activities out there for kids. Technology is the language of the future and most of our students are more proficient than we are. We have to keep up. Join twitter and follow the amazing teachers that are using technology and borrow a few ideas!
5. Don't Be Scared To Make a Mistake
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| Img Src: http://www.livelifeready.com/2010/06/18/the-huge-mistake-you-are-currently-making/ |
The hardest part of moving to this system for me was fear of failure. As a new teacher I felt that if I lost control of my class for a second or if one thing went off the rails that I was failing as a teacher. Now I realize that it's okay to take risks and try new things. The kids probably learn just as much from seeing me fail and laugh it off as they do from a successful lesson.
Hope this was an interesting read! Let me know if you have any different ideas on how to get started!
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