Eileen Hernon
Differentiation
Learning is not one-size-fits-all. Every student comes with a unique set of strengths, challenges, and interests, and my job as a teacher is to adjust my teaching to fit my students whenever possible. Throughout my pre-service teaching experiences, four things guided my approach to differentiation: content, task, environment, and flexible grouping.
Content
During my student-teaching experience, I would differentiate the content I taught my students to match their interests and readiness. The most common area for content differentiation was literacy. I often changed the books and passages my students read based on their readiness. If I gave every group the same book at the same lexile level, some students would be frustrated and discouraged because of the difficulty, and others would be bored and insufficiently challenged. Content differentiation allowed me to ensure each child read a "just right" book.
This is a reading lesson plan that relies on both content and task differentiation.
Task
I really enjoy differentiating by task, because it allows me to think up creative activities and assessments that play to my students' strengths and preferences. I've found my students produce higher-quality work when they are excited about and appropriately challenged by the task. Below is an example of a differentiated exit ticket my students completed when we were learning about Ancient Greece.
Some of my students were very comfortable with writing tasks. This task challenged them to write in complete sentences with detail.
The Venn Diagram was designed for students who were comfortable writing, but who still needed structured support when it came to comparing and contrasting.
Some of my students would shut down as soon as they had to write more than a word or two. This task allowed them to show their learning without the stress of writing.
Environment
Environment
Learning environment preference varies from student to student and even day to day. All students deserve to learn in the environment that is most empowering for them whenever possible. My idea of a differentiated learning environment involves student-choice of where they work independently, and simple accommodations for students with specific environmental needs. Click the slideshow to the right to see some examples of differentiated environment from my student-teaching experience.
Learning environment preference varies from student to student and even day to day. All students deserve to learn in the environment that is most empowering for them whenever possible. My idea of a differentiated learning environment involves student-choice of where they work independently, and simple accommodations for students with specific environmental needs. Click the slideshow to the right to see some examples of differentiated environment from my student-teaching experience.
Flexible Grouping
One of my students had a physical disability that made it difficult for him to sit cross-legged on the carpet. This portable cloth chair ensured he could sit comfortably with his classmates on the carpet.
I often let students choose the place in the classroom where they'd like to complete independent or small group work. I trust my students to choose the learning environment that works best for them.
One of my students had sensory issues that made commotion particularly distracting. Another used noise canceling head phones to calm down after he got wound up.
One of my students had a physical disability that made it difficult for him to sit cross-legged on the carpet. This portable cloth chair ensured he could sit comfortably with his classmates on the carpet.
Flexible grouping is the crux of differentiation. Rarely, if ever, do teachers have the opportunity to individually tailor instruction to each student. However, grouping students by strength, instructional needs, and interests is a manageable way to more closely alter instruction. I also believe there is a clear difference between flexible grouping and tracking. I prefer to have my groups change from day to day, subject to subject, and even task to task. While student-teaching, I made up new groups all the time. For literacy, we grouped students homogeneously for reading, but then created different groups for spelling. In math, students often worked in pairs that would change every day. For writing, science, and especially social studies, students were often grouped by interest. I believe it's important that every student gets the opportunity to work with each of his or her classmates, because every student has a strength to share.