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HOW CAN WE MEET THE NEEDS OF ALL OUR STUDENTS IN A DIFFERENTIATED…
HOW CAN WE MEET THE NEEDS OF ALL OUR STUDENTS IN A DIFFERENTIATED CLASSROOM?
Wendy: we need to challenge our students according to their individual needs
Owen: because time restraints a differentiated classroom is not attainable goal in one or two classes. But it is over time with practice.
Mandy: One example is to offer students a choice of which materials to use, and be sure to encourage students to challenge themselves with that choice.
Randi: following on from Mandy, it's helpful to consistently know where the students are in relation to the material, which will help inform them about which materials to choose.
Mandy: Formative assessments are really helpful at the beginning half of a unit [pre-assessment] and then we can adjust our teaching methods accordingly for the latter half.
Randy: following from Mandy, formative assessments are also helpful throughout the whole unit to help us know which students are "getting" it, and which are not.
Wendy: Formative assessments is also useful to help us adjust our grouping of students
Owen: one example of dynamic grouping is to group students by reading level at the start of the year/unit, and then adjust grouping based on formative assessments throughout the year/unit.
Marcel: single subject teachers tend to differentiate more by outcome [product].
Marcel: For example in music, we need to assess the students early to know what they are capable of, then adjust what they are required to play at the end of the unit.
Richard: following on from that, grade 5 teachers often differentiate by product mostly in writing class.
Mandy: Mandy: equity vs equality. Equality means each student gets the same materials, whereas equity recognizes that each student is different and has different needs. We can achieve better equity by getting to know our students.
Randi: thinking about time restraints and getting to know students, is it better to have a new class with students we don't know or work with the same class over a couple years to get to them better?
Richard: in terms of formal conferring, it's most convenient to do this during writing exercises, because it's one of the few times where all students are working individually and the teacher is free to meet with each student.
Mandy: ad-hoc conferring during group work is helpful as teachers can move from station to station and get to know where the students are with the material.
Ritika: informal conferring is a necessary for building relationships with students.
Building relationships is important as it helps to build trust both ways: teachers trusts the students and students trust their teachers. (Apologies as I didn't record who said this but it was a perfect place to end the discussion!)
"DIFFERENTIATION is a sequence of common sense decisions made by teachers with a student-first orientation"
-Carol Ann Tomlinson
COMMON SENSE OF DIFFERENTIATION (Tomlinson)
--creating an invitational learning environment
--absolute clarity about learning destination
--persistently knowing where students are in relation to the destination
--adjusting teaching to make sure each student arrives at destination
--effective leadership management of flexible classroom routines