Throughout Teacher College differentiated instruction
(DI) has been one of the key components of every class. This week in math
differentiated instruction was explained to me in a whole new way. Teachers can
create differentiated instruction by providing the students with multiple problems
of varying degree also known as parallel tasks. The problems should be open
ended with a wide base and allow all students to choose their starting point. The
assigned problems should be about similar topics (percentages, fractions
decimals etc). When discussing the answers that the students have created the
teacher should ask questions that are common for the problems. The class
discussion never has to centre around one problem or the other and can be used
to help students understand both problems. The parallel tasks allow for all
students to begin working on a problem of their choice but also helps the
teacher facilitate a discussion that all students will be a part of.
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| retrieved from: http://edtheory.blogspot.ca/2016/04/differentiated-instruction.html |
The responsibility of differentiating instruction falls
upon the teacher in the classroom. As a teacher candidate I often pondered how I
would include DI in my own classroom in more ways than just the examples that
have been given to me during my own schooling. The Literacy and Numeracy
Secretariat published the article “Differentiating Mathematics Instruction”
which breaks down DI into three simple steps that can be translated to other
subject areas. The three steps are focus instruction on key concepts, use an
instructional trajectory/ landscape for planning and create open questions. Out
of these three steps the one I found the most useful is the first one. Focusing
on the key concept rather than the curriculum expectation will allow me to recognize
the main idea that I hope the students will learn from the lesson. The
expectations should be used to help the teacher find the starting point for the
key concepts they plan on teaching. Focusing on the key concept will help me
and other teachers more easily plan to differentiate instruction.
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| Retrieved from: https://www.tes.com/lessons/lrDlRlZiTH8JWg/differentiated-instruction |
An example of teaching for all learners that I specifically
like and plan on using in my own classroom is the game I Have … Who Has. The
game is great for teaching students and gets all members of the classroom
involved. The game can also be used in a classroom with students at different
levels or grades. An important aspect of this game is to make the questions
challenging for the students. If the questions are too easy, students will quickly
answer the question and not have time to understand the question. More
difficult questions also provides the opportunity for collaboration among
students. The challenging questions can also cause the students to make
mistakes which is a good thing in mathematics because that gives the students a
chance to help their brains grow. I Have … Who Has is a great differentiating
instruction resource that all teachers can utilize in their classroom.
Hey Christian,
ReplyDeleteI really liked the visual at the bottom of this weeks blog post, I find myself to be more of a visual learner than anything and that image of how we can differentiate learning is extremely helpful! I too tried to expand my approach to differentiated instruction in my placement and found that an "out-of-the-box" approach was necessary. Looking back at my elementary school experiences, I don't recall ever having too many choices when completing math tasks in the classroom. Everyone was handed out the exact same questions, given the exact same time limit, and were expected to be similarly challenged by the same material. We should be using a backwards design approach when creating tasks in math class where the big ideas are blanketed over every task, but each one is unique and challenging in a different way. Awesome post this week!
Hi Christian!
ReplyDeleteLike yourself I also thought that the "I have... Who has..." game was a great way to differentiate instruction in your classroom. Not only that but it is a way for your students to collaborate with one another while being engaged and enjoying math! In my blog post I also discussed how important it is to have your students practice saying math terms aloud, and how you can even use it for different strands and subjects. For example the game could focus on places in Canada for Geography or planets in our solar system for Science.
Thank you for attaching the useful visual at the end of the post and for highlighting the importance of and ways to implement differentiated instruction in your classroom! Great post this week!