"Differentiated instruction (DI) is adapting instruction and assessment in response to differing student interests, learning preferences, and readiness in order to promote growth in learning." (Student Success Implementation Branch – 2015, page 1).
Example of DI in the math class: Discovering and teaching linear relationships using a variety of representations (i.e. equations, manipulatives, graphs). See the image below:
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| Three ways of representing a linear relationship: Image created on MS Paint |
in Mathematics, through various classroom scenarios which "describe how teachers assess,
plan and adapt their instruction to determine and address their students’ interests,
learning needs and preferences" (Student Success Implementation Branch – 2015, page 1). In groups, we were asked to critically analyze one of the three classroom scenarios in order to identify any forms of differentiated instruction or formative assessment. As a class, we shared our results.
After reading my assigned document, I have to admit, I was feeling very overwhelmed. I though to myself "Wow, Mr. Young is an absolute superhero of a teacher". It seemed as though every single portion of his lesson was differentiated for every student. Thinking of all of the planning, pre-planning, adapting, and predicting that went into this one lesson felt like a very daunting task. When we combined our discoveries as a class, it was clear that all of the lessons in this document were "level 4" examples differentiated lessons, which only increased my sense of being overwhelmed.
Lucky for me, this feeling was eliminated during the debriefing portion of this task. Essentially, we discussed how important it is to use DI in the mathematics classroom...we want to provide all of our students with an unique/optimal avenue to display their knowledge/understanding, however, we also discussed that DI should reach the entire target audience over the course of a unit, not just a single lesson. Providing differentiated instruction is critical to the success of our students, but this does not mean that every single lesson has to be differentiated for every single student. This was my takeaway message for the week.
In short: The classroom scenarios found in the "Knowing and Responding to Learners in Mathematics" document provide amazing sample lessons which target effective differentiation strategies. Although this is an amazing resource, it may leave educators feeling a bit overwhelmed. It is important to note that effective differentiated instruction does not mean that every single lesson has to be differentiated for every single student, but rather it should reach out to each student's learning style over the course of a unit.
Thanks for reading!
Hey Kevin that was a great post, thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI think it's always really important to back up your information on subjects such as DI with ministry policy. Having that official document as either a standard or a reference really helps legitimize the efforts and choices teachers make while planning their lessons.
One thing to keep in mind is that although it may be acceptable to reach each student through DI over the course of a unit it would should be an educators goal to make all lessons as accessible as possible.
Cheers,
Mike S
Hey great post,
ReplyDeleteI like how you pointed out the fact that DI should be across an entire unit not every lesson. I feel like having DI for every lesson would be way too overwhelming to not only the students but to the teacher as well. DI is obviously critical to the unit as it adapts the instruction to differing student interests, learning preferences or language ability. I also really like the image you created as it points out the how DI can be applied to a specific math topic.