EDU 382 Meeting the Needs of Diverse Learners: Week 1 Assignment
Yama’s Kidz Korner June 2, 2015 Word of the week: Differentiation Differentiation vs Tradition There is no contradiction between effective standards -based instruction and differentiation.
Curriculum tells us what to teach:
Differentiation tells us how . Thus, if we elect to teach a standards -based curriculum, differentiation simply suggests ways in which we can make that curriculum work best for varied learners. In other words, differentiation can show us how to te ach the same standard to a range of learners by employing a variety of teaching and learning modes (ascd.org) History and Theory Differentiated instruction is an approach to teaching and learning for students with different abilities in the same classroom. The theory behind differentiated instruction is that teachers should vary and adapt their approaches to fit the vast diversity o f students in the classroom. (Tomlinson, 1995, 1999a; Hall, 2002).
Teachers who differentiate instruction recognize that students differ in many ways, including prior knowledge and experiences, readiness, language, culture, learning preferences, and intere sts. They realize they must change the way they teach in order to reach all students (nyu.edu). Teaching with Diversity Diversity encompasses many characteristics including ethnicity, socio -economic background, home language, gender, special needs, disability, and giftedness. Teaching needs to be responsive to diversity within ethnic groups, for example, diversity within Pa keha, Māori, Pasifika and Asian students. We also need to recognize the diversity within individual students influenced by intersections of gender, cultural heritage(s), socio -economic background, and talent. Evidence shows teaching that is responsive to s tudent diversity can have very positive impacts on low and high achievers at the same time ( educationcounts.govt.nz). Classroom Learning Environment The ideal learning environment includes a balanced student population, appropriate grade and program placement, priority seating based on student needs, has a reasonable class size, practices positive discipline, arranges furniture to promote group work, uses flexible grouping, and has adequate teaching supplies (nyu.edu). T eachers can differentiate at least four classroom elements based on student readiness, interest, or learning profile: (1) Content what the student needs to learn or how the student will get access to the information; (2) process activities in which the student engages in order to make sense of or master the content (3) products projects that ask the student to demonstrate wha t he or she has learned in a unit; and (4) learning environment the way the classroom works and feels (nyu.edu) Reference Cultural Res ponsive Differentiated Instructional Strategies retrieved from http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/scmsAdmin/uploads/005/120/Cultu rally%20Responsive%20Differientiated%20Instruction.pdf Reconcilable Differences? Standards -Based Teaching in Differentiation retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/se pt00/vol58/num01/Reconcilable_Differences%C2%A2_Standa rds -Based_Teaching_and_Differentiation.aspx Quality Teaching for Diverse Students in Schooling retrieved from http://www.educatio ncounts.govt.nz/publications/series/251 5/5959
