Differentiated Instruction and Consolidation

Differentiated Instruction (DI) can be simply understood as providing your students with a variety. It is critical to ensure that all of our students are provided with an equal opportunity to learn and in order to accomplish this we must differentiate our instructional techniques. Edugains describes DI as “effective instruction that is adaptive to students’ readiness, and learning preferences”. The website also suggests that attending to these preferences we increase the chance of students connecting the new knowledge to prior knowledge and ensures that the students stay engaged in their learning.

https://aae.boisestate.edu/know-your-learning-style/

A student’s learning preferences will usually include their learning styles. In my opinion a learning style is a situational preference that depends on the subject matter at hand and the end result of the task. I learn strategies and tactics in games though participation, while I understand scientific and mathematical problems when I hear their explanations. As we differentiate how we teach students we will be allowing a wider variety of students to succeed. I feel as though the mathematics classroom is both a beneficial environment for DI, but can also present a variety of challenges. These challenges include the traditional math setting that was very teacher centered as well as the students who have become accustom to this type of teaching. While there should still be some aspects of teacher-centered education it is critical to ensure that students are giving time to explore all of the learning styles. Utilizing models, manipulatives, videos and games can be a very effective way of adapting to the needs of your students.

In addition to ensuring that you instruction is differentiated I feel as though it is just as important to differentiate your assessments or consolidation pieces. As students are kinesthetic learners , visual learners or verbal learners, some students may only be able to express their knowledge using the same mediums. In saying this it is not fair to give an assessment to the entire class and expect them to succeed. As teachers, we must provide a variety of tools and options for students to show us what they have learned.

http://www.theflippedclassroom.es/dandole-una-vuelta-a-kahoot/

One tool that I am excited to explore is an online tool called Kahoot. In our second class of the semester we played a Kahoot quiz based on our introductions, and I was impressed by the learning and enjoyment that took place. We were learning about one another and I gained more knowledge during the ten minutes it took to complete the quiz, compared to the time I spent reading blogs online. The scoreboard and other game-like features encouraged me to explore it more. After looking into it I feel as though it is an appropriate tool to use in any classroom. You can make your own quizzes and ensure that students are engaged in their learning. The website also provides the students with the opportunity to hear the questions and see them on the screen as opposed to simply reading them off their tests. The game like environment also encouraged students to collaborate with one another in order to help their peers reach the top of the leaderboard.

Mr. Moore

Reference: http://www.edugains.ca/resourcesDI/Brochures/DIBrochureOct08.pdf