Differentiated Instruction - An Adaptive Method of Teaching

As a future teacher, one of my biggest concerns is thinking about how I'll be able to create lessons that engage students and allow all of them to succeed in my classroom. From personal experience it's obvious that students come to class with a wide variety of interests, learning styles, and speeds at which they learn. Through reading the course textbook for 4P19 I came across the idea of differentiated instruction. Recognizing and adapting to the many different needs and learning styles of students is the main idea that differentiated instruction aims to address. In the article "College Success: A Fresh Look at Differentiated Instruction and Other Student-Centered Strategies " the authors go in to the three main principles of differentiated instruction are challenging tasks, flexible groupings, and ongoing assessments that allow the teacher to adjust their lessons based on how well the students are responding to the assigned tasks (Leightweis, 2013). If we look at these 3 main principles we can see how they can help us to create better lesson plans that will work for all of our students.

Challenging Tasks
One of the most important ways we can foster learning is by creating lessons that are actually challenging for students. In another class, EDUC 8P19, we're learning about classroom management and part of that is the fact that students that find a lesson too easy can become bored and start acting out which not only inhibits their learning but the learning of everyone around them. On the other hand, a challenging lesson will keep students focused and help them to enjoy what they are learning. It also means adjusting my lesson for students who are struggling in the class so that it's challenging enough for them to learn, but not so hard that they give up and don't do the work.

Flexible Groupings

http://www.tamworthmanor.co.uk/images/groupwork.jpg

Another way to help individual students learn better is through flexible groupings. One idea put forward by Morgan (2014) is by grouping students with similar abilities together so that they are not bored but can talk to other students that are at the same level academically as them. Talking with other students help them learn better because students have their own communication style and can often be more adept at explaining things to their peers than their teachers can. Teachers obviously try their best but I know there have been times in class where I don't really get a lesson but a friend who does understand it can explain it to me while the teacher deals with other issues.

Ongoing Assessments

http://danielludvigson.efoliomn.com/CurrResearch/Uploads/AssessmentCycle_float.jpg

A key feature of differentiated instruction is constantly adapting to changes in a student's ability. A student might have a strong grasp of an earlier unit that plays to their strengths but later struggle with a different concept. With ongoing assessments a teacher can see how students are progressing and whether or not they need to change up how they're teaching lessons or even change up the groups that students are in to put them with people more their level or style. The above diagram shows how this is not just a one time thing but that with each assessment I'm going to have to analyze how well my students did, find areas where my lesson can be improved, and plan a new one so that the students can do better in the future. The following video shows how a school that puts these principles into action can have far more success than just using the teacher driven model.

Edutopia. (October 3, 2011)  Differentiated Instruction in the Classroom at Mesquite Elementary School Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7kcFkRgiV4

This video shows differentiated learning in an elementary setting. You can see how they realized a huge problem was that their kids were all being taught at the same level when many had different needs. Through their reteach and enrich program, students who needed to be retaught certain units had the time to do it while other students could use that time to further enrich the knowledge they already had. It also highlighted the importance of collaborating with other teachers so that you can all have better lessons. It wouldn't make sense for me to graduate from university and think that I know everything about teaching when I'll be working with people that have decades of experience in the classroom! Talking to other teachers helps you learn more about the students you're teaching, what they've learned in previous years, and how to best engage them in your class. 

Despite all the evidence that suggests that differentiated instruction is a more effective way to teach, many teachers still cling to the old ways because that's what they're used to. In "Going Against the Grain: Should Differentiated Instruction be a Normal Component of Professional Development." I saw that differentiated instruction is still not the normal way of teaching in many schools. Like they say, some teachers may resist this method "as they may fear a loss of control. However, the rewards of making a class dynamic and responsive to learners’ needs are great." (Suanrong, 2014) It's a reminder to me that when I graduate not all teachers will tailor their lessons to the needs of students and it's up to our generation to help bring these new and effective methods of teaching into today's classrooms.

Thanks for reading!

Dylan Maguire

References:

Lightweis, S. K. (2013). College Success: A Fresh Look at Differentiated Instruction and Other Student-Centered Strategies. College Quarterly, 16(3),

Morgan, H. (2014). Maximizing Student Success with Differentiated Learning. Clearing House, 87(1), 34-38. doi:10.1080/00098655.2013.832130

Suanrong, C., & Herron, S. s. (2014). Going Against the Grain: Should Differentiated Instruction be a Normal Component of Professional Development. International Journal Of Technology In Teaching & Learning, 10(1), 14-34.