I currently teach geometry to a class that has a wide variety of levels in it. The class is composed of 12 students with IEPs, 4 ELL students, and 8 students without special needs. When looking at their data, there are 4 students who tested Low, 9 in the Low-Average range, 6 in the average range and 4 in the high range. What are some differentiation strategies that can be implemented into my classroom to ensure that students are being taught how and what they need?
Literature Review
Differentiation is a philosophy for teaching that provides students with different avenues to learn content. Differentiated instruction can provide students of all levels the opportunity to learn and be challenged. Unfortunately, it is a normal occurrence to have teachers teach to the middle of the class and hope that the low students are able to understand and that the gifted students will take it upon themselves to find ways to challenge themselves.
Differentiation is not a new concept or methodology. There has been an increased focus on it recently due to the inception of high-stakes testing and teachers feeling like they need to teach to the test. In 2001, when No Child Left Behind was established, there was an increased pressure placed on teachers to identify and remediate students who were low preforming. One huge impact of the NCLB was that little or no emphasis was placed on advanced learners. Because teachers were required to re-teach and work with the low performing students, many advanced students were not challenged.
There are ample studies and articles that talk about the importance of differentiation and the impact it can make on students’ learning. Differentiation is not only important to help the lower level students attain a higher understanding, but it is also needed so that the advanced level student is challenged and provided with an opportunity to learn. Environments that fail to differentiate for their advanced students’ learning needs, do not provide growth or new learning experiences for these students. Without differentiation, many intellectually gifted students have already mastered the majority of grade-level content prior to the beginning of the school year (Manning, 2010).
Differentiated instruction can be such an effective tool because it focuses on each student and their individual needs, interests, and skills. Teachers skilled in differentiation paint instruction from a broad palette, drawing from a bank of strategies that have proven to be successful in meeting a range of abilities, interests, and learning problems (Brimijoin, 2005). Differentiated classrooms are the classes that students want to go to. They are the classrooms that students feel valued, challenged, and safe. When students realize that their interests and needs are important to the teacher and their peers, they feel safe, comfortable, and confident in an environment that they are willing to take risks in and where real learning experiences will happen. Teacher effectiveness has been shown to be the main determinant of student progress (VanTassel-Baska, 2012).
While it is a well-known fact that differentiation can be helpful for all students, Rock, Gregg, Ellis, and Gable stated that traditional instruction can have a detrimental effect on students with disabilities. These deficits make students with disabilities especially vulnerable to a one-size-fits-all approach to instruction, resulting in these students performing poorly on standardized tests, having high dropout rates, low graduation rates, and high percentages of unemployment (Rock, Gregg, Ellis, & Gable, 2008).
Lack of differentiation can also affect the gifted students because they may be unable to reach their full potential. Contrary to popular perceptions, advanced learners do not automatically differentiate instruction on their own (Manning, 2010). When given the opportunity, gifted students will rise to the occasion, but teachers should rely on them to have the intrinsic motivation to challenge themselves to reach their full potential. The effects of students having ineffective teachers over 3 years has a depressed effect on student achievement in math by as much as 54% regardless of the ability of the learner (VanTassell-Baska, 2012).
Many teachers, me included, hear the word differentiated instruction and begin to think about the amount of work it will take to accomplish. What I found in my research was that initially this may be true, but over time differentiation becomes easier and less time consuming. Differentiating will become comfortable, teaching will be more productive and efficient, students will be more engaged and responsible, and behavioral problems will be eased (Manning, 2010). It is important to take baby steps while beginning the differentiation process. It is an unreasonable goal to think that you will be able to begin differentiating every lesson, every day, and every class. It is recommended to start small by beginning with one subject. Over time you will become more comfortable with it and will begin working on another subject.
There were some common threads in the articles about effective differentiation. The first was that teachers need to have a repertoire of different activities and instructional tools. To be able to reach your students at their different levels, it will be imperative for teachers to use different tools for the different situations. Teacher collaboration, Professional Learning Communities, and professional developments are all places that teachers can find and learn new strategies to add to their tool box. Building both competence and confidence in differentiation requires knowledge of content, a broad repertoire of assessment tools, flexibility in matching tasks to students, creativity in finding resources, continual reflection, and collaborative support (Brimijoin, 2005).
The second common theme throughout the articles is the importance of teachers knowing their students. Expert teachers should base their practice on knowledge of students’ abilities, interests, prior experiences, and relations with family and friends (Brimijoin, 2005). Classrooms today are not the same as they were in the past. Today the student population has varied demographics, including ethnicities, socioeconomic statuses, learning disabilities, and English Language Learner. The importance of attending to individual learning needs in America’s classrooms has reached a critical level as diversity multiplies across the student population (Brimijoin, 2005). Teachers skilled in differentiation create a community of learners who honor and celebrate differences, competence, belonging, and independence. This community founded on trust, shared management, self-governance, a balance of teacher-directed and student centered learning, and high expectations (Brimijoin, 2005).
The final common thread I found in the articles was the importance of use of assessments as tools to plan and guide lessons. Teachers who differentiate use ongoing assessment data to inform instruction, increasing the likelihood that students engage with content, develop in-depth understandings, and build the capacity to transfer learning when the time for testing arrives (Brimijoin, 2005). Assessments can help guide teachers in designing and implementing a curriculum that is appropriate for their students. Assessments are needed on a regular basis to check for student understanding and will help teachers understand what adjustments should be made to fix those errors or bridge the gaps.
Rock et al. (2008) shared four guiding principles for effective differentiation: (a) focus on essential ideas and skills in each content area, (b) responsiveness to individual student differences, (c) integration of assessment and instruction, and (d) ongoing adjustment of content, process, and products to meet individual students’ needs. These four principles are very similar to the common threads I found throughout the research.
Rock et al. (2008) also explained three different ways to think about differentiation. First, teachers can consider adjusting the content, process, or product of teaching and learning. Second, teachers can vary their expectations for task completion within a single lesson or across a unit of instruction. Lastly, the use of graphic organizers, reading materials at different levels of complexity, direct instruction in small groups, previewing, and scaffolding strategies.
There are many different strategies that were referenced in the articles that were good examples of differentiation. All of the strategies were focused on students’ interest or needs or using assessments to guide instruction. Classroom differentiation is highly dependent on positive teacher behavioral change in key areas (VanTassel-Baska, 2012). When teachers make positive changes and begin to become more aware of the students as individuals and unique, then learning will happen. “Teaching is a complex social activity requiring the capacity to split attention by student, by area of the room, and by activity. It requires making multiple decisions during a teaching episode by instructional regulation, strategies, use of time, and lesson emphasis”, (VanTassel-Baska, 2012).
Some specific assessment ideas that I took away from my research were exit tickets, questioning techniques, and stop-light stickies. I have used exit tickets in the past, but an idea that was new to me was to provide two different tickets, based on students’ abilities. The first ticket is a higher level ticket with a more challenging question based on the topic learned in class that day. The second ticket would have a problem that was appropriate for their grade level expectation. By looking at the different exit tickets after the lesson, I would have a good gauge of where my gifted and struggling students were in their understanding. By using this information I could address any misconceptions or questions about the lesson on the following day.
The next strategy that stuck out to me was to have different level of questions. For more advanced students, it would be appropriate to ask more complicated or abstract questions. When questioning my lower performing students, it is okay to ask more basic questions that are asking about the basics of the problems and the grade level expectations.
The last strategy that I learned about was stop-light exit stickies. Students are given sticky notes towards the end of each paper and are required to write something based on their understanding. Green, which represents ‘good to go’, students would write 3 things that they learned or connections they made in the class. Yellow, which means ‘moving forward with caution’, students would write a question or two about things that they have questions about related to the lesson. Red, which means ‘stopped and can’t move forward’, students would write where they are confused and what they don’t understand. On the way out of the classroom, students will put their sticky in the appropriate stop light, which are green, yellow, and red circles near the door.
There are numerous strategies that can be used in a differentiated classroom, it is just important to remember if they are related to students’ interest or assessments and how can it benefit all students. Differentiating instruction is not a passing fad; it is a revolution – a fundamentally different way to teach students with divers learning and behavioral needs (Manning, 2010).
Methodology
Participants
This research project will focus on my 6th period geometry class. The research will benefit all students, but I will be focusing my observations on 3 different students; advanced, average, and low performing. The research will be conducting over a three week period in my classroom.
Materials
Students will have to have access to computers and the internet for some of the activities. All other materials will be provided by me.
Procedure
There will be three different ways that data will be collected for this research project. The first will be a survey of learning styles and experiences. This survey will be given to each student at the beginning of the three week period. The goal of the survey is for me to get a good understanding of what the students think about and how they feel about learning and math. There will also be a similar survey at the end of the three week period to assess if there were certain activities that increased their ability to learn and/or feelings about learning and math.
The second method for data collect will be Exit Tickets. There will be two different exit tickets for the class. One for the advanced students and students who were doing well with the lesson, the other will be with problems that are at grade level expectations. Each exit ticket will also have questions asking the students how the lesson was, what they liked, and what they are concerned on. Students will be allowed to complete their exit ticket on their phones by submitting to the Exit Ticket Survey Monkey (still trying to figure out if it will work) or complete on paper. Exit tickets will be checked on a daily basis which will help guide the next day’s instruction.
The third type of data collection for this research project will be observation. A daily chart will be completed for each student that assesses their participation, interest, understanding, and additional comments. Because 6th period is the last class of the day, I will take 15 minutes each day to complete this form accurately.
References
Brimijoin, K. (2005). Differentiation and High-Stakes Testing: An Oxymoron? Theory into Practice, 44(3), 254-261. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Carolan, J. (2007). Differentiation: Lessons from master Teachers. Educational Leadership 64, no. 5: 44. MasterFILE Premier, EBSCOhost.
Manning, S. (2010). Valuing the Advanced Learner: Differentiating UP. Clearing House, 83(4), 145. doi:10.1080/00098651003774851
Rock, M.L., Gregg, M., Ellis, E., & Gable, R.A. (2008). REACH: A Framework for Differentiating Classroom Instruction. Preventing School Failure, 52(2), 31-47. Academic Search Premier, Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
VanTassel-Baska, J. (2012). Analyzing Differentiation in the Classroom: Using the COS-R. Gifted Child Today, 35(1), 42-48. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Zuckerbrod, N. (2011). From Readers Theater to Math Dances: Bright Ideas to Make Differentiation Happen. Instructor, 120(5), 31-35. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.