Differentiation Essay
Education is not filling up students’ brains with important facts. It’s “helping student maximize their capacity as learners” (Tomlinson, 1995, p.11). If education is like the art of sculpting, making everyone a perfect square isn’t the true education. Teaching is not mass producing, but shaping, molding and fashioning something unique, beautiful and good. I believe learning should to be inspired, challenged, and to grow, not to produce the same right answers.
Coming from Chinese education background where the average classroom is 50 students, individuality is never mentioned in our schools. Your grade on the test is who you are as a student. It is every teacher’s dream to have a classroom of students who have the same interests, equal levels of readiness and similar learning profiles. But the reality is quite the opposite. During my internship at Alton Middle School, I saw the huge gap in the level of thinking, academic writing and ability, even among the honor roll students. I had to face 120 students everyday and it was impossible to check in with each individual and provide feedback to make sure their needs were met. So how can we create an effective learning community with differentiated instruction to meet student’s individual needs without giving individualized instruction? I don’t pretend I have the answer. Here are just some thoughts coming from what I saw and experienced in the classrooms throughout the semester.
Understanding first. The first thing a sculptor does is to understand the material he is working with. The first step of differentiated instruction is having an understanding and appreciation for the diversity in your classroom, to accept who they are as a learner. New City School was a great showcase of how Gardener’s Multiple Intelligences (MI) is used in the classroom. They believe it is important that students have a deep understanding of themselves and others, and to be actively involved in their own learning process. The teachers’ role is to guide and nurture all eight intelligences in children. Those eight intelligences are: linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, naturalist, interpersonal and intrapersonal. From an MI view, everyone has all of the intelligences; it’s just each person has his/her own unique learning profile. When teachers understand that their students have varied ways of taking in information, processing ideas and expressing themselves, this will allow them to design the curriculum, which will expose students to a new concepts and skills in multiple ways and allow students to demonstrate their learning in multiple ways as well.
Start small. Differentiated instruction is not individualized teaching, or “tailoring the same suit of clothes” (Tomlinson, 1995, p.6). The teacher I worked with during internship always prepares two versions of tests to give students. At first, I thought it was differentiated instruction. Later I realize that simply adjusting the standards for each student doesn’t help them to learn differently. Therefore, it’s not exactly differentiated instruction. So how can teachers take the first step? Wallach from New City School pointed out, “The easiest way to begin is to look carefully at your existing program to see what you are already doing that reflects MI.” For example, in my 7th grade social study classroom, they often worked in groups or with their study buddy of the day, watching videos and debating. We could also learn a song with history facts, which involved Musical Intelligence. We could study the maps which introduce students to the Logical-Mathematical Intelligence. There is no recipe for differentiated instruction based on subject or grade level. Each classroom is a unique case. It’s impractical to apply all the intelligences in every lesson you teach. The most essential step to take is to get started, to start from who you are as a teacher and to start small.
On-going self-assessment. Many history teachers in my school use pre-test and post-test before and after each unit. It’s a great way to provide evidence of learning and direct them to compete against themselves rather than with other students. In order to support differentiated instruction in the classroom, I think on-going self-assessment needs to happen more in the classrooms. First, on-going assessment can be in different forms, such as New City School’s reflection sheet, product and progress report. Those assessments not only give constant feedback to teachers, but also give students the opportunity to take the steering wheel of their own learning journey. Tomlinson (1995) also addressed the importance of record-keeping in a differentiated classroom in her book. She suggests teachers need to “share as much record-keeping responsibility as possible with your students” (p.69). From organizing their own work helps them to be more clear about their learning goals, be aware of their progress and develop their metacognitive skills, which allow them to ask themselves, "Why does my teacher show this video in the class or do I remember the dates better through music?"
Differentiated instruction happens when we shift the classroom from teacher-centered to student-centered and when we understand how they learn, offering different ways of presenting new concepts and skills, and letting them have the ownership in their learning. It is a commitment for teachers. It takes time and effort and doesn’t happen overnight. But when one of your struggling student finally made the connection and had that “Aha” moment in the class, you will know it’s all worth it in the end.
Coming from Chinese education background where the average classroom is 50 students, individuality is never mentioned in our schools. Your grade on the test is who you are as a student. It is every teacher’s dream to have a classroom of students who have the same interests, equal levels of readiness and similar learning profiles. But the reality is quite the opposite. During my internship at Alton Middle School, I saw the huge gap in the level of thinking, academic writing and ability, even among the honor roll students. I had to face 120 students everyday and it was impossible to check in with each individual and provide feedback to make sure their needs were met. So how can we create an effective learning community with differentiated instruction to meet student’s individual needs without giving individualized instruction? I don’t pretend I have the answer. Here are just some thoughts coming from what I saw and experienced in the classrooms throughout the semester.
Understanding first. The first thing a sculptor does is to understand the material he is working with. The first step of differentiated instruction is having an understanding and appreciation for the diversity in your classroom, to accept who they are as a learner. New City School was a great showcase of how Gardener’s Multiple Intelligences (MI) is used in the classroom. They believe it is important that students have a deep understanding of themselves and others, and to be actively involved in their own learning process. The teachers’ role is to guide and nurture all eight intelligences in children. Those eight intelligences are: linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, naturalist, interpersonal and intrapersonal. From an MI view, everyone has all of the intelligences; it’s just each person has his/her own unique learning profile. When teachers understand that their students have varied ways of taking in information, processing ideas and expressing themselves, this will allow them to design the curriculum, which will expose students to a new concepts and skills in multiple ways and allow students to demonstrate their learning in multiple ways as well.
Start small. Differentiated instruction is not individualized teaching, or “tailoring the same suit of clothes” (Tomlinson, 1995, p.6). The teacher I worked with during internship always prepares two versions of tests to give students. At first, I thought it was differentiated instruction. Later I realize that simply adjusting the standards for each student doesn’t help them to learn differently. Therefore, it’s not exactly differentiated instruction. So how can teachers take the first step? Wallach from New City School pointed out, “The easiest way to begin is to look carefully at your existing program to see what you are already doing that reflects MI.” For example, in my 7th grade social study classroom, they often worked in groups or with their study buddy of the day, watching videos and debating. We could also learn a song with history facts, which involved Musical Intelligence. We could study the maps which introduce students to the Logical-Mathematical Intelligence. There is no recipe for differentiated instruction based on subject or grade level. Each classroom is a unique case. It’s impractical to apply all the intelligences in every lesson you teach. The most essential step to take is to get started, to start from who you are as a teacher and to start small.
On-going self-assessment. Many history teachers in my school use pre-test and post-test before and after each unit. It’s a great way to provide evidence of learning and direct them to compete against themselves rather than with other students. In order to support differentiated instruction in the classroom, I think on-going self-assessment needs to happen more in the classrooms. First, on-going assessment can be in different forms, such as New City School’s reflection sheet, product and progress report. Those assessments not only give constant feedback to teachers, but also give students the opportunity to take the steering wheel of their own learning journey. Tomlinson (1995) also addressed the importance of record-keeping in a differentiated classroom in her book. She suggests teachers need to “share as much record-keeping responsibility as possible with your students” (p.69). From organizing their own work helps them to be more clear about their learning goals, be aware of their progress and develop their metacognitive skills, which allow them to ask themselves, "Why does my teacher show this video in the class or do I remember the dates better through music?"
Differentiated instruction happens when we shift the classroom from teacher-centered to student-centered and when we understand how they learn, offering different ways of presenting new concepts and skills, and letting them have the ownership in their learning. It is a commitment for teachers. It takes time and effort and doesn’t happen overnight. But when one of your struggling student finally made the connection and had that “Aha” moment in the class, you will know it’s all worth it in the end.
Reference:
Tomlinson, C. A. (1995). How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-ability Classrooms. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Wallach, C. (2015). Getting Started in the Classroom with MI [Pamphlet]. St. Louis, MO: New City School.
Tomlinson, C. A. (1995). How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-ability Classrooms. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Wallach, C. (2015). Getting Started in the Classroom with MI [Pamphlet]. St. Louis, MO: New City School.