2.5 Differentiation
|
|
Candidates model and facilitate the design and implementation of technology-enhanced learning experiences making appropriate use of differentiation, including adjusting content, process, product, and learning environment based upon an analysis of learner characteristics, including readiness levels, interests, and personal goals. (PSC 2.5/ISTE 2e)
I use the Google Apps for Education accounts every week with my students. I find that it allows me to easily gather data, and provide my students with a fun and interesting way to learn while using technology to meet the needs of my students and their standards. For this artifact of the Internet Lesson Plan (ITEC 7430), I was able to use both of the subjects I teach, English and Georgia Studies, and go cross-curricular with writing and research with the students Google Apps for Education accounts.
To make this all fit together, I had to model and facilitate the design and implementation of technology-enhanced learning experiences using a variety of differentiation strategies. The process itself is the most important part of the learning process as there are multiple strategies that need to occur to meet the needs of all students. The learning environment allowed for researched-based instructional strategies to occur in both the online and offline setting. They are as follows:
Identifying Similarities & Differences –
Students can use Venn diagrams to compare and contrast WWI and WWII to show alliances and how they changed from war to war. Also, by locating information from different sources, students will be able to create analogies, with their own words, on the how and why of the SS8H9 standard.
Summarizing & Note Taking –
During the Georgia Studies lessons, students will take notes on the essential information which will allow them to take their knowledge gathered from lesson to paper. Each student will be responsible for gathering the information on their own and use it as needed.
Reinforcing Effort & Providing Recognition -
Through the Google Drive communication section of the Document, the teacher can recognize effort for those that typically struggle throughout the writing process. The student can see these comments each time they open their document and be reminded of their hard work. And, believe it or not, passing out stickers to eighth graders works just as well! Stickers have been known to be applied to a student’s forehead and remain there the entire day – as a badge of work honor. This is easy to do in both online and offline settings.
Homework & Practice -
Students will ask if they can work on this at home, well, at least mine did. If we examine this a little bit further, the students were asking if they could have homework! I of course said it would be great if they worked on it at home as this is why we are all working online. Many students worked on it at home as they were starting to take pride in their work of the timeframe of this project. Allow them to explore online at home throughout this paper as practice makes prepared!
Nonlinguistic Representations -
Stickers. They really still work, even at the eighth grade level. Students will feel a sense of pride that they earned a sticker. Even the more challenging student who produces a limited quality and quantity of work. Get them now.
Cooperative Learning –
Students are required to share their research paper (at the very beginning) with three other students who will have access to the paper to offer insight and peer review throughout the entire research process. Through this online collaborative and cooperative learning, students are now not only responsible for their own paper, but to assist their peers with the writing process as well. Everyone is working towards the same goal and each student needs the other students to make it all work!
Setting Objectives & Providing Feedback -
This is where the passing out of the rubrics come into play. The student will know exactly what is expected of them and thus has specific tasks to complete to achieve their goal. The teacher and students will be providing feedback throughout the process in class discussions and online in the Google Document.
Generating & Testing Hypotheses -
The teacher should ask questions about what the world might be like if a major event in history didn’t happen, or the opposite result occurred, what would come of it. Students can then predict what would or would not happen and what the results from that would be.
Cues, Questions, and Advanced Organizers -
To promote student inquiry, ask ‘How & Why’ questions so that they can think about their thinking. Before the lessons even begin, do a ‘KWL’ chart which allows students to share what they know, what they want to learn and then, eventually, what they actually did learn. Better yet, have the students ask the questions about the Georgia Studies standards and/or the writing process itself using Google Drive.
Through differentiated instructional strategies, I was able to tap into the learning potential of each student within this cross-curricular Interned focused lesson plan. Differentiated instruction is vital to ensure that each student can learn at his or her level. Sometimes the concepts need to be altered, sometimes the language needs to be easier to understand, and sometimes it can even be a facial expression or another type of motivating gesture to help the student get back on track to help that student learn and achieve at his or her greatest potential. This lesson provided opportunities for all of these examples of differentiation to be implemented.
I was able to take differentiated learning to even deeper levels of instruction to the core of each student’s learning characteristics (readiness levels, interests, and personal goals). Not every student started the lesson at the same level of knowledge or understanding working with the Google Docs and/or working collaboratively online with their peers. It was vital for me to ensure that each student was comfortable, and challenged, from the beginning of this lesson. Some students needed additional support with the technological components of this project, and others expressed their desires to just write on paper. A differentiated work environment was created that allowed all students to start positively within the confines of the overall lesson itself – collaborative writing and sharing of student work for peer review of the research process.
As the lesson itself could not change, the interest of the student learner could be expanded upon by allowing each student to expand on one of the nine sections of the standard within the writing process itself. Students were asked to expand their writing on one section, which also required a minimum two pictures and a video link to a YouTube video. So, if student A was not a huge fan of Richard B. Russell (the Father of School Lunches) but was more interested in Bell Aircraft (where many of the bombers were made in Georgia for WWII), that student could focus more of their interest and attention towards that one section in the research project.
Through the final form of differentiation in regards to the analysis of learner characteristics, each student had personal goals that were created at the beginning of the entire project that were formulated by the rubric for grading purposes. Students took an in-depth look at what was going to be expected, and there were many specific expectations, and create goals for themselves, so that they knew what they hoped to accomplish. Using the rubric was an easy way for me to drive home that the amount of effort and the amount of creation directly aligns to the overall grade of the assignment. Still, most students did not do this for the grade per say, rather, because it was interesting, fun, and it keep their attention. This statement comes from the survey students provided from the 2014-2015 school year. This year, 2015-2016, I am proud to say that all 8th grade students will be starting this Internet lesson project on February, 17, 2016 as the Social Studies standard SS8H9 and the English Unit on the Holocaust sync up perfectly which allows for this to occur.
I learned that this cross-curricular project works very well with a teacher that teaches both subjects during the same day. I also learned, conversely, that it is difficult to connect two departments (English and Social Studies) to sync the curriculum maps so that each subject hits the same timeframe, in this instance, WWII, so that this type of lesson can occur. Over time, and through me sharing the results of this project with both departments, we will eventually get our calendars together to make this happen for all 8th grade students at the school.
One of the major changes would be to start smaller, and work into this lesson slowly. I was very ambitious and believed it all could happen, and for the most part it did. This is even truer with other teachers who have never done this before and will be learning this process for the first time while they implement the cross-curricular project.
The work that went into the creation of this plan was time consuming and difficult, but I am glad it happened. Now, we can improve, or fine tune, the process year after year so student learning and achievements become the focus of not just the lesson plan, but each decision of the lesson plan. The student’s final product, graded based on a rubric, along with the student survey at the end, help teachers to assess the overall successfulness of this lesson plan, and make more of an impact on student learning the following year.
To make this all fit together, I had to model and facilitate the design and implementation of technology-enhanced learning experiences using a variety of differentiation strategies. The process itself is the most important part of the learning process as there are multiple strategies that need to occur to meet the needs of all students. The learning environment allowed for researched-based instructional strategies to occur in both the online and offline setting. They are as follows:
Identifying Similarities & Differences –
Students can use Venn diagrams to compare and contrast WWI and WWII to show alliances and how they changed from war to war. Also, by locating information from different sources, students will be able to create analogies, with their own words, on the how and why of the SS8H9 standard.
Summarizing & Note Taking –
During the Georgia Studies lessons, students will take notes on the essential information which will allow them to take their knowledge gathered from lesson to paper. Each student will be responsible for gathering the information on their own and use it as needed.
Reinforcing Effort & Providing Recognition -
Through the Google Drive communication section of the Document, the teacher can recognize effort for those that typically struggle throughout the writing process. The student can see these comments each time they open their document and be reminded of their hard work. And, believe it or not, passing out stickers to eighth graders works just as well! Stickers have been known to be applied to a student’s forehead and remain there the entire day – as a badge of work honor. This is easy to do in both online and offline settings.
Homework & Practice -
Students will ask if they can work on this at home, well, at least mine did. If we examine this a little bit further, the students were asking if they could have homework! I of course said it would be great if they worked on it at home as this is why we are all working online. Many students worked on it at home as they were starting to take pride in their work of the timeframe of this project. Allow them to explore online at home throughout this paper as practice makes prepared!
Nonlinguistic Representations -
Stickers. They really still work, even at the eighth grade level. Students will feel a sense of pride that they earned a sticker. Even the more challenging student who produces a limited quality and quantity of work. Get them now.
Cooperative Learning –
Students are required to share their research paper (at the very beginning) with three other students who will have access to the paper to offer insight and peer review throughout the entire research process. Through this online collaborative and cooperative learning, students are now not only responsible for their own paper, but to assist their peers with the writing process as well. Everyone is working towards the same goal and each student needs the other students to make it all work!
Setting Objectives & Providing Feedback -
This is where the passing out of the rubrics come into play. The student will know exactly what is expected of them and thus has specific tasks to complete to achieve their goal. The teacher and students will be providing feedback throughout the process in class discussions and online in the Google Document.
Generating & Testing Hypotheses -
The teacher should ask questions about what the world might be like if a major event in history didn’t happen, or the opposite result occurred, what would come of it. Students can then predict what would or would not happen and what the results from that would be.
Cues, Questions, and Advanced Organizers -
To promote student inquiry, ask ‘How & Why’ questions so that they can think about their thinking. Before the lessons even begin, do a ‘KWL’ chart which allows students to share what they know, what they want to learn and then, eventually, what they actually did learn. Better yet, have the students ask the questions about the Georgia Studies standards and/or the writing process itself using Google Drive.
Through differentiated instructional strategies, I was able to tap into the learning potential of each student within this cross-curricular Interned focused lesson plan. Differentiated instruction is vital to ensure that each student can learn at his or her level. Sometimes the concepts need to be altered, sometimes the language needs to be easier to understand, and sometimes it can even be a facial expression or another type of motivating gesture to help the student get back on track to help that student learn and achieve at his or her greatest potential. This lesson provided opportunities for all of these examples of differentiation to be implemented.
I was able to take differentiated learning to even deeper levels of instruction to the core of each student’s learning characteristics (readiness levels, interests, and personal goals). Not every student started the lesson at the same level of knowledge or understanding working with the Google Docs and/or working collaboratively online with their peers. It was vital for me to ensure that each student was comfortable, and challenged, from the beginning of this lesson. Some students needed additional support with the technological components of this project, and others expressed their desires to just write on paper. A differentiated work environment was created that allowed all students to start positively within the confines of the overall lesson itself – collaborative writing and sharing of student work for peer review of the research process.
As the lesson itself could not change, the interest of the student learner could be expanded upon by allowing each student to expand on one of the nine sections of the standard within the writing process itself. Students were asked to expand their writing on one section, which also required a minimum two pictures and a video link to a YouTube video. So, if student A was not a huge fan of Richard B. Russell (the Father of School Lunches) but was more interested in Bell Aircraft (where many of the bombers were made in Georgia for WWII), that student could focus more of their interest and attention towards that one section in the research project.
Through the final form of differentiation in regards to the analysis of learner characteristics, each student had personal goals that were created at the beginning of the entire project that were formulated by the rubric for grading purposes. Students took an in-depth look at what was going to be expected, and there were many specific expectations, and create goals for themselves, so that they knew what they hoped to accomplish. Using the rubric was an easy way for me to drive home that the amount of effort and the amount of creation directly aligns to the overall grade of the assignment. Still, most students did not do this for the grade per say, rather, because it was interesting, fun, and it keep their attention. This statement comes from the survey students provided from the 2014-2015 school year. This year, 2015-2016, I am proud to say that all 8th grade students will be starting this Internet lesson project on February, 17, 2016 as the Social Studies standard SS8H9 and the English Unit on the Holocaust sync up perfectly which allows for this to occur.
I learned that this cross-curricular project works very well with a teacher that teaches both subjects during the same day. I also learned, conversely, that it is difficult to connect two departments (English and Social Studies) to sync the curriculum maps so that each subject hits the same timeframe, in this instance, WWII, so that this type of lesson can occur. Over time, and through me sharing the results of this project with both departments, we will eventually get our calendars together to make this happen for all 8th grade students at the school.
One of the major changes would be to start smaller, and work into this lesson slowly. I was very ambitious and believed it all could happen, and for the most part it did. This is even truer with other teachers who have never done this before and will be learning this process for the first time while they implement the cross-curricular project.
The work that went into the creation of this plan was time consuming and difficult, but I am glad it happened. Now, we can improve, or fine tune, the process year after year so student learning and achievements become the focus of not just the lesson plan, but each decision of the lesson plan. The student’s final product, graded based on a rubric, along with the student survey at the end, help teachers to assess the overall successfulness of this lesson plan, and make more of an impact on student learning the following year.