Differentiated Instructions for Diverse Learners

Differentiated Instructions for Diverse Learners

“No two students are the same.”

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By Charmane Joy Belleza

December 2018

My daughter drew this to show diverse learners with diverse learning interests.

Differentiation is a way for teachers to tailor instruction to meet each of our students’ differential needs, different attention span, language abilities, cultural, educational and socio-economic background.

Differentiation aims to inspire learning, empower students’ voice and choice, strengthen their engagement and love for learning.  In light of Ilana Vines video, I agree that our students have strengths and weaknesses. They have unique qualities that need to nourish and flourish. I love how she talked about Personalized Learning Environment where instruction is paced to learning needs, tailored to learning preferences and tailored to the specific interests of different learners. (Bray and McClaskey, 2014) It is the learner that drives their learning and does not focus on instruction.

I just recently, slowly started doing personalized learning in my classroom, however, because of my students’ disabilities and short-attention span, it wasn’t successful. Taking it slowly will not make the students, dislike learning, rather, motivate them to wonder and explore. I know that practice is the key, so I will still continue to do this and find better ways or opportunities for my students to master the strategy. The other day, one student challenged me to teach them to build something instead of reading stories or novels. I promised him I will. With that, I am learning and gathering more information to do project-based learning for my ELA class.

PBL will be a great avenue for students not only to personalize but also to enhance their creativity and critical thinking skills. Another strategy that can foster differentiation is the learning menus. I have been wanting to do this but I just lack the knowledge to establish it. But now, knowing all the exciting benefits, I can’t wait to try it in my classroom. Technology, on the other hand, provide us teachers to develop more exciting and new innovative strategies to scaffold our instructions. With technology, we focus on the student’s level rather than what’s in the curriculum or standards. Newsela, Readworks, Commonlit, Edpuzzle, Nearpod, Google Dashboard, Google Classroom, Bookcreator are just some ways I use technology to differentiate my lessons. These programs also enable the students to work at home, thus fostering responsibility and effective and efficient use of technology.

With these strategies, students can learn the following skills as stated by Joe Ruhl in his video on Teaching Methods for Inspiring the Students of the Future: What’s Love Got to do with it? (2016)

1. Choice - (free will)
2. Collaboration - (Social creatures)
3. Communication - (agrees with collaboration)
4. Critical Thinking - (Problem-solving)
5. Creativity -(unique human pleasure)
6. CARING - (The most important)

I couldn’t agree more. These characteristics and skills are designed to the diverse background of the students we have. Now, reminiscing the past, I wish I was given more choices in school, I wish I was given more collaborative work and communication practices. I wish I was provided with opportunities to expand my critical thinking and creative skills.

Caring, on the other hand, according to Ruhl, is the most important. (2016) I am extremely blessed to have developed this skill in the early years of my life. I agree to it 100%. Caring comes with love. Last year, my most difficult class was given a survey to assess our practices in the classroom. I was shocked and I actually wept because, on the caring part of the survey, I received a 100% rating from my most disruptive class. I was expecting a very low grade from that class because most of them didn’t like me. They showed unacceptable behaviors and didn’t listen most of the time.  I expressed my gratitude to them because they acknowledged how much I care about them through their responses. Even though they moved to the high school now, they still come and visit me. Thinking about it now, I realized I was missing a deeper personal connection with them. Although I showed I care, I didn’t go beyond their personal lives to get to know them more. I was too focused on their academics and the assessments that came with it.

To become an inspired and transformational educator, I will continue to build positive relationships and implement research-based teaching techniques in my classroom. I will continue to explore different strategies that motivate my students’ interests and choices. I will strive to keep studying their learning profiles, how they process information and think ideas to adjust my curriculum and address their distinct needs and/or strengths. I will keep on believing on them and “connect to what matters most to them”. (Tomlinson, 2016)

References:

Bray, B., McClaskey, K (2014) Building Personalized Learning Environments. Retrieved from https://www.advanc-ed.org/source/building-personalized-learning-environments

Ruhl, J. (2016) Teaching Motivations fro Inspiring the Students of the Future: What’s Love Got to do with it?, TED video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCFg9bcW7Bk

Vines, I. (2013), Differentiated Learning, Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M1lKf-94q4

Tomlinson, C. (2016), Readiness in Differentiated Instruction, Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMvCd5Xafag