This site is a class blog space for new Career and Technical Specializations and Heathcare Science teachers enrolled in the New Teacher Institute (NTI) at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia.
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Differentiation is not just a teaching method; I'm realizing it's a skill.
So October 29, 2013 will mark my first complete year as a teacher and I'm still learning to differentiate my students. In most cases, within a few days to weeks, I can point out my advanced/low to medium skilled students by their productivity yet I find it challenging to give them differentiated assignments. There are some that are extremely intelligent when it comes to writing, reading and testing, yet they fall in the low rate when creating projects. At the same time, most of my students who can care less about turning in assignments score higher and show more creativity during production. While juggling through various assignments and trying to teaching a standard to several academic levels, I'm finding that teaching by differentiation is a skill I have to master.
I refer to differentiation as a skill because I have to find ways of meeting the students current level of achievement while not letting their levels become obvious by the rest of the class.
I am constantly redefining differentiation as well. One thing I have always done which seems to help me identify the different learners in each class is an activity I do on day 1 called What Kind of Learner Are You. It asks the students some simple questions and based on their answers you can get a pretty good picture of how they like to learn individually. Some of the different types are Music, Body (Healthy), Solo and Group learners. I hold onto the results of the activity throughout the semester and refer back to it from time to time to remind myself of who my different learners are. I will gladly share this activity with you and maybe it will help. Please remind me on Tuesday and I will e-mail it to you.
ReplyDelete